"Book Challenge!" Topic

After seeing how quickly the hive mind works around here, I'm going to toss out a challenge that I've been trying to solve for quite some time now.

I remember reading a short story (in a compendium of short stories) some time in the 60s or 70s. The story was a guy recounting his first field trips when in grade school.

One of the trips was to a coffee roasterie, another to a funeral home. There was another, between those two, but I can't remember what it was. One of the characters in the story was Little Willie, who "wandered around downtown wetting his pants every fifteen minutes until someone recognized him and took him home".

And an undercurrent through the story was "the classroom fund".

Not a lot to go on, I know. But I've had no luck since I can't remember the book the story came from, the name of the story, or the author. But I am intensely curious about the third field trip that I can't remember, the name of the story, and the author.

Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?

OK, I'm stumped.

That would be "Silas Marner".

John, you are no help to anyone!

It's "The Brothers Karamazov."

You're right. I should have given the author.
It's by "George" Eliot.

The TMP tradition would be for someone who actually knows the title to keep it from us, but instead inform us that, "It's the fifth in the Planet Pongo series."

If the writer was, say, Smith or Jones, that might be mentioned as well. But not otherwise.

And here I was, noting six responses and feeling both hopeful (for the anticipated answer) and pathetic (for not knowing the answer when six others did).

Instead, I find out that I'm still pathetic (for not knowing). But I'm in good company :)

Sadly, one does not type "Little Willie" into Google and expect useful results about a kids book.

Don't type in "rubber organ" either.

The books title was Hudibras by Samuel Butler.

Don't type in "rubber organ" either.