Boys and Men 
 
 A Story of Life at Tale 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD HOLBROOK 
 
 I 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 
 1900 
 
i 
 
 Copyright, 1900 
 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS JOHN WILSON 
 AND SON CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
ro 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 282113 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. THE MERRYMAKERS 1 
 
 II. THE GOURMETS ALSO BUDSON 20 
 
 III. A RIOT 32 
 
 IV. HIGHER THINGS 42 
 
 V. TOIL AND POLITICS 51 
 
 VI. JACK WRITES A LETTER 57 
 
 VII. EXODUS : . . . . 62 
 
 VIII. DESMOND . . 66 
 
 IX. Two POINTS OF VIEW 74 
 
 X. A COWARD S HONOUR 79 
 
 XL INTO THE WORLD 84 
 
 XII. MARGARET GLENN 98 
 
 XIII. WHEN FRIENDS FALL OUT 106 
 
 XIV. THE TEMPLE BAR 114 
 
 XV. THE FENCE 120 
 
 XVI. TORCH AND COWL 124 
 
 XVH. AT TURN OF TIDE 128 
 
 XVIII. AFFINITIES 131 
 
 XIX. CONFESSIONS 141 
 
 XX. JACK S LIMITATIONS 147 
 
 XXI. A TEST . 153 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAQJ 
 
 XXII. ON THE VERGE 15; 
 
 XXIII. A FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 165 
 
 XXIV. AFTER THE BATTLE 174 
 
 XXV. THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 18 
 
 XXVI. THE BAUBLE FAME 21$ 
 
 XXVII. LOVE AND GLOOM 226 
 
 XXVIII. ON THE RAILWAY 24 
 
 XXIX. WHEN STORMS ARISE . . 24 
 
 XXX. THE POINT OF HONOUR 256 
 
 XXXI. REPARATION 274 
 
 Vlll 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 " T TELLO! Anybody at home? Are you in, 
 
 11 Jack ? " Billy pushed the door of 162 Far- 
 nam as wide open as it would go, and looked in. 
 "What are you doing?" 
 
 "Ploughing," returned Jack, placidly, as he thrust 
 head and shoulders into a yawning trunk. " When 
 did you arrive, William ? " 
 
 "Oh! lately. Can I come in?" 
 
 " You can if you can," observed Jack. " How is 
 the boy, Billy?" 
 
 "Me? Sound, thanks." 
 
 " I am glad to hear it. Climb in and help me. Be 
 useful. Got any conditions ? " 
 
 "Don t speak of it. Hang them! Yes, four. 
 Mathematics, mathematics, mathematics, and mathe 
 matics ! " 
 
 Jack grinned. " You re a proud scholar, Bill, but 
 it s pleasant to see you with such a summery expres 
 sion on your young phiz." 
 
 The two boys (or men, as the last-born freshman 
 will call himself) shook hands vigorously, with the 
 i 1 
 
:BOYH AND MEN 
 
 air of renewing an old-time comradeship. William 
 James, a dark-haired, dark-eyed stripling of eighteen, 
 a hand s-breadth under the ordinary height, was one ; 
 the other was John Eldredge. 
 
 "How do you like my room?" asked Jack, as he 
 resumed his diving into the baggage that lay strewn 
 upon the floor. 
 
 "It s pretty high," mused James. 
 
 " But the price is n t, and if you insist I 11 have an 
 elevator put in for you. Look out of the window ! 
 Is n t that nice ? Gaze at the churches on the Green, 
 and the City Hall, and the street, and the grass and 
 things, all for three dollars and fifty cents a week." 
 
 As he talked, Eldredge continued to unload his 
 trunk, now spreading some precious garment on the 
 dirty floor, now shying deftly a pair of boots into far 
 ther parts. James had discovered a guitar amongst 
 the litter, and was mangling a tune. He sat on the 
 high window-seat with one leg thrown over the other, 
 and his right foot braced against the casing. 
 
 "Where s your wife, Jack ? " 
 
 "Joseph? Oh, I don t know. Nosing around 
 down town, maybe. He saw an antique table this 
 morning, something with six legs, a sort of centi 
 pede in the furniture line. Probably he s trying to 
 buy it in. Joe is no small potatoes as an antiquary, 
 you know. He s a connossoor." 
 
 " A what ? " 
 
 " A connossoor." 
 
 " Oh, sure. I did n t catch on at first. Joe s 
 guitar was making too much noise. When 11 he 
 be back?" 
 
 2 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 " Most any time. Where are you staying, Bill ? " 
 
 " At a very good place," responded James. " The 
 landlady is a friend of a chap who had a friend there 
 last year. She says she always tries to make her 
 house seem just like a home. My window looks out 
 on a lumber yard. There s a brass bedstead and a 
 hair-sofa in the bedroom. Mrs. Jones thinks I 11 be 
 veiy cosey." 
 
 Eldredge smiled a little and yawned. There was a 
 tap at the door, and a thick voice mumbled something 
 unintelligible. In the doorway stood a short negro 
 with sloping shoulders and arms long as those of his 
 distant cousin in the African woods. On his head, 
 or, rather, over that all but intelligent receptacle, 
 rested a derby so large that it seemed to repose upon 
 his protruding ears. In his buttonhole was fastened 
 a white porcelain disk, on which was inscribed in red 
 letters " One of the 400." The man had appeared so 
 suddenly as to seem like some grotesque apparition. 
 James looked out of the window for an instant. 
 Eldredge said, "What will you have?" 
 
 " Ah yo Mr. El redge ? " asked the darky, doubt 
 fully. 
 
 " Yes," he answered. * Do you want something ? " 
 
 " Yessir. I fought mebbe you had n t given de 
 job o keepin dis room to anybody else, and dat I 
 might as well ask fo it myself, f done swep yere 
 goin on twenty yea s. De las man I worked fo wuz 
 Mr. Lee. He done gradyeated." 
 
 " How much do you want? " asked Jack. 
 
 " I mos gen ly gets two dollahs a week. You spect 
 me to shine shoes ? " 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " I want you to keep everything clean. What is 
 your name, please?" 
 
 " Mistah Jackson." (This in a double bass.) 
 
 " Is your first name Andrew ? " asked Eldredge, 
 with dignity. 
 
 " Yessir," replied the man, somewhat puzzled. 
 
 "Very well," said Eldredge, "you might begin by 
 putting away everything that s on the floor." 
 
 " Does all dat belong to you ? " asked the darky. 
 Without waiting for a reply, he set slowly about do 
 ing as he was bidden. Suddenly he stopped. " Some 
 body s callin me," he said. " Dat sounds like Mr. 
 White." Dropping an armful of apparel, he went to 
 the door and listened. 
 
 " Oh, An rew Jackson ! " came a voice from below. 
 " Where you done hide ma duster ? " The sight of 
 that implement sticking from Andrew s rear pocket 
 like a misplaced tail was strange enough. Had he 
 unwittingly wagged it, the men might have laughed. 
 For a moment the fellow stood dubiously scratching 
 his woolly head. " I guess I mus a lef it down in 
 de secon entry," said he, and was off without further 
 consideration. 
 
 "Useful article," remarked James, chuckling. 
 " Oh ! he s a peach, dyed in the wool." 
 
 " Suppose," said Eldredge, " that instead of abusing 
 that guitar you get off that perch and do a little 
 work." 
 
 With an animation as great as his sloth, James 
 flopped off the window-seat, and fell to the task 
 with such energy that the disorderly pile had all 
 but disappeared when there came a timid knock at 
 
 4 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 the open door, and, looking up, the men beheld a 
 new visitor. 
 
 Before them stood a personage whose voluminously 
 uncertain figure was clad in a gown of purple calico. 
 With a folded newspaper she fanned her perspiring 
 face, and, having caught her breath, presented herself 
 in these simple terms : " Well, by grashis, t is very 
 hot to be climbin three pair o stairs. T is a warrum 
 day to-day." 
 
 After a short pause, during which she gazed at the 
 new-comer s things in a friendly way, she wiped the 
 moisture off her forehead and resumed : 
 
 " Arr you the gintleman that lives here?" said she 
 to Jack. 
 
 "Yes, I live here. Would you like to see me?" 
 
 " Well, I guess I do," she went on blandly, " if ye 
 have n t put out yer wash to some other lady." Then, 
 in a tone of commendation, " I washed alriddy four 
 years fer Mr. Eddy." 
 
 " Very well ; you 11 find what there is in the cor 
 ner. Will you write your name and where you live 
 on this bit of paper?" 
 
 " Mamie ! " cried the woman. At the summons 
 there sidled into the room a small girl, wagging her 
 head and blushing coyly. She stood gawkishly 
 awaiting further instruction. 
 
 " What do you want, mama ? " she faltered. 
 
 " Put me name on the payper." 
 
 " Oh, is that all you want ? " said the girl, and, 
 taking from Eldredge the slip of paper, she labori 
 ously scrawled the words "Miss Mamie McCann." 
 Her mother, who had now gathered up her bundle, 
 
 5 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 bowed benignantly to each of the men, and floated 
 out. On reaching the hall she turned to say " Good- 
 day ; " her offspring blushed once more, and both de 
 parted. The pair had not long been gone when there 
 came another visitor. He rapped firmly, like an old 
 acquaintance. 
 
 " Come in ! " cried Jack, and there entered a youth 
 of about two-and-twenty. His look was infinitely 
 callow, and there was something cheeky in the very 
 hair which curled in golden waves about his temples. 
 Mr. Edwin Budson introduced himself like a long- 
 lost friend. " Delighted to make your acquaintance," 
 said he. "Are you men camped here? I m right 
 across the hall." 
 
 " Are you ? " queried James, with a shade of 
 impudence. 
 
 " Well, just for the present," he answered, " but I 
 can tell you that I don t intend to stay there forever. 
 Every year a fellow moves into a sweller place. 
 That s done by lot, you know. Mr. Hitchcock 
 tends to all that. Have you met him?" 
 
 " No. I have only been here a couple of hours, 
 and have n t had time," replied Jack. 
 
 "Well, you just want to keep on the soft side of 
 Mr. Hitchcock, you bet! He runs the whole busi 
 ness. By the way, I neglected to ask your names." 
 
 " My name is Eldredge," said Jack. 
 
 " And mine is James W. James," said Billy, 
 cautiously. 
 
 " Well, mine s Budson. You 11 find my card 
 tacked on the door. That s the proper caper here. 
 You fellows are chums, are n t you ? " 
 
 6 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 "If you mean that we both inhabit this room," 
 said Billy, " we are not ; if you mean that Mr. 
 Eldredge is my friend, he is." 
 
 44 May I ask which of you lives here ? " 
 
 " I do," replied Eldredge. 
 
 " In that case I judge that you don t." 
 
 " No, I don t ; I live a long way off, but the name 
 of the street has completely slipped out of my mind." 
 
 " Perhaps we might strike a bargain then, James." 
 
 " How is that, Mr. Budson?" 
 
 "Look here," said Budson, "read that;" and he 
 handed James a telegram. 
 
 Billy read : 
 
 Regret to say have flunked again everything except 
 Roman History. Sorry to have missed you. Have 
 decided to go into business. H. BOSLET. 
 
 "Too bad, is n t it?" said Budson. "Bos is a 
 good all-around practical man. I ve known him for 
 years, and I tell you I am somewhat disappointed. 
 He will be a loss to the University. Well, there s 
 no use in crying over spilt milk, so I suppose I shall 
 have to do the next best thing. How would you like 
 to take Bosley s place, Mr. James? Fine room, 
 you know ; looks out on the Campus. You can see 
 everything that goes on, and it s dirt cheap. We 
 can easily fix it up with Hitchcock." 
 
 " You d better take Mr. Budson up on that," 
 remarked Jack, placidly. " Such chances come only 
 once in a long while." 
 
 But Billy declared he was sorry that a previous 
 engagement made it impossible indeed, he had 
 
 7 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 got into the clutches of a landlady, and was n t sure 
 she would let him go even at the end of the year. 
 
 " However, I tell you what I 11 do, Budson ; I ran 
 across a man this morning who would help make a 
 congenial crowd in this entry." 
 
 With a reassuring glance in Jack s direction, Billy 
 continued : " I 11 just look that fellow up and send 
 him around. He would jump at the chance." 
 
 "Thanks, ever so much, old man," said Budson. 
 " Well, good-day, gentlemen. Drop in any time 
 161, across the hall card is on the door." 
 
 "Say, Billy," said Eldredge, "you aren t putting 
 up a game at my expense, are you ? " 
 
 " Of course not, but I know a man that will man 
 age that fellow, a wild Westerner from Arizona. 
 I took breakfast with him this morning. He is years 
 older than you or I, and looks as if he meant business. 
 You fellows will like him, and he s probably run up 
 against stranger things than Budson." 
 
 Suddenly there was a clatter of heavy feet coming 
 up the stairs three steps at a time, a whack on the 
 door, which flew open before any one said, " Come 
 in ; " and four Andover boys were shaking hands with 
 Jack and Billy, and offering their congratulations on 
 the appearance of the room, which was declared to 
 be a " daisy." Then they all posted off to a restau 
 rant which one of the crowd believed to be a fresh 
 man "joint." The place was already almost full, 
 and everybody seemed to be making acquaintance 
 with every one else, which is a matter of course at 
 Yale during the first days before a man has had a 
 chance to choose his friends. James found his Ari- 
 
 8 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 zona man somewhere in the crowd, and introduced 
 him all around as " My friend Tarbell." Then Jack 
 spied his room-mate, Joe Glenn, and the whole party 
 sat down at one table. There was a terrific din, but 
 no ladies were present, and the waiters seemed used 
 to it. Occasionally a tureen landed with the soup on 
 the under side, or somebody s chicken changed places 
 with somebody s lobster, but in a scramble like that 
 you swallow what you get, and pay what the waiter 
 puts on your bill. 
 
 44 Look ! There s Budson ! " cried James. " Good 
 heavens ! I wonder if there is any one that man 
 does n t know ! Oh, Budson ! I say ! Budson ! Come 
 over ! " 
 
 Budson tore himself away with a " Sorry, old 
 man I Ve got some friends over yonder. I 
 may be back presently." He had donned a blue 
 sweater and some other warlike togs. 
 
 Budson awaited no presentation. He was one of 
 those people who in ten minutes would slap any royal 
 duke upon the back and call him " Old man," or 
 some other endearing name, just to show how much 
 he liked him. However, James said, "Budson, 
 Mr. Tarbell." Tarbell offered Budson his hand in a 
 very dignified way ; Budson shook it eagerly, his eyes 
 sparkling with cordiality. 
 
 44 Ah, delighted to meet you, Mr. Tarbell ! I hear 
 you re from Arizona. Great place, is n t it ? I had 
 an uncle out there two years ago, P. G. Budson. 
 Maybe you know him ? He s a bully chap. Owns 
 a mine or so. Well, how do you like this ? Great 
 place, is n t it ? I tell you, if a man has any stuff in 
 
 9 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 him, Yale is the place to bring it out. By the way, 
 Tarbell, my room-mate has gone back on me at the 
 last instant. Too bad ! Bosley was an all-around 
 good man. He would have made a great hit here." 
 Budson drew up a chair close to Tarbell, and asked 
 him how he would like Bosley s place. Evidently 
 the Western man felt quite capable of looking out for 
 himself, and, having knocked about town all day 
 with no finds to suit his purse, he informed Budson 
 that he would accept if he could get permission of 
 the Dean. For that night, at all events, he would 
 share the room. 
 
 The hubbub that had momentarily succumbed to 
 food now began again. Suddenly a huge fellow 
 stepped on a chair and said, " Gentlemen ! " in a 
 deep bass that made every one look his way. " Gen 
 tlemen ! " said this self-appointed herald, " there is 
 to be a great game this evening, wrestling and 
 other stunts the sophomores may c rush us, so 
 every man ought to be there." 
 
 " That s why I put on this sweater," said Budson. 
 
 Presently every one was hurrying into the street, 
 crying, " 95, this way ! 95, this way ! " As the 
 column marched, others joined. Some had put on 
 canvas jackets ; most were hatless, though there fell 
 a drizzling rain. The ranks grew more serried, and, 
 as they neared the scene of combat, they were inarch 
 ing three by three. The big man with the bass voice 
 was leading. In one hand (he had no other) he held 
 a small blue banner with a white 95 upon it. From 
 time to time he would face his advancing host and 
 roar like a bull : " Keep close, 95, column right, 
 
 10 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 this way ! " and everybody in the small army 
 shouted " Right ! " or " Left ! " according to which 
 foot he happened to have foremost. The huge man 
 with the tiny banner walked now backwards, now 
 forwards, and his recruits followed him as sponta 
 neously as sheep follow the biggest ram. Some had 
 reefed their trousers to the very knees, some had 
 donned their football jeans, some wore rubber boots ; 
 but they all splashed carelessly through New 
 Haven s infinitely and ever dirty streets. This 
 Coxey army, this veritable rabble, filed into an open 
 lot in which another crowd had already gathered. A 
 great circle was formed, near the middle of which 
 flamed a small bonfire. Those in the front row 
 squatted or knelt. The sophomores were yelling in 
 chorus, " Oh, Freshmen, bring out your man ! " 
 
 Presently a senior, who seemed to have been chosen 
 umpire, stepped into the ring. " The first event of 
 the evening," he announced, with the approved pro 
 fessional drawl, " will be a wrestling match between 
 featherweights. Owing to the weather, the perform 
 ance will be limited to one bout for each pair. 94, 
 bring out your man ! " 
 
 A wiry little fellow came forward and stood wait 
 ing in a Napoleonic attitude. The freshman cham 
 pion did not appear. 
 
 " Come ! " shouted some facetious sophomore, 
 " there must be lots of featherweights in your class. 
 Trot em out!" 
 
 Another little man emerged from nowhere in par 
 ticular ; the umpire said, " Time ! " and they were 
 at it furiously. 
 
 11 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 First they danced about like two gamecocks ; then 
 there was a dash, and one seemed to pass right 
 through the other. The upper classmen jeered and 
 the champions rushed again. This time they grappled 
 and went rolling around, until of a sudden the fresh 
 man stood on his head and in another second came 
 down flat on his back. 
 
 " Featherweight goes to 94," said the umpire. 
 The sophomores cheered and patted their champion 
 on his sweaty back. 
 
 " The next event of the evening," announced the 
 umpire, " will be middleweight wrestling." 
 
 Again a sophomore strode very promptly into the 
 arena. Some sophomoric joker cried out : " Be easy 
 with him, Jonesy. His bones are young and delicate." 
 
 This time the freshmen delayed; they seemed to 
 have settled on no man. Their adversaries began 
 shouting, " Oh, Freshmen, let s have Edwin Budson ! 
 Come, Edwin, brace up, old man ! " 
 
 " Shall I go? " said Budson to his neighbours. 
 
 Before he could master his hesitation some one else 
 stepped forward, and the tussle began. The wrest 
 lers sprang at each other slapped each other s ribs 
 in the effort to get a hold dodged grappled 
 broke away but, all at once, the freshman caught 
 his opponent fairly about the thighs, bringing him 
 down with a crash, and pressing his shoulders and 
 hips tightly to the earth. 
 
 " The second event goes to 95," said the umpire. 
 
 The sophomore limped away. The freshmen raised 
 a cheer and a few of them cried, " Good work, 
 Eldredge ! you downed him beautifully." 
 
 12 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 " The third and last event of the evening," cried 
 the umpire, " will be a bout between heavyweights." 
 
 " You re the man," whispered James to Tarbell. 
 " I know the fellow 94 has chosen ; he is a brute, 
 but you will throw him if he does n t get you around 
 the waist." 
 
 " I should n t like to disgrace the class," Tarbell 
 answered ; but James cried, " Hurrah for Tarbell ! " 
 and then there was no getting out of it, so Tarbell 
 stepped forward very deliberately. His adversary 
 was waiting for him. The Arizona man had simply 
 slipped off his coat and waistcoat; the sophomore 
 was naked to his trousers. Evidently he hardly ex 
 pected to be thrown, as the ground was uneven and 
 stony. There was excitement on each side, for this 
 was the decisive bout and would raise or lower the 
 prestige of the class that won it. 
 
 The two men walked up to each other and shook 
 hands. Then they backed off and began circling 
 slowly, with their bodies bent slightly forward and 
 their arms working nervously. 
 
 "Careful, Brown," some one said; "you know 
 where to catch him." 
 
 The sophomore made a quick rush at Tarbell, who 
 jumped aside and slapped down the hand that 
 clutched at his waist. Then, before his adversary 
 had quite recovered his balance, both Tarbell s hands 
 grasped him by the wrist and gave him such a wrench 
 that he spun half-way round and fell full on his face. 
 In a second the Western man was on him, but the 
 match was over. The sophomore was winded; his 
 skin was scraped and bleeding. 
 
 13 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " The third and last event of the evening," cried 
 the umpire, " is won b} Tarbell, and the honours go to 
 95." Straightway there was a scramble. The fresh 
 men gathered about their champion, cheering them 
 selves hoarse. That is one way in which men begin 
 to be known at Yale. 
 
 The crowd began now to break up. Various 
 groups straggled through the streets, singing their 
 pet ditties, shouting, talking, laughing, defeat or 
 victory making little difference. Eldredge, Tarbell, 
 and a few others were still on the field. 
 
 " I say ! Tarbell," said James, " you spun that man 
 to the Queen s taste. I am deeply grateful to you. 
 He tried some nonsense on me this morning, but now 
 I am even with him." Tarbell laughed. 
 
 " That was great work I " chimed Budson, putting 
 one arm about Eldredge s shoulder and patting Tar 
 bell approvingly on the back. " I hope neither of 
 you men is hurt. If you are, come over to my room 
 got a whole chest full of drugs over there, and can 
 doctor you up in no time." 
 
 At this instant a new man joined the group. He 
 was very modest and affable. " I saw you fellows 
 standing here," said he, " and as you evidently be 
 long to my class, I thought I d ask you if you wished 
 to see a little fun down town. Lots of us freshmen 
 will be there. There s going to be a celebration." 
 
 Everybody seemed willing enough, so the new 
 comer made himself guide. He appeared to know a 
 deal about the University and the town. They 
 crossed the old Green, passed through a dirty alley, 
 and entered a small court. The well-informed young 
 
 14 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 man knocked at a door ; it opened, and the new party 
 entered. The door shut behind them. Immediately 
 there arose a confusion of yells : " Hey there ! More 
 freshmen ! Bully for you, Dodge ! " The room was 
 crowded with men who sat at tables, drinking beer 
 in tankards. The air was thick with smoke. One 
 fellow was perched on a chair which had been set 
 upon a table. He was blindfolded. 
 
 " Well," said Eldredge to James, " we re in for 
 it ! " and added, " Perhaps that Dodge heard you 
 say how you had got even with Brown." 
 
 Billy looked rather sheepish at having been 
 tricked so easily. Tarbell showed no emotion. He 
 was quietly " sizing up " the situation. Somebody 
 shouted : " Sit down, Freshmen ! What do you 
 mean by standing up while everybody else has a 
 chair?" 
 
 " There are n t any chairs left," remarked Budson, 
 guilelessly. 
 
 " Then sit on the floor and hang your feet off- 
 Take off your hat ! Gentlemen never wear their 
 hats in the house." 
 
 " Then why do you wear yours ? " retorted Budson. 
 
 " I am not a gentleman," said the tormentor, " I 
 am a lady. Waiter, bring this freshman a glass of 
 water." 
 
 44 Hello! Why, holy smoke! If that isn t my 
 friend Budson ! " cried another. " How d ye do, old 
 man? Waiter, put a little salt in that water. I 
 say, Freshman Budson, do you recognize that 
 boy on the table? We ve been trying to find out 
 whether he knows you. Hey there, child! Look 
 
 15 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 this way! I want you to meet Mr. Budson. Mr. 
 Budson is one of the brightest boys in your class. 
 Aren t you, Edwin?" 
 
 The blindfolded youth was now commanded to 
 descend, and, before he quite realized what had 
 occurred, Budson was in his place, but they put no 
 bandage over his eyes. Then a slender youth beat 
 upon the table for silence. 
 
 " Gentlemen ! " cried he, " let us all join in singing 
 4 Bingo ! Do you sing, Edwin ? " 
 
 "A little," replied Budson. 
 
 " I did n t suppose you were a De Reszke. What 
 voice ? " 
 
 " Baritone, I guess." 
 
 " You should say baritone, I think, sir. Gentlemen 
 don t say I guess. Now we will sing the air and you 
 may join in the chorus. Do you know how to sing 
 chorus ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " All right, then. Have you learned the words ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir, I think so." 
 
 " Tray beens I Now we re off ! " 
 
 " Here s to good old Yale, drink her down, drink her down ; 
 Here s to good old Yale, drink her down, drink her down ; 
 Here s to good old Yale, she s so hearty and so hale ; 
 Drink her down, drink her down, drink her down, down, down." 
 
 " Now, chorus ! " shouted the conductor. 
 
 Budson started off loudly: "We won t go there 
 any more ; " but the room was so still that you could 
 have heard a shadow. 
 
 " That will do for you, Budson," said the conductor, 
 and Budson was taken down amid shouts of laughter. 
 
 16 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 Tarbell looked on grimly ; Eldredge said nothing ; 
 James seemed to be immersed in thought. 
 
 "Whose turn is it now?" yelled several at once. 
 " Ah ! yes, the gentleman from Ken-tucky. Up, sah ! 
 Stand on the table ! " The man from Kentucky 
 stood on the table, and there was fire in his eye. 
 
 " Now, Colonel," said a flabby youth who had just 
 drained another tankard, " will you kindly give your 
 maiden name and state when and why you were 
 born?" 
 
 " My name is Fitzhugh Clifton Thorndyke, sir ; I 
 refuse to answer your other question." 
 
 " Never mind, Mr. Thorndyke, the fact is of no 
 importance. Will you be so good as to tell us what 
 is the most remarkable thing in the State you hail 
 from when you are not at home ? " 
 
 "Apparently," replied Thorndyke, with the tone 
 of his native soil, " you consider yourself a wit, but 
 it strikes me as bein v of a very low order." 
 
 When a man has a temper like that, and dignity to 
 boot, it is wiser not to goad him too far. The South 
 erner was requested to get down, which he did with 
 the haughty air that bespeaks your thoroughbred. 
 It is generally true that Southerners and men from 
 the mountains of the West have small liking for 
 Yankee chaff. Perhaps it comes from living in a 
 sparsely settled region where firearms are looked into 
 more often than comic papers. However that may 
 be, a Yalensian usually has the tact to know the dif 
 ference between jest in fun and jest in earnest. 
 
 " Where is the next victim ? " asked an inquisitor. 
 
 " My new friend James," some one answered ; and 
 2 17 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Billy recognized the voice of Dodge. But there was 
 no help for it ; so Billy mounted the table and in an 
 instant every joker or would-be joker in the room 
 was firing the small shot of his wit at whatever he 
 imagined to be a weak spot in the young man s 
 armour. Some of the questions James pretended not 
 to hear; others he answered with amusing good 
 sense, restraining the flood of his repartee just where 
 it might become impertinence. 
 
 Finally some well-moistened individual bawled out, 
 "I say, Mr. James, how do you decline the verb 
 Nbot" 
 
 There was a storm of caterwauls and derisive 
 shouts: "Down with Old Stuff Bingham ! " "OK, 
 Bingham, guess again ! " etc., etc. 
 
 James stepped down from the table, and finding 
 Tarbell and Eldredge, slipped out into the street. 
 They went along together, arm in arm, as if they 
 had known one another all their lives. 
 
 " Say, Jack," blurted Billy, as he started out of a 
 sleepy silence, "had we anything to grind out for 
 to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Of course ; it s all on the bulletin." 
 
 " In that case," said James, " I shall have to burn 
 the midnight oil." 
 
 " Oh ! worse n that," responded Jack, cheerfully. 
 
 The town clock was striking eleven. " Well, 
 good-night," said James ; " it looks as if I were going 
 to be prevented from living up to resolutions." 
 
 " Good-night," said his two companions ; and they 
 crossed the old Common and passed between Durfee 
 College and Battell Chapel on to the Campus. 
 
 18 
 
THE MERRYMAKERS 
 
 As they climbed Farnani s stairs, Tarbell said, 
 " How is it, Eldredge, that you and I were n t made 
 to share in that nonsense ? " 
 
 " Between ourselves," answered Eldredge, " I know 
 some of those fellows and asked them not to bother 
 us. I am pledged to join one of their societies 
 secret you know, and I thought you might like to 
 be with the crowd. That s why they left us alone 
 do you see ? " 
 
 u Yes, I think I do," answered Tarbell, " but it is 
 d d strange. I wonder where my room is." 
 
 " Here ; strike a match," said Eldredge. " It s 
 just across the hall. You 11 find Hudson s card on 
 the door. Good-night." 
 
 " Good-night." 
 
 John Eldredge threw off his dirty clothes and 
 crawled into bed. He was bruised and weary. The 
 rain had ceased to fall, and a full September moon 
 was shining into his small bedroom, while somewhere 
 down on the Common three or four tuneful voices 
 were singing a sentimental song. Joe Glenn was 
 slumbering just audibly in the twin bedroom across 
 the study. For a while Eldredge lay thinking the 
 vague thoughts that come to a man just before he falls 
 asleep. Then he heard the chime of the college 
 clock making ready to strike twelve. How beautiful 
 it sounds during the first few weeks of college life ! 
 But when a man has heard it awhile he finds that 
 the clock is imperious, and that the bells are out of 
 tune. 
 
 19 
 
II 
 
 THE GOUKMETS ALSO BUDSON 
 
 SAVE in a volunteer regiment on the brink of 
 battle, there is no place where a man can make 
 friends more quickly than at college. They come 
 quite naturally, because what pleases you pleases also 
 them; and they stay till time and necessity have 
 slowly rubbed them from your memory, and you are 
 obliged to forget them as old age sometimes makes 
 men forget even what they themselves once were. In 
 a week you have known your neighbour a year ; in a 
 year you have known him all your life. He borrows 
 your books and sleeps in your bed ; he sins and you 
 repent for him. He may even end by marrying the 
 one whom you had chosen, but still he is your 
 friend. St. Elihu is the tie that binds. It is his 
 spirit the Yale spirit that for two centuries 
 has breathed such force and optimism into his innu 
 merable brood. 
 
 In making these friends, what strange things may 
 happen ! Suppose, for instance, that your name be 
 Smith. On one side of you sits Smiley; on the 
 other, Smythe. Smiley invites you to his home 
 to spend Christmas. Smiley has a beautiful sister 
 who straightway falls in love with you. Flattered 
 at being valued at your true worth, you reciprocate 
 Miss Smiley s passion, overcome the obduracy of 
 
 20 
 
THE GOURMETS ALSO BUDSOX 
 
 her sire, and eventually marry her. As likely as 
 not her father s fears were groundless, a fact 
 which may easily be proved by your living happily 
 ever afterward. 
 
 Now, suppose that you like Smiley less than 
 S my the. Smythe has no sister, but he is enormously 
 rich. He sees in you one of those men who have an 
 inborn capacity for managing vast estates. This fact 
 he communicates to his father, who obtains your ser 
 vices, and, having discovered that your talents sur 
 pass his most sanguine expectations, intrusts to you 
 the care of his prodigious fortune. In a few years 
 you are rich beyond the dreams of avarice, and ulti 
 mately secure a seat in the Senate. 
 
 Evidently, since all your weal or woe may hang on 
 just such a chance, if you are a wise man you will go 
 with both eyes open, and make a careful study both 
 of Smiley and of Smythe before you risk your happi 
 ness. A man should choose his friends as he chooses 
 his clothes, to fit. Therefore be circumspect, es 
 chewing all Budsonian cordiality, which must inevi 
 tably lead to a deadly snub. 
 
 Glenn and Eldredge were aroused at a sunny hour 
 
 by Andrew Jackson, who was looking for their boots. 
 
 " Is that you, Andrew ? " said Eldredge, engulfing 
 
 the last word in a yawn. " What time is it, 
 
 Andrew ? " 
 
 "Fo* minutes pas seven, Mistah El redge." 
 
 " Then wake me up in just twent} T -six minutes." 
 
