““Vun ting more I should say, so de cless shouldn´t fill too bed about Jake Popper. It´s awreddy nine yiss since he pest avay!” “And I didn´t go to de funeral!” On this strange note, Mr. Kaplan took his seat. The class hummed, protesting against this anticlimax which left so much to the imagination. “Why you didn´t?” cried Mr. Bloom, with a knowing nod to the Misses Mitnick and Caravello. Mr. Kaplan´s face was a study in sufferance. “Becawss de funeral vas in de meedle of the veek,” he sighed. “An´ I said to minesalf, “Keplen, you in America, so tink like de Americans tink!´ So I tought, an´ I didn´t go. Becawss I tought of dat dip American idea, ´Business before pleasure!””