He Knew Only One
Reading edition
A teacher had been telling her class of boys that recently worms had become so numerous that they destroyed the crops, and it was necessary to import the English sparrow to exterminate them. The sparrows multiplied very fast and were gradually driving away our native birds.
Johnny was apparently very inattentive, and the teacher, thinking to catch him napping, said;
“Johnny, which is worse, to have worms or sparrows?”
Johnny hesitated a moment and then replied:
“Please, I never had the sparrows.”