 " Oh, Jack Eldredge ! " shouts Glenn. " Are you 
 
 up?" 
 
 21 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " At this infernal hour? I should say not ! Go to 
 sleep." 
 
 " Get up, you lazy duffer. It s twenty minutes to 
 eight." 
 
 " Great heavens ! No is it ? Andrew, I thought 
 you said it was four minutes past seven." 
 
 " Excuse me, Mr. El redge, I reckon ma watch 
 must ha got twisted. It s now exackly twenty-eight 
 minutes and a qua ter befo eight." 
 
 "Thanks, Andrew. Joe, remind me to buy an 
 alarm clock. Our sweep is liable to break his main 
 spring and leave me in the lurch." 
 
 This trivial conversation having passed, the two 
 leap out of bed. Eldredge makes some passes at an 
 imaginary boxer, splashes himself with cold water, 
 dives into his clothes, spends five minutes looking for 
 a button, and is ready for breakfast, which is con 
 sumed in about fifteen minutes. 
 
 The Chapel clock is striking eight, and long lines 
 of students are straggling toward morning prayers. 
 Most of them are well-dressed, and bear themselves 
 with an air of easy-going elegance. It is not rain 
 ing, but many have their trousers turned up. The 
 custom is quite justifiable, since it enables a man 
 to show his taste in socks, and saves him the ardu 
 ous labour of taking a reef in bad weather. Others 
 wear white or plain blue sweaters. On some of 
 the blue sweaters are white numerals to show mem 
 bership in a class or college crew, or in some other 
 of the many small teams. A few bear huge Ys, 
 a token of high estate, for the wearer is on 
 a Varsity team or rows in the Varsity crew. And 
 
 22 
 
THE GOURMETS ALSO BUDSON 
 
 still others there be who wear sweaters out of 
 thrift. 
 
 " Observe the lazy Peterson. 
 He has an ancient sweater on. 
 He wears it all the week and Sundy 
 And does not get it washed on Mundy. 
 If I had half a dozen dollars 
 I d buy this man some linen collars." 
 
 The great pointer on the clock is moving visibly 
 toward ten minutes past eight, and the straggling lines 
 grow denser. This is the moment when the future in 
 curable dyspeptic is bolting his last mouthful. He 
 knows to a second just when he must break for the 
 Chapel in order to escape the marks which may 
 doom him to a six weeks residence in the country 
 if the great doors are shut in his face instead of just 
 behind his back. The crowd moves faster and faster. 
 Upper classmen quit the Fence, where they have 
 been basking in the morning sun, and join in the 
 rush. From the farthest part of the Quadrangle the 
 most hardened loiterers begin their daily paradoxical 
 sprint. It is a two-hundred-yard dash to the Chapel 
 door. The organ, with a habit known to old-timers, 
 plays threateningly. In an instant more the big 
 doors swing into their locks, and Lazy Tom is left 
 outside to reckon his marks with Sleepy Dick and 
 Shiftless Harry. 
 
 Freshmen are very careful not to miss this first 
 morning, quite as careful as the improvident are 
 to stay in their beds. It has a novelty then, and 
 there is a fascination in being inside a church where 
 a thousand men are gathered to respect a tradition. 
 
 23 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Besides, the music is ponderous with bassos robustos 
 and baritone tenors. It thrills for a while in those 
 first days of innocence, but after a time you get used 
 to it, and finally hear nothing at all. The first year 
 Chapel is a task ; the second it is drudgery ; the 
 third it is duty in duty s most utilitarian form ; the 
 fourth and last it is a habit, twenty minutes of 
 something between a stupor and a waking sleep. 
 When it is all over, the man who has gone through 
 comes to the conclusion that Chapel is a very bene 
 ficial institution, a conclusion which he enforces 
 upon his younger brother or unwilling son. 
 
 But for a new-comer it is a pleasing sensation to sit 
 within those walls and breathe in Yale s oldest tradi 
 tion. Tarbell, who was not a pious man, sat beneath 
 the oaken gallery, and, like a true Westerner, " sized 
 things up." As the organ began the chant, he could 
 hear Budson blurt one faulty note, and abruptly stop, 
 as no one in the church save the choir was singing. 
 " However," thought Tarbell to himself, " Budson 
 is n t such an ass when you have eliminated his most 
 salient characteristics." The fact was that Tarbell, 
 who had bought no furniture, had been obliged to re 
 sort almost to violence before he could persuade the 
 man not to give up his narrow bed. Tarbell slept on 
 the floor as he had many a time slept on the bare earth, 
 and thought the more kindly of Budson. 
 
 The Western man had hardly been out of his own 
 State until now, but he was shrewd enough to rise or 
 sit at the proper time, and he observed that the boys 
 immediately about him watched the upper classmen 
 narrowly, so as to make no " bulls." Presently there 
 
 24 
 
THE GOURMETS ALSO BUDSON 
 
 came the benediction ; then every one stood while the 
 seniors faced the centre aisle. The organ struck up 
 a recessional, and the President passed down between 
 the senior pews. As he did so, the men immediately 
 in front of him bowed to their waists, and fell in be 
 hind the President, following him so closely as almost 
 to touch the tails of his coat. There used, by the 
 way, to be a superstition that actual contact there 
 with would work a charrn. 
 
 In another instant every one was moving toward 
 the doors. Two orderly lines passed, one along 
 College Street between the University buildings 
 and the Green; the other down the Campus, chat 
 ting over morning papers or whiffing short-lived 
 cigarettes. 
 
 Tarbell walked along with James, who had the 
 bedraggled look which comes of going to bed at four 
 and rising at seven. Close behind came Eldredge, 
 walking mechanically, while his brains absorbed the 
 intricacies of a certain transparent figure which looked 
 to him more like a badly made rat-trap than a problem 
 of solid geometry. Now the long lines broke into 
 smaller groups which entered various buildings or 
 went wherever their business carried them. 
 
 Who that has not been through it can know the 
 queerness of those first days of college life ! It is a 
 new world, differing from the bigger one without as 
 a beehive differs from a Noah s Ark. Small wonder 
 that a youth who has freshly tumbled into it should 
 go about in a sort of maze, with his head full of blun 
 ders yet unborn, and stepping at every instant upon 
 the toes of some hallowed tradition ! 
 
 25 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 The very first day, Budson was guilty of smoking a 
 pipe (which he was promptly requested to put into 
 his pocket), and of taking a beardless tutor for a 
 freshman. Budson had, purely out of habit, addressed 
 him as " old man," and did not realize his error until 
 he saw the beardless young man behind a desk, and 
 heard him explain how it was that " Hamlet " was writ 
 by Shakespeare and not by Bacon. " I tell you," said 
 Budson, afterward, " these tutors have wonderful tact. 
 Why, that man did n t even notice me on the street 
 an hour later ! But it was a great joke on me, was n t 
 it?" 
 
 After the first recitation, Tarbell, who could get 
 something useful even out of Budson s conversation, 
 with a few hints from Eldredge, began to organize an 
 eating club, thereby doing away with an expense of 
 five or six dollars a week. Tarbell to use his own 
 expression was " considerably shy on money," 
 though he confessed to having four thousand dollars 
 invested at twelve per cent somewhere in New Mex 
 ico. Jack smiled when he heard this, as he had a 
 couple of hundred thousand drawing three per cent 
 when times were good. 
 
 " Tarbell, you are certainly a hustler," said Jack. 
 
 " You have to be when your capital is no bigger 
 than mine," answered Tarbell, and then added, " The 
 lucky thing about this eating club is that my partner 
 is rounding up one for himself. I believe he has 
 fifteen men." 
 
 " I should like to have a look at them when he has 
 them all together," remarked Jack, with a tinge of 
 irony. 
 
 26 
 
THE GOURMETS ALSO BUDSON 
 
 By the evening of that day Tarbell had mustered 
 in what James afterward characterized as " the most 
 interesting aggregation of freaks that ever sat at one 
 table." Of course that meant himself as well as Tar- 
 bell, Eldredge, Glenn, and others unnamed. More 
 over, Tarbell had found a landlady who promised all 
 that he asked, and volunteered, without so much as a 
 hint, that she served pie only twice a week. When 
 one considers that in Connecticut pie just as normally 
 ends a meal as soup outside of the pie belt begins it, the 
 fact gains an almost historic importance. Certain it is 
 that during four years no one ever quit the Gourmets 
 barring two or three who went to the training table, 
 and Mr. Fitzhugh Thorndyke and James, who in due 
 time spent six weeks of enforced absence in the coun 
 try. The famous Tobacco Parliament met in the first 
 place to Smoke, in the second to think ; the chief aim 
 of the Gourmets was to Eat. But what substantial 
 consequences are wrapped up in that one word ! If a 
 man is healthy, he is hungry ; if he is hungry, he eats ; 
 if he eats, he will not quarrel, because food maketh 
 friendship. Ergo, the Gourmets did not quarrel 
 except sometimes. 
 
 How full and joyful are those first days ! Every 
 thing seems so strange that a man loses his own 
 thoughts, almost his own emotions ; but he comes 
 to with the realization that to cope successfully he 
 must put forth his strength and do something, else 
 his own existence will be submerged, and others will 
 wear the tiny crown that the admiring majority sets 
 upon its heroes. It is a mimic world without the 
 women. There are friendships, meannesses, jealous- 
 
 27 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 ies, and galling strife. It is a jumbled comedy with 
 out a plot, with stars and supes ; and once in a while 
 there is a touch of something that for a moment robs 
 the situation of its gayety, as a small cloud casts a 
 shadow on a sunlit day. 
 
 On the afternoon of the third day everybody had 
 begun to find himself. Tarbell and Eldredge, sore 
 in muscle but stubborn of spirit, were struggling for 
 places in the University football squad. James was 
 suffering all the pangs of the lazy man who has ideals 
 and a conscience, while Budson was making and los 
 ing friends at the rate of a dozen a day. To say that 
 Budson had ambition would belittle the truth. His 
 imagination soared to ambition s highest peaks, scan 
 ning the horizon with the eagle glance of a desire 
 that has no end. Was there a place on the Crew ? 
 Then he would fill it. Was the University in dire 
 need of literary talent? Budson was the man. 
 There was no honour to which he did not aspire, 
 and none that he received. Hardly a week had 
 passed when there was to be an election to a high 
 office. Budson informed everybody in strictest con 
 fidence that he had packed the meeting and expected 
 to be chosen by a unanimous vote. He was named, 
 seconded, and, lo ! the ballot box held only one slip 
 bearing his name, and that in his handwriting. A 
 weaker soul might have faltered. Not so Budson. 
 His eager brain was fired to greater efforts, just as 
 a man may be fired by a bomb which explodes in his 
 own pocket. He had been informed by a skilled 
 leech at the Gymnasium that his shape was perfectly 
 normal. " What does perfectly normal mean ? " said 
 
 28 
 
THE GOURMETS ALSO BUDSON 
 
 the inner consciousness of Budson to itself. " Why, 
 strength, of course, manly strength ! " So Budson 
 inspected his muscles and went forth upon the foot 
 ball field to do battle. There was a mighty heave, a 
 cloud of dust, and when the pile was undone Budson 
 was found holding the runner securely. He had 
 " downed him in his tracks." Then somebody said, 
 " You idiot-! Don t you know that man is on your 
 own side ? " and thus another glory was never won. 
 So he turned to literature. Here was a field where 
 neither the corruption of politics nor the need of 
 unthinking brute force could prevail. What madri 
 gals dripped from his pen, what epics soared, what 
 ballads danced upon innumerable virgin quires ! It 
 was a wonder the very paper did not blush. How 
 little the editors of the " Lit " appreciated these 
 genial flights will be easily seen from the following, 
 which now for the first time stands in print. Who 
 the fair lady was may never be known ; perhaps but 
 a tender creature of rhapsodical fancy. The poem is 
 called " To Elsa s Eyes," and thus it runs : 
 
 Deep azure orbs, sweet eyes of brown, 
 Adown your hazel depths I gaze. 
 You sweetly smile you could not frown ! 
 And searching in their beauteous maze 
 My heart is filled with Love s loud glee; 
 For then, Fair Elsa, as I gaze, 
 Methinks that I my image see ! 
 
 This dazzling gem was confided by its author to 
 one W. James, who, seeing its chaste excellence, 
 shared it with others, and thus it became known 
 to almost every one in the University. So what 
 
 29 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 advantage could there have been in giving it to 
 print ? 
 
 None of these vagaries bothered Tarbell in the 
 least. He took Budson seriously, therefore chari 
 tably. There are people who seem fated to show 
 their frailties, while their virtues stay at home. Deep 
 down in Budson there was a kernel of generosity. 
 He was cheeky, but he was not selfish. Tarbell 
 knew all this ; so, when others tickled their vanity 
 by raking poor Budson fore and aft, Tarbell stood by 
 him, and more than once felt his long right leg itch 
 with a desire to kick several fellows into a proper 
 state of humiliation. Meanwhile he set to work to 
 get some sense into his room-mate, who listened to 
 him as a boy listens to his grandfather. And that 
 was about the difference in growth. 
 
 "Budson, the trouble with you is that you set 
 your mouth going and then go off and leave it. If 
 you don t quit that, somebody will call you an ass." 
 Thus would Tarbell pitch into him, and it was mar 
 vellous how Budson took it. Of course Tarbell knew 
 that Budson s parents were responsible when it came 
 to the last analysis, but that was something he never 
 intimated. 
 
 " What you need," said the Arizona man, "is to 
 quit pottering over poetry and bone down. This 
 college is n t meant for such soaring ambitions as 
 yours. So cool off, put your wings into your trunk, 
 and take a turn at solid work." 
 
 " But the other men will scoop the prizes." 
 
 " Prizes be damned ! " said Tarbell. " This Univer 
 sity isn t a little two-for-a-cent Olympia! " 
 
 30 
 
THE GOURMETS ALSO BUDSON 
 
 This sort of thing happened frequently during the 
 autumn term, and Budson went about like a man 
 who has made an heroic sacrifice, which means 
 that he looked melancholy. The net result was that 
 he swallowed Tarbell s doses, laid in a stock of 
 "trots," and began to make up lost time. 
 
 31 
 
Ill 
 
 A RIOT 
 
 THOSE late October days were beautiful. The 
 big elms were just turning to a tawny brown, 
 and/the outlying country was glorious with hues of de 
 cay. This was just what pleased the romantic James. 
 
 " You may say what you will about the benefits of 
 the higher education," quoth he, "but give me a good 
 book and let me lie under a tree away from bells and 
 whistles." 
 
 It was the demon of sloth laying snares for the 
 man who was born tired and needed all his life to 
 rest. So Billy studied just enough to satisfy his con 
 science, which was lenient, and spent hours wander 
 ing over the hills with Joshua Drake, whom he had 
 nicknamed Josh the Geologist, and other worshippers 
 of Pan. Or they would join the other worshipful 
 crowd which spent its afternoons on the Field, where 
 the various squads were getting into trim for the 
 coming struggles with Princeton and Harvard. Two 
 heavy ropes were stretched, one on each side of the 
 gridiron, behind which stood some hundreds of 
 youths, who watched their heroes as they surged back 
 and forth, mopping the grime and gore from their 
 reeking faces. It was no farce, either, but every 
 one tussled as if the fate of the University s honour 
 reposed upon his own sweaty shoulders. 
 
 32 
 
A RIOT 
 
 "Hey! Tarbell s got the ball! There he goes 
 through the line ! Look at the hole ! Gad, did you 
 see that tackle?" 
 
 Then the coach would berate some unlucky wight 
 for not being livelier, and the scrimmage began again. 
 Whenever the ball was passed the ropes were strained 
 by the fascinated crowd, which now and then burst 
 into a cheer as some one made a brilliant play. 
 Eldredge had a black eye, and stopped frequently to 
 nurse a bleeding nose, but he pranced around or 
 through the opposing lines like a crazy bull, his long 
 hair flying and a baleful gleam in his sound eye. 
 Now and then he dropped the ball, and the bald- 
 headed coach would launch at him a volley of rough 
 criticisms. At Yale this sort of thing is a tradition 
 sanctified by victory and the democratic spirit. No 
 body has any business to be ruffled by it, and nobody 
 ever talks back. 
 
 When the practice was done, the dirty heroes put 
 on their sweaters, climbed into wagons and were hur 
 ried to the Gymnasium, where the coaches delivered a 
 second round of abuse at the wriggling, naked forms 
 beneath the showers. Thus: "You men play as if 
 you had never seen a ball before. Tarbell, why 
 don t you use your elbows more? McBurney, you 
 run as if your legs were asleep. The first thing you 
 fellows know some little fresh-water college will beat 
 you, hands down. Eldredge, why don t you hang 
 on to that ball?" etc., etc. Nevertheless, Jack was 
 made half-back on the Varsity and, like Tarbell, 
 stayed there. 
 
 Meanwhile the crowd of non-combatants comes 
 3 33 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 flocking in; some studying for the evening recita 
 tions, others going over for the hundredth time the 
 points of a pet athlete. Some men know, or pretend 
 to know, the precise condition of everybody on the 
 Varsity or College teams, how much he loses in 
 perspiration, whether he has symptoms of water on 
 the knee, the girth of his chest, his grip, and his 
 prospects of being elected to a secret society. 
 
 "What d ye think of Freshman Tarbell?" asks 
 one youth of another. 
 
 ^ K "He s a sure thing, man; I ve got him slated for 
 everything in sight. He has tons of grit and is as 
 strong as a young giraffe. It s dollars to doughnuts 
 he goes to Bones. " The layman can hardly ima 
 gine what that expression signifies. To the mind of 
 a Yale undergraduate it means a sort of half-way 
 house to heaven. 
 
 " I 11 wager you even that Eldredge stays on the 
 team. That boy is full of ginger, and he s quick 
 enough to dodge an ordinary thunderbolt. Good- 
 looking chap, too, though I don t like curly brown 
 hair. What s his heft?" 
 
 " A hundred and sixty- two with his hair cut. D ye 
 know him?" 
 
 " Well, yes, distantly. I ve met his room-mate, 
 Joe Glenn. He s a heavyweight. They say he 
 knows more about languages than anybody on the 
 Faculty. He never thinks of using a trot. I wonder 
 if any of the Faculty trot out their translations! 
 Well, day day, old man! Look for me at Mory s 
 about ten p. x." 
 
 The Clan has no need of going outside its own 
 34 
 
A RIOT 
 
 boundaries for something to talk about. Its glories 
 are quite as apparent to the undergraduate as any 
 glories of the outer world, and, in those days, far 
 more absorbing. 
 
 Every evening a band of youths with time and to 
 spare foregathered in Tarbell and Hudson s rooms, 
 reposing in every place where a man could sit or lie, 
 one of the penalties of greatness being that a man s 
 admirers, if they don t worship at a distance, are 
 sure to waste a great deal of his time. About nine 
 o clock the lazy man unwillingly takes leave and 
 dawdles mournfully homeward. From nine to ten 
 he slaves, then he merely works, and finally he 
 dreams that he is working. At this psychological 
 moment his chum, who may be industrious, yells, 
 "Go to bed!" and the next morning the toiling 
 youth wonders why he has such a treacherous 
 memory. 
 
 When the band began to arrive, Tarbell would bar 
 ricade himself in his bedroom, and there he studied 
 as if the place had been as quiet as a church on 
 week-days. The first comer was usually one Robert 
 Ballentine, who lived next to Eldredge and Glenn. 
 The reason why Ballentine came first was clear. He 
 did all his work in classroom, and therefore had noth 
 ing to bother him out of hours. Another reason why 
 Ballentine came early was that if anything was said 
 or done he purposed to be on hand to know it. Tar 
 bell knew his rap, which was confident but inoffensive. 
 
 "Hello! Is that you, Ballentine? Take a seat; 
 I 11 be out in a while. I m very busy this evening." 
 
 Then there would be a pause and another visitor. 
 35 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " Come in ! Good-evening, Bill. Mr. James, 
 Mr. Ballentine. Make yourselves at home; I 11 be 
 out in a couple of hoars." 
 
 " You re getting to be an incorrigible grind, Tarb." 
 
 " I know it, Bill." 
 
 "Besides, you are not at all hospitable." 
 
 "Thanks! I say, Billy!" 
 
 "What 11 you have?" 
 
 "Open the door, please, so as to save guests the 
 trouble of knocking." 
 
 Here is another brief silence ; then Ballentine says, 
 "Oh, Tarbell! is it true that Pudge Sweet has a 
 game ankle?" 
 
 "No!" 
 
 There is now a tramp of feet on the broad wooden 
 stairs, and the "guests" arrive in numbers. A dis 
 cussion immediately arises as to whether it is justifi 
 able for low-stand men to crib in order to stay in 
 college. This knotty subject soon develops into a 
 discussion of morality in general, Mr. Fitzhugh 
 Thorndyke being of opinion that morality can be 
 boiled down to "personal honour," while James main 
 tains that it grows, " sometimes by the simple action 
 of nature, sometimes by cultivation," an opinion 
 which Joshua Drake declares to be right in the main 
 but loosely stated. Thereupon Ballentine deftly 
 turns the conversation to University politics. 
 
 "What a fellow needs," observes Ballentine, "is a 
 stout pull. If you haven t got a pull, your college 
 life is dead sure to be a fizzle." 
 
 The youth lowers his voice slightly, and speaks 
 with a conviction born of personal experience. He 
 
 36 
 
A RIOT 
 
 has a soft, earnest manner to indicate belief in his 
 own views, but watches his audience keenly, so as to 
 veer imperceptibly into another channel whenever 
 anybody s face may suggest a rising hostility. 
 
 "Now, this is how I look at the whole business. 
 If a man is a big athlete, unless he makes an unmiti 
 gated jay of himself, he is absolutely sure of having 
 anything he wants. Tarbell, for instance, and 
 Eldredge. Why, in two years those men will have 
 the whole University in their pocket! " This infor 
 mation is imparted almost in a whisper. " But sup 
 pose that a man is n t an athlete, I calculate that 
 there are only ninety-nine connected with the Univer 
 sity teams, what kind of a chance has he then of 
 being known? What does debating amount to, 
 anyway? In my opinion it s a fake. Did the man 
 who virtually downed Harvard last year receive any 
 recognition? Not on your life! Now, just suppose 
 a fellow has literary talent, not genius, but just 
 talent. Well, he probably will write and waste lots 
 of good paper and ink, to say nothing of his own 
 time, but how will he come out? Nine times in ten 
 he won t be able to do the Yale style, and if he tries 
 anything original, they 11 be sure to chuck it into the 
 basket marked Hell, which is the end of it. Isn t 
 that so, James?" 
 
 "Oh, I don t know," says Billy, with a rising 
 inflection. 
 
 "Well, maybe it isn t entirely so," he admits; 
 " but suppose your writer has the luck to get his work 
 printed, ultimately becomes an editor and wears a 
 golden triangle on his chest. Do you imagine for 
 
 37 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 one instant that that assures him of social distinc 
 tion? No, sir! What became of McKeever? He 
 went up like a rocket, popped out a lot of stars, and 
 that was the end of McKeever. Yet he was prob 
 ably one of the greatest literary lights this University 
 ever produced, not excepting Fenimore Cooper. 
 Now, my point is, that if you want to be a high- 
 cockalorum, literature is a damned shaky way of 
 going about it. Here s Jack Eldredge ; I say, Jack ! 
 What s your opinion ? " 
 
 "What opinion?" 
 
 "Well, about making a big success and all that 
 sort of thing?" 
 
 "Excuse me; my train is fully ten minutes late, 
 but you re about right. Oh, Tarb ! Are you there ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Come over to our house. My wife is translating 
 Demosthenes. He s better than a trot." 
 
 "Gosh! " said James, "three long-haired grinds 
 on one floor! How can you stand it? " 
 
 "We wouldn t," observed somebody, "if Tarb 
 did n t make a regular rampart out of his bedroom 
 outfit. He has to give us everything else." 
 
 "Oh! Is that so?" said Tarbell, looming into the 
 doorway. "I 11 bet you boys a stick of pink candy 
 all around that Eldredge and I can put you all out 
 in five minutes, and let Ballentine lock the door and 
 put the key in his pocket before we begin." 
 
 "Thanks," remarked Ballentine; "I resign in 
 favour of Drake." 
 
 "Don t be afraid, Josh," said James; "I m on your 
 side." 
 
 38 
 
A RIOT 
 
 Joshua locked the door, stuck the key next his 
 skin, somebody cried "Time!" and in a trice there 
 was a scuffle that sounded like the din of Bedlam. 
 There was a whirl of unidentifiable legs, a noise of 
 bumping heads and ripping cloth. At the bottom of 
 the heap a muffled voice said, " Here s the key, Jack. 
 Open the door! " 
 
 Eldredge knocked a couple of heads together, piled 
 a tablecloth, a heap of window cushions, and several 
 chairs on to the squirming legs, upset two more of 
 the enemy, and opened the door in a flash. An 
 instant later several men went through the door as 
 if shot by a catapult, and, shoulder to shoulder, 
 Eldredge and Tarbell jammed the rest of the panting, 
 bedraggled rioters out into the wide corridor. 
 
 Just then a suspicious step was heard on the stairs. 
 Ballentine dodged discreetly into his closet. A 
 couple more made a bold dash for the Campus, 
 thereby having to run the gauntlet. Somebody else 
 rushed back to the scene of disorder, whence he 
 climbed out upon the gutter and, entering a friend s 
 room, escaped by another entry, while Eldredge, 
 Tarbell, and James slipped swiftly into Eldredge s 
 apartment. Just one was too late, and that was 
 Joshua Drake. Drake was coatless: his cravat was 
 screwed disreputably over one ear, and his trousers 
 were ripped to the suspender buttons, showing the 
 original Joshua in several places. In this array he 
 found himself confronted not by the Campus watch 
 man, nor by a parietal functionary, but face to face 
 with a pale young man of stooping shoulders and a 
 wry neck. This individual squinted awesomely 
 
 39 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 through his spectacles, and said: "I want you Fresh 
 men to restrain your childish emotions. You have 
 caused a piece of plaster to fall from my ceiling upon 
 an ink well. It came dangerously near my head." 
 
 This said, he awaited no reply from the abashed 
 and dilapidated Joshua, but betook himself again to 
 his labours. Drake borrowed a few pins wherewith 
 to close his exposures, and departed, vowing by the 
 Great Horn Spoon that he d be hanged if he ever 
 again went into such a rotten game either in or out 
 of hours ; while the wily Odysseus Ballentine stayed 
 in his closet an hour or more, until his room-mate 
 came and asked what the deuce he was doing there. 
 Whereupon the fellow declared that there had been a 
 terrific scrimmage (for the truth of which one empur 
 pled eye bore witness), that two members of the 
 Faculty had suddenly appeared and probably caught 
 everybody except himself. 
 
 "James, you look like a ruffian," said Eldredge, 
 laughing. " Tarb, you ought to give William a cent 
 to buy a stick of pink candy to console him. Go 
 home, William, and in future keep away from buzz 
 saws and bad company. Brute force is evidently not 
 in your line. I did n t catch sight of you once during 
 the battle." 
 
 " No. Tarb sat on my head, which prevented me 
 from being of any use ; but my nose feels like a half- 
 peeled banana. Good-night, boys. Please don t say 
 I called!" 
 
 That entry, which is next to another called Hell 
 Entry, which is next to the University Chapel, was 
 once more as quiet as the stairs of a monastery. 
 
 40 
 
A RIOT 
 
 Glenn, who would hardly have budged for an earth 
 quake, was sitting in his pajamas, following intently 
 the antics of various Ancients as set forth by the 
 deathless Demosthenes. 
 
 "Hope we didn t disturb you," remarked Tarbell. 
 " Jack and I needed a little exercise to make us sleep. 
 Did you hear any sickening thuds?" 
 
 Whereupon Glenn observed: "You men look 
 slightly rumpled, but otherwise respectable. How 
 the dickens did you keep clean?" 
 
 "It s this way," replied Tarbell: "we avoided 
 getting dirty by wiping up the floor with the other 
 fellows." 
 
 Then Tarbell and Eldredge got their books, and 
 Glenn read old Demosthenes into smooth, unconven 
 tional English, here and there stopping to give the 
 principal parts of a verb or to make some humorous 
 comment, till the college clock boomed out the ten 
 heavy strokes which send Yale s great athletes to 
 their perforated couches Tprjrois 
 
IV 
 
 HIGHER THINGS 
 
 THE giant elms were for the hundredth season 
 dropping their withered leaves. Looking out 
 of their high windows, Glenn and Eldredge could 
 plainly see the Colonial Meeting-houses on the Green, 
 and, farther away, the City Hall, with its illuminated 
 clock-face, and even the Town Pump under the Ben 
 Franklin Elm. Then came Thanksgiving, with the 
 great game between Yale and her historic rival. It 
 was an unusually harmless combat. Tarbell got out 
 of it unscathed; Eldredge sacrificed a collar-bone to 
 the University s honour. This happened before the 
 game, but a surgeon patched the thing, and the 
 "Yale Daily News" announced to its hundreds of 
 anxious readers that "though the left halfback had 
 suffered a bruise, it was hardly thought that the Uni 
 versity would be put to serious inconvenience ; " so 
 Jack played with a wad on his shoulder, and nothing 
 inside him rebelled till after the match. Then, of 
 course, it made no difference. 
 
 At Christmas the Eldredges bade James and Tar- 
 bell and Glenn to a house party at The Oaks. Close- 
 mouthed or modestly evasive about his own affairs, 
 Jack had said so little about his family or his home 
 that his college friends had been nearly in the dark 
 until they came to The Oaks and learnt for themselves. 
 
 42 
 
HIGHER THINGS 
 
 Mr. Eldredge they found to be an affable man of 
 much homely mother wit, who smoked incessantly 
 and seemed to have no desire to impress anybody 
 with the fact that he was president of a great railway. 
 As for Mrs. Eldredge, she was the loveliest of her 
 kind, brimming with a motherliness which made her 
 son s friends at once her own; mindful of all ways of 
 adding to their pleasure, and ready to do anything 
 within the conscience of a saint for the greater glory 
 of Jack, whose virtues she adored and magnified in 
 silence. Oak-trees sheltered the fine colonial mansion 
 which Mr. Eldredge had bought from the last of 
 three well-born but impoverished sisters, at a valu 
 ation not depreciated on his part by her necessity. 
 The handsome, old-fashioned furniture was purchased 
 with the place, and thus some choice heirlooms, a 
 venerable grandfather clock, various prim mahogany 
 chairs, a spinet, and a hundred other fine old things 
 with a history passed honourably to the house of 
 Eldredge. These possessions the Eldredges cherished, 
 with none of the pretensions so likely to be found in 
 persons "whose origin is lost in an obscurity not 
 remote." It was a home like the character of our 
 forefathers, solid and simple, a rebuke to the flimsy 
 vulgarity of many pretentious houses of these upstart 
 days. There was a roomy piazza with a wintry view 
 of the sea far off through the trees, a spacious lawn, 
 and a stone-walled road beyond, a delightful ram 
 bling road, built, no doubt, in the days when kine 
 were the chief surveyors. In a word, it was all very 
 beautiful, and its owners loved it, and it was their 
 home. 
 
 43 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 After Christmas holidays came that great dance 
 called the Junior Promenade, a festivity which 
 may lead young men from Texas to lay their alle 
 giance at the feet of Maine. It is a scene where 
 every fashion flaunts in cosmopolitan union. In 
 those days freshmen bought tickets but were taught 
 to stay at home. So Eldredge and Tarbell and 
 James went to the Glee Club Concert, where naughty 
 little boys sit in the loft and throw placards, or let 
 down foolish screens upon the stage. This was and 
 still is a tradition dear to the freshman heart. 
 Seniors are posted in the gallery to control this 
 ebullition of youthful gayety, but they inspire no 
 fear because they will soon be gone, and the guests 
 speak of it as a " curious custom," even going so far 
 as guilelessly to ask its origin. Joe Glenn thrummed 
 skilfully the guitar and sang songs which stirred new 
 emotions in many a bosom. One of these was com 
 posed by James, who lived in Delaware. Here it is, 
 with the original title, " Afro-American Ballad." 
 
