Education: Bribe

Charles Balaban is an amiable fellow whose drug store in Camden, N. J. is a hangout for moppets of the nearby Yorkship Elementary School. Month ago he had an idea for currying the favor and patronage of their parents. To Yorkship School’s 250 pupils he announced that each youngster who received an A in deportment on his monthly report card would get one 15-cent ice cream soda on the house. Last week Yorkship’s teachers passed out the fateful report cards. Presently, in breathless twos and threes, the first arrivals raced up to Charles Balaban’s soda fountain, exhibited their A’s. Mr. Balaban amiably began to set them up. Soon they came by tens, then twenties. Mr. Balaban ran out of straws, glasses, soda, ice cream. By nightfall no good little boys and girls had claimed their prizes. Druggist Balaban prudently withdrew his offer. Meanwhile School Superintendent Leon Nelson Neulen sniffed: “The important thing is how long they will maintain their good behavior record.”