 Who s all dem Lees an Skinnahs 
 A-puttin on such style ? 
 Go long, trash ! an* sinnahs, 
 You boun* t make me smile. 
 
 An rew wuks at collige 
 (Gwine to quit it soon) ; 
 I tell you An rew Jackson 
 S no awdina y coon ! 
 
 You d ought t see me Sundy 
 Wid Miss Hetty Lisa Brown ; 
 Oh, hit takes a pint o* hai oil 
 But I make dat hai lay down I 
 44 
 
HIGHER THINGS 
 
 Um, um, chiTn, can t he p it ! 
 Was bawn wid silver spoon ; 
 Jes recolleck dat Jackson 
 S no awdina y coon ! 
 
 These gaieties are soon over and the guests 
 scatter, but if one could pry into the histoire intime 
 of those few days enough material might be brought 
 to light to keep story-writers going for years. All 
 this happens once in a twelvemonth and has consid 
 erable bearing on the lives of a few people. For 
 Eldredge and his friends it meant nothing except an 
 occasion to show good manners by being absent. 
 
 The depleted Gourmets were once more in pano 
 ply. Tarbell was too big to train for the Crew, and 
 Eldredge had a bad shoulder. It was now midwinter, 
 and in the short afternoons scores upon scores of 
 skaters, clad each in two or three sweaters, played 
 hockey on Lake Whitney. Tarbell kept goal as 
 effectively as if he had been a pair of folding doors. 
 Jack could skate like a Flying Dutchman. When 
 ever the ball seemed to be slipping away from him 
 he would run on his steel toes just as if he had been 
 on a football field, and then it was a pleasure to see 
 him, followed by the Gourmets other champions, 
 zigzagging the ball toward the enemy s goal now 
 holding it between his skates now suddenly 
 straight back toward the home goal and making 
 mere spectators of his classmates until he had 
 nursed it in a long curve and by some dexterous 
 manoeuvres sent it spinning through the very legs of 
 the opposing goal-keeper. 
 
 During these days Mrs. Jones, the landlady, made 
 45 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 no money. Another remarkable fact was that every 
 one worked hard, even Colonel Fitzhugh and W. 
 James. Every one knew that the Colonel was work 
 ing, because he borrowed everybody s trots, in or 
 der, as he said, to give a little more polish to his 
 translations. 
 
 " I don t see the use," said the Colonel, with his 
 soft, Southern accent, " and I m more and more 
 inclined to believe that putterin over dictionaries 
 takes all the life out of classical study. If a man 
 spends so much valuable time in mere labour, he s 
 just bound to lose in elegance what he gains in 
 erudition." 
 
 " Hear ! hear ! " said James. " Them s my senti 
 ments ! Go on, Colonel ! " 
 
 "Well, sir," continued the Colonel, "what gives 
 an air of refinement to university graduates is appre 
 ciation of letters and fine arts. If there s one thing 
 that lends distinction to education in the South, it s 
 more or less the complete absence of drudgery. In 
 my opinion, gentlemen, the North has yet to learn 
 the precise meanin of the word * university/ Like 
 the word gentleman, university has various 
 acceptations." 
 
 " What s yours ? " asked Tarbell, with a deep and 
 genuine interest. 
 
 "In the first place," continued Mr. Thorndyke, 
 " I should do away with all examinations. There s 
 a growin sentiment in favour of just such action in 
 many parts of the South. The minute you ve 
 broken down these barriers education becomes more 
 general, and a deeper culture pervades the whole 
 
 46 
 
HIGHER THINGS 
 
 mass of the population. Say, James, will you kindly 
 len me a cigarette ? Mine have run out and I 
 have n t had occasion to get any." 
 
 " Sorry," said James, " I gave you my last this 
 morning and I ve sworn off. So I have n t a cig., 
 Colonel" 
 
 " No, you don t mean it ! " exclaimed Thorndyke. 
 " This is only one of your freaks, is n t it ? " 
 
 " No, it s dead earnest, Colonel. I asked the doc 
 tor if he thought smoking was injurious and he said 
 yes. He says there is a slight blur in my eyesight, 
 caused either by smoking or by excess of work." 
 
 " You undoubtedly struck the right explanation," 
 remarked Eldredge. " Is there anything else to pay, 
 Jimmie ? " 
 
 " No, sir ! The doctor says I m otherwise physi 
 cally perfect. My solar plexus is just the right 
 height from the ground, and my lumbar region is 
 blooming. I say, Josh ! Will you kindly but firmly 
 pass me the butter ? Thanks ! Now, Annie," to the 
 small coloured girl who helped Mrs. Jones, "if you 
 will just request the hen to lay another omelet, I 
 shall be grateful to both of you." 
 
 " Speaking of choice language," said Glenn, " how 
 is your literary style progressing, William ? " 
 
 " It grows rottener day by day, Joe. I ve tried 
 everything from Kipling to Maeterlinck yes, even 
 that but it s no go. I m looking over a lot of old 
 4 Lit. magazines now, in hope of being able to grasp 
 what is meant by the c Lit. style, but I fear that s a 
 pure fake." 
 
 " Why don t you say so then ? " said Tarbell. 
 47 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " Just write a tearing article, rub it into everybody 
 and let em know exactly what you consider good 
 literary form." 
 
 "Or give it up ! " quoth Eldredge. 
 
 " Not on your tintype ! " replied James, hotly. 
 " I m determined that there shall be some evidences 
 of intellect in the Gourmets Club, and I m going to 
 keep at it until I show those confounded editors that 
 I can write." 
 
 " James, you re a gentleman I " said Colonel Fitz- 
 hugh; "I like your independence. Permit me to 
 grasp your hand." 
 
 " Me too, William ! " cried Glenn, reaching almost 
 three feet of arm across the table to James. " When 
 the day of glory comes, don t forget that I encouraged 
 you. Young authors always have had somebody to 
 back them when the world was cold; so, courage, 
 Billy! Don t mind Jack; he worships the body. 
 The Yale Lit is stored away in the British Museum, 
 which is a regular subscriber to that Oldest Extant 
 Monthly, and some day we intellectual people 
 that is, you and me and the Colonel will be stuck 
 in niches with little bronze tags to tell how great we 
 were. Thus: William James, born at Wilmington, 
 Delaware, 1873. Died in such and such a year, 
 having enriched the world with the wealth of mind. 
 He was a faithful student." 
 
 " Thanks, Joe ; I 11 write a book with you as the 
 top hero, and Jack and Tarb will do the minor roles. 
 They 11 be grex." 
 
 Tarbell laughed with the rest, but, though Eldredge 
 looked pleasant enough, a passing thought cast its 
 
 48 
 
HIGHER THINGS 
 
 shadow on his face and he turned a little red. 
 Tarbell remarked this psychological display, but he 
 distracted attention from Billy s romance by saying : 
 44 You re very thoughtful, Jamesie, my boy, and, if 
 you please, I 11 get Ballentine to boom you. Boom 
 ing is his strong point. His latest scheme is a gem." 
 
 " What is it, Tarb ? " inquired one of the party who 
 had a way of keeping silent until he got a chance to 
 ask some question. Every member of the Gour 
 mets turned toward Tarbell. Colonel Fitzhugh had 
 succeeded in borrowing a cigarette, which he now 
 lighted, keeping one eye on the match and one on 
 the speaker. 
 
 " It s this way," began the Arizona man. " You 
 know Ballentine?" 
 
 " Slightly," said Eldredge. 
 
 " Well, he was in my place one day, telling me how 
 to get there in college as well as everywhere else." 
 
 " Do you mean the night I tore my jeans ? " inter 
 rupted Drake. 
 
 Three or four yelled, " Shut up, Josh ; you ve 
 missed your train ! " and Tarbell resumed his tale. 
 
 " One thing Ballentine said struck me particularly. 
 He was giving me points on popularity, and I in 
 quired how you could know a man was popular. 
 4 One way, according to him, is that men call up to 
 your window. f ll give you a straight tip, said 
 Bal. 4 There is n t a better way of getting prominence 
 than to have people yelling your name, especially if 
 it s a name with lots of vowels in it, like Mallory, or 
 Pomeroy, or something of that kind. Well, one 
 night I heard somebody shouting for Ballentine. He 
 4 49 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 didn t seem to hear, so I went into his room. Door 
 was open, and gas full on, but no Ballentine. The 
 man on the Campus kept yelling, Oh, Bob Ballen 
 tine ! Oh, Bob Bal-len-tine ! So I just slipped 
 downstairs and out on to the Quadrangle. I could 
 see somebody standing in the shadow, but he could n t 
 see me. When he yelled, Oh, Bob Ballentine, again, 
 I nabbed him and said, Can t you see your friend s 
 gone out? Of course he will do anything for me 
 now. If any of you people want a boomer, see me 
 aod I will arrange with him." 
 
 "Who was it, Tarb?" asked Joshua. 
 
 At this there was an uproar of derisive shouts which 
 ended in Joshua s being enthusiastically escorted into 
 the street, where he was borne in triumph to a deep 
 snowbank and there ensconced head down. A few 
 snowballs were thrown, one of which hit a policeman 
 who threatened to " run everybody in ; " but everybody 
 disappeared with great swiftness, leaving Drake to 
 settle with the policeman. 
 
 50 
 
TOIL AND POLITICS 
 
 WINTER in New Haven is a sloppy old codger 
 who goes about in rubber boots and carries an 
 umbrella. He is an intruder and stays too long, but 
 he does some good on the sly. During the three 
 months of his visit everybody works, or, at all events, 
 everybody thinks that he ought to be working, 
 which is a feeling that tickles one s sense of moral 
 obligation even if it does n t lead to anything. That 
 word "work" has been wofully perverted by lazy 
 people who have given it a twist of their own, so that 
 instead of implying a pleasurable activity it means for 
 them dire and, if they be young, unnecessary drudgery. 
 It means vexatious plodding by late-burning lamps, 
 when a fellow is so weary that he hardly knows the 
 difference between a parallelepiped and a digamma ; 
 it means a forced absorption by the intellectual 
 stomach of things repugnant to every sense of inborn 
 and inalienable rights. In good sooth how utterly to 
 be pitied is he whom the world has dubbed a grind ! 
 If Fame speak truly, he has long hair and a stooping 
 gait ; he is of sallow hue, and wears thick glasses on 
 a thin and querulous nose. He toils simply because 
 he listeth, and when he has gained knowledge stores 
 it away in crannies whence it will never issue more. 
 To him the seasons make no difference. He sees no 
 
 51 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 mirth in the joy of others, but counts their pleasures 
 foolishness. Happy he who can do without knowl 
 edge, or acquire it without pain ! 
 
 How can any one who has not gone through it know 
 the suffering of a dreamer like James ? Had it not 
 been for the angel of Beauty luring him on before, and 
 the imp of Conscience scourging him behind, he might 
 have settled down into the silken cushions and 
 smoked and read and dreamed until the day of 
 reckoning came. Instead of that he choked down 
 the required studies, and relieved his spleen by curs 
 ing their originators both silently and aloud. 
 
 Ballentine, who had only a rudimentary conscience, 
 managed otherwise. By the judicious exploitation of 
 other men s labours, by copying their work and crib 
 bing in a masterly manner, by lying to the Faculty, 
 and by cheating himself in every way his ingenuity 
 could devise, he clung to the ship, and survived to 
 have a part in this tale. 
 
 Glenn had gifts that were astonishing. Had he 
 met Cicero upon the street, he could have startled 
 that voluble gentleman. He could have been a boon 
 companion to Socrates, and given Euclid points about 
 the Fourth Dimension. No one ever knew where he 
 got his learning, but every one believed that Joe was 
 a great man. That was because he conversed with 
 all the Arts and Sciences on such free-and-easy terms. 
 When he rose in classroom to recite, he had the air of 
 one who is about to flunk, but somehow he never did, 
 and after a few preliminary drawls would acquit 
 himself so gracefully of his knowledge as to make the 
 lazy men count him a freak, in a complimentary 
 
 52 
 
TOIL AND POLITICS 
 
 sense, of course. Time and again poor Billy would 
 come to Glenn s room in an agony over some vile 
 trigonometrical riddle, and while he cursed the "sys 
 tem " Glenn would explain away the difficulty and 
 soothe him with the prospect of being rid of the stuff 
 at the end of another year. 
 
 Eldredge had received thorough preparation and, 
 with the hours for study that he could sandwich 
 between his avocations, stood respectably. As for 
 Tarbell, he worked tremendously, grasping every 
 opportunity to offset the rude life he had led through 
 his adventurous boyhood. Tarbell seemed to learn 
 by brute force. He continued to barricade himself 
 in his bedroom, and occasionally ejected in a jovial 
 but not the less effective manner some particularly 
 irksome customer. 
 
 Dull February and sloppy March wore by, and the 
 heaps of filthy snow which the City Fathers each 
 winter cause to be dumped upon the venerable 
 Green, began slowly to thaw away. And then came 
 those delicious demoralizing months of April and 
 May, with the odours of a freshly budding world. 
 That is the time when one s mind especially if 
 one is not yet two-and-twenty is overcome with a 
 desire to change thoughts into lazy musings that 
 have no beginning and no end, when one envies the 
 very cattle as they lie blinking in the fields. It is 
 also the season when contemplation assumes a 
 vaguely rhythmic form, and ideas drift in a haze 
 through well-nigh useless brains. 
 
 How tempting it is then to toss all science upon 
 the floor, and lie at one s window somewhere along 
 
 53 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 the northern end of the Quadrangle, watching the 
 other idlers as they come and go ! They stroll down 
 the long walks beneath the elms with their hands on 
 one another s shoulders, as if they had nothing in the 
 world to concern them and that is almost true. 
 Certainly few of these youths are bothered with their 
 studies. They become a secondary consideration, the 
 main one being to get the greatest possible pleasure 
 out of life with the least possible effort. Those who 
 toil, and they are the majority, keep to their rooms. 
 
 Just as the ancient Greeks had their Agora, or 
 town square, where they met to discuss life s prob 
 lems, leaving the physical side of things to their 
 slaves, so the Quadrangle is the meeting-place of 
 Yale. Here her easiest-going denizens are wont to 
 congregate, and, perched the whole length of the im 
 mortal Fence, to while away the evenings of autumn, 
 spring, and summer, cracking jests as venerable for 
 the most part as the University itself, or wearing 
 their brains over the coming elections to senior 
 secret societies. There is a topic of absorbing, per 
 ennial interest ! To outsiders it means nothing ; and 
 it means very little to the men who have left the 
 fold and been elbowed by the world. But to under 
 graduates it is a matter of terrible importance. Some 
 of them think of nothing else, and spend their days 
 in small diplomacy or calculating the chances of other 
 men. Every possible candidate is anatomized a 
 thousand times. If So-and-So is seen walking with 
 What s-his-name, straightway the occurrence is noted, 
 and these youthful politicians fall to wondering 
 whether the person in question has hurt or bettered 
 
 54 
 
TOIL AND POLITICS 
 
 his chances. Every list is revised and the whole 
 situation is again discussed with reference to the 
 latest change. Perhaps America s chief school of 
 diplomacy meets by the Yale Fence. At all events, 
 it is a nursery for wire-pullers. You may see them 
 any hour in late April or May, gathered in twos and 
 threes a little aloof from the mirthful crowd, hatching 
 with great seriousness plans which to them have an 
 almost tragic importance. This seems ludicrous to 
 you and me now, but perhaps there was a time when 
 the matter wore quite another face, and we would 
 almost have bartered our souls for the badges that 
 make men better than they are. 
 
 When two men stand upon a like footing, one of 
 them is usually sure to wish he were a bit higher 
 than the other. Ambition kills equality. It is not 
 so much the badge of distinction as it is a sense that 
 one s merits will be recognized which spurs to the 
 struggle for honours. The rivalry created by the de 
 sire to assert one s self begins in early childhood and 
 never ends. The honour itself is purely relative. 
 What angel but would fain be St. Peter and wear 
 at his girdle the Bunch of Keys ! It is notorious, 
 also, that there is a biggest toad in every puddle. 
 
 The truth of this being granted, one no longer 
 wonders why a Yale undergraduate should set such 
 store by secret societies. In the first place they are 
 secret, therefore awe-inspiring. In the second place 
 they are limited in membership to a small fraction of 
 each class. Hence, if you are among the chosen, you 
 cannot help feeling that others have regarded you as 
 superior to your fellows, even if you are modest 
 
 55 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 enough yourself to believe that the assumption is 
 untrue. 
 
 Each year of college life, except the first, has its 
 particular societies. So each year has its struggle 
 in which the prepotent survive socially. That is 
 why there are wire-pullers. That is also why some 
 heads are very sore at the end of junior year, when 
 they have learned that whatever other qualifications 
 they may have they have not such as gain this 
 distinction. 
 
 There are many secret heartaches, mingled some 
 times with a disappointment so keen that men other 
 wise strong and thoughtful enough have been known 
 to declare that they looked upon their whole univer 
 sity life as a failure because they had missed the 
 coveted place. Incredible as it may seem, there are 
 some whose almost single occupation during their 
 college life is the effort to secure a badge which shall 
 be a token to the rest of their little world that they 
 have succeeded. 
 
 56 
 
VI 
 
 > 
 
 JACK WRITES A LETTER 
 
 IT was the last Sunday in May, one of those days 
 when the climate of the New England coast 
 steams you until your whole body is a warm, wet 
 rag. If you move, your temperature rises straight 
 way several degrees and you are forced to sit still 
 until evening to get back your strength. On such 
 days the Quadrangle appears deserted. Excessive 
 heat is the only thing that will make the Campus 
 perfectly still. 
 
 Sunday was the time that Jack Eldredge chose 
 for his correspondence, not that he had nerves or 
 needed quiet to think, but simply because he looked 
 upon the Sabbath as having been originally assigned 
 by the Creator to church-going and letter-writing. 
 Moreover, there was no one about to bother. So, 
 having divested himself of all but two garments, and 
 having splashed water on his naked parts, he sat 
 down at his desk, chewed the tip of a penholder in 
 a five-minute coagulation of ideas, and wrote this 
 letter : 
 
 YALE COLLEGE, May 29, 1892. 
 
 DEAR FAMILY, As I sit here in the top storey of 
 Farnam this frightfully hot afternoon, I can imagine 
 you on the piazza at home enjoying the sea-breeze, and 
 it makes me wish the year were ended. Two weeks 
 
 57 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 from now our final examinations begin. They take 
 about a fortnight. I am going to New London to see 
 the boat-race in Van Rensselaer s launch. Van is in my 
 class and is president of the Freshman Navy. The 
 launch belongs to his father. 
 
 This year has been all I could desire. I ve made lots 
 of friends the best I ever had and it seems as if 
 everything had come my way. Getting on the Eleven 
 probably helped me somewhat, and I have n t been obliged 
 to pull any wires. You know I was only talking in fun 
 that day before I left The Oaks to come to Yale. There 
 are lots of wire-pullers here, but most of them make a 
 flat failure of it, partly because they don t know how, 
 and partly because they have to keep it up so long that 
 everybody catches on, and, when the time comes, they 
 discover that they have blown their horns too much. In 
 my opinion a fellow who has n t anything in him does n t 
 deserve to succeed. That s the Yale idea. Of course 
 it makes lots of soreheads. 
 
 Last week I joined one of the Sophomore Societies. 
 They are secret, so I cannot tell you anything about it. 
 They are not recognized by the Faculty, but everybody 
 knows they exist, and some fellows would give their souls 
 or anything else to get in. Tarbell belongs to the same 
 one as I do, and so does Joe, but poor Billy was left out. 
 I used my influence to get him in, but there are some 
 fellows in the Sophomore class that don t like him, and 
 in mine too. I tell you in the strictest confidence that 
 I think it s a shame. James is our Fence Orator, which 
 is a big honour. He will roast the big men in the Soph 
 omore class and tell some rattling stories. The Fence 
 oration takes place in front of Durfee, near the Oak. 
 First the Sophomore mounts a platform built over the 
 Fence, and scores all the queer fellows in the Freshman 
 
 58 
 
JACK WRITES A LETTER 
 
 class. Budson, whom I told you about at Easter, will 
 get it hot and heavy. Then he springs some fine rhetoric 
 about historic associations and intrusts the Fence to our 
 care. The Freshman Orator replies, and after having 
 his fun he says some nice things about the democratic 
 spirit, and tells how grateful we are to have the privilege 
 of sitting on the Fence. The Sophomore Orator is a very 
 witty man. He s on the " Record," which is, as you 
 know, Yale s funny paper. I 11 send you a copy of the 
 "Xews " containing the two speeches. 
 
 James is such a strange chap that it s hard even for 
 me to tell whether he is much disappointed at having 
 missed an election. He told Tarb that they could go 
 " plumb to " for all he cared. Just the same, I think he 
 feels pretty bad about it, and I m going to try hard to 
 see he conies out all right when our class is up for the 
 Senior Societies. Next year about sixty of us I mean 
 of 95 will be initiated into Junior Societies. That 
 (between ourselves) does n t amount to a hill of beans. 
 Almost everybody who has done anything gets an elec 
 tion and a good many who have not. Sophomore 
 Society men never miss it, but some of them get a hor 
 ribly disappointing jolt when it comes to the tapping for 
 the three Senior Societies. 
 
 I don t suppose you care so much for these things as 
 we do. A man has to be here awhile before he sees 
 what it means. Then everybody but a few useless 
 chumps who take no part in college life learns all about 
 it ; and there are some fellows who actually spend their 
 whole time trying to put this final feather into their 
 nests. It is commonly believed here in college that a 
 Senior Society man has much better chances in after life, 
 because he will get fine opportunities in business and be 
 able to go into the swellest society in every big city in 
 
 59 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 the country. But Joe Glenn s father, who belonged to 
 the best Senior Society, has told Joe that he would n t 
 take a man of his Society into his firm under any cir 
 cumstances. 
 
 I ve worked for the Faculty pretty steadily through 
 out the year though, I must say, I could n t do much 
 during the football season. I was so tired nearly every 
 night then that I had to go to bed about nine o clock ; 
 but I stand above the middle of the class. Joe is said 
 to be the highest-stand man though the Faculty keep 
 these things to themselves. I sometimes wish I could 
 trade off a little of my muscle for some of Joe s brains. 
 By the way, Joe intends to bring his sister Margaret here 
 to the Promenade next winter and maybe to the big foot 
 ball game. I have seen her just once, and it strikes me 
 she is about the most stunning girl I ever saw. She is 
 at school in Farmington. Joe goes up there to see her 
 rather frequently. He probably knows some of her 
 friends too. 
 
 Tarb wants me to go down to Arizona with him this 
 summer. He says he 11 teach me how to punch cows 
 and give me a little shooting before we return to college. 
 If you don t want me all summer, I should like to take 
 Tarbell up on that. I want to be an all-around man (as 
 Budson says), and I think a little cow-punching and 
 meeting a new kind of people would help me out. Be 
 sides, it will keep me in good training for the football 
 team. The captain has asked us to meet him at Newport 
 about the middle of September ; but as Tarb and I can 
 give him a good excuse, he 11 be sure to let us off. 
 
 It s awfully hot (as I have said before) and terribly 
 hard to study. However, it will all be over in a few 
 days and then I shall be with you. Please ask Thomas 
 to get a regular Western saddle for Toby. I am going to 
 
 60 
 
JACK WRITES A LETTER 
 
 put in a couple of weeks at rough riding, so those people 
 in Arizona won t think I am a tenderfoot. 
 
 I must stop here : some of the fellows have come and 
 want me to go to supper. 
 
 Your devoted 
 
 JACK. 
 
 61 
 
VII 
 
 EXODUS 
 
 THE examinations came, an ordeal of fire be 
 cause a quantity of dross is burnt up along 
 with some really good material of which the Univer 
 sity has not been able to discover the value. It is the 
 time when laziness and procrastination bring men 
 into such sore straits that they sit up all night listen 
 ing to relays of illiterate urchins, hired to read ponies 
 by the hour, while industrious youths of slender 
 means make swift and abundant gains by drumming 
 a lot of indispensable but short-lived ideas into very 
 dull heads which somebody has thought worthy of a 
 collegiate education. 
 
 In these days Billy James, who loathed mathe 
 matics and inveighed against them as if they had been 
 personal enemies, became possessed of the theory that 
 he could keep his brains more clear and active by 
 taking violent runs over the country, and finishing 
 with a plunge into cold water, than by studying. So, 
 when the doors of Alumni Hall were thrown open 
 and the surging crowd pressed in, Billy entered gaily, 
 cheering with the rest, that battle-cry of the Yale 
 undergraduate, who wishes to impress the Faculty 
 with his gladness and also with his particular and 
 gregarious belief that he is prepared to answer any 
 
 62 
 
EXODUS 
 
 question that the Faculty is able to ask. Nil despe- 
 rari desperatis ! 
 
 Strange things happened. Ballentine, for instance, 
 rashly carried into examination some borrowed brains 
 on a long roll of paper acutely devised so as to snap 
 up his sleeve at the approach of a proctor. The con 
 trivance was not detected, but certain suspicious 
 phrases on his blue-book, and an accurate estimate of 
 the young man s mental attainments, caused him to 
 lose the advantage of six months residence at college, 
 an occurrence interesting in itself but of no histor 
 ical importance. 
 
 Thus the year has come to an end. Another gen 
 eration of Yalensians is shaken off Alma Mater s 
 apron-strings, and three classes change their names. 
 Over every one, slight though it be, has come some 
 change which tends to liken him to his neighbour, a 
 change impossible to escape, whether it brings him 
 nearer to his ideal or daily makes him what he would 
 not be. Buclson is still cheeky at times, and will be 
 callow all his days; but he has had his hardest 
 knocks, and the process of undoing the work of his 
 parents has begun. This is due in the first place to 
 a whim of the crotchety but ever perspicuous James ; 
 for, had he not taken it into his head to have Budson 
 invite Tarbell to be his room-mate, Budson might 
 have fallen in with some one like himself and lost the 
 best part of his training, some of the deepest lessons 
 that a man learns in college not being set down in the 
 catalogue. 
 
 In the nine months of buffeting with other souls, 
 James, too, has unconsciously sloughed off some of 
 
 63 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 his extravagance, and become more like the type which 
 the Clan with the self -approval which we are wont 
 to forgive in large bodies calls a Yale man. The 
 word bears its own praise, as do " Christian " and 
 "gentleman." 
 
 The Quadrangle is once more in upheaval. Big 
 wagons with fat horses, and small wagons with lean 
 horses, are gathering hundreds of trunks and all 
 the promiscuous baggage known to migrant gentility. 
 Washladies are passing to and fro in the hope of 
 collecting tardy bills, or staring tearfully into de 
 serted rooms from which careless or impecunious 
 patrons have departed without paying them their hard- 
 earned wage. Faded Africans and Ethiopians dyed 
 in the wool rush hither and thither in order to create 
 by a final burst of activity the impression that they 
 have laboured diligently throughout the year. Along 
 the dormitories departing seniors have hung from 
 their windows facetious signs: "HEIRLOOMS FROM 
 GRAND RAPIDS ! " " EMBRACE YOUR OPPORTUNITY I " 
 (with illustration). " HONI SOIT Qui MAL Y NILI ! " 
 " NOBBY ARTICLES IN GENTS ROOM FURNISHINGS! " 
 and some of them are accompanied by grotesque 
 cartoons. On the Campus prowls the dwarfish Jew, 
 ever ready to waylay the spendthrift, who for jingling 
 cash is willing to part with good clothes at a twen 
 tieth of their worth; others, their arms laden with 
 spoils, are hurrying to their lairs, where they will 
 sell them to wage-earners for Hebraic gain. 
 
 In the midst of all this turmoil Colonel Fitzhugh, 
 his hands tucked in his pockets and a straw hat tilted 
 back from his tranquil forehead, saunters down the 
 
 64 
 
EXODUS 
 
 Durfee walk, and reposes himself with leisurely ele 
 gance upon the Fence. He is colouring a meerschaum 
 pipe, and seems hardly to know that the year is ended ; 
 and really, from his point of view, it makes little 
 difference. In front of Farnam Tarbell is shaking 
 Budson s hand, and as he turns away, Budson stands 
 looking wistfully after him until he is lost to sight. 
 Gradually the last stragglers depart, and the great 
 buildings begin to stare desolately through their blank 
 and empty windows. It is far into June. 
 
 65 
 
VIII 
 
 DESMOND 
 
 IN summer New Haven dozes. One might almost 
 think the good old place had ceased to breathe. 
 In this state of suspended animation, and quite as 
 doleful as a frame that has lost its picture, New 
 Haven remains until the revolving months have trav 
 elled their dusty road, and autumn has once more 
 touched the leaves. Then you see collegians in the 
 streets, and recognize them by something in dress 
 and gait as easily as an American can distinguish a 
 fellow-countryman on the Champs Elyse es. They 
 saunter along, puffing their pipes, with as little regard 
 for public opinion as for the Punic Wars. Here a 
 couple stop a moment at the photographer s window, 
 to see if he has changed his samples of pretty girls ; 
 farther on, a group of six or seven stand in the 
 middle of the sidewalk and chat unconcernedly, while 
 townsmen veer from their paths. They are both used 
 to it now, but time was when there were daily squab 
 bles and frequent spillings of bad blood. Town and 
 gown have become more civilized, and no longer look 
 upon each other as belonging to separate species. 
 
 Inside the Quadrangle, which is enclosed by iron 
 gates and big buildings, you may see the rushing of 
 busy but ineffective sweeps, of draymen, agents, 
 
 66 
 
DESMOND 
 
 and washerwomen, all the motley throng that gets 
 a living out of this migratory population. Mrs. 
 McCann floats complacently down the eastern walk, 
 followed by her increasingly aristocratic daughter, 
 and yonder is the representative of the Crystal Pool 
 Laundry with his suavity and his diamond. There 
 are young, unfamiliar faces which wear an expression 
 of doubt and timidity, or the slight swagger that 
 comes from not being quite sure of one s ground. As 
 a company of these novices passes the Chapel, sopho- 
 moric idlers on their end of the Fence begin in concert 
 a sneering and impertinently monotonous whistle, to 
 which the freshmen are obliged to keep step with that 
 fatal obedience to the sense of rhythm which is in 
 every breathing thing. It is called the Freshman 
 March, and is composed of exactly fourteen notes. 
 One of the whistlers is Budson. Basking in his 
 sophomoric glory, he smokes triumphantly. Colonel 
 Fitzhugh s meerschaum pipe, after three months of 
 unflagging devotion, is just turning to a blotchy 
 brown. The Colonel holds his carven shrine grace 
 fully, and watches the smoke as it ascends in pearly 
 waves to the divinity of sluggards and tobacco. 
 James, his brown face resting between his browner 
 hands, sits humped like an S upon the comfortable 
 Fence, and his expression is earnest to the verge of 
 melancholy. 
 
 "Look here, Bill," said the Colonel, with an accent 
 more rich and musical than in June, " I reckon you ve 
 got the mopes, have n t you, or are you countin on 
 swearin off again?" 
 
 " Fitz, I have n t even the intention of swearing to 
 67 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 swear off. If I had any plans I d gladly let you into 
 them. No, I m building no fancy chances this year. 
 Have you any tobacco, Colonel?" 
 
 " Most assuredly I have, and take this occasion of 
 repayin a pinch of the pound I must have borrowed 
 of you last year. Speakin of tobacco, William, are 
 you still engaged in the pursuit of literature? I 
 reckon you 11 be palmin off some of your summer 
 love affairs on the old Lit. Magazine, won t you? 
 Just put yourself in the third person and mix up the 
 ladies characteristics, and you 11 have enough to 
 keep you goin till the Fourth of July. For the lan - 
 sake I If there is n t old Jack Eldredge, lookin just 
 as natural as life ! " 
 
 Fitzhugh and James rapidly undo their legs and 
 make for Eldredge with outstretched hands. Jack s 
 sunny countenance beams healthily as he responds 
 with a vigorous grip : " Howdy, Fitz ? What s the 
 good word from the Blue Grass country? Well, 
 well, Billy! Why did n t you tell a fellow? What 
 do you mean by raising a moustache in my absence ? 
 But you have n t grown a bit I can still see over 
 your head. Where have you been and what have you 
 done ? Come, out with it now, if you ve got any 
 thing concealed on your person Colonel, Bill 
 looks suspicious, doesn t he?" 
 
 "That s just what I ve been observin myself," 
 said the Colonel. " It would be more than surprisin 
 if he had n t been up to some of his pranks. I m 
 lookin for some literature as soon as the mill goes to 
 grindin By the way, Jack, ain t you smokin ? 
 Here s my little old briarwood and a bag of choice 
 
 68 
 
DESMOND 
 
 Virginia James 11 kindly provide you with a 
 match." 
 
 "No, Colonel, I can t go you. I ve been in train 
 ing for a week. Have you seen Tarbell? He has 
 been at my house, feeding up. Are you coming out 
 to the Field this afternoon?" 
 
 Here the three men return to the Fence and settle 
 on it comfortably. There is one advantage in a board 
 four inches wide: it will fit any shape. Presently 
 Budson, who has been absorbed in his conversation, 
 spies Eldredge and comes running over. His eyes 
 are watery with glad emotion, and he seizes Jack by 
 the hand before the latter has time to climb off the 
 Fence. 
 
 "Hello, Jack, old boy; you re looking as brown as 
 a berry." (That was precisely Budson s expression.) 
 " Well, it seems good to be back at the old College, 
 does n t it? The old familiar faces do a fellow 
 good. How do you like James s moustache ? It s a 
 corker, is n t it? How s your muscle, Jack? " (feel 
 ing Eldredge s biceps.) "I guess you ll do. We 
 fellows won t be anywhere by Christmas if you go on 
 piling up your honours at such a rate I suppose 
 you 11 be captain next year, won t you?" 
 
 "It looks as if Budson had had a relapse," growled 
 James to Thorndyke. " He s probably been spend 
 ing the summer with his parents. Tarbell ought not 
 to allow that man out of his sight a week at a time." 
 
 "Well," said Budson, who began almost every 
 sentence with a well, "I must be going along; we 11 
 all go out to the Field this afternoon and see Jack 
 buck the line. Oh, say! We ll have a little fun 
 
 69 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 with the freshmen to-night. They re fresh as green 
 paint." 
 
 "Don t be too hard on them," quoth Billy; "y u 
 remember your own experience." 
 
 Now Budson had never thought there was a serious 
 side to that, so he merely laughed and said some 
 thing jocular about the wholesome effect that a mild 
 dose of hazing may have on the character of one who 
 needs it, as a parrot might say "Poor Polly," and 
 went cheerfully on his way. 
 
 Mr. Fitzhugh Thorndyke carefully dug the ashes 
 out of his pipe, replenished it, and sauntered ele 
 gantly down the Campus. There was just the thought 
 of a swagger in his indolent gait, and his hat was 
 cocked slightly to one side. There are persons whose 
 character is discernible in their very backs. 
 
 James and Eldredge basked silently in the noonday 
 sun. Around them other fellows were chatting and 
 laughing at jokes of their own. One was patiently 
 absorbed in carving the class numerals on a smooth 
 spot in the Fence. By and by James knocked a 
 reeking lump of nicotine from his pipe and rubbed 
 the glossy briar upon his nose. 
 
 "Have a nice summer, Jack?" 
 
 " Not very dull, thanks. I have seen some lively 
 times. Have you ever punched cows, Billy?" 
 
 "No, milk punch is the nearest I ve been to it. 
 Did you get any shooting ? " 
 
 "Oh, I had a lot better sport than that! Tarbell 
 and I helped run down some wolves. My boy, you 
 never had such fun! If you really want to enjoy 
 something, just get a rope around one of those beg- 
 
 70 
 
DESMOND 
 
 gars and then go jumping over the prairie on a tough 
 little broncho with the wolf dragging after you. I d 
 rather do that once than dodge every man on a foot 
 ball field." 
 
 "I should think it would be a pleasant sensation," 
 said James. "How did Tarb seem on his native 
 heath?" 
 
 * Tarb knows a few things, Billy, that we have n t 
 guessed. He s a star broncho-breaker, and can brand 
 more critters in one day than you ever saw this side 
 of Chicago. But you ought to have seen him with 
 the other boys on the ranch! They ve got a preju 
 dice against Eastern people and are pretty hot about 
 politics, but Tarb kept them in hand in the nicest 
 way possible. They were bully to me all the while, 
 and I tell you there is n t a whiter lot of fellows any 
 where. Where are you living this year?" 
 
 "The same old place. I had thought of moving 
 on to the Campus, but my landlady was so nice that I 
 could n t break away. Besides, it s too hard to 
 study on the Campus. Here comes Desmond, Jack. 
 I think I d better be going; I 11 try to see the foot 
 ball practice this afternoon." 
 
 Eldredge did n t quite catch the hidden inference. 
 Desmond had always been obsequious to Jack. He 
 was always amiable when there was something to 
 gain by it. If he swore falsely to the Dean, snubbed 
 his obscure classmates, and hid under his bed to avoid 
 paying a wash-bill, it was not well enough known to 
 make much difference. 
 
 Desmond wished to be seen in the society of prom 
 inent men, being one himself. Besides, he had a few 
 
 71 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 feelers to put out in order to see how he stood, and 
 Eldredge would be likely to know. With all the 
 skill Desmond was to show, a few years later, in 
 culling what Americans, with a fine respect for their 
 institutions, are accustomed to call "plums," this 
 precocious Talleyrand was now making plans to gain 
 some more of the distinctions which Yalensians prize. 
 Everybody was aware that Desmond was a serious 
 man; he had written divers articles on the "Yale 
 Spirit," the "Opportunities of a College Life," and 
 other weighty matters, to prove it. He was also in 
 scrutable, and to be inscrutable at onescore years is 
 to be a person of great resources. 
 
 After a while the politician went upon some other 
 errand, and Jack betook himself to the Eating Club. 
 The various members made remarks on one another s 
 appearance, and each man was asked where he had 
 passed the summer, why he hadn t kept his promise 
 to visit somebody else, when he got back, and many 
 like questions. Glenn demanded of James wherefore 
 he had such a "grouch," to which he got no satisfac 
 tory reply. Drake was requested to give a detailed 
 account of the fauna and flora of British Columbia, 
 and Joshua would fain have made reply, but some 
 one cracked a joke and there arose a din of unquench 
 able laughter like to that of the riotous heroes quoted 
 in Hadley s Grammar. 
 
 That afternoon a great throng flocked to the Field. 
 Tarbell and Eldredge made a brilliant play on the 
 first snapback and were cheered to the welkin. Tar- 
 bell took it unconcernedly, but Jack s sweaty face 
 reddened with a flush of pleasure. A minute later 
 
 72 
 
DESMOND 
 
 he missed the ball, and caught a rebuke from the 
 coach for being the worst fumbler on the team. 
 Whereupon he seized the next ball passed to him, 
 and with but a single man to interfere, dashed 
 through the opposing line and sped down the field, 
 dodging right under a pair of hands outstretched to 
 down him, hurling another adversary so that he 
 turned a somersault and rolled off, hors de combat, a 
 rod away. Like a human cyclone, he zigzagged and 
 squirmed his way to the goal and made his touch 
 down. The crowd went wild with enthusiasm, yell 
 ing " Eldredge ! Eldredge ! " and " Rah ! Rah ! Rah ! " 
 till the conflict was resumed. 
 
 There was not an eating club but discussed that 
 play at dinner, and afterwards, as if it had been a 
 battle or an assassination ; but Jack and Tarbell went 
 to training table, where such things are talked of 
 cautiously, for fear of swelling somebody s head or 
 damaging the team s morale. 
 
 73 
 
IX 
 
 TWO POINTS OF VIEW 
 
 HAVING tussled for a disagreeable hour with a 
 small but vicious book on " Analytical Trigo 
 nometry" with no more serious results than a few 
 impotent curses, James hied him to Glenn for help. 
 Glenn had gone out, so James flopped disconsolately 
 into a chair and waxed satirical about mathematicians. 
 
 Jack had worked his problems, but he had n t the 
 knack of explanation, which is harder than compre 
 hension. 
 
 "What bores me," said James, "is to know that I 
 do know something ; but all this mathematical rot is 
 keeping me down in everything else. To think of 
 being herded off with the dunces in the class, and 
 having to listen to their footless recitations in sub 
 jects about which I really can think intelligently ! I 
 wonder if professors Well, it s no go. Give me 
 a cigarette, Jack. No, of course you have n t any. 
 I 11 forage." He went into Glenn s room and re 
 turned with a lighted cigarette. " Tell Joe I ve 
 taken a nail out of his coffin." 
 
 "Billy," said Jack, "do you care anything about 
 your own interests? Because, if you do, you are 
 taking a poor way of pushing them." 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 74 
 
TWO POINTS OF VIEW 
 
 " I mean," replied Eldredge, "that it s blamed bad 
 policy to be making enemies. D ye see ? " 
 
 " Whom, for instance ? 
 
 "Don t be silly." 
 
 "Silly? Oh, I see what you mean! But I 11 be 
 hanged if I can look at it in that way, and, moreover, 
 I 11 be hanged if I will. What s-his-name knows 
 I m not fond of his type, but that s no reason why 
 he should lay himself out to spoil my fun. I 11 tell 
 you something interesting, Jack, but you must 
 excuse me for talking about things which you con 
 sider holy. A chance has brought you into close 
 relations with Desmond, and I suppose you ve sworn 
 great oaths to cherish him like a brother; but, you 
 see, I m free as the air, and can therefore enjoy 
 the privilege of despising the man for just what 
 he is." 
 
 If Eldredge had n t been straightforward, he would 
 have regarded this mention of his secret society as an 
 offence. He merely looked more earnest. 
 
 "Desmond made a mistake, Billy." 
 
 " Oh, a mistake, was it ! Then you consider it a 
 mistake to slander and lie and steal ! " 
 
 "Come, Bill," said Eldredge, soothingly, "you re 
 just imagining." 
 
 "Yes," retorted James, wrathfully, "just the same 
 as when somebody sticks you in the back. Of course 
 you re supposed not to know it. But I do know it, 
 and I 11 make myself even if it takes a year." 
 
 "That s a pretty spirit, Bill; I didn t know you 
 were such a revengeful cuss." 
 
 "I can t help what I am, Jack, and you can t 
 75 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 know. Everything goes just as you would like to 
 have it; everybody treats you fairly, rinding it un 
 necessary to tell lies ; but it s not quite all it looks 
 to be, and some day you may get a chance to see 
 things from my point of view. Possibly you 11 be 
 disgusted just the same as I, am, and even go low 
 enough to loathe a man who snubs decent fellows in 
 order to please other snobs, and hides under his bed 
 to avoid settling his wash-bill. Well, good-night, 
 Jack; I ve got a fearful grouch." 
 
 With that James went off, leaving Jack in a quan 
 dary. He leaned his elbows on the cushioned window- 
 seat and looked out upon the tree-tops and the Green 
 without seeing either. It really seemed to him in 
 this moment of sober reflection that he ought to do 
 something to offset Desmond s work, for he knew 
 that James had suffered disappointment and was 
 likely to suffer more, and Jack, despite his sworn 
 obligation to Desmond, was a lover of fair play. He 
 despised the paltriness of the thing, and at the same 
 time he felt a great reluctance to meddling in other 
 people s quarrels. Any direct resentment or inter 
 ference he regarded as Quixotic, and therefore re 
 solved to let James fight his own battles, yet he felt 
 a sort of personal indignation which might have 
 become material if the offender had appeared at that 
 moment. 
 
 In the midst of these ruminations Glenn came in, 
 and seeing his room-mate in so pensive a mood, asked 
 if anybody had died. Eldredge didn t quite like 
 being considered solemn, so he shook off his thought 
 ful air and did not even say that James had been to 
 
 76 
 
TWO POINTS OF VIEW 
 
 see him, until Glenn remarked that he had just met 
 him on the street looking very glum. 
 
 "Joe," said Eldredge, "I hardly know what to 
 think of Bill. One day he seems as gritty as any one, 
 and another he appears to give in. I wish he was n t 
 so ticklish. If you had heard him lay out a certain 
 acquaintance of ours ! The unfortunate side of it is 
 that I know Bill to be truthful, and am therefore 
 forced to change my views about somebody else." 
 
 "Who s that?" asked Glenn. 
 
 " First, I want you to answer a question. Suppose 
 a fellow a few months younger than you or I joins a 
 secret society and, without really knowing what sort 
 of a crowd he s in, swears he will be a friend to every 
 one of them. Later he finds out that one of his 
 fellow members is a well, a man like Desmond." 
 
 "I should say," replied Glenn, "that he was fool 
 ish to make such promises, and also that the whole 
 business strikes me as childish. The person you 
 mention has always stuck in my crop because he is a 
 hypocrite, but, leaving that aside, he has n t got in 
 my way and I have n t cared a rap what else he did. 
 It s too bad, though, that such a miserable specimen 
 should be looked up to." 
 
 "Here s a nice mess," said Jack. "I have to see 
 the man every day of my life, and I don t know how 
 long I can stomach it. If Bill had n t said anything 
 about the thing, I might have found it out for myself ; 
 but now it s like meddling in other people s quarrels. 
 Well, Joe, we 11 see what turns up." 
 
 " Which will be nothing at all. Billy will chew a 
 good deal of soap and waste considerable valuable 
 
 77 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 time worrying over his grievance, but Desmond will 
 go his own way, over a few of his friends necks, 
 and what are you going to do about it ? Things 
 are arranged that way. It isn t at all pretty, Jack." 
 
 "No, it is n t, for a fact." 
 
 "How was the practice to-day? " asked Glenn, who 
 had got enough of the other matter. 
 
 "Bad! I was perfectly rotten to drop that ball. 
 It came too high for me to get a grip. Great Scott ! 
 I was lucky afterwards." 
 
 " Yes, I heard about it. Everybody says it was a 
 grand run." 
 
 "Do they?" asked Jack. 
 
 "And they also say that you are erratic. Well, 
 good-night, Jack. I m one night behind on sleep." 
 
 "Good-night," responded Eldredge; and the two 
 men retired to their cubby bedrooms. One of them 
 sat on his bed with one shoe off and his head in his 
 hands until the clock boomed eleven. A small part 
 of the hour he passed in asking himself unanswerable 
 questions, a man is likely to do that when he is 
 disgusted ; the remainder of the time he spent watch 
 ing a certain egg-shaped leather ball which was con 
 tinually being passed to him, and which, just as 
 continually, slipped out of his hands and went 
 bounding in an aerial zigzag into the clutches of 
 another player. Slowly he pulled off his clothes and 
 went to bed, to dream of a cursing coach who turned 
 red with fury and told him to get off the field. And 
 as he walked off, hundreds of eyes along the ropes 
 followed him until at last people and field melted 
 away into the clouds of sleep. 
 
 78 
 
A COWARD S HONOUR 
 
 YOU may meet a man every day for weeks at a 
 time, you may give him your hand because 
 custom compels you to, you may smile with him and 
 say nothing bitter or hostile ; but if your ideals are 
 opposed to his lack of them, if you are humanly 
 honest while you know him to be a rogue, if you 
 have good impulses while you are aware he has 
 hardly one, some condition must finally arise which 
 will bring you into conflict with that other man. 
 Eldredge and Desmond met daily, each treating the 
 other with the courtesy of gentlemen. They met at 
 their Society, they sat upon the Fence together, they 
 shared the common interests of a college life. Once 
 or twice Desmond and James mischanced to meet in 
 some classmate s room. James did nothing childish, 
 and Desmond did nothing low, but it seemed that 
 James could not long bear the sight of him. There 
 fore that somewhat choleric idealist found a way of 
 disappearing. He was much too much a gentleman 
 to squabble in another man s room. 
 
 The great football match came and was fought with 
 the desperate energy that two-and-twenty stalwart 
 Anglo-Saxons are accustomed to put into that best of 
 games. There were the yelling thousands upon the 
 
 79 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 bleachers with the chosen women and the brass bands. 
 There were hard knocks and bruises, and bleeding 
 but harmless wounds. 
 
 Into that conflict Tarbell went calmly, like a giant, 
 trustful in his own strength, and sure of every signal 
 that might be given. His brute force was that of 
 three ordinary men, and he had the brains which are 
 not absolutely necessary but highly useful in an 
 athlete. Eldredge, likewise, was in the pink of con 
 dition ; as perfect a man as one ever sees. Eldredge, 
 too, had a level head, and he was also brilliant and 
 fleet of foot (which is better still). With the ball once 
 firm under his armpit, he would have dodged a bay 
 onet with as little fear as he showed in eluding the 
 agile hands outstretched to hurl him. Through the 
 swift and well-drilled company of the other team he 
 cleared never more than twenty yards, and more than 
 once he was flung rudely without a foot of gain. 
 Only once he dropped the ball, and it was immedi 
 ately saved by a vigilant rusher. Such things will 
 happen to the best of players and happened to him. 
 
 In the Middle Ages fair ladies foregathered at 
 tourneys to watch their champion knights, and so it is 
 still. But Margaret Glenn was not present. That 
 was a disappointment, for Joe had said that she would 
 be there. Afterwards she wrote a note of regret, 
 which Jack carried in his coat-pocket, while he flung 
 disgustedly into the waste-basket a letter from some 
 unknown simpleton who, under the pretext of admi 
 ration for his athletic prowess, begged for a signed 
 photograph. 
 
 Three weeks later came the mid-year examinations, 
 80 
 
A COWARD S HONOUR 
 
 and that was the time when the circumstances arose 
 that set two men at odds, and broke a bond of friend 
 ship which was already severed in all but a single 
 strand. What happened then had also happened in a 
 different way many times before, but not with the 
 same results. 
 
 On that particular day the usual horde of boister 
 ous, nervous undergraduates surged through the por 
 tals of Alumni Hall. Grouped according to their 
 studies, they sat in various rooms, at the octagonal, 
 ink-stained tables, pen in hand, awaiting the ever- 
 mysterious questions. Eldredge sat by the wall, 
 with his head against a wainscot; near him, a yard 
 or so away, was Desmond, a shade paler than usual, 
 as a man is likely to be when he mistrusts his own 
 brains. The clock struck the even hour, and proctors 
 passed about, distributing the papers. In a minute 
 every man was bending over his table, or gazing anx 
 iously, vacantly into space, searching for the idea that 
 was there if anywhere. Eldredge, who felt pretty 
 sure of his knowledge, bent to his work with energy. 
 Desmond sat with his hands in his hair, staring hope 
 lessly at what to him was a riddle. He chewed his 
 pen nervously, and wrote his name at the top of the 
 blank. Had it been literature, he might have made 
 some answer out of whole cloth, but mechanics can 
 not be manipulated in that way. There may be 
 several ways of reaching it, but there can be only one 
 solution. 
 
 After half an hour of this strain, Eldredge received 
 permission from an overseer to get a drink of water- 
 A few seconds later his neighbour followed him out of 
 6 81 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 the room and into a little hall. They reached it 
 almost at the same instant. Eldredge was on the 
 point of turning back when Desmond stopped him. 
 
 "Wait, Jack, a minute." Eldredge turned, but 
 said nothing. 
 
 " Jack, what s the formula for the fall of an 
 object?" 
 
 Eldredge hesitated a second. 
 
 "Quick! Jack, quick! Let me have it! They ll 
 catch on if we stay too long." Eldredge flushed at 
 the imputation and started to go. 
 
 " Tell, tell me, Jack. One of the proctors is com 
 ing this way." Beads of cold sweat were on the 
 man s forehead, and the roots of his hair were itching. 
 He put his hand on Jack s shoulder as if to detain 
 him, and his face was sallow with fear. 
 
 " Give it to me, Jack, old man. I ve failed already 
 on three exams, and if I flunk this it means " 
 
 "I can t," said Eldredge, in a low tone; "it s not 
 right. We re on our honour." 
 
 "Oh, bosh!" exclaimed Desmond. "You don t 
 mean to say you Why, everybody does it. Come, 
 Jack, don t be so virtuous; it s only doing the 
 Faculty a little. How can that hurt you ? " 
 
 The moments were pressing. Eldredge stood 
 looking at Desmond with hard-set jaw ; a flushed but 
 almost expressionless face. Desmond s hand dropped ; 
 his lips began to quiver; his face was growing wan. 
 
 "I thought you were my friend, Eldredge, but I 
 see you re not." 
 
 "No, I am not in this instance," replied 
 Eldredge, slowly. 
 
 82 
 
A COWARD S HONOUR 
 
 " After your professions, " sneered Desmond. " But 
 you re a damned hypocrite." 
 
 The flush on Eldredge s face faded. Anger rushed 
 to his eyes ; he drew back his arm as if to strike, but, 
 mastering himself, turned and went back to his place. 
 His heart was swelling with indignation and loath 
 ing. Desmond returned to his table with a face as 
 bloodless as parchment; he stared for some minutes 
 at the unwritten sheet, then, having scribbled an ex 
 cuse of sudden illness, he left the room. 
 
 83 
 
XI 
 
 INTO THE WORLD 
 
 /CHRISTMAS holidays being over, there was much 
 V_x business on hand. Committees and more com 
 mittees sat up nights and worked all day in their 
 endeavour to make their Junior Promenade the smooth 
 est and swellest that had ever been held. An army 
 of upholsterers, of florists, of caterers, came and took 
 their particular squints at the Armory ballroom, 
 and each expressed several expensive opinions in the 
 language of his craft. For three weeks before the 
 night of the ball everybody scurried hither and 
 thither, filling out cards of dances with the best 
 names to be had. There was some politics, some 
 trifling misrepresentation, a little irritation; much 
 satisfaction on the part of those who could get what 
 they wanted, and a good deal more putting up with it 
 on the part of those who could n t. 
 
 It had not occurred to Tarbell, until some admirer 
 asked for a dance, that his knowledge of that art was 
 limited to a few hilarious jigs and the sort of spiel 
 which ranchers dignify with the name waltz. Never 
 theless he had a full card in no time, and therefore 
 felt it incumbent upon himself to take lessons. For 
 two weeks he laboured like a dray-horse. Professor 
 de Riel had never taught a more conscientious nor a 
 bigger pupil. Professor de Kiel was " lady " most of 
 
 84 
 
INTO THE WORLD 
 
 the time. He showed Tarbell how to reverse so that 
 he could do it as skilfully as a twin-screw steamer, 
 and he also explained to his disciple the meaning of 
 " dozy-doe," and other delicate features of the dance. 
 Young ladies came at the professor s behest, and Tar- 
 bell waltzed them up and down the terpsichorean 
 floor and practised talking as he danced. After a 
 while he could say a whole sentence during the 
 reverse, as if he and his partner had been sitting by 
 the wall. But, try as he might, his coat-tails bobbed 
 like streamers in the breeze. The professor hinted 
 facetiously that clasp-pins might accomplish some 
 thing, and Tarbell thought of leaden weights, both of 
 which schemes were abandoned as fantastic. But 
 the coat-tails would not down. 
 
 Tarbell took counsel with James, who asked him 
 what the deuce he cared. " She can t see through you, 
 Tarb, and you 11 be several times more picturesque." 
 
 Tarbell thought he might manage by timely ma 
 noeuvres so that his partners should get only a front 
 view. It s a strange thing that a man of his calibre 
 can be embarrassed by mere coat-tails. Small things 
 have a way of bothering big people. Barring that, 
 everything was a perfection of studied preparation. 
 
 A few days before the ball came dames and damsels 
 from every corner of the continent. The former 
 were gracious and correct ; the latter were nearly all 
 of more than average distinction as to looks and 
 raiment, by virtue of the Darwinian law which gov 
 erns such affairs. 
 
 One of the loveliest was a dashing, incomprehen 
 sible brunette from the South. She and her chaperone 
 
 85 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 were in the charge of Mr. Fitzhugh Thorndyke, who 
 had been extraordinarily complacent for a month. 
 
 Glenn was merely bringing his own sister. Con 
 sequently his elation was of a quiet, brotherly kind. 
 In his own mind he was aware that Margaret was 
 comely ; also that she knew a great many things not 
 usually contained in feminine heads. He took Jack 
 and Billy and Tarbell to call, and the result of it was 
 that those three men got together afterwards and 
 made comparisons which sadly neglected the charms 
 of every other girl they had seen. 
 
 " Joseph is n t so painfully plain," said James ; 
 " but who would imagine," etc., etc. " What do you 
 think, Tarb?" 
 
 " I don t know quite what to think, pardner, but I 
 hope she won t notice those coat-tails." 
 
 " Pshaw, man ! How the deuce is she going to see 
 them ? You don t imagine she s going to jump over 
 your shoulder, do you ? Keep a firm grip, Tarb, and 
 she 11 think you re just alike on both sides." 
 
 Eldredge was pensive, wished he was cleverer, 
 wished also that he had left a couple more dances 
 open. The truth was that none of the three had any 
 exact notions as to Miss Margaret Glenn, and each 
 was quite right in not being too honest in the expres 
 sion of those he had. 
 
 Of course there were teas preceding the Sophomore 
 German and the ball, and swell turnouts ploughed or 
 forded the streets with their loads of fashionable ap 
 parel and pretty faces. Undergraduates, who but a 
 week before had gone about in caps and sweaters, 
 came forth arrayed in silk hats and frock coats, and 
 
 86 
 
INTO THE WORLD 
 
 their acquaintances guyed them harmlessly from the 
 Fence whenever they went a-" fussing," which in 
 Yale slang means paying social courtesies to ladies 
 not of your own blood. 
 
 Resplendent with his high hat and shoes that glared, 
 his curls adjusted with the utmost pains, stick in hand, 
 and with a gait not his own, our old friend Budson 
 was a joy to see. " Boys, you re not in my class," 
 quoth he, gaily ; and they shaded their eyes as if to 
 shun the brilliant light that played on his auroral 
 locks and silken tile. 
 
 Eldredge had reasons for believing that if he ar 
 rived at a certain place at a certain hour he would be 
 much better pleased than if he arrived at some other 
 time. He was therefore disappointed when James 
 appeared and invited both him and Tarbell to go to 
 the same place at the same hour. They started off 
 together, Billy taking the inner edge of the sidewalk 
 to gain in appearance a couple of inches in height. 
 
 When the three men arrived, a large number of 
 handsome dresses had already assembled, and a some 
 what smaller number of handsome persons. There 
 was a swift and undistinguishable chatter of high- 
 keyed voices, with an undertone of masculine speech ; 
 and the dresses passed to and fro, eying one another 
 as dresses can, furtively and in an instant. 
 
 Our friends had hardly got by their hostess, when 
 they were seized by Thorndyke, who presented them 
 to Miss Merivale " My Miss Merivale " if he had 
 said what he wished to think. Had she not been ex 
 traordinarily pretty, she would have been overdressed, 
 but as she sat with a teacup poised in her fingers, her 
 
 87 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 dark hair waving on her forehead, the flush from an 
 overheated room upon her cheeks, and a smile in her 
 eyes, she seemed as lovely as some nodding orchid. 
 To each of the three men she said something melodi 
 ously flattering in her irreproducible Southern speech. 
 They bent nearer, and one of them asked if he might 
 hold her cup, and Jack inquired very foolishly if she 
 had been long in town. 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed, and is n t it perfectly fascinating ? 
 I declare I wish I d been born a man, and could live 
 in this delightful old city, and study such interesting 
 things. Is n t it lovely, Mr. James ? " 
 
 "Which?" he asked. 
 
 "Living in this town, of course," prompted 
 Eldredge. 
 
 " Yes, it is rather nice," said Billy. " Do you like 
 the old Green?" 
 
 " It s beautiful," replied Miss Merivale. " And 
 my brother, who is in the freshman class, says it be 
 longs to the College, but that the townspeople have 
 the use of it." 
 
 " The College is awfully good to the town in lots 
 of other ways, but they don t appreciate us at our face 
 value," observed Tarbell, quite at his ease now, and 
 studying the girl with the teacup as if she were some 
 thing quite novel in his experience. " You see, Miss 
 Merivale, we are noisy sometimes, and they don t like 
 to have us run through the streets in our disreputable 
 athletic togs." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Tarbell," she cried of a sudden, "you re 
 on the football team, are n t you ? Will said you were 
 a back-stop or something, and he has sent me bundles 
 
 88 
 
INTO THE WORLD 
 
 of papers with your picture and Mr. Eldredge s. I 
 would give anything to see one of those games. But 
 we live so dreadfully far away ! I m coming, though, 
 and you must n t forget that I m in the Grand Stand. 
 Will must bring me." 
 
 " Yes, he must, when it s said like that," put in 
 James ; and Miss Merivale laughed and looked so 
 fetching that Tarbell and James, oblivious that it 
 was only a tea, sat down by her and said hundreds 
 of moderately clever things, while Colonel Fitzhugh 
 racked his agitated brains for something that would 
 keep him in the race. And Jack listened, too, but 
 ever and anon he looked furtively into a mirror at 
 the reflection of somebody who was pouring tea in 
 a far-off corner of the room. About her was a crowd 
 which seemed never to move away. Miss Glenn, 
 almost hidden in large palms, poured tea, and the 
 people about her crowded closer and closer until Jack 
 suddenly came to and realized that he had been 
 staring over his own shoulder. Miss Merivale cried, 
 " Penny for your thoughts ! " whereupon he said some 
 thing commonplace and threaded his way through a 
 thicket of people till he came to the samovar. There 
 he stopped, and the tea-pourer held out her hand. 
 
 " I almost thought you were n t coming," she said. 
 " That would have been very disappointing. Would 
 you like some tea ? Sit down here with the other 
 tired person," she whispered, smiling ; and Jack sat 
 down almost mechanically. 
 
 " It must be very tiresome to pour tea so long," 
 said Jack. 
 
 " No, that is n t so bad," she answered, " but it s 
 89 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 very hard to talk so much without saying anything. 
 A hundred people must have been here, and I can t 
 remember a word of all they said. I wonder what 
 I have been telling them. . . . Who is that big man 
 over there ? " she asked. 
 
 " It s Tarbell. He called with us the other even 
 ing, you know." 
 
 " Will he come here ? " 
 
 "Now, if you wish," said Jack. "Shall I get 
 him?" 
 
 " No, never mind. Will you be at the german 
 to-morrow night ? " 
 
 " If I survive a few more teas," said Eldredge. 
 
 "I thought you liked teas," responded Margaret, 
 looking at Jack for an instant with an expression 
 that puzzled him. " Don t you like this one ? " 
 
 " Yes, very much ; but, after all, it seems a rather 
 silly way of getting acquainted." 
 
 "Oh! Do you think so ?" she answered. "There 
 are other sillier ways. It does n t make much differ 
 ence how. It s afterwards that makes the difference." 
 
 A moment later some one came and expressed a 
 desire to present Jack to somebody or other, and 
 Jack rose reluctantly from his seat by the palms. 
 
 " Good-bye until to-morrow," he said ; and Margaret 
 answered with a nod and a smile which seemed 
 strangely familiar, and as he followed his leader 
 through the crowd he wondered where he had seen 
 it. Just as he was introduced to some garrulous 
 men and maidens he remembered that the smile was 
 also Joe s. 
 
 The group to which Eldredge was presented were 
 90 
 
INTO THE WORLD 
 
 all talking at once. The men he knew, but the girls 
 were evidently freshly arrived, for they were asking 
 innumerable questions about the University with a 
 volubility which seemed to seek no answer. One 
 aggressively inquisitive damsel wanted to know all 
 about the secret societies, what secrets they could 
 have, and what fliey did at their meetings. The 
 men looked very much embarrassed which is 
 the regular attitude in such matters and hailed 
 Eldredge with relief. He had scarcely joined the 
 group when each one of the young women told him 
 how often she had seen him at the football games, 
 how excited she got, and a dozen other facts in such 
 rapid succession that he could hardly say a word in 
 reply. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Eldredge," exclaimed an ingdnue, " is n t 
 it perfectly lovely to be a football man ! But how 
 horrible it must be to have somebody grab you and 
 throw you down so awfully ! How do you ever get 
 up? But how perfectly fine it must be to have 
 thousands of people cheering you, and to be carried 
 off on the men s shoulders ! And then in college," 
 she rattled on, " football men must be envied by every 
 body. Is n t it horrid that girls colleges have n t any 
 such things ? " 
 
 Jack scarcely knew what to say in reply to her 
 volley of exclamations, but remarked that football 
 was good exercise, that the players rarely heard the 
 cheers of the crowd while playing, and took leave of 
 his feminine admirers, several of whom declared that 
 they were dreadfully sorry not to have any dances 
 with him. As he passed out, he caught a glimpse of 
 
 91 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 the pretty Southerner still surrounded by his three 
 classmates. She was aglow with animation, and Tar- 
 bell seemed as entranced as if he were listening to 
 a spirited comedy. James was apparently trying 
 to get in a word edgewise, while Fitzhugh s back 
 denoted a strong desire to be off with Miss Merivale 
 before she could completely beguile his companions 
 with her stream of Southern honey. 
 
 That evening there was an astonishingly motley dis 
 play of apparel at the Gourmet Eating Club, every 
 thing, in fact, from sweaters to raiment finer than the 
 lilies , and a cross play of bantering good humour 
 and comic personalities. Somebody asked Tarbell 
 whether he thought it polite to concentrate one s 
 attention at a tea ; a question which caused a some 
 what glum expression to settle upon the features of 
 Colonel Thorndyke. Eldredge had a happy way of 
 distracting attention from himself without causing it 
 to settle upon any one else, a divine gift if you 
 want to keep your friends. But most of the chaff 
 and raillery he did not hear nor heed ; he fancied him 
 self in possession of Miss Margaret Glenn, taking 
 her to supper, showing her the college grounds, 
 escorting her to chapel, dancing with her and doing 
 a hundred other possible and impossible things. 
 Then he went to his study and tried to work, with a 
 net result of three downright flunks on the following 
 day, which passed unnoticed in the general ignorance 
 brought on by a Junior Promenade. 
 
 Tarbell could n t be induced to attend the Sopho 
 more German. He did n t wish to " queer " himself ; 
 besides, he had no partner, which is next worst to 
 
 92 
 
INTO THE WORLD 
 
 having no invitation. But everybody went to the 
 Glee Club Concert, where home-made songs are sung 
 to German airs, and freshmen throw cards from the 
 gallery and dangle puppets over pit and stage. 
 
 After the performance was half over, Eldredge went 
 out upon the street to cool. There he met James. 
 
 " Evening, Jack Alone ? " 
 
 "Do I look together, Bill? Where are you 
 bound?" 
 
 "For violets; she I mean Miss Merivale says 
 she loves Yale blue I m getting some ; " and 
 James went his way with an exuberantly busy look 
 on his clean-cut face. He was in the mood that 
 causes barbarians to whistle and larks to sing. 
 Eldredge had had enough of the concert. In an hour 
 it would be over and the dancing would begin. With 
 his hands in his pockets and his head down, he took 
 a couple of turns about the Green, walking to kill 
 time and to ponder what to say to Margaret. When 
 Eldredge arrived at the ballroom, the musicians were 
 making their preparatory flourish. His partner, who 
 had come too late for the concert, entered; he met 
 her, and the dancing began. 
 
 She remarked that it was awful slippery, to which 
 he responded that it was generally so in Febru 
 ary. The girl laughed. "I meant the floor, Mr. 
 Eldredge." 
 
 He reproved himself mentally for being an absent- 
 minded dolt, and in ten seconds had again, all with 
 out knowing, turned his eyes to a part of the great 
 room where he saw Margaret dancing. So evenly, 
 so gracefully did she move that the music seemed 
 
 93 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 to keep time to her steps. Her abundant hair was 
 gathered in a knot, in one hand she held the pale 
 blue folds of her dress ; she was smiling with the 
 lovely expression of health and youth. 
 
 " I was so sorry to miss the concert," said Jack s 
 partner. 
 
 " I was very sorry, too," replied Eldredge ; " it 
 was fine." And straightway he realized having told 
 a lie, but did not care. 
 
 The figure changed. He was dancing with Miss 
 Merivale. The swing and excitement of the first 
 dance had reddened her dark cheeks. As they glided 
 away, she cried, " Oh, my dreadful hair ; it s going 
 to come down ! " and for an instant she dropped her 
 partner s hand to stop with the dexterous push of a 
 pin the threatened downfall. 
 
 " What a gorgeous bunch of violets ! " said Jack, 
 pretending to sniff their fragrance, though his nose 
 was well out of range. 
 
 " My other flowers were crushed and wilted at the 
 concert. If they had n t been, I should n t be wear 
 ing these. But they re sweet, are n t they ? Will 
 you have one, Mr. Eldredge ? " 
 
 " Yes, just one," said Jack, " I 11 put it in my 
 scrapbook with the circumstances." 
 
 " But there are n t any," returned Miss Merivale, 
 laughing. 
 
 At that instant, by a capricious turn of the dance, 
 Eldredge came close to Miss Margaret Glenn. She 
 nodded to him with a friendly look and passed by, 
 moving with a swift and vigorous grace, as if borne 
 onward by no effort of her own. Two immense 
 
 94 
 
INTO THE WORLD 
 
 American Beauties blushed and bobbed their luxu 
 rious petals against the fairness of her skin. She 
 was not talking, but seemed absorbed in the ex 
 hilarating movement of the dance. 
 
 Again the figure changed, and Jack found himself 
 lugging an over-plump and clumsy little girl who 
 remarked that she was dreadfully warm, and Jack 
 replied that it ivas warm, though he scarcely heard 
 what she was saying. He only knew that she puffed 
 very hard, and that she reposed upon his arm like an 
 animated ton. 
 
 Just then James went by. He was endeavouring 
 to steer a Gothic tower of a girl who had evidently 
 decided on some other course. The two men grinned, 
 and James expressed his feelings in a vulgar but 
 expressive wink. He was half a head shorter than 
 his architectural damsel, and looked it. 
 
 Dance followed dance in intricate succession, but 
 Fate had mixed such an evil lot of favours that all 
 which was angular and uninteresting seemed to be 
 stow itself upon Jack, who was rapidly developing 
 an unkind opinion of an arrangement with which his 
 will had so little to do. While the young man was 
 in this mood, it came about that the ladies should 
 choose partners. He saw that Miss Glenn was com 
 ing toward him. She might have taken another man 
 who was nearer, but just at that point her handker 
 chief dropped. Both men started to pick it up, but 
 Eldredge moved more swiftly. Miss Glenn took the 
 handkerchief, and, as they passed to another part of 
 the room, she said, " I was afraid you would n t be 
 quick enough." 
 
 95 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " Did you drop it " 
 
 " Yes, on purpose," replied Margaret, deliberately. 
 Her partner would have given much to see her face. 
 They were dancing to the lazy strains of an American 
 waltz. She moved so lightly, in such harmony, that 
 Eldredge felt no weight save the slight pressure 
 of her hand. 
 
 " Why could n t you come into our box ? " she 
 asked. "Our visitors were very nice; they said 
 pleasant things about Joe s guitar playing, though I 
 could n t distinguish it from the rest." 
 
 Eldredge was relieved that she did not again ask 
 him why he had not come. The truth was that Des 
 mond had been ahead of him, and that he felt a re 
 pugnance to telling women about feuds with other 
 men. For a few moments neither spoke, but they 
 glided on in that glamour which comes from the spell 
 of stringed instruments and the regular cadence of 
 the dance. 
 
 " Where is Mr. Tarbell to-night? " asked Margaret. 
 
 " He would n t come," replied her partner. " Tarb 
 has known how to dance just two weeks." 
 
 " He should have begun sooner. Mr. Tarbell is n t 
 a bit like other men, and is n t he enormous ! Such 
 big men are fascinating when they re not stupid." 
 
 "Those confounded Germans are going to stop," 
 said Jack, as the music began its dying flourish. 
 "This waltz has been shorter than the rest." 
 
 " The clock does n t say so," answered Miss Glenn ; 
 and Eldredge wondered if he had been foolish. The 
 figure came to an end. The music stopped. Mar 
 garet s brother took her off to supper, and Eldredge 
 
 96 
 
INTO THE WORLD 
 
 sought his own partner. He was in a state of exhila 
 ration that made his tongue run fast, and he talked to 
 her with such enthusiasm that she must have won 
 dered what had come over him. 
 
 When Glenn and Eldredge went to bed, it was 
 early morning. As the former threw off his clothes, 
 he yawned between the words that he would be 
 heartily glad when the fair visitors had packed their 
 trunks and gone home. 
 
 " You re sleepy," said Jack. 
 
 " Dead, man, dead." There was a pause. 
 
 Then Glenn said, " Jack, why the deuce did n t 
 you bring a sister to the Prom?" 
 
 " It s too bad I had n t one," replied Jack. 
 
 " Oh, of course, well, good-night." 
 
 Eldredge heard his chum roll into a comfortable 
 position. He felt quite awake himself, as if it had 
 been mid-day, and he fell to wondering why. Also 
 he asked himself more and more questions, until it 
 occurred to him that he had never thought so much 
 about his own affairs in his life before ; certainly not 
 at that time of night. As he lay in bed, everything 
 rose brilliantly before him, the lights, the men, the 
 women and their flowers. He heard again the music 
 and the murmur of voices and laughter, and two fig 
 ures came upon the scene, one of whom was him 
 self, the other a tall and radiant girl, with hair yellow 
 as goldenrod, and two nodding roses of a gorgeous 
 red. The figures swept by and vanished, and his 
 mind refused to conjure them back again. 
 
 97 
 
xn 
 
 MARGARET GLENN 
 
 THE committee of arrangements for the Prom, 
 had done its work to a nicety. Not a carriage 
 collided, not a musician failed to come in time ; the 
 attendance was perfect. The Glenns asked Eldredge 
 to occupy the fourth seat in their carriage, which 
 was just half as pleasant as it might have been. 
 When they reached the Armory, the opening prome 
 nade had just begun, a sort of skirmish for the 
 dresses which eye one another slyly while they pre 
 tend to listen to phrases they scarcely hear. On one 
 side is an orchestra; on the other, a band half hid 
 den in flowers. The procession is quite young; its 
 average age is hardly beyond the teens. Most of 
 those who are marching have been looking forward to 
 this occasion for months; some have come from as 
 far as the Pacific Coast. Every State has sent a 
 sample of its kind; some very fair, and others of the 
 human average. 
 
 Presently the end of the line goes waltzing off and 
 the others follow, moving in and out, but always 
 in one direction, like the colours of a kaleidoscope. 
 Off yonder a huge man is revolving with a little Miss 
 Muffett. At times he completely hides her, so that 
 he appears to be dancing alone, but the little Miss 
 Muffett is safe from collisions. The big man s coat- 
 
 98 
 
MARGARET GLENN 
 
 tails have a tendency to flop, and he is possibly count 
 ing One, Two, Three, One, Two, Three, while his 
 partner prattles about little things that are easy to 
 forget and that neither help nor harm. 
 
 "Have you been to many dances lately?" inquires 
 little Miss Muffett. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," replies the big man; "every day 
 except Sunday for the last three weeks." 
 
 "How delightful! But you must be dreadfully 
 tired." The big man is again counting One, Two, 
 Three, One, Two, Three, and answers her not. 
 
 The waltz ended, little Miss Muffett is returned to 
 her chaperone, and the big man strides towards a 
 certain box. In a second the band strikes up a two- 
 step polka, and all the couples go off with a reckless 
 dash. It is a peculiarly American dance, rollick- 
 some as the Virginia reel. 
 
 "The german was very pretty," said the big man s 
 new partner. 
 
 "I know it was," he responded; "the boys all say 
 so." 
 
 "Why didn t you go, Mr. Tarbell?" 
 
 "I didn t dare risk it, Miss Glenn." Here he had 
 to pay all his attention to a reverse. 
 
 "What a funny idea! " said Margaret. "Germans 
 are perfectly harmless ; you only have to follow the 
 leader." 
 
 "But you have a partner," said Tarbell. "She 
 might be trampled to death. It makes less differ 
 ence here. There is more room." 
 
 At that instant some reckless youth collided with 
 Tarbell, who kept his two hundred pounds moving as 
 
 99 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 if he had been a ship running against a snag and 
 bearing it easily aside. 
 
 " Never mind, Miss Glenn, we re perfectly safe on 
 that side. Luckily this is a two-step." 
 
 "Oh, I feel quite secure," said Margaret, laugh 
 ing; "but I have a waltz with you number seven." 
 She suddenly remembered that Joe had offered two 
 of her square dances to Tarbell, and that number seven 
 had been reserved for her brother. Tarbell was think 
 ing that he would much rather do number seven 
 than not, and Margaret was wondering why her 
 partner hadn t learned to dance sooner. 
 
 "Do you dance for fun ? No, no I mean do you 
 like to dance, Mr. Tarbell?" 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I ve come to believe I do." 
 
 "I love it," said Margaret, "especially when the 
 music is so beautiful. It seems as if we were float 
 ing away without effort; and how amusing it is to 
 overhear a few words of some sentence and wonder 
 what the rest of it might have been! " 
 
 Tarbell was wondering how she could say so much 
 without losing the gait, but he felt he was learning 
 faster than ever he had at Professor de Kiel s. The 
 music stopped; there was a clapping of hands, and 
 the band struck up another air suggestive of a negro 
 clog. A fat Teuton beat time with his baton, while 
 the dancers sped more gayly still. Then the players 
 blew a final blast, and rising together, stamped a jig 
 for the end. Tarbell escorted Miss Glenn to her box 
 and hastened to Miss Merivale, who was as lively as 
 a freshly opened bottle of champagne. Whenever 
 they had a clear floor Tarbell talked entertainingly, 
 
 100 
 
MARGARET .GLENN.. .,-, ;>.-,;; - 
 
 and although Miss Merivale Kept time with the six 
 teenth notes of the music, she really seemed to be 
 saying something. Here was the second girl who 
 could talk and dance at the same time. He began to 
 suspect they must all be that way. 
 
 "I m having a lovely time, Mr. Tarbell. Yale is 
 a perfect dream. I reckon I d like it so much I never 
 could get away if I stayed much longer." 
 
 Something like half a minute later Tarbell said, 
 "We like it," but so nearly stepped on the small foot 
 of his partner that he resolved to keep silent unless 
 compelled to speak. 
 
 Meanwhile Eldredge was dancing with Miss Glenn. 
 
 "Can t you stay longer than to-morrow?" asked 
 Jack. 
 
 "No, I don t believe we can. Poor Joe is bothered 
 to death already. He yawns every time I look at 
 him." 
 
 "I had always supposed Joe was a man of sense." 
 
 "Be careful what you say about my brother." 
 
 " I do value him very highly, but it s possible for 
 him to become a secondary consideration." 
 
 That was rash, for the girl retorted, " Not to me, " 
 so quickly that Jack wished he had said something 
 else. 
 
 "And if you go to-morrow," he went on recklessly, 
 " when are you coming back ? " 
 
 "Perhaps in a year." They were at the end of the 
 immense ball-room, freer from the blare of the band 
 and the swirl of the crowded dancers. 
 
 "Let s sit down a moment by these palms," said 
 Margaret. " How warm it is ! My cheeks are like 
 
 101 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 two spots of fire/ She threw her head back, as if 
 to let the cool air blow upon her throat. As Eldredge 
 watched the come and go of the dance, Tarbell and 
 his partner passed and gave the couple on the bench 
 a nod. For an instant Jack was inclined to laugh at 
 Tarbell s determined glare ; then he did n t, the 
 grim will of the man almost stirred him to awe. 
 
 As the couple passed on, Margaret s fan hid the 
 intentness of the look with which she followed them. 
 
 "Mr. Tarbell has magnificent pluck," she 
 exclaimed. 
 
 "He s the grittiest man in Yale," answered 
 Eldredge. " If he was n t you would n t see him here. 
 He s got a fearful idea into his head that he can t 
 dance. Ridiculous, isn t it? I d risk something 
 that he s thinking of every little rule at this 
 moment." 
 
 "He s quite right," said Margaret. "A man who 
 steps on his partner s toes is sure to lose her good 
 opinion." 
 
 "And if he does it figuratively?" inquired Jack, 
 with unwonted brilliance. 
 
 "Figuratively, sometimes; literally, always. The 
 music is going to stop. We 11 go to the box. I 
 wonder who my next is ? Oh, yes ! Mr. Mr. 
 Desmond. What horrid writing! " 
 
 "He s nearly illiterate," said Jack, so curtly that 
 Miss Glenn might have noticed it. 
 
 "Some people who write very badly are really 
 rather nice on nearer acquaintance," she replied with 
 an air of indifference. "Perhaps I shall find him 
 quite interesting." 
 
 102 
 
MARGARET GLENN 
 
 Whereupon Eldredge left Miss Glenn in time to 
 avoid a meeting, and started toward his next partner, 
 a very clever girl, who said things which in intel 
 lectual circles might have passed for epigrams, but 
 they were wasted on Jack. He answered almost as 
 mechanically as he was dancing, saying such things 
 as will fit any question. And thus he went with 
 another and another still, while the musicians behind 
 the rows of palms scraped and tooted the night away, 
 and the flowers grew more jaded, and the handsome 
 apparel began to get the bedraggled look that even 
 clothes may have from keeping late hours. 
 
 One person was certainly not entirely happy. His 
 dignity or vanity, if you will was deeply wounded 
 because a girl with blackest hair and a mellow voice 
 that burred no rrs had allowed herself, after the 
 unconsciously natural manner of her kind, to forget 
 the delicate discrimination due. As he saw her there, 
 time and again, dancing with a happy abandon, saying 
 with a smile upon her lips the words he would have 
 heard uttered in response to some brilliancy of his 
 own, there arose in the breast of Mr. Fitzhugh Clif 
 ton Thorndyke a sensation which he believed to be 
 warranted indignation at the infringement of the 
 courtesy which one man owes another. Meanwhile 
 the offender, who had really done no more than take 
 by connivance what others had missed by chance, was 
 making the best of flighty time by putting into one 
 word what in all decency of respectable delay should 
 go into three. As James and Miss Merivale floated, 
 half dizzy with the sway and rapture of the dance, 
 dominated by the sensuous spell of music, they said 
 
 103 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 such words as could not well be spoken in cold blood 
 when the length of acquaintance is but one brief 
 week. The mellow Southerner had found in James a 
 sort of virile likeness of her ways, the whimsical emo 
 tions, the quick and hearty response to the presence 
 of an ideal, of which a hard and thin-lipped race is 
 so often devoid. 
 
 "Isn t it beautiful! " exclaimed Miss Merivale. 
 
 " Yes, but it is going to end very soon in another 
 hour. Are you going home in the morning?" 
 
 "At noon. Come and see me off, will you?" 
 
 James recollected that he had a class at that hour. 
 If he "cut," his marks would be within two of rusti 
 cation; so he hedged. 
 
 "Wouldn t Fitz think I was intruding?" 
 
 "Never mind Fitz; I could manage him right 
 easily, Mr. James. You know Fitz and I were, you 
 might say, bred and born in the very same town." 
 
 "I ll come," said James. He would have done 
 well to refuse. 
 
 It was a couple of hours before dawn when the 
 dancers began to trip less briskly the final numbers 
 of the Promenade. The wallflowers wore a look of 
 protracted boredom, and the chaperones followed the 
 movements of their wards with a weariness not always 
 well concealed. Even the orchestra and band were 
 beginning to show sleepy signs of wishing to cease 
 altogether the notes which were no longer music. In 
 the final lancers Jack danced with Margaret, and 
 Tarbell with Mrs. Glenn. At last Tarbell was on an 
 easy footing. Indeed, he was the only one in the set 
 who knew the figures, which he called off in the 
 
 104 
 
MARGARET GLENN 
 
 peculiar manner of Professor de Riel, " chassez, 
 dozy-doe ; " and the ladies executed the various con 
 volutions, laughing again and again at Tarbell s dry 
 imitation of his dancing-master. Mrs. Glenn, charm 
 ing with the grace that comes of blood, looked what 
 Margaret would some day be. Resplendent with a 
 beauty that the hours could not jade, at moments 
 hardly conscious of those about her, and perfectly 
 serene, Margaret went through the dance, while Tar- 
 bell jested, and Jack, a prey to the sensuous charm, 
 could scarce refrain from betraying how utterly he 
 had fallen under the spell. But none saw, save one 
 alone, who beamed on him with impartial grace. As 
 she put both hands in his, oblivious of all else, he felt 
 the magic thrill, and there rose into his throat words 
 he could not and dared not say. 
 
 105 
 
XIII 
 
 WHEN FRIENDS FALL OUT 
 
 THE expected and the unexpected happened. 
 Shortly before a mid-day train drew out of the 
 station with much of the beauty that was, she the 
 brown maid from the South stood outside while her 
 chaperone was attending to small luggage, and said 
 several good-byes, each of which was very sad. 
 
 "Oh, Fitz, it has been lovely from beginning to 
 end ! " And then, as she saw his face, the realiza 
 tion came that she had been very unkind. His ex 
 pression was saying plainly enough : " At my expense ! 
 and here you are putting pepper into the wound!" 
 That is why she ventured to say: "My dear Fitz, 
 how good you have been! I shall always think of 
 the Promenade with so much pleasure. Don t forget 
 to send the photographs for my album ; " but her 
 sweet tones fell upon his heated brain like drops of 
 water on a white-hot iron. He was sizzling within, 
 and, despite his best efforts, could think of nothing 
 cold or cutting to reply, nothing that would show 
 in a gentleman s best style how she had trampled 
 upon his rights, very gracefully indeed and in silken 
 slippers, but trampled none the less. What stirred 
 him to a still deeper indignation was the presence of 
 this intruder who called himself a friend. 
 
 106 
 
WHEN FRIENDS FALL OUT 
 
 She said, "Good -bye, Fitz," once more, and he 
 gave her a "Good-bye, Miss Merivale," which should 
 have sent an arrow of compunction through her heart ; 
 but she had laid her well -shaped hand into the other s 
 for one brief instant, and was saying, " You will re 
 member " in a way which caused the other to press 
 the hand, while a look passed between them of such 
 meaning that the situation might have become ex 
 tremely difficult had the train remained for the rest 
 of the day. When it pulled out, the two men stood 
 bowing to a certain window until it was lost to sight; 
 then they looked at each other, and James said, 
 
 "Fitz, are you going to take a car, or will you 
 walk?" 
 
 "I 11 walk," he replied very haughtily, and turn 
 ing his back upon James, strode off with a wrathful 
 expression on his brow, while James calmly stopped 
 to light his pipe, and went his way as placidly as if 
 he had cut no recitation and were merely out for a 
 stroll. So completely was he absorbed in inward 
 contemplation that he quite forgot his friend s curt 
 departure, and thought of him no more till they sat 
 face to face at dinner. Thorndyke had no word to 
 say, but glowered as if every pea on his plate were 
 causing him a separate offence. When Jack arrived, 
 he slapped Fitzhugh playfully on the back with a, 
 " Hello, Colonel ! What s the good word from 
 Dixie?" 
 
 " Careful there, Jack ! " cried somebody else. 
 " The Colonel s chewing a rag ! " and everybody 
 yelled, "Grouch! Grouch!" 
 
 "Let him be," said Billy; "don t you see the man 
 107 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 needs sleep? Get Budson to give you one of his 
 celebrated Morpheus pills, Colonel. All you want is 
 twenty-four hours of absolute rest." The glower 
 was becoming more animated. 
 
 "I fear," remarked Glenn, "that the excitement of 
 the past few days has unsettled the Colonel s nerves." 
 The glower was changing to an expression of wrath. 
 
 "If anything has gone wrong, tell us," exclaimed 
 Drake, with a gruesome attempt at pathos. 
 
 "What is it that it is?" said another, who had 
 studied French. 
 
 "You fellows remind me of a pack of jackasses," 
 growled the Colonel. 
 
 "Well said," remarked Tarbell, amidst the hub 
 bub; "you ve described their meat to a T." 
 
 "To a nice T," said some punster. 
 
 There were cries of " Slay him ! " " Put him out ! " 
 " A man who d do that would be capable of anything ! " 
 and there was such an uproar of good-natured invec 
 tive and laughter that Mrs. Jones put her head 
 through the doorway and asked if any of the gentle 
 men wished anything, which was a gentle fashion of 
 telling them to make less noise. But Fitzhugh s 
 face continued to wear an expression of sullen indig 
 nation, and a scorn that was all but comic. The Yale 
 mood is not prone to investigation ; it simply expects 
 a man to be good-humoured in season and out of 
 season. 
 
 From fish to dessert there was a popping of satirical 
 remarks which at moments became a volley, and the 
 unhappy victim of thwarted affection could do nothing 
 but brook it, though the fires of his wrath were in- 
 
 108 
 
WHEN FRIENDS FALL OUT 
 
 wardly consuming. His indignation was rising to a 
 dangerous degree, and poor James, from being an 
 impertinent rival, was fast becoming an enemy. The 
 diaphragm of Colonel Fitzhugh Thorndyke was turn 
 ing to a Homeric black, and his combative blood was 
 beginning to course through his veins as it had 
 through the veins of his fighting ancestors. The 
 highest pitch was reached when the Club passed into 
 the street, for there the chief offender was so rash 
 as to put his hand on the Southerner s shoulder and 
 say, "Never mind, Colonel, old boy; your turn will 
 come." Thorndyke flared up like a sputtering pin- 
 wheel, and his emotion found utterance all at once. 
 
 "Take your hand off my shoulder!" he cried. 
 " You re the worst of the lot, and you ve got a cheek 
 tryin to pretend you aren t." 
 
 Billy burst out laughing, which made the Colonel 
 so furious that he stood for an instant beneath a 
 flickering street lamp, glaring at him with an expres 
 sion of unutterable scorn. 
 
 " There s one thing, Mr. James, you d do well to 
 learn, and that is that you re not a gentleman. Your 
 action is positively indecent, and has been from begin- 
 nin to end. I must say," he went on in vague but 
 passionate style, "I must say that your notions of 
 courtesy seem to be of such a peculiar sort that I 11 
 have nothing more to do with you." 
 
 "But, Colonel," gasped Billy, in astonishment 
 well shammed, " what in the devil have I done ? For 
 goodness sake, out with it and don t be an ass! " 
 
 " You need n t call me Colonel, and you d better 
 not call me an ass. I don t count on takin any 
 
 109 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 more of your nonsense. If you ve got an apology in 
 you, make it right here ; otherwise you may cease to 
 reckon me among your friends." 
 
 James looked very stiffly at the Colonel and said: 
 "You can go plumb to if you think I m going to 
 make any silly apologies. I ve done no more than 
 anybody else. If you want an apology, just draw one 
 up and ask me to sign." The last sarcasm was more 
 than Fitzhugh could stand. With a look of scorn, 
 he strode off, leaving James both angry and per 
 plexed. Tarbell, Eldredge, and Glenn had stood at 
 a decent distance, waiting for the row to subside. 
 Now they came up and asked James what the deuce 
 he and the Colonel had been squabbling about. 
 
 " The Lord knows ! " said James. " He s gone 
 away red-hot, but maybe he ll sleep it off." 
 
 "Go and tell him you re sorry, Billy," advised 
 Eldredge. 
 
 "Not on your life!" ejaculated James. "D ye 
 imagine I m going to tell him I m sorry because he 
 has acted like a spoiled child?" 
 
 "Don t you care, Billy," said Glenn. "The 
 Colonel will get well before morning; he probably 
 needs sleep." (Glenn attributed every human emo 
 tion to some physical cause.) "Where are you bound 
 for now?" 
 
 "To grind," said Tarbell. 
 
 "The same here," quoth Jack. "Well, evening, 
 Bill ! Don t sit up too late ! " 
 
 They wended their separate ways, James to his 
 abode by the lumber yard, and the three others to 
 their dens on the Campus. Each had a guess to 
 
 110 
 
WHEN FRIENDS FALL OUT 
 
 explain Thorndyke s dudgeon, but he alone really 
 knew and he was too weak to tell. Human nature, 
 in his person, was denying the truth with the self- 
 deception usual in cases of offended vanity. 
 Eldredge couldn t help thinking of a certain un 
 pleasant experience of his own, but then he knew 
 perfectly the why and wherefore of that matter. The 
 resemblance did not go very far. For some weeks 
 he had scrupulously avoided any meeting, and being 
 of a sound temperament, rarely thought of Desmond 
 and never worried. One fact puzzled him, and that 
 was how the man had escaped being dropped. He 
 had evidently failed in a sufficient number of exam 
 inations to warrant the Faculty in closing relations, 
 but they hadn t; and there was Desmond quite as 
 before, the same interested place-hunter, the same 
 skilful wire-puller, artfully bringing himself into 
 prominence, enjoying the favour that he needed, flunk 
 ing his lessons and cheating his tradesmen. 
 
 As Jack and his chum sat down to work, Jack 
 asked Glenn in an indifferent way whether Desmond 
 had got out of his difficulty with the Faculty. 
 
 "Which?" inquired Glenn. 
 
 "I wasn t aware there were two," replied Eldredge. 
 
 Glenn rose and went to the window-seat, putting 
 his back against it. 
 
 "It s a strange thing," he remarked reflectively, 
 " what a fool that fellow is. I heard him say some 
 thing in a certain place a few nights ago " 
 
 "At ?" 
 
 "Yes, to a couple of bosom friends. Oh, it was 
 pure chance." 
 
 Ill 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 "What was it, Joe?" 
 
 "In a dozen words just this: He flunked dead; 
 wrote a windy excuse about being taken with sudden 
 dizziness ; thought that would n t go down, and walked 
 out with his papers in his pocket." 
 
 "How did that save him?" 
 
 "He is a low-lived animal, Jack. You ve never 
 seen him at his best. Just think of the cheek and 
 to tell it of himself! When the papers were cor 
 rected, his was missed, naturally. Well, he asked for 
 his mark, and, when they said his paper was missing, 
 he pretended to feel terribly bad. You ought to have 
 heard his gall in telling it. He swore to the exam 
 iners, by all that s holy, he had handed in the paper, 
 and that it was the best piece of work he d ever done. 
 Great heavens! The man seems to have no more 
 honour than a pirate." 
 
 "And they accepted his excuse!" exclaimed 
 Eldredge, with disgust. "Joe, if ever I see my 
 chance, I 11 cook his goose. Is that all he said?" 
 
 "All I heard." 
 
 "Didn t he mention me?" 
 
 "No; why should he?" 
 
 " Simply because he wanted me to help him on that 
 occasion, and called me a blank hypocrite because I 
 wouldn t nice boy! Bill has some pretty tales, 
 too; but for heaven s sake, let s talk of something 
 pleasant! That man is worse than indigestion. 
 What s the trig, for to-morrow, Joe ? " 
 
 " Next three pages ; " and nothing more was said of 
 Desmond. 
 
 The two men sat down and " boned " for three 
 112 
 
WHEN FRIENDS FALL OUT 
 
 hours. Then Tarbell came in with Budson, and 
 they played cards, while Budson told wonderful tales 
 about games of poker in the Far West in which he 
 had taken part, or of which he had heard tell, until 
 Eldredge began to yawn continuously, and Budson 
 trumped his partner s ace. Otherwise they might 
 have played until morning. What more natural way 
 of recovering four nights of lost sleep? 
 
 113 
 
XIV 
 
 THE TEMPLE BAR 
 
 FOR a week the two men ignored each other so 
 obviously that the Eating Club began to look 
 upon the matter as a normal condition. Thorndyke 
 glared in James s direction without appearing to see 
 him, and James affected a don t-care look by which 
 he himself was bored excessively. During the 
 second week he made overtures which were met with 
 chilling disdain. Then the Club began to be 
 annoyed, and twitted the two men mercilessly, espe 
 cially Thorndyke. He was immovable. Meanwhile 
 James had been raking over the ashes of his recent 
 history and had made a discovery, very vague at first, 
 but then clearer and clearer, till he reached a solu 
 tion which satisfied him. Having considered the 
 ethics of the matter, he concluded that his behaviour 
 had been correct beyond question, save in the one 
 particular of going to the train, a privilege which 
 he might in all charity have left to Thorndyke. He 
 made more overtures, and then withdrew under the 
 impression that the Colonel had mistaken his flag of 
 truce for the white rag of surrender. The absurd 
 situation might have continued indefinitely had not 
 Heaven and the Devil joined forces to set matters 
 right. 
 
 114 
 
THE TEMPLE BAR 
 
 It began in a small white house, in a small side 
 street where the Golden Buck chases the Welsh Rab 
 bit, and both are drowned in pewter tobies, where 
 upper classmen sit numerously at mahogany tables to 
 retail the oldest and the youngest tales. To men of 
 a certain kind it is a Holy of the Unholies, is the 
 Temple Bar; for, since time out of mind, they who 
 study little and they who study much have fore 
 gathered here, and you may still see the epitaphs of 
 their youth graven on a mahogany slab which is fas 
 tened to the wall. T. T. that stands for Thomas 
 Tarbell; and J. E. Jr. means, no doubt, John 
 Eldredge. Against the old-fashioned wall-paper 
 hang ancient prints, and on the shelf above are mugs 
 and tankards, some of them scratched with the rude 
 initials of forgotten names. A quaint and orderly 
 place it is, with its crooked halls and smoky ceilings. 
 
 At a corner table, on the evening of that February 
 day, Fitzhugh sat alone. His gloom seemed to enfold 
 him as thickly as the turgid smoke that issued from 
 the browning meerschaum pipe. Men came and men 
 went, but he saw them not. The Colonel was dis 
 gusted with the world and was beginning to be dis 
 gusted with himself. The unhappy idea was just 
 dawning upon him that he perhaps had lost what he 
 had really never owned ; also, that he had quarrelled 
 childishly with a friend and made a fool of himself. 
 So he resorted to the toby to dull his discontent, and 
 the toby made so many voyages to the vat that his 
 mind began to see matters in an entirely different 
 light. He was growing mellow and regretful. An 
 environment may do strange things especially when 
 
 115 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 it contains tobies. He longed to be his former self, 
 to appear otherwise than in the humorous plight of 
 being laughed at for an indignation which he had n t 
 the courage to explain. 
 
 Several times he looked into the toby through the 
 amber-tinted glass, as if seeking to straighten out his 
 thoughts. Vicariously the toby began to do its work. 
 Then James came, and as he passed the corner, he 
 half nodded, and the man in the corner nodded back 
 and said " Good-evening " in a subdued voice. The 
 main room was crowded ; so James returned and sat 
 down near the man in the corner, and ordered grilled 
 sardines. When the grilled sardines appeared, the 
 toby had changed tables. 
 
 "I want you to understand," said the Colonel, 
 "that this has been merely a misunderstandin . I 
 was a dog-gone fool. Yes, that s just what I was. 
 Give me your hand, Billy. That s very good ! 
 When a fellow gives me his hand, I know he means 
 it. That s the reason I know you mean it. Are 
 more explanations necessary ? If so, let s have a toby. 
 Two tobies for two topers. No, excuse me, of 
 course you are n t, but I am, and I m sorry for it 
 I m sorry for everything except this. What s the 
 use of it anyway so long as a fellow s got friends ! I 
 say, let s share alike, and the man that wins is enti 
 tled to what he gets. Does that meet your approval ? 
 Waiter! Get my friend another toby and get me 
 another toby." 
 
 James was beginning to be nervous. " Come, Fitz," 
 said he, " you and I ought to be going now. " 
 
 " Why so, Bill ? What s the rush when a man is 
 116 
 
THE TEMPLE BAR 
 
 happy and s got nothing else to bother him ? I pro 
 pose to stay, and if you don t stay, then we 11 have 
 to dig up the hatchet again. I say stay Stay, boys, 
 stay, till light o day Drive care away! " 
 
 The improvised rhyme was sung discordantly to 
 an improvised air. 
 
 For an hour James listened to his companion s ram- 
 blings and countermanded half-a-dozen tobies. Then 
 he succeeded in convincing him that they should 
 have a look at the stars. On the street Thorndyke 
 began to sing, " For all my days I 11 sing the praise " 
 dwelling on the wrong notes and beating time. 
 James was disgusted, but he dragged the singer 
 along. 
 
 Presently they came to a policeman, who was 
 dangling his club beneath a flickering gas-jet. 
 
 " Hello, fat little Boy Blue ! 
 What are you doin there 1 
 J f I had n t anything else to do, 
 I d buy you a rockin -chair." 
 
 " If you don t behave yourself, I 11 learn you how ! " 
 growled the man. 
 
 "Shut up, Fitz," said Billy; "you ll get into 
 trouble; " and he tried to drag him away. 
 
 "No, I m not coming just now. I want to discuss 
 with this gentleman." 
 
 James made a futile attempt to grab the Colonel, 
 who slipped, went too far, and bumped into the 
 minion of the law, seating him forcibly in the gutter 
 while his club bounded and glided down the street. 
 Both regained their feet in an instant. The man was 
 
 117 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 furiously profane. He sprang heavily, and would 
 have seized the offender had not James got the latter 
 by the arm and hauled him along at a miraculous 
 rate. The policeman was close upon them, but 
 slipped again on the icy walk and went down, 
 swearing fearfully. 
 
 " Run, Fitz, run ! " yelled James ; and they ran till 
 the pursuer was far behind. By a roundabout road 
 they reached Thorndyke s room and stopped, panting 
 and dripping with sweat. 
 
 "Now go to bed," said Billy, "and if you ve got 
 enough sense, say your prayers, because you never 
 needed em more. Your eye is bunged and your 
 clothes are a sight to see." 
 
 "Billy," he answered, "you re my friend, and 
 you ve saved me from disgrace. I was a fool. Yes, 
 I am a fool, and a fool I shall remain. Oh, you shall 
 wear a golden, golden crown of glory, Bill! " 
 
 "Go to bed, I tell you." 
 
 "I want you to kick me first." 
 
 Instead of doing that, James seized a pitcher of 
 cold water and emptied it ruthlessly upon his raving 
 companion. The latter gasped and sputtered : " That s 
 right, Bill, soak it to me ! Oh, what d she say if 
 she saw me now! No," he went on, sitting drenched 
 as he was, " I m no good. I can see it now. You re 
 a better fellow. But I m going to turn over a new 
 leaf right away to-night." He began to rip off 
 his spoiled apparel, and James looked to him till he 
 was well in bed. 
 
 Somehow this affair leaked out, and each man 
 one because he deserved it, the other because he was 
 
 118 
 
THE TEMPLE BAR 
 
 unwilling to explain got six weeks of enforced 
 leave ; but the sinner sinned no more. Thus a pain 
 ful situation absolutely ceased to be thanks to a 
 small amount of good sense, inherent in every human 
 being, and over-many tobies. But the end was not 
 yet for James. 
 
 119 
 
XV 
 
 THE FENCE 
 
 IT was well-nigh May when the twain came back to 
 the fold, and the air was full of such odours as 
 welling saps give forth when they begin to feed the 
 tender leaves. Hundreds of chattering sparrows 
 were fighting for nests against the vine-clad walls of 
 the Old Library and the Chapel, and as the evenings 
 grew balmier, groups of singers gathered by the Fence, 
 to relieve themselves by night of the sentiment which 
 men are ashamed to show by day. And there were 
 negro minstrels with voices that betrayed their colour 
 even in the dark, and there were the minor chords, 
 which are the charm of negro glees and joy of the 
 negro s heart. Also, there were harps and horns and 
 fiddles and things, which were applauded with the 
 lavishness of uncritical youth. 
 
 Half our life depends on other people; the other 
 half on the weather and at Yale something goes for 
 the Fence. For have we not sat there wasting the 
 golden hours in the amiable exchange of our accu 
 mulated ignorance ? Was it not there that we brooded 
 and hatched the plans which then were everything, 
 and which now we have forgotten as if they had not 
 been? 
 
 Since the hour when he had last seen her, Eldredge 
 had thought often of Margaret, but he would not have 
 
 120 
 
THE FENCE 
 
 had it known for the shame that is in poetry, love, 
 and prayers ; the shame that bade him be silent till he 
 should sometime tell her, and her alone. 
 
 Evidently Margaret was fond of her brother, for 
 every Monday the postman left him a bulky little 
 envelope, which he tucked into his pocket till he 
 could read it after the first morning hour. Once or 
 twice she sent a message to Jack, which was trans 
 lated by the unsuspecting Glenn into : " Peggy sends 
 you her regardlete," or, "Daisy sends you her bless 
 ing," which Eldredge knew to be garbled, and he 
 wondered if Glenn ever forgot entirely. It was more 
 than probable. 
 
 Tarbell, whose early education had been a wofully 
 harum-scarum affair, was beginning to catch up. 
 More than that, he was fast climbing to the top, and 
 bade fair to be in good time a member of the Phi 
 Beta Kappa, which is the society at Yale that puts a 
 premium only on brains. Eldredge realized perfectly 
 that he was not shaped in that mould, and simply 
 kept himself in the uppermost third. Both men spent 
 much time on a certain part of the Fence, listening to 
 the notes of the Campus lark, and cementing a friend 
 ship that was not to die, not even when some men 
 would have hated each other forever. 
 
 Each would gladly have been chosen captain of the 
 Eleven, and each in the bottom of his heart hoped 
 that the other might get the honour, a generosity as 
 rare as it was true. 
 
 "Now," remarked Tarbell one evening, "I figure 
 it out this way, Jack. I 11 vote for you, and then 
 don t you go and vote for me. I might get elected 
 
 121 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 if we both voted for me. Besides that, pardner, I m 
 afraid I may have to quit for a year. " 
 
 "What? The devil! " ejaculated Eldredge, jump 
 ing off the Fence. " You re joking ! " 
 
 "I wish I were, Jack. No, I fear I m bust. The 
 crime of 73 is raising the very Old Nick with my 
 money." 
 
 Eldredge looked aghast at the gloomy grin on the 
 other man s face. The humour did n t touch him. 
 
 "But, Tarb, quit your fooling, for heaven s sake! " 
 
 "Well, I get my grub free, and the College is 
 kindly letting me borrow some of its money for tui 
 tion ; but there are other things, you know. In some 
 countries I might do without clothes, but the climate 
 is too severe in these parts. The interest on my in 
 vestments has gone from twelve per cent to just nix. 
 How d ye expect me to live on that? " 
 
 " Borrow of me ! " exclaimed Eldredge. " How 
 much do you want? A thousand? Five? Say the 
 word, Tarb, and you can have all you want if I have 
 to hock my last pair of socks." 
 
 "Put it there!" said Tarbell; and the two men 
 clasped hands for a second. It was one of those 
 unspoken acknowledgments that pass between man 
 and man. 
 
 "This is a business arrangement, Jack; so what 
 are the rates ? My mortgage is n t worth a red. 
 I ve got no security." 
 
 "The deuce you haven t! " cried Eldredge. 
 
 "Which?" asked Tarbell. 
 
 "Why, yourself!" Eldredge picked up a stick 
 and flung it against a tree. Tarbell would have an- 
 
 122 
 
THE FENCE 
 
 swered, but something got into his throat and stopped 
 the words. There was a moment of silence. 
 
 "With business in such shape as it is now," he 
 went on, "I don t know when I could pay up, Jack." 
 
 " I don t care when ! What s the diff ? Tarb, I 11 
 let you have it just the same as if you were my brother. 
 D ye see? My brother!" 
 
 "Yes, I do," said Tarbell. "It s a bargain." 
 
 Eldredge, almost without knowing it, rested his 
 arm on the other s shoulder, and they went together 
 down the long walk under the elms, saying never a 
 word. 
 
 123 
 
XVI 
 
 TORCH AND COWL 
 
 T7VERYBODY was talking about it, and some 
 -l> were losing sleep, because it was a tremendous 
 question, these elections. The funny side of it was 
 that some of the puppets pulled their own strings, 
 whereas puppets are mostly jiggled about by some 
 one else ; then they began to dance for joy because 
 they had been able to give themselves this small 
 pleasure without much worry or sweat. 
 
 Naturally, Tarbell and Eldredge hadn t the least 
 bother, being athletes and good fellows. And 
 James, who was moderately clever, managed to pull 
 through; nor did he really need the help which 
 Eldredge, out of the goodness of his heart and a 
 certain confidence in himself, had expected to give. 
 
 For most of the men who were to be initiated into 
 the junior year secret societies it meant exceedingly 
 little. It was one of those useless honours which a 
 man has to accept if he would not suffer harm. 
 Therefore that kind selected a society after their 
 fancy, and recommended to friends in the class above 
 a certain remnant to whom it would mean consider 
 ably more. Empty as the honour seemed to those who 
 must receive it, there were others, two hundred and 
 fifty or more, who could not share, and some of them 
 felt very sore and sad. To not a few it was as if they 
 
 124 
 
TORCH AND COWL 
 
 had been utterly disregarded or deemed unworthy; 
 and there were a few, a very few, who did not care. 
 
 Once there was a society called Omega Lambda 
 Chi, which died because it was killed ; but every year 
 it is resurrected for two hours amid din and dancing. 
 Every man in the College can belong to this society 
 because it is dead. In the gloaming of an evening in 
 May they gather a thousand strong, and these are the 
 words they sing, 
 
 Chi Hro Omega Lambda Chi ! 
 We meet tonight to celebrate 
 The Omega Lambda Chi ! 
 
 It is a regiment seniors at the head arranged in 
 companies according to class; six or seven men in 
 every row. With arms locked behind their backs, 
 shoulder to shoulder, the ranks begin to move. As 
 they advance, they sharpen the pace ; each row sways 
 from side to side, and the long line becomes a serpent 
 with the freshmen for its tail. The single cry, the 
 mystic verse, rings in chorus from a thousand throats. 
 Swiftly the writhing line moves forward, doing a 
 wild dance as it winds beneath the elms. Were the 
 figures costumed in the ancient garb, one might say 
 it was some orgy of the Roman sort. But there is 
 no disorder, nothing but enthusiasm, and that of 
 the kind that makes and kills itself. 
 
 The procession moves toward a certain part of the 
 Quadrangle, and for a moment a portion of the line 
 goes more slowly. As it slackens its speed, the sing 
 ing stops and a cheer goes up Durfee ! South 
 Middle! Vanderbilt! whatever the name may be; 
 
 125 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 and the motion is resumed till each building has been 
 passed in review, and every wall has echoed its own 
 name. The Quadrangle comes to have almost a per 
 sonality ; the very bricks and stone seem to receive a 
 soul. It is as if the old College, with all its places 
 where memories have been and friends have come 
 and gone, were receiving a noisy homage in recogni 
 tion of all that such things mean. 
 
 The next evening, which is ever a Tuesday, there 
 is stillness on the Quadrangle until nine o clock. 
 Then one hears the sound of distant singing by male 
 voices, and the air is like a dirge. The music grows 
 louder ; there is a glow of flickering light which plays 
 on the dark walls in strange figures. Now a body of 
 men clad in monastic gowns of various colours and 
 designs follows a sputtering calcium light. They 
 march down a walk, singing, and another band 
 appears. Each company is chanting a different air, 
 and all go solemnly, as if bent on a duty. Were it 
 not for the calcium lights, one might almost fancy 
 himself to be looking at mediaeval, monkish orders 
 engaged in the performance of some rite. Each 
 society has its own songs, which it sings without 
 regard to the rest. One is splendidly slap-dash, and 
 well suited to the rhythm of tramping feet, 
 
 For oh ! we are so jolly oh ! jolly oh ! jolly oh ! 
 For oh! we are so jolly oh ! in jolly D. K. E. 
 Slap Bang ! Here we are again for jolly D. K. E. 
 
 and the music almost seems to explode on the imita 
 tive words. 
 
 In the windows hundreds of eyes are following 
 126 
 
TORCH AND COWL 
 
 these curious proceedings. Most of them have looked 
 on the same scene before, but there is always a rem 
 nant of mystery to charm. 
 
 In certain rooms " candidates " have gathered, 
 according to their predilections or their necessities, 
 to receive an election. They have supplied them 
 selves with cigars and other things, which the in 
 vaders are free to take when they burst into a room 
 to inform its occupants of their election. 
 
 Tarbell, as well as Eldredge and Glenn, had 
 selected the society most to his liking. James had 
 been disappointed once; therefore he felt a certain 
 gratification now. Yet, despite the Roman candles 
 and the singing, it was an idle show, interesting in 
 proportion to one s ignorance of the doings inside. 
 The greatest show the one that sends some scores 
 of men into an ecstasy of joy, and brings the weaker 
 ones to tears was yet to come. What intrigues, 
 trickery, and cajolery, and arduously infantile diplo 
 macy were therein comprised is a tale yet to be told. 
 
 127 
 
XVII 
 
 AT TURN OF TIDE 
 
 IN the midst of the June examinations Eldredge re 
 ceived a letter which set him thinking. His 
 father wished to know whether Tarbell would like 
 to work for him during the summer. Jack was not 
 long in coming to a conclusion, so far as his crony 
 was concerned; but then there was himself to con 
 sider. Mr. Eldredge spoke of a paymastership, for 
 which he deemed Tarbell a proper man. As to any 
 place for his son, there was not a word. 
 
 Letter in hand, Jack went to Tarbell s room and 
 laid the matter before him. Tarbell declared that 
 the job was a new one for him, but that he would 
 tackle it and try to earn his salary. Jack was for 
 telegraphing to find out whether there were a place 
 for himself as well. 
 
 "Hold up," said Tarbell, "let s think it over." 
 
 " Why should I think it over ? " replied Jack. " I 
 can earn my salt as well as the next one." 
 
 He walked across the room a couple of times, threw 
 himself into a chair, and re-read the letter. 
 
 "Well," inquired Tarbell, "what s your conclu 
 sion?" 
 
 "My conclusion? Oh, that s easy enough ! Just 
 wait awhile and I 11 tell you. Let me see. What 
 
 128 
 
AT TURN OF TIDE 
 
 are my accomplishments ? In the first place, I can t 
 keep books. There s one difficulty off my hands. 
 And I don t want to be a conductor or a ticket agent. 
 And not being a darky, I can t be a sleeping-car 
 porter. There s another. Now I might flag off 
 absent-minded farmers at grade crossings; mightn t 
 I ? Look here, Tarb, what do you think I could do ? 
 You ought to know." 
 
 "I ought to," observed Tarbell, "but I don t. 
 Perhaps your father might suggest something, 
 something good and hard like, well, trunks and 
 that sort of thing." 
 
 "Say, Tarb," said Jack, "couldn t you get me a 
 place in the paymaster s department?" 
 
 "That s right, pardner, hit back; it s the law of 
 life. You must n t mind if I put on a few airs. A 
 man in my position " (here he took a second to refill 
 his pipe), "a man in my position has to be careful 
 whom he puts into responsible offices." 
 
 After some fidgeting about the room, Jack came to 
 anchor, and began to eye Tarbell, who was tranquilly 
 blowing rings while his gaze rested on his companion 
 curiously. 
 
 "I am going to start in at the bottom," said 
 Jack. 
 
 "Where s that?" asked Tarbell. 
 
 "Oh! anywhere. No matter about that; I can 
 work up. In fact," he continued with unwonted 
 philosophy, " that is about the only direction in which 
 I can work. Now, what I d like to know is this: 
 So far as you know, is there any job that I could do 
 and do well, barring yours, of course?" 
 9 129 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 "On a railroad?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 " Yes, a hundred. All you ve got to do is to pitch 
 in the same as here, and by September you 11 have 
 found out, or my name s not Tarbell." 
 
 130 
 
xvm 
 
 AFFINITIES 
 
 DURING the second summer of their friendship 
 Eldredge and Tarbell had their experience in 
 the great business of a railway. They worked tre 
 mendously. Tarbell was the man needed for his 
 place. He never botched his accounts, never was 
 behind, and won the respect of several hundred sec 
 tion hands by treating them like men. Very early in 
 his railroading career he found it necessary to knock 
 down a certain ruffian who had mistaken bulldozing 
 for persuasion. It was a common report along his 
 section that Tarbell could push a freight car, an 
 absurdity, no doubt ; but he was fair and square and 
 friendly in a man-to-man way, and something of a 
 king. 
 
 Jack, much to his father s gratification but quite 
 without suggestion, donned a fireman s garb and 
 stoked for engine 339. His action had a certain 
 dramatic aspect which tickled his fellow-toilers. Bill 
 Atkins, a first-class engineer and proprietor of 339, 
 would have it that there was n t another such fireman 
 on the line. He bossed Jack when on duty and 
 boasted of him when off. " That boy," said he, " is 
 the toughest you ever see ! He don t put on lugs, 
 though I 11 bet ye he s rich enough in his own name 
 to own the hull outfit." 
 
 131 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 This opinion was received with an awful admira 
 tion. But there was nothing so very strange about 
 it. Jack was too near the source, too much his 
 father s son, not to be in close touch with the 
 grimy, workaday world. Moreover he had learned 
 in the two years of college life how to deal with 
 other men; and in the world there is no better 
 wisdom. 
 
 For Jack, his summer s job was no affectation. 
 He had too much common-sense not to recognize his 
 limitations, and there was in his character the healthy 
 kernel of democracy. He knew his strength, and 
 with that knowledge there existed a certain security 
 in the outcome of his efforts. And there was some 
 thing greater still, urging him on from without and 
 from within, the secretly exuberant assurance that 
 he would thus be undeniably more worthy of the one 
 whose favour he prized more highly than that of all 
 others. He never saw her, and he had ceased to 
 share the letters of Glenn; but he thought of her 
 daily, hourly, and builded for himself a castle of the 
 future in which they should reign together and he 
 should one day be king. He feared no hindrance to 
 his hopes ; for him nothing had a negative side ; his 
 imagination and his will conspired to raise for him a 
 picture which was almost material in its intensity. 
 In a word, he was continuously, ineffably happy in 
 a golden dream that vanquished all the uncertainty 
 of this earth. 
 
 Meanwhile James, who was growing more sober 
 under the burden of his possibilities, had betaken 
 himself to a certain camp in the North Woods with 
 
 132 
 
AFFINITIES 
 
 some congenial companions, a few harmless firearms, 
 and numerous virgin quires, which he was expecting 
 to cover, as the inspiration came, with some of those 
 fantastic tales which have since that time been lucky 
 enough to sneak into various prints to the scandal of 
 a philistine world. It is not pertinent here to tell 
 how his greatness finally arrived, nor how he passed 
 his apprenticeship by writing for college magazines 
 matter which was thus doomed to an eternity unutter 
 ably obscure. 
 
 There were twelve in the party, chaperones com 
 prised, and all gifted. Some could get music out of 
 a banjo ; others had voices, and all " wrote," even 
 the chaperones. It was a sort of Arcadia where the 
 nymphs and swains dabbled in sonnets and fed them 
 selves on ham and eggs. Save the chaperones and 
 Joshua Drake, it was an idle company. They had 
 drifted thither for reasons easy to explain, so far, at 
 least, as two of them were concerned. It was a con 
 spiracy in which the conspirators were their own 
 victims. 
 
 On a certain fine day James was seated on the end 
 of a log. That particular log had happened to fall 
 about a hundred yards from the camp. Not only was 
 he seated on the said log a fact of considerable 
 gravity in itself but he was trying hard to sew a 
 button on to his canvas coat. The thread, the needle, 
 the button, and the coat were resisting to the utmost. 
 At the other end of the log sat Miss Merivale. In 
 one hand she held a palette, in the other a brush, 
 with the end of which she was endeavouring to get 
 the proportions of the young man s physiognomy. 
 
 133 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " Now, don t you move," she was saying ; " because 
 if you do, I shall look for another model." 
 
 At that moment the needle must have done some 
 thing wicked, for the would-be seamstress cried, " Jee 
 Whittaker ! Right through the nail ! " 
 
 "I told you to be careful," exclaimed the artist. 
 " Do you want another fellow to help you ? " 
 
 " No, I 11 make a few more stabs at it." 
 
 She laughed as she deposited a daub of paint upon 
 the canvas. 
 
 " Do you know," she went on, "that I think your 
 nose is very hard to do ? It s too too something 
 or other. Oh ! I see now ! It s the high light on 
 the tip." 
 
 " My nose is all right. I won t have it abused," 
 protested Billy. "What are you going to call it, 
 Clare? The picture, I mean? " 
 
 " Study of a youth sewing on a button." 
 
 " Good ! I rather like that. May I come and see 
 how it looks ? " 
 
 " Not now, Billy. What a way of wearing a hat ! 
 All jammed down over your ears ! " The girl left 
 her paints and proceeded to pose the hat, sticking into 
 the ribbon a few quills. Then she squinted at her 
 model, half shutting her eyes and measuring him off 
 into sections, by aid of the brush handle. 
 
 " May I talk a little? " asked James. 
 
 " Yes, all you want to ; but mind you say nothing 
 foolish ! " 
 
 " Well, then," he said, without a twitch of the eye 
 lids, " do you believe in the Elective Affinities ? I d 
 like your ideas on that subject." 
 
 134 
 
AFFINITIES 
 
 " No, I don t so awfully much. Are they catching? " 
 
 " Very ! Besides that, they re incurable." 
 
 " Then I don t believe I ve got them." A silence 
 ensued, during which the girl plied her brushes so 
 skilfully that the man on the log began to stand out 
 upon the canvas just as he was in life, from his slouch 
 hat to his cowhide boots, with a touch of the river, 
 which wandered by some rods away, for a background. 
 Finally, the artist rose and scrutinized both picture 
 and model. 
 
 " There ! " she said, " I ve got you at last, nose 
 and all ! " 
 
 " You Ve always had me," ventured James. 
 
 " That is a very pretty compliment, but rather 
 point-blank." 
 
 " I did n t mean it for a compliment it was truth 
 I hate compliments. May I look around now ? " 
 
 "In a moment. . . . Now you can come," she 
 said ; and he came to where she was standing. 
 " How does it suit you ? " 
 
 " Well, it s me. Only you might have made it a 
 little handsomer." 
 
 " Oh ! it s quite handsome enough as it is. I don t 
 think I d like you if you were different from what 
 you are. Will you be so good as to hold my paint 
 box?" 
 
 James did as he was bidden. When Miss Merivale 
 had laden him with her various belongings, they 
 started for the camp. They found the spot deserted, 
 except for a red squirrel which had been foraging, and 
 now fled in affright. James laid down his burden, 
 and said, "Clare?" 
 
 135 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " What ? " she responded. 
 
 " I wanted to ask you if you d go paddling with 
 me. There s a lovely place down the river, a big 
 soft mossy rock, and I 11 bring a book so that you can 
 read to me. You will read and I 11 smoke my pipe 
 and wish I was n t anywhere else." 
 
 Each took a paddle, and they were soon drifting 
 down the stream. On both sides were dense forests 
 of pine, fragrant with balsam and the countless other 
 perfumes of invisible blooms. As the canoe came 
 around a bend, a flock of ducks suddenly rose and, 
 forming in a triangle, flew swiftly before them and 
 disappeared. The afternoon sun was brightening the 
 tree-tops with its slanted light. James steered his 
 craft out of the current and deftly urged it into a 
 little cove. 
 
 " There s my rock, Clare," said he. 
 
 "Your rock?" 
 
 "Yes, yours and mine. Nice, isn t it? Has a 
 green velvet cover for us to sit on. And there is a 
 fat old stump for you to lean against, just as if it had 
 been made for you." As he spread out a shawl for 
 the girl to rest on, he began humming, 
 
 " Diaphenia, like the daffadowndilly, 
 White as the sun, fair as the lily, 
 Heigh ho, how I do love thee! " 
 
 The girl sat with her shoulders propped by the 
 stump and her head pillowed in her abundant hair. 
 In her lap she held the book which had been brought 
 along as a justification. The young man lay upon 
 his side, supporting his cheek in the palm of his 
 
 136 
 
AFFINITIES 
 
 hand while his elbow rested upon the rock. She 
 began to read in a low tone, for the sound was 
 carried far on the still air of river and forest. The 
 sun had sunken a little deeper below the tree-tops, 
 and an evening breeze was making its almost imper 
 ceptible and ever-varying figures on the water of the 
 cove. Still she read, and the sound of her voice, the 
 very sense of the words, seemed to become a part of 
 the fading day. Across the river a hedgehog was 
 creeping slowly out to the end of an overhanging 
 branch. As he proceeded on his foolhardy career, 
 the branch bent lower and lower until the luckless 
 animal, in spite of a clumsy attempt to turn back, 
 slid and fell into the stream. The splash of his fall 
 startled the reader and her hearer, but they burst out 
 laughing when they realized what had happened. 
 They were still more astonished, however, at another 
 matter which they would not have noticed if the 
 hedgehog had not given his ill-timed warning. The 
 canoe had been caught broadside by the breeze and 
 was majestically floating down the stream. The 
 rope with which it had been fastened still dangled 
 from a root as evidence that one end had been 
 properly tied, but the boat was certainly at liberty 
 and well out of reach from the bank. 
 
 "Wait for me there!" cried James. "I ll have 
 her back in a minute ! " and dashing into the woods 
 he made his way as best he could through the rough 
 and almost impenetrable growth along the bank. 
 She heard him for some time ; then the sound of his 
 plunging ceased. For a while she waited, expecting 
 every moment to hear his returning steps or see the 
 
 137 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 canoe. It was almost dusk now, and the woods were 
 beginning to utter strange sounds, rustling and 
 creaking, while the shadows deepened and the night 
 came down. She wondered if he could have lost his 
 way and began to shout : " Oh, Billy, here ! here I 
 am ! " No answer came. Then she mustered the 
 courage to fold her hands into a calliope, but the 
 result was a woful failure and she laughed at her 
 effort. The girl sat perfectly still, waiting for her 
 protector and fearful lest a bear or some other of the 
 huge creatures which are fabled to inhabit the North 
 Woods should come upon her. Suddenly she caught 
 a crackling of the thicket, and in another instant 
 James appeared. 
 
 " She s gone, Clare ! Oh, I ought to have seen 
 that the thing was well tied, but I didn t; so here 
 we are, high and dry, and three miles to camp ! " 
 
 " I don t care," she answered. " We re per 
 fectly safe, are n t we ? You can easily find the 
 trail." 
 
 " Of course I can," said James, with a confidence 
 which existed only in his voice. " Keep close behind 
 me, and we 11 soon be there." They started off to 
 gether, stumbling through the woods, in search of a 
 trail. Now anybody knows that, if it is difficult to 
 find a trail and keep to it in the dark when you know 
 where it runs, it is far more difficult to find your way 
 when you are not sure even that a trail exists. How 
 ever James plunged boldly into the thicket, and soon 
 discovered what he believed to be a path. They fol 
 lowed it in silence for a time, while the lingering 
 glow of daylight helped to guide. Then the forest 
 
 138 
 
AFFINITIES 
 
 became so dark that he had to feel the way with his 
 feet, groping from tree to tree. 
 
 " Clare," he said, " I m sorry to have got you into 
 this. It would be tragic to die here in the forest 
 even together." She laughed, but kept closely be 
 hind him, now and again grasping his arm to keep 
 from falling. 
 
 " Are you tired, Clare ? " he asked, after a while. 
 
 44 No, not yet," she answered ; and they stumbled on, 
 blindly trusting to the vagaries of that Providence 
 which guides persons who have gone astray. After 
 walking what seemed to him an interminable distance, 
 James stopped, and expressed his opinion that it would 
 be dangerous as it was evidently useless to go 
 farther. 
 
 " We 11 camp right here for the night," he remarked, 
 " and wait for daybreak." Miss Merivale sat upon 
 a log, while her companion gathered sticks to build a 
 fire. 
 
 44 Billy, I don t know what I should have done if 
 you hadn t been along." 
 
 " You would n t have been here if / had n t," he 
 answered. " Are you comfortable, Clare ? Is n t it 
 very tiresome to sit on that log, without any back ? " 
 
 44 Yes, I think it would be if I had to sit here very 
 long." 
 
 44 If you don t mind, I 11 come and sit by you. And 
 perhaps it would be well if I wound the big shawl 
 around you to keep out the mist." 
 
 " My shawl is so big that I really don t need it all. 
 Considering the circumstances, I feel sure it would be 
 right to give you half. Don t you ? " 
 
 139 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 James put more fuel on his fire and seated himself 
 upon the log close enough to his companion to share 
 the warmth of her shawl. They sat for a while, 
 staring into the fire, which sputtered as it caught the 
 pitchy parts of the wood. 
 
 u Clare," said Billy, " are you hungry ? " 
 
 " Not so very ; but it would be nice to have some 
 supper. I wonder what they are having at the camp 
 this evening. Do you suppose that it s ham and eggs ? 
 I do like ham and eggs. We must be miles and miles 
 away, and probably we re lost in some different part 
 of the woods, so that it will take us a long while to 
 find our way back to camp. But don t think I m 
 blaming you, Billy. I d rather be lost with you than 
 with anybody else. Probably they re all very ner 
 vous, and think that we ve been drowned, or that 
 something else has happened." 
 
 " It has," said Billy, audaciously. " Something else 
 has happened, and the best thing that ever happened 
 to anybody ! " How far Billy might have pursued 
 the inspiring theme will never be known, for at that 
 instant there was a crash in the bushes, and Joshua 
 appeared with a lantern. 
 
 " Hello ! " he shouted ; " what do you think you re 
 doing here ? " 
 
 140 
 
XIX 
 
 CONFESSIONS 
 
 T TNQUESTIONABLY the third year in the career 
 
 lJ of a Yalensian is the most uncertain yet the 
 fullest, the most novel year of his college life. Bar 
 ring a purely superficial appearance of childishness 
 or frivolity, it is really the turning-point in his his 
 tory, the end of boyhood, the threshold of that period 
 when a man begins to take a more serious view of 
 himself and to link his life to that of the world 
 in a way which, unjustifiable or comic as it may 
 seem to the deep and tried philosophers, is sure 
 nevertheless to enlarge the sphere of his being and 
 therefore to invest his existence, for him at least, 
 with a profound and lasting significance. Alma 
 Mater, having previously held him close bound in the 
 swaddling clothes of certain conventions, having 
 suckled him with the milk whereon she has bred 
 numerous generations, proceeds to cast him off, to 
 wean him intellectually, to make him his own master 
 in the things of the mind, as she has long ago trusted 
 him to control the comings and goings of his body. 
 
 On an evening in October a small crowd had 
 gathered in a room of Durfee. Some were laughing, 
 talking, playing, studying, and others were amusing 
 themselves with the gentle art of doing nothing. 
 
 141 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 " Listen ! " said one of them who was sitting on 
 the window-seat with a book upon his knees. " Can 
 any of you fellows tell me the meaning of this ? " 
 and he read : " If, then, being or entity postulates 
 such an envisagement of the cognitive energies, it 
 is clear that there can be no denial of this peculiar 
 assumption which in itself and because of itself 
 forces the mind to recognize certain facts or phe 
 nomena as such as plainly as a physical occurrence, 
 which also may be demonstrated to have an external 
 though not independent existence " 
 
 " Dry up, Bill ! " yelled a youth who was playing 
 cards. " You disturb our game." 
 
 " Go on, Jamesey ! " cried another. " That is 
 what we desire. You re filling a long-felt want. 
 I d rather listen to that than to anything else in the 
 world." And sitting down at a piano, the fellow 
 began the latest song from some New York concert 
 hall. Then the reader closed his book with a bang 
 and shied it at a wastebasket. 
 
 "Joe," said he, "I m convinced that philosophy 
 is a fake. If anybody but the author and his incom 
 prehensible Creator knows of what earthly use that 
 subject may be, let him stand forth and deny it now!" 
 
 " William, you fail to comprehend that philosophy 
 is the search for the Ultimate Reality," remarked 
 Glenn. " When you have once grasped that prin 
 ciple firmly in both fists, you will be another man. 
 All your present misconceptions of life will vanish. 
 Instead of being so material you will vaporize, so to 
 speak, and your soul will become ethereal like that 
 of a bird." 
 
 142 
 
CONFESSIONS 
 
 " Right you are ! " said James. " But I don t 
 want to be ethereal. I prefer to leave to others their 
 profound study of the Whatness of the Universal It. 
 If I go to heaven, the matter will undoubtedly be 
 explained to me there, and if I don t (as I fear I may 
 not), it will make no difference anyhow." 
 
 44 You 11 probably never find out then," observed 
 Eldredge, who was gazing ruminatively out upon 
 the darkness of the Quadrangle. 
 
 44 1 don t care if I don t," he answered. " I confess, 
 Jack, that I m perfectly content with this world, 
 though it s rotten enough, as you ve often heard me 
 state ! " 
 
 "Since when have you become so well pleased 
 with yourself," asked Eldredge, " and so irreverent ? 
 You re the most irreverent man I know. Just take 
 warning from the wise, Billy me boy, and go gently 
 with your wild opinions. Some day when you are 
 sitting on a hot gridiron, you 11 repent. Then don t 
 forget your grandfather." As he spoke, Eldredge 
 sprang lightly upon the window-seat and, bracing 
 his feet against those of James, let his eyes rove 
 upon the various men within the room. But James 
 gazed at Jack with an expression of penetration 
 mingled with a certain amount of miscomprehension. 
 He was secretly wondering if Eldredge might not be 
 in reality more material than himself, more earthy, 
 even a greater believer, if an unconscious one, in 
 the flesh-pots and other crassly enjoyable things of 
 this century. 
 
 A new performer at the piano, having bawled out 
 a half-dozen popular airs, now began something of 
 
 143 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 a maudlin sentimental kind, which he sang with 
 touching fervour, slurring the tones for melancholy 
 effects and playing peculiar notes of his own in 
 vention, 
 
 " Oh, promise me that so-me day ye-ou and I " 
 
 " That s what I get for having moved on the 
 Campus and hired a piano ! " growled James, good- 
 naturedly. " I ought to have stayed in the good old 
 place by the lumber yard, but Joshua wanted to move 
 to the Quadrangle, and I could not say him nay." 
 
 " It s a good thing for you," replied Eldredge. 
 " You re too cranky to live alone." 
 
 " Thanks, Jack. Evidently you want me to grow 
 up in the proper way and become an angel of the 
 type marked Yale. : 
 
 " Sure, " quoth Eldredge. " That s easily the best 
 kind." 
 
 " Say, Jack," said James, putting his hand to his 
 mouth like a screen and whispering, " will you keep 
 it close if I let you into something private ? " 
 
 " Of course. Did you ever know me to blab ? " 
 
 Eldredge descended from his seat, and went where 
 he could put his head near his friend s. 
 
 "Jack," continued Billy, "it s done. Your gra 
 vest suspicions are vindicated." 
 
 " I m glad of it," exclaimed Eldredge, pressing the 
 other man s hand. " She s a lovely girl, Billy, and 
 she s got one of the best fellows that ever lived." 
 He smiled in a warm caressing way, and his face 
 flushed ever so slightly. It was just this readiness 
 to share the lives of his fellows, a sort of merging of 
 
 144 
 
CONFESSIONS 
 
 his personality into that of others, and the capacity 
 of almost absorbing theirs into his own, which made 
 Jack so lovable that he seemed almost to bear a 
 charm. At such moments there was something in 
 his smile, in the sparkle of his eyes, and the tones of 
 his voice, which clings pleasantly in one s memory. 
 
 The two men, so utterly and innerly different, re 
 mained for a moment without speaking, each going 
 over his own thoughts, and each unconscious of the 
 incongruous din as of the very men who were making 
 it. 
 
 " Well, Jack," observed James, at that point of his 
 revery, " all this won t make any difference a thou 
 sand years hence ; but just at present I ve narrowed 
 the world down to me and mine, and the rest have 
 ceased to exist. Poor Fitz ! I feel guilty whenever 
 I look that man in the face. Yet he s a second 
 cousin or something like it ; so I don t believe he was 
 eligible anyway." 
 
 4i Oh, he was eligible ! " replied Eldredge ; " only 
 he did n t get the one vote necessary to elect him. 
 But you ve got a long while to wait, Bill." 
 
 " What do you take me for, Jack," asked Billy, 
 " a theologue ? I m no chump in a hurry. Besides, 
 you know the laws. How do they run? Any 
 student who contracts marriage I ve forgotten the 
 rest ! But it would make no difference, anyway." 
 
 Just at this instant the pianist fired a heavy volley 
 on his larger guns, and James took advantage of the 
 roar to say something to Eldredge, which caused the 
 latter to exclaim hilariously, " Of course you are ! 
 and if I had the chance I d be so myself." 
 10 145 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 "Oh, you will, Jack. I m no prophet, but I m 
 not blind in both eyes, either." 
 
 " Perhaps I shall," Eldredge answered vaguely. 
 " Well, Billy," he added earnestly, and resting his 
 hand on his friend s shoulder, " I m very glad for 
 your sake ; you ve my heart s best wishes." 
 
 The man at the piano ceased his pugilistic efforts 
 for an instant. 
 
 " Pray, don t stop playing on our account ! " re 
 marked Tarbell dryly, in his deep bass, " and don t 
 feel hurt ; I was going anyhow ! " and he passed 
 down the stairs, which were so narrow that his great 
 body blocked them almost completely. Glenn and 
 Eldredge came after him. All three stopped for a 
 moment at the Fence. Then Eldredge and his chum 
 went together to the rooms which they were now 
 inhabiting for the third year of their college life. 
 While many of their classmates had moved into more 
 showy quarters, they had kept the old abode, partly 
 because Glenn objected to moving his innumerable 
 traps, partly also because Eldredge had what he con 
 sidered better ways of spending his extra money. 
 But that was his own business ; and if Jack now and 
 then sent some less fortunate classmate the where 
 withal to make the struggle easier, the latter never 
 knew whence it came, and Eldredge was not the man 
 to tell him. 
 
 146 
 
XX 
 
 JACK S LIMITATIONS 
 
 r ~T N HAT evening Eldredge set himself to the awful 
 JL task of writing a letter inviting Miss Margaret 
 Glenn to attend the great game between Yale and 
 Harvard. One sheet after another was torn into 
 small scraps and flung into the wastebasket. Had he 
 only been willing to give James a few hints, that man 
 could have done him one in any style for any effect ; 
 but Jack s literary talent was so deficient that not 
 even the vantage of his subject could inspire him with 
 anything remarkable. So what he finally said was 
 jerky enough ; but he went out at one o clock in the 
 morning and consigned it for good or evil to the mail. 
 In three or four days he received an answer. 
 
 DEAR MR. ELDREDGE, I am very glad you wrote so 
 early, because another invitation came a day after your 
 own which I might have accepted. I am ever so anxious 
 to see the game. Only it is too bad you can t play and 
 be a spectator at the same time. 
 
 A friend of mine who is quite young, but married, is 
 going to chaperone me, and Joe will help her. You were 
 very nice to urge me to stay " as long as possible," 
 but four days will be all. However, I shall see you often, 
 I hope, and you will tell me about the game, and show 
 me lots of interesting places. You were very good to 
 
 147 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 think of me so early, and you may be sure it will be a 
 great pleasure to come. 
 
 Very sincerely, 
 
 MARGARET GLENN. 
 
 Into this note, the purport of which was simple 
 enough, Jack read some of his own thoughts and read 
 them out again. Also he put it away and began to 
 hunt for a decent method of getting another. 
 
 Meanwhile there was an important election on hand, 
 to choose a committee for the Promenade. It came 
 very early in the year, and there was a deal of can 
 vassing, and men who deemed their chances good 
 went about with other men who had no chances 
 at all. Those who belonged to secret societies of 
 the exclusive kind had quickly settled on their 
 candidates, and were now devising ways of getting 
 the larger herd " hoi canaille" as James ironically 
 expressed it to cast their votes without inquiry. 
 
 On election night there was such a throng in a 
 room of one of the old buildings that men were 
 perched upon the very window-sills. In a few min 
 utes the place was hazy with tobacco smoke. There 
 was a continuous hum of conversation, broken by the 
 louder report of some opportune sally. And the 
 whole body sang everything that entered its head. 
 Somebody exploded a cracker outside the door, 
 whereupon there was a cry of, " Anarchists ! " and 
 " Put him out ! " An invisible jester yelled, " Bud- 
 son has been assassinated. Extry, extry ! " 
 
 Whereat Budson arose and shouted, " Gentlemen, 
 this report is absolutely false ; I wish to deny it in 
 
 148 
 
JACK S LIMITATIONS 
 
 person ! " Thereupon a crowd, under the lead of an 
 instantaneously and spontaneously improvised con 
 ductor, began singing, 
 
 " Here s to good old Budson, drink him down, drink him down. 
 Here s to good old Budson, drink him down, drink him down. 
 Here s to good old Budson, for he s got his Sunday duds on, 
 Drink him down, drink him down, drink him down, down, 
 down ! " 
 
 Presently the chairman took his place, and the 
 struggle began. Tarbell and Eldredge were both 
 nominated, as if their names had occurred at once 
 and without suggestion to most of the assembly. 
 That was not according to the prearranged plan. The 
 society to which the two men belonged knew they 
 would both be acceptable to the remainder of the 
 class, but there was another who needed the distinc 
 tion badly ; it would help him at the senior tapping 
 in May. 
 
 "I nominate Mr. W. D. Perry," cried an obscure 
 voice. 
 
 " I second that motion," cried another. Perry was 
 simply a good fellow, who did not belong to the best 
 society of any large city, and was also not a member 
 of any society at Yale. He was therefore likely to 
 have a goodly number of supporters. 
 
 Another motion was in order. " Mr. Chairman," 
 said a man of questionable social state, " Mr. Chair 
 man, I d like to nominate Mr. Desmond." The mo 
 tion was seconded by some ready satellite. Jack 
 Eldredge arose and passed quietly amongst the voters, 
 who would go as their whims led them unless they 
 were led elsewhere. He knew the situation perfectly. 
 
 149 
 
BOYS AND MEN" 
 
 One of the things he knew was that several men were 
 likely to drop a couple of extra ballots into the hat 
 out of loyalty to their good friend Desmond. In a 
 tactful way he asked a score of men to refrain from 
 voting for himself and cast their ballots for Perry. 
 The full number of nominations had been made, and 
 the voting began. Hats were passed for the ballots, 
 and then the nine nominees who had got the largest 
 number were chalked upon a board with the number 
 of the votes which each had received. Tarbell was 
 pretty well toward the top, Eldredge fifth or sixth, 
 and Perry next below him. Desmond had three or 
 four votes less than the last man on the list of those 
 who were to manage the Promenade. From where 
 Jack sat, he could discern a rather ugly expression 
 upon Desmond s face, an expression not unlike the 
 one which had come over it the day they had had 
 their encounter at the examination. Their eyes met, 
 and Eldredge caught in the other man s countenance 
 a sinister look of hate. The crowd pressed rudely 
 out of the room. In the crush the two men were 
 pushed against each other. 
 
 "I congratulate you upon your election," said Des 
 mond, with a pallid grin. 
 
 " Thank you," replied Eldredge ; " but I d have 
 been awfully sorry to see Perry miss it." 
 
 He had hardly spoken the words when he would have 
 given much never to have uttered them. Without 
 going very deeply into the matter, he felt that he had 
 belittled himself, and he went to his room with the 
 uncomfortable feeling of having deteriorated. Then 
 he fell to reasoning over the matter, and after a while 
 
 150 
 
JACK S LIMITATIONS 
 
 came to a conclusion which eased his conscience. 
 After all, he had only done the right thing by one 
 man, and, as for the other, he had prevented him in 
 a perfectly justifiable way from receiving an honour 
 which he did not deserve. Yet there still lurked in 
 his heart the thought that there might be within 
 himself something different from what he would like 
 to find. As he sat musing over himself in the dark 
 ness of his room (for in his preoccupation he had 
 not even thought of striking a light), his thoughts 
 drifted away from a disagreeable examination of his 
 own foibles, and he found himself talking to a beauti 
 ful girl who kept fading and reappearing. He drew 
 his hand over his eyes, yawned, and lit the gas. 
 Then he happened to see a letter lying open upon the 
 table. It was written in a large fair hand, and even 
 from a distance he could see it was from Margaret 
 Glenn. Involuntarily he stepped a little nearer, and 
 caught sight of the word " Eldredge." An irresisti 
 ble temptation seized him to take the letter in his 
 hand. Hardly conscious of his own action, he picked 
 it up and read : " Mr. Eldredge has been so good as 
 to invite me to the football game." He read no more 
 than those simple words, for there flashed upon him 
 the realization that he had done something unworthy. 
 He dropped the letter upon the table so that it might 
 lie exactly as before, and as he walked slowly into 
 his chamber, there came upon him again a sensa 
 tion that was creepy and persistent, and for the first 
 time in his life it occurred to John Eldredge that 
 there was within him another personality which had 
 grown upon him without his knowledge, and which 
 
 151 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 threatened, unless he strove stoutly against it, to make 
 him unhappy. 
 
 Jack sat for a long while a prey to the strange 
 thoughts which held him as in fascination. Then 
 Glenn came home, and, as he entered, cried out: 
 "Hello, Jack! Are you still up? I got a letter 
 from Peggy to-day. She says you ve invited her to 
 see the game." 
 
 " Yes, I have," Jack answered. 
 
 " I m glad you did," said Glenn. " Peggy s a nice 
 girl ; and if you had n t invited her, I d have done 
 it myself. Say, Jack, she said something else too." 
 
 "What was it?" asked Eldredge, anxiously. 
 
 " Oh, she just remarked that you spell always with 
 two Ts. Well, good-night, Jack." 
 
 " Good-night," answered Eldredge ; and the poor 
 boy went to bed thinking himself a deal worse than 
 he was, and (worst of all !) that he had made a fool 
 of himself to the one person before whom he would 
 have wished to appear in all possible perfection. 
 
 152 
 
XXI 
 
 A TEST 
 
 ELDREDGE found, on awaking the next morn 
 ing, that he had wellnigh slept off his squearn- 
 ishness. A perfectly healthy man suffers less from 
 the pricks of conscience than one who is sickly, 
 and Jack s abundant energy had restored him to 
 that woful condition of indifference to his shortcom 
 ings of which men of his sort are sometimes guilty. 
 
 Coming out of Chapel, he was waylaid by three or 
 four small Jews with the morning papers. One of 
 the urchins held open before him a voluminous met 
 ropolitan daily containing an abominable woodcut, 
 beneath which he read: "Eldredge, the great half 
 back, discusses Yale s chances of victory " He 
 bought the paper with a couple of others. As he 
 walked to classroom, he read the whole article. It 
 was a mass of lies from beginning to end, but the 
 interview was signed with a caricature of his own 
 name, a forgery of course. Of a sudden some one 
 clapped him on the back, and looking around he saw 
 Tarbell. The latter had got the same journal, and 
 his face wore a look somewhere between laughter 
 and consternation. 
 
 " Are you the author of that ? " he asked. 
 
 " I should say not ! " responded Eldredge. " But 
 there is a liar in camp somewhere." 
 
 153 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 "Yes," remarked Tarbell, "I should judge that 
 somebody is rotten in the State of Denmark." Jack 
 tore the article from its vulgar surroundings and 
 tucked it into his pocket. As he entered his morn 
 ing lecture, he opened another, a local paper. His 
 eye caught this heading : " Election of the Prome 
 nade Committee A Sensational Occurrence." 
 
 Eldredge took his accustomed place. The lecturer 
 was a brilliant man, and put everything so forcibly 
 that the dullest were following him with interest. 
 Jack began to jot down the striking points into his 
 notebook, but presently he awoke to find that he no 
 longer understood a word of what he was writing. 
 He shook himself a bit and fell to writing again ; but 
 once more his mind drifted, quite without any will of 
 his, into another field. Involuntarily, unconsciously, 
 he had taken the second paper from his pocket and 
 was reading about the election of the previous even 
 ing. Directly under the heading he saw the words : 
 " Prominent man gets a setback." His eye passed 
 swiftly down the column till it stopped at the follow 
 ing sentence : " The class is rejoicing over the large 
 vote cast for John Eldredge. Eldredge is considered 
 the handsomest man in 95, and is popular not only 
 among society men, but also among those who belong 
 to no society. In a word, he is an ideal man for the 
 place." 
 
 Having perused this bit of journalism, Jack read a 
 little further : " It is thought that a certain well- 
 known member of the class missed election because 
 a large number of votes were turned over to an 
 obscure opponent who is a non-society man. This is 
 
 154 
 
A TEST 
 
 all the more extraordinary " But Jack got no fur 
 ther ; for suddenly he felt that somebody was address 
 ing him, "I shall have to request the gentleman 
 who is reading to put his paper away immediately." 
 
 Eldredge felt the blood mount to his face, but in a 
 second he had closed his notebook upon the paper, 
 and with a furtive glance he saw that only two per 
 sons had observed him, one of whom was Drake. 
 The rest of the class had interrupted their work for 
 an instant, and were once more writing as if nothing 
 extraordinary had happened. Jack felt a deep humil 
 iation well up within him, and he waited restlessly 
 for the hour to end. When all the class had gone, 
 he went to the professor and said very bluntly, 
 " I m very sorry, sir ; I was rude and thoughtless." 
 He blushed violently and, being an emotional fellow, 
 could scarcely restrain the tears. 
 
 44 Oh, you must n t take it so much to heart," said 
 the professor, seeing in Jack s face how much the 
 rebuke had cost him. "It was only an inadver 
 tence." He smiled in a warm way, and asked 
 Eldredge what the outlook was for a victor}*. Then 
 Jack went his way, feeling miserable enough; but 
 gradually the humiliation wore away, and his rough 
 exertion upon the football field blunted any tendency 
 which he might otherwise have had to go prying into 
 his own conscience. And as the days went by, he 
 grew in favour and was aflame with exuberant animal 
 life. The very men who were most used to him 
 seemed to be under a spell when in his presence, and 
 those who basked in his friendship or who enjoyed 
 the merest acquaintance flocked about him and 
 
 155 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 idolized him until he came to believe that he pos 
 sessed a sort of magic influence, and there grew upon 
 him a feeling of vain contentment with himself and 
 all the world. His friends, even the keen, whole- 
 souled Tarbell, failed to notice the change that was 
 coming over him; and they warmed themselves in 
 the sunlight of his presence, enjoying the outward 
 manifestation of the cause which was surely leading 
 him to misfortune. 
 
 156 
 
XXII 
 
 ON THE VERGE 
 
 ON an evening three or four days before Thanks 
 giving, Eldredge called at a house which stood 
 and still stands not far from the Quadrangle, and was 
 ushered ceremoniously into the presence of a fashion 
 able lady, who seemed to him rather artificial and 
 flighty, of her oldish and somewhat inferior husband, 
 and of Miss Margaret Glenn, who seemed nothing 
 at all, but was actually so superbly beautiful that 
 Eldredge had some difficulty in concealing his emo 
 tions and in showing himself equally aware of his 
 fashionable hostess and of the oldish gentleman. 
 
 The oldish gentleman had once been a member of 
 the University football team, and was n t reluctant to 
 tell what magnificent material the University used to 
 get "in his day." Moreover, he had devised some 
 tricks which, he was persuaded, would revolutionize 
 the game. The next time Eldredge called he should 
 see them for himself. 
 
 " I am sure that would be very interesting," said 
 Jack; "but I m neither a coach nor captain and 
 I don t believe it would be safe to introduce any 
 innovations now." 
 
 " My husband is perfectly absorbed in the game," 
 said the hostess; "but purely from a theoretical 
 
 157 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 standpoint, Mr. Eldredge. It s ever so long since 
 you ve really played, Harry," she observed slyly, to 
 suggest the difference in age. "You understand, 
 Mr. Eldredge, that Mr. Fortescue will talk of nothing 
 but football at this season." 
 
 " How delightful ! " exclaimed Margaret. " Really, 
 Caroline, I envy you the opportunity of being coached 
 by an expert ! " 
 
 "The way to manage that," said Mr. Fortescue, 
 with stupid complacency, "is to marry a man who 
 knows the game." At this Miss Glenn blushed very 
 slightly, but Jack, who had little control over such 
 matters, turned scarlet and blurted out that he thought 
 such a reason should be the last one. 
 
 Our hostess (who had not lost her composure for 
 an instant) deftly turned the conversation into another 
 channel, and after a few minutes of unintelligent 
 attention, her husband, observing that he had an en 
 gagement, rose and departed. 
 
 If the lady hadn t been ready to prattle upon 
 almost anything that passed through her head, Jack 
 would have been sadly embarrassed, since, for the life 
 of him, he could think of nothing that might interest 
 both his entertainers. The almost monkish life a 
 university man is forced to lead gets him quite out of 
 the habit of talking with women. But the lady never 
 searched for a thought nor wanted a word to express 
 it. She talked on glibly, till the clumsy speech of 
 her husband had quite vanished from Jack s mind 
 and he found himself chatting merrily, while he sat 
 in a deep chair listening with one ear to his hostess, 
 and with the other and all his soul to the enchantress 
 
 158 
 
ON THE VERGE 
 
 who knew how to win him, body and soul, without 
 much more than a nod or a smile. 
 
 It makes small difference what is said, for there is 
 something deeper, subtler than words, something 
 which no one comprehends, which bears secretly a 
 message that thrills and enthralls. 
 
 That is why Margaret, merely by talking of old 
 china and queer people, and of how she had danced 
 with Eldredge the year before and was hoping it 
 might happen again, drew him into her spell. 
 
 In a moment, when for some errand or other his 
 hostess was called away, Jack felt strange words 
 rising to his lips, but he stopped them in time and 
 merely said, " I have been waiting for a month six 
 weeks to see you, and now you have come." 
 
 " Yes, I have," she answered very simply, smiling 
 at him, while over her lips and eyes there passed a 
 stealthy twinkle which would have meant to Jack, 
 had he been a shade wiser, that she was laughing in 
 wardly at his simplicity. 
 
 " You know I can stay only three days," Margaret 
 continued, " so you may come oftener than if I were 
 a college widow and lived here forever." 
 
 " I could come to-morrow evening," Jack ventured. 
 
 " And bring my brother?" she asked. 
 
 "Wouldn t he come without bringing?" said 
 Eldredge, with a little amazement. 
 
 " Of course," she answered proudly, " Joe will do 
 anything that I ask of him ; but he might call in the 
 afternoon and, besides, I want you to come together. 
 Joe," she said, twisting a corner of her handkerchief 
 about her finger, " Joe will talk to Mrs. Fortescue." 
 
 159 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 The large portieres were thrust aside, and that lady 
 returned. 
 
 "Oh!" she exclaimed, with a pretty, despairing 
 wave of her small hand, "I m the servant of my 
 servants. You must pardon me for neglecting you. 
 I ve been telling my butler, Mr. Eldredge, that you 
 would dine with us to-morrow night." 
 
 " But I can t," said Jack. " It s too bad ! They d 
 never allow it, though." 
 
 " And may I inquire who they are ? " demanded 
 the young woman, "and what right they have to 
 spoil my dinner ? " 
 
 "It s the training table," replied Jack. "You 
 know they give us beefsteak and ale and that sort 
 of thing." 
 
 " But don t you suppose," exclaimed Mrs. Fortescue, 
 before he could finish, "that I could do as well as 
 that?" 
 
 At this Margaret burst out laughing. " Why, 
 Caroline," she said, "have you never heard about 
 that ? They have to meet exactly at a certain hour, 
 and be fed pounds and pounds of meat just like 
 lions in a menagerie." 
 
 " I am very sorry I can t come to your dinner," said 
 Eldredge, "but I shall try to call on you during 
 the evening." 
 
 " And we shall be much pleased to have you," said 
 his hostess, sweetly. " You will tell me about real 
 football, won t you ? " 
 
 " It would n t be interesting to hear me describe 
 the game," observed Jack, modestly. 
 
 " But my brother describes it beautifully," put in 
 160 
 
ON THE VERGE 
 
 Margaret. " He analyzes it and tells me all about 
 wasted energy, with lots of deep explanations as to 
 the power to resist shocks, and all that sort of thing." 
 
 " Then he must come, too ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Fortescue. 
 
 "I think I might bring him," Eldredge replied, "if 
 he is n t engaged already." 
 
 " If he is, I shall tell him to break his engagement," 
 asserted Margaret. "Joe is my brother. But he 
 would come anyway," she added, with no coquetry, 
 though she looked so imperial that pretty Mrs. 
 Fortescue seemed almost to shrink beside her. 
 
 With that Jack made the ladies a courteous bow, 
 and took his leave. They watched his splendid figure 
 as he disappeared into the hall ; his broad shoulders, 
 his slender, shapely limbs, and his dark curly hair 
 making him look like one of those fair creatures 
 whom the ancient Greeks used to chip out of marble 
 and for want of a better name call gods. 
 
 Mrs. Fortescue, who had not yet lost all the impul 
 sive animation of girlhood, threw herself into a chair. 
 "Daisy," she said with a little gasp, "who is Mr. 
 Eldredge?" 
 
 " My brother s room-mate," replied Margaret, com 
 posedly ; and seating herself at the piano, she began 
 to play a melody by Chaminade. 
 
 ii 161 
 
XXIII 
 
 A FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 
 
 "\ T 7ELL, Joseph," said Eldredge, as the two men 
 
 V V were making ready for their evening call, " I 
 made a brilliant record to-day, two dead flunks, a 
 fizzle, and a black eye. Thank Heaven, there are 
 such things as leeches ! I had an iridescent blue 
 pouch under my left orb at five o clock, but it is 
 mostly gone now. Joseph, did you ever meet Mrs. 
 Fortescue before this year ? She s fond of sports, 
 apparently. It seems her husband used to be on the 
 Eleven in the days when they had fifteen men on a 
 side and wore stovepipe hats during the game." 
 
 " That s an interesting archaeological fact," re 
 sponded Glenn. "You ought to have been a his 
 torian, Jack." 
 
 " I know it, but Hang it all ! What has that 
 confounded old sweep done with my sleeve-buttons ? 
 Oh, yes ! I beg pardon, Andrew ; here they are on 
 the floor ! " 
 
 Glenn threw himself into a chair and lit a cigar ette? 
 while Eldredge ransacked his wardrobe for the re 
 mainder of his apparel. 
 
 "Say, Jack," Glenn remarked with irony, "you 
 ought to have a couple of lackeys and a bookkeeper." 
 
 "I know I am awfully footless, Joe, but where in 
 162 
 
A FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 
 
 the Oh, yes, here s the blasted contrivance ; I ve 
 got you at last ! " 
 
 In a few minutes Eldredge emerged from his 
 cubby-hole of a bedroom, drawing on his hands a pair 
 of dove-coloured gloves, the effeminacy of which con 
 trasted amusingly with his brown and somewhat 
 battered face, his stalwart figure, and the wilful ex 
 pression which was perceptible in his very hair. 
 
 " How does my eye strike you, Joseph ? " 
 
 " It strikes me that somebody must have struck it ! 
 Come on, Jack, and be thankful you Ve got both ears 
 whole and have n t lost any teeth. You 11 have to 
 make up in brilliance what you lack in looks." 
 
 " I don t feel so terribly clever this evening, either," 
 observed Jack, as they left their rooms. " If I can t 
 think of anything bright to say to Mrs. Fortescue, 
 Joe, just put in an oar for me, please. She told me 
 last night that football was a charming game, her 
 hobby, or something of that sort, and I promised 
 that you d tell her all about it." 
 
 "That was thoughtful of you, John, exceedingly 
 thoughtful ; but she looks young enough to learn." 
 
 " She s really quite fascinating." 
 
 " Of course she is," replied Glenn, grinning a little 
 at the boyish simplicity of his chum. 
 
 As they were going out, they met Tarbell on the 
 stairs with an Ararat of a. trunk on his shoulders. 
 
 " Hello, boys ! " he said with a dry smile ; " it looks 
 as if we had got our best clothes on our backs." 
 
 " Rather ! " answered Glenn. " We re just going 
 to make a duty call that Jack s been owing for the 
 last twenty-four hours." 
 
 163 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Oh ! " exclaimed Tarbell. " Well, I m sorry for 
 you ; " and he continued his ascent, bearing his load 
 as easily as a puny man would carry a bandbox. 
 
 During the short walk from the Quadrangle to the 
 Fortescues* house, Glenn kept up a fire of amiable 
 raillery ; while Eldredge, who was no match for his 
 chum at repartee, would not venture a reply except 
 now and then a monosyllable, or a mere grunt if his 
 companion carried his witticisms to the point where 
 Jack s capacity to appreciate the humour ended. The 
 two men had always been the best of friends, but 
 there was a vein of satire in Glenn s wit which found 
 no response in Eldredge. Glenn was forever seeing 
 the ideas of things, and adding to those ideas a hun 
 dred more of his own invention, while Eldredge saw 
 the things themselves and little beyond. Therefore 
 Jack took himself and every one else quite literally, 
 without involving his conceptions in a web, or spin 
 ning around them any philosophy. So he wondered 
 why his room-mate took such delight in playing with 
 words; and sometimes he all but suspected that Glenn 
 was insincere, or thought him frivolous and unkind. 
 If he could have gone deeper into the other man, he 
 would have found a heart as untainted as his own. 
 They were simply two different men ; and had Jack 
 been more of a philosopher, he might have seen that 
 it was not he, but his room-mate, Glenn, who took life 
 in the safer, more amusing way. 
 
 As they reached the house, they could hear some 
 one singing, and, looking into the brilliantly lighted 
 parlour, they saw Margaret at the piano. Her head 
 was thrown slightly back, and she seemed to be 
 
 164 
 
A FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 
 
 mimicking the actions of some affected performer. 
 Mrs. Fortescue was turning the leaves for her and 
 laughing. As with a tragical flourish she played the 
 last chord, they rang and were shown into the draw 
 ing-room. 
 
 How delighted Mrs. Fortescue was to see them; 
 and how sorry that her husband was unable to be 
 present ! He would have enjoyed it so to meet both 
 Mr. Glenn and Mr. Eldredge ; and how cosey a dinner 
 they might have had if Mr. Eldredge had not been 
 bound to dine at the training table ! She was 
 flushed and pretty enough as she made all these 
 declarations. But Margaret with her yellow hair, 
 her glowing cheeks, and her playful cajoling blue 
 eyes, seemed to Jack and to her brother, for that 
 matter the incarnation of loveliness. 
 
 " By George ! Daisy," whispered Glenn to his 
 sister, " you re as pretty as a peach ! " 
 
 " We heard you singing as we came," put in Jack, 
 for want of something better, " and waited till you 
 had ended before we rang." 
 
 " That was very considerate, Mr. Eldredge," she 
 answered, in such a way that he could not tell whether 
 she was in earnest or not. "But it was unkind to 
 snub our invitation. We were really dismal without 
 you." 
 
 " I d have given anything to come," said Jack. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Glenn," exclaimed Mrs. Fortescue at that 
 instant, " are you really fond of old things ? " 
 
 " Very ! " replied Glenn. " Especially nice old 
 things with ear-marks." 
 
 44 Then I am going to show you some of the queer- 
 165 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 est antique china which my grandfather brought from 
 Peking ever so long ago. Daisy dear, you are to 
 entertain Mr. Eldredge. I am sure you will pardon 
 me for deserting you, will you not ? " 
 
 Glenn followed his hostess into the dining-room, 
 and Jack was left alone with Margaret. She rose 
 and, passing into a great bay window which was hung 
 with heavy brocaded silk, seated herself upon a sofa 
 upholstered in flaming crimson which harmonized 
 gorgeously, as she well knew, with her dress of cream 
 and gold. 
 
 " It s ever so much nicer here than to sit out in 
 the middle of this big place on those stiff -backed, 
 formal little chairs. Don t you think so ? " 
 
 " It does look more comfortable," replied Eldredge, 
 simply ; and he drew a chair to a respectful distance 
 from where the girl was sitting. 
 
 "I saw you this afternoon," she said, " out at the 
 Field. Mrs. Fortescue and I drove up just as that 
 scuffle had occurred. You were stretched on the 
 ground and a man was sopping your face with a big 
 sponge. Caroline feared it was something dreadful, 
 but I knew it was n t. You could not be hurt, could 
 you?" 
 
 "Not fatally," he answered. "A rap now and 
 then is nothing serious. Last year a two-hundred 
 pounder sat down a little too hard on my neck and 
 sort of cracked my collar-bone." 
 
 " What ! " cried Margaret, with a smile at his off 
 hand way of putting it. " But you did n t tell me 
 about it ! " 
 
 " I should n t think it would have interested you," 
 166 
 
A FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 
 
 Jack answered. u Besides, when you came it had 
 been well for weeks and I d forgotten about it." 
 
 " But it must be horrible ! " she exclaimed, clasp 
 ing her hands and looking at him as if seized for a 
 moment by some mysterious fascination. " To think 
 of having one s bones bend until they break ! Ugh ! it 
 makes shivers go over me. When that struggle came 
 to-day and I saw that it was you who had been hurt, 
 my heart jumped. Of course," she added quickly, " it 
 is dreadful to have an accident happen to anybody." 
 
 "I don t mind accidents very much," Eldredge 
 answered in his matter-of-fact way. " They come 
 like that, you know, in a second, and then it s all 
 over and nothing s to pay but the doctor." 
 
 " And then," said Margaret, with a droll expres 
 sion playing about her mouth, " it s worth a bone or 
 two to be a hero. People have such a hard time to 
 be heroes nowadays ! " she exclaimed, with a mock 
 sigh. " Some men get a chance once in a while, but 
 it never comes to us. When you had been revived 
 this afternoon and they helped you to your feet, the 
 whole crowd cheered and clapped their hands. I 
 was quite envious, but I clapped mine, too. Did you 
 hear me ? " 
 
 " I m afraid not," he answered. 
 
 "Well, it s very sad not to be appreciated," she 
 continued, " especially when the unappreciated per 
 son is one s self." 
 
 " I only wish I d known you were coming out," 
 said Jack. " But you did n t tell me." 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed ! That would have made double 
 interference. We were just out for a drive, you 
 
 167 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 know, and I thought it would be nice to see the 
 teams at work ; so we came. But it s too bad ! I 
 must be a bird of ill omen. You will have to cross 
 your fingers every time you see me coming. Some 
 thing dreadful may happen if you don t. Oh, I m 
 quite sure," she said sweetly, and ever that puz 
 zling smile upon her face, "I in quite sure my con 
 science would never bear such a heavy load ! It s 
 very weak, and if I should " 
 
 " Oh, no, you won t ! " he protested. " On the 
 contrary, I m certain you will bring me luck ; you 11 
 be my talisman," said Eldredge, dodging the word 
 " mascot," which he associated with bulldogs in a 
 vague sort of way. 
 
 A furtive smile came upon the girl s lips, and with 
 her head slightly to one side she began to stroke the 
 petals of a rose which lay upon her lap. 
 
 " No, I could n t be a talisman," she murmured. 
 
 " Is a talisman masculine ? " asked Jack, with a 
 start and some misgivings as to his grammar. For a 
 moment Margaret continued to fondle the flower in 
 silence. 
 
 "No," she said. "I wasn t thinking about that. 
 I was wondering no you d think me too absurd 
 if I told you such a thing ! " 
 
 "What is it?" demanded Eldredge. 
 
 " My brother says I m a hoodoo ; he said it only 
 to-day. You remember my saying to you that I 
 arrived just in time to see you hurt. Well, now, if 
 I tell you something ever so improbable, don t think 
 I m superstitious, because I m not, the least bit ! 
 You won t, will you ? " 
 
 168 
 
A FOUR-LEA YED CLOVER 
 
 " No, I surely will not," declared Eldredge. 
 
 " Then I 11 tell you," she said, " but you must n t 
 repeat a word of this to my brother. He thinks I 
 have leanings toward spiritualism, theosophy, and 
 that sort of thing ; and if he suspected that I had any 
 thing to do with such ideas, he would say very saucy 
 things to me, and I might be made unhappy, because 
 my brother seems to me as wise as Solon. But if I 
 should tell you one of my secrets, you would keep it 
 as if it were your own, would n t you ? " 
 
 " I would," said Eldredge, fervently ; and picking 
 up the rose which lay at her feet, he seated himself 
 beside her. 
 
 " Now," said Margaret, " I 11 tell my story. About 
 six weeks ago I was riding one afternoon out through 
 the country, miles from home and quite alone. It 
 was beginning to grow dark, so I turned my horse 
 into a short cut through some woods. We hadn t 
 gone very far, when Potter (that s the horse, you 
 understand) trotted right into a gypsy camp. There 
 were a lot of horses tethered near some tents, and 
 when they caught sight of mine they began to neigh, 
 and came running up as near as the ropes would let 
 them. One of the beasts whirled around and let his 
 heels fly at Potter, who jumped so hard that he almost 
 threw me. Then one of the gypsies rushed out of 
 his tent and caught my horse by the bridle. You d 
 better get off a second, Miss, he said, your saddle s 
 turnin ; I 11 jes tighten this here girth. He was a 
 horrible-looking fellow. I dismounted, however, and 
 while the man was straightening my saddle an old 
 woman with a red handkerchief tied about her head 
 
 169 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 came up behind me. 4 Pretty lady, she said, with 
 such a funny foreign accent, would you like to have 
 your fortune told ? I thought it would be a lark ; 
 besides, you know, Mr. Eldredge, I feel like doing 
 something romantic once in a while. So I told the 
 man to hold my horse and went with the woman into 
 her tent. She had a dreadfully dirty pack of cards, 
 which she shuffled and laid out upon a board. Then 
 she began to say all sorts of queer things. It was 
 astonishing how much she knew." 
 
 " Won t you tell me some of them ? " asked 
 Eldredge. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no ! They were mostly very silly 
 things. Here is all I am going to tell. When the 
 old woman had done with the cards, she took both 
 my hands in hers, and told me by the lines in my 
 palms ever so many things about the future." 
 
 " And you believed her? " inquired Eldredge. 
 
 "No, not altogether," answered Margaret. "If 
 I did, I d never tell what the gypsy foretold. It was 
 horrible. She put it into a sort of doggerel, which 
 I can t remember, for it was full of uncouth expres 
 sions and dreadfully ungrammatical. She said," con 
 tinued Margaret, hesitating and clutching the rose 
 tightly, " she said that I was destined to meet 
 somebody whom I should like very much, and whom 
 I should one day make unhappy." 
 
 " Who was it ? " asked Jack, with his heart in his 
 throat. 
 
 " Oh, don t ask me ! It s a silly old woman s tale, 
 and I don t believe it anyhow." 
 
 "Is any part of it true?" Jack asked, in his 
 170 
 
A FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 
 
 boyishly earnest way, and with a quaver in his 
 voice. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, " a very little part is true." 
 Their eyes met for only a second, but in that fateful 
 moment of his life Jack Eldredge s soul rose from its 
 mysterious hiding-place, and, rushing into his face, 
 betrayed him as plainly as if he had confessed in 
 words. 
 
 Margaret played silently with the rose for a while, 
 stroking its petals and burying her shapely nose 
 within its scented bosom. Finally she raised her 
 eyes to Jack s, and added : " I have n t told you all. 
 When I left the gypsy she declared that if I wanted 
 to ward off ill luck, I must have a counter charm. 
 Here it is." She detached from her chatelaine a tiny 
 gold locket and handed it to Eldredge. " Open it," 
 she commanded. He pried the thing open, and saw, 
 pressed beneath the glass, a four-leaved clover. 
 
 " That is my talisman ! " exclaimed Margaret, tri 
 umphantly. " You re sure to have good luck for 
 ever unless you lose it. But you mustn t lose it. 
 And besides," she went on with a little raillery, 
 " you must n t take this nonsense seriously. Just 
 look at yourself in that mirror I " Eldredge rose, 
 partly for the humour of the thing, partly to gratify 
 the girl s whim, and stood before the tall mirror, 
 making a brave effort to seem unconcerned. 
 
 " Now," she continued, " don t you see how much 
 like a funeral you look ? But it s my fault 
 though you mustn t take me in such sober earnest." 
 She came and stood beside him in front of the mirror, 
 and he saw her reflection in it with the mysterious 
 
 171 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 smile hovering about her eyes and lips. " You see," 
 she observed, " how different we are." 
 
 "I hear Joe and Mrs. Fortescue coming," said 
 Eldredge, uneasily. Margaret went to the piano, 
 looking back at Eldredge over her shoulder. Her 
 face had an expression of merriment which perplexed 
 and rather nettled him ; but, as if unconscious of his 
 own movements, he followed her. At the instant 
 when Glenn and Mrs. Fortescue entered the room, 
 Margaret was playing softly, and Eldredge, bending 
 over her, was turning the leaves. 
 
 " I have n t the least doubt," Glenn was saying, 
 " that it s a genuine piece of old Imari." 
 
 " Well, Daisy," exclaimed her chaperone, with a 
 sigh of regret, " I m sorry you care so little about 
 my antiquities. Your brother has been telling me 
 all sorts of fascinating things. He is a connoisseur ! " 
 
 " Yes," responded Margaret, " of antiquities." 
 
 The great mahogany clock in the hall was striking 
 ever so much o clock when Glenn and Eldredge rose 
 to go. 
 
 " I fear," said Mrs. Fortescue, " that my husband 
 won t be able to go, though he has counted on it for 
 weeks, and has I don t know how many wagers on 
 the game." 
 
 " Then, with his permission, I 11 look out for 
 both of you," answered Glenn. " May I ? " 
 
 " Indeed you may," replied Mrs. Fortescue, smiling 
 sweetly. " And after the game Mr. Eldredge will 
 join us, and we 11 all come back here and have the 
 cosiest possible little supper." 
 
 172 
 
A FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 
 
 " I m sorry/ said Jack, " that is another impossi 
 bility, for, if we win, I shall have to come back to 
 Xew Haven with the team and of course we shall 
 win/ 
 Mrs. Fortescue declared herself quite inconsolable. 
 The Fates seemed to stand in her way, the Fates ! 
 "And I shan t be able to return with you," said 
 Margaret. Then she added gravely, "I suppose I 
 must go home immediately after the game." 
 
 When Eldredge took Margaret s hand and said 
 good-night, she answered softly, " Good-night, Jack. 
 Beware you never lose the four-leaved clover." 
 " I d as soon think of losing my soul." 
 " Oh, but it would be less dangerous to part with 
 that than to lose my clover ! " 
 
 "Come along, Jack," said Glenn. "If we stay 
 much longer, the clock will strike thirteen." 
 
 173 
 
XXIV 
 
 AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 HOW in the last November days of that memo 
 rable year the tried and chosen defenders of 
 Yale s honour gathered to be instructed for the last 
 time ; how they were drawn away in coaches from the 
 University yard to the din of crackers and the cheers 
 of hoi polloi (just as it is told in the Iliad that a tre 
 mendous shout went up from the herd of men behind 
 when the heroes rode forth to combat) ; how also the 
 whole country read of these things and pinned its faith 
 on the one set of champions or upon the other, all 
 this was set forth long ago with the details that serve 
 to add interest to the truth, and therefore needs no 
 second telling. 
 
 Nor indeed is it worth while to relate how the 
 great battle at Springfield was fought and finished. 
 The history of that conflict has been written by ex 
 perts who were there (and by others who were not), 
 as passionately as if it had been another Waterloo. 
 The outer world has long since forgotten who fought 
 upon that day and who was worsted ; but in the halls 
 of Yale and Harvard the story is still told, and the 
 unhappy incidents connected with it are remembered, 
 though the bitterness which was then engendered has 
 been softened, if not quite eradicated, by the passage 
 of years. 
 
 174 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 The mediaeval chroniclers tell how lovely knights 
 rode out to break a lance, while above and around 
 them sat their fair partisans ; how each lady who had 
 a champion wore near to her heart the emblem of her 
 favourite, and how he carried beneath his corselet some 
 token of her faith. All this makes pleasant reading; 
 for there is always a charm in resplendent costumes, 
 in the shock of horses and the spilling of blood. Yet 
 could any of these scenes have been fairer or more 
 thrilling than this of our own times? Fancy the 
 four banks of people rising high in masses of blue and 
 crimson, the fluttering flags, the singing, the cheers, 
 and beneath it all, the beating of hearts and the ner 
 vous fear of possible defeat. To those whose veins 
 run water instead of blood, who have been refined and 
 weakened by shunning the shock of life till their 
 minds shrink at any battles save those in their books, 
 such things seem brutal and out of place; but for 
 those whose arteries are warm with the vigorous flow 
 of primeval strength, the conflict of strong, healthy 
 bodies is a glorious thing, and they enjoy it as the 
 Homeric bards enjoyed the clash of combat long be 
 fore "brutality" became a catchword of weak-kneed 
 mortals. 
 
 When the twenty-two champions came running 
 upon the field, living banks rose as if by one impulse, 
 and a great cheer broke the air. Somewhere in the 
 mass of blue stood the tall figure of Margaret Glenn, 
 with a silk banner in her hand; her cheeks flushed 
 with excitement, looking eagerly down upon the tum 
 bling athletes as they warmed themselves for the 
 struggle. In a lull of the play Jack scanned a cer- 
 
 175 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 tain part of the throng ; he nodded, and the tiny blue 
 flag fluttered violently. 
 
 In a moment the crowd sinks back upon the seats, 
 and there is an intense silence as the opposing teams 
 take their stations and poise themselves for the crash. 
 A second more and they are lying in a heaving pile. 
 They free their entangled bodies and line up in two 
 swaying walls. There is a signal, and the mass 
 swings around against its weakest point. It totters a 
 moment, then falls a few yards nearer one of the 
 goals. Harvard is working into Yale s ground, and 
 the crimson tiers are shaken with a disorderly roar, 
 while the dark -red banners wave tumultuously. As 
 the players array themselves for the next struggle, 
 men stationed at intervals along the lines turn to the 
 crowd and give in unison the signal for a cheer. It 
 comes, and with such volume that the combatants, 
 unable to hear the secret numbers, stop for an instant, 
 waiting for the noise to cease. 
 
 Slowly the ball is carried nearer and nearer to 
 Yale s goal, till one bull -like rush carries it over. 
 Then how the red flags flutter, what a yell issues 
 from thousands of dry throats, how the substitutes 
 along the Harvard side embrace each other and wave 
 their sweaters with triumph and joy! It is short 
 lived, for the rival teams are engaged once more, and 
 the Yalensians are doggedly pushing their antago 
 nists down the field, yard by yard, with grim, set 
 faces. Of a sudden there is heard the spat and thud 
 of a heavy blow. A minute later a young fellow 
 walks off the "gridiron" with his chin upon his 
 breast. The knocking out of Tarbell s wind has for 
 
 176 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 an instant left his body as helpless as a big engine 
 which has suddenly lost its steam. He lies helpless, 
 rolling from side to side, but without a groan. When 
 he gets to his feet, this unavoidable heroism is re 
 warded with a lusty cheer and a clapping of hands, 
 an attention which he acknowledges by plunging into 
 the conflict with fresh energy, while his big hands and 
 elbows play pitilessly upon his adversary. 
 
 Up to this point Yale has been fighting with the 
 stubbornness of the bulldog, losing one yard but 
 gaining six. Suddenly the tension is released, and 
 an elusive sprinter dashing around the end lies down 
 between Harvard s goal posts with the ball in his arms. 
 After such a prodigious outlay of muscle the trick 
 seems absurdly easy. The crimson side of the field is 
 silent, but two thousand Yalensians with their five 
 thousand hangers-on rise and send forth a lusty cheer. 
 
 It was a severe and at some moments almost san 
 guinary struggle. Divers heroes were carried Jwrs 
 de combat, and doubtless there were some troubled 
 breasts amongst those who witnessed the fight, and 
 saw their darlings damaged by others darlings, whose 
 every move was doubtless followed with the same 
 anxious and tender fear. It was near the end of the 
 game that Jack Eldredge got the blow which threat 
 ened for a while partially to destroy his sight, and 
 left him so dizzy that he would certainly have 
 swooned had not the excitement toughened his nerves 
 and rendered him almost unconscious of his injury. 
 So far from being disabled by the blow, he re-entered 
 the conflict, after the first dazed, sickish feeling, 
 with resistless energy. James has since declared 
 12 177 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 that when the mishap came he saw Margaret turn 
 pale, while she clutched her brother by the arm; 
 but there is ground for doubting the truth of this, 
 since the man who told it had ever an inclination to 
 shed a nimbus of romance about the incidents con 
 nected with Jack Eldredge. 
 
 The fact is that it was Eldredge who made, with 
 Tarbell s help, the play which decided the issue of 
 that year s struggle, and caused both their names to 
 be written down amongst those of Yale s great heroes. 
 And certainly it was a wonderful sight, comparable to 
 some of the most thrilling of the fabulous things that 
 happened by the Scamander. Else how could it have 
 been that thousands of people went almost mad with 
 excitement, tossing hats and umbrellas into the air 
 and hugging each other in a sort of frenzy, shouting 
 louder than before their voices had been lost ? 
 
 As for the victors, they were hoisted upon the 
 shoulders of the crowd and borne off in triumph, with 
 Tarbell and Eldredge at the head, while a brass -band 
 struck up a martial air, and open-mouthed urchins 
 edged their way into the marching throng to get a 
 look at Hie mighty champions. 
 
 It would not be hard to say how all this worship 
 affected Tarbell; for, whatever his inner emotions 
 may have been, he was too old in the ways of the 
 world to let his head be turned, and he had gone 
 through experiences so much more exciting in his 
 wild boyhood that all the blare and exultation left him 
 cool and self-contained. But to Jack it was an in 
 toxication of glory. As he rode in triumph upon the 
 shoulders of his admirers, and heard his name borne 
 
 178 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 aloft by the cheering thousands, there came over him 
 an exaltation. In the excitement of that hour, obliv 
 ious of his wounded eye and all other paltry realities 
 of life, he drank in his glory, the sweetest draught 
 that ever passes a man s lips and that leaves the bit 
 terest dregs. There are moments in our lives when 
 we are permitted a joy so intense, when we are seized 
 by such an ecstasy, that there is hardly a man who 
 would not rather live them, revelling for a single in 
 stant in the fever of his self -exaltation, than go for 
 ever the humdrum pace which stupidity or lack of 
 opportunity sets as the common lot. 
 
 When Eldredge, Tarbell, and the others had been 
 once more set upon the earth, they cast off their reek 
 ing, blood-stained armour, and soused themselves under 
 icy showers, sputtering, dancing, slapping their skins 
 to a glow, while a crowd of trainers, doctors, coaches, 
 and all the crew of retainers stood by and exchanged 
 opinions about the game. Had anybody seen how 
 somebody thumped somebody else while the referee 
 wasn t looking? Was the ball actually in So-and- 
 so s possession when he yelled Down? Wouldn t 
 the score have been bigger with five minutes more to 
 play? Were Slugger Mill s jeans actually ripped, or 
 was he only getting his wind? etc., etc. Meanwhile 
 the heroes were properly rubbed down and dried with 
 alcohol. It was during this operation that Eldredge 
 suddenly noticed that his eye was smarting as if it 
 had been burned. He closed the other and tried to 
 distinguish objects on the ceiling, but they were 
 blurred. Then he called one of the doctors, and 
 asked if there was anything peculiar about that. 
 
 179 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 "How does it feel?" asked the physician. 
 
 "It hurts like the deuce," Jack answered promptly. 
 " But how does it look? " 
 
 "Well, I don t know," spoke the physician; "am 
 inclined to think you d better have it looked into by 
 an oculist. Meanwhile I 11 bandage you up with a 
 poultice." 
 
 " Thank you very much, doctor, but I think I 11 
 not have any poultice on it this time. It 11 be all 
 right in a day or two. People might think I d been 
 fighting if I had a bandage wound around my head, 
 might n t they?" 
 
 "If you don t catch cold in it, you ll have no 
 trouble," continued the doctor; "but you may not be 
 able to see." 
 
 "See! of course I ll be able to see," responded 
 Jack, laughing and clapping a hand over the wounded 
 member. " If one eye is no good, what s to hinder a 
 fellow from using the other? That s why the Lord 
 gave us two in case one got hurt, you know." 
 
 Tarbell laid his hand affectionately on Jack s shoul 
 der and told him not to be a fool, an injunction to 
 which he added a description of glass eyes so accurate 
 that Eldredge s stubbornness vanished. While the 
 doctor was bandaging his head, a messenger boy 
 entered and shouted, 
 
 " S there anybody here by the name of Eldredge ? " 
 
 "I m your man," said Jack. 
 
 " Well, I ve bin lookin fer ye everywhere. There 
 ain t nothin to pay." He delivered his message and 
 marched out with his hands in his pockets, whistling. 
 
 Jack ripped the thing open and read: 
 180 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 46 CHICOPEE STREET, SPRINGFIELD, 5.15 p. M. 
 DEAR JACK, Mrs. Fortescue has just left us, that 
 means Joe and myself, and gone back to New Haven. 
 Would n t you like to dine with us ? I am going home 
 early to-morrow, you know, and this will be the last 
 chance of seeing you. My brother has made an engage 
 ment to call on some people this evening, and he says 
 he must keep it. So I want you to come; and indeed 
 I am quite sure you will not be so unkind as to leave 
 me alone. MARGARET. 
 
 The word " Margaret " was scrawled as if in haste. 
 Jack scanned the note closely, reading it over and 
 over, astonished at Margaret s change of plan and 
 wondering at the omission of the formula with which 
 conventionality bids us conclude our letters. He 
 thrust the note into one of his pockets and stood for 
 a moment thinking. 
 
 The team were now completely dressed, and the 
 captain shouted in a tone of command for every one 
 to get into a coach which was waiting at the door. 
 " We are to reach New Haven at half -past seven, sure. 
 All preparations have been made for a banquet, and 
 every man is expected to be there." 
 
 Eldredge hesitated for a moment. Then he went 
 to the captain and said: "I m awfully sorry, Mack, 
 but I can t be there. The doctor thinks my eye 
 should be looked to immediately; so I must ask you 
 to excuse me." 
 
 " Is it anything serious ? " asked the captain. 
 
 "Well, not now," he answered; "only it s one of 
 those things that might turn out wrong if I did n t 
 attend to it." 
 
 181 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 With this evasion upon his lips, Jack waved a 
 good-bye and hastened from the room. He threaded 
 his way through the great throng who were jostling 
 along the narrow streets on their way to the railway 
 station. As he hurried, he felt himself seized from 
 behind. It was Budson. 
 
 "You weren t badly hurt, were you, Jack?" 
 " Oh, no, Bud ; just a little smack on the eye. Are 
 you going by the first train? " 
 
 " Gracious, no ! With three girls on my hands ! " 
 "You don t say so!" exclaimed Eldredge, and he 
 was off before Budson could ask him to share the 
 triple burden. Small boys were wriggling through 
 the crowd, shouting : " Extry ! Extry ! Full descrip 
 tion of the great victory! Here ye are, mister! Have 
 one ! " Jack was so bent on his errand that he did 
 not think of buying a paper, though he caught sight 
 of various impossible representations of his own face 
 and several times heard some more garrulous young 
 ster howling his name. He brushed past the fakirs, 
 who were desperately trying to sell their left-over 
 wares, or who, recognizing him as the great man of the 
 day, thrust in his face the "winning colours." With 
 all speed he pushed through the carriages, down one 
 street and up another, till he arrived at the number 
 which he had read at the top of Margaret s letter. He 
 had forgotten his aching eye, nay, even the unsightly 
 bandage, nor had it occurred to him that after all he was 
 doing a strange thing to desert the feast of his peers 
 and fib to them into the bargain. As he touched the 
 bell of the house where she was staying, his room-mate 
 issued from the door. Joseph gazed at him aghast. 
 
 182 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 "What in thunder!" he blurted "Why, man, 
 you look as if you had collided with a train! " 
 
 "Do I?" returned Eldredge. "And what s your 
 great hurry?" 
 
 " Some nice people to see off at the station, Jack ; 
 I 11 be back for dinner. Daisy is expecting you. 
 And for heaven s sake, don t come on her too sud 
 denly with that eye ! " 
 
 Eldredge stopped for an instant in the hall and sur 
 veyed himself in a mirror. He was half minded to 
 tear off the bandage, but then, it occurred to him that 
 the exposure might be worse than the concealment; 
 so with a smile at his own damaged countenance, he 
 entered the room. Margaret sat in front of a fire with 
 her hat still on, toasting her feet. Hearing his step, 
 she arose and looked at him with a face full of won 
 der. Eldredge said, "How do you do, Margaret?" 
 but in so rueful a way that it sounded more as if he 
 had begged her not to look at his eye. She laughed 
 a little at his woebegone expression, and then ex 
 claimed : " Is n t it dreadful ! Is it very serious ? I 
 saw when you were struck, but I didn t imagine you 
 could be hurt. Come here, please; you must sit 
 upon this sofa and be my patient. I know lots of 
 things about surgery, and maybe I can tell if it s 
 dangerous. " 
 
 "No," said Jack, firmly but with some humour, 
 "I d rather lose the eye than have you look at it. 
 Besides, it does n t hurt any longer. Perhaps it s 
 out! Unfortunately I can t see whether it is or 
 not." He seated himself beside her upon the sofa, 
 taking care to hide the bandage as much as possible. 
 
 183 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Margaret took off her hat, and Jack held it while she 
 smoothed her hair, which was as comely in disorder 
 as when done up in the finest Grecian knot. 
 
 "Jack," she said, "will you please lay my hat upon 
 a chair?" He obeyed and seated himself again upon 
 the sofa. 
 
 "I was afraid," continued Margaret, "I was afraid 
 the boy wouldn t find you." 
 
 "He did, "said Jack. 
 
 "Yes, I see he did," she answered, with a little 
 smile which rather disconcerted Eldredge. "But 
 now that you re here you must n t look so rueful." 
 
 "I ve never been happier," he ventured. 
 
 "Are you?" she said, with a shade less irony in 
 her tone. "Then we must be even more different 
 than I had thought, and I must be very vain. 
 Mercy ! " she exclaimed, " how funny it would 
 seem! " As she spoke, Margaret whipped a big blue 
 handkerchief out of her muff and bound it dexterously 
 over her yellow hair, leaving one eye exposed. Jack 
 burst out laughing, but she looked so wonderfully 
 lovely that he felt like throwing his arms about her. 
 She had risen from her place on the sofa and thrown 
 herself again into a chair before the fire. Eldredge 
 went and leaned his elbow upon the mantel, where 
 she could scarcely see him for the growing darkness 
 of the short winter day ; but the flickering lights and 
 shadows played upon her face, brightening her cheeks 
 to a brilliant red, while streaks of her hair were like 
 fire and gold. 
 
 They remained silent for a while, Jack with all 
 his attention bent upon her, and she with her hands 
 
 184 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 folded upon her lap and her eyes intent upon the 
 fascination of the fire as it cracked and leaped upward 
 in white tongues of flame. 
 
 "I haven t told you," she said, "that I thought 
 you played beautifully." 
 
 "Oh, it was nothing," answered Jack. "I 
 couldn t have done anything without the other 
 fellows." 
 
 "I had always supposed," said Margaret, "that it 
 took more than one man to play the game." On 
 the lips of another one for whom he cared nothing 
 the words might easily have seemed a transgres 
 sion, but not on those of Margaret Glenn. 
 
 "And now that the battle is won," she went on, 
 " I fancy they have all returned (is it so ?), and that 
 you are the only one who has stayed here." 
 
 " Yes," said Jack, "the team and coaches went back 
 to New Haven immediately after the game. There 
 is to be a banquet this evening. Afterwards the 
 Eleven I mean the Ten will elect a captain." 
 
 "And you did not go! " 
 
 "No," he replied, "I couldn t. Besides, Daisy, 
 when I got your note I didn t want to." 
 
 "Oh, Jack," she exclaimed, "you are very nice to 
 say that! But I didn t know there was to be a 
 banquet, and if I had, I would n t have had you miss 
 it on my account for all the world! And mightn t 
 it make some difference about the captaincy?" 
 
 "Hardly," said Eldredge, "unless I had voted for 
 myself. They 11 elect Tarbell when it s time. He s 
 much the best man." 
 
 " Yes, he certainly would make a fine captain," said 
 185 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Margaret, naively. "But I feel as if I had done 
 wrong to keep you! Maybe it s not too late to go 
 even now. What time is it? " 
 
 "I don t know," he answered. 
 
 " Oh, but you have a watch ! Won t you tell me ? " 
 
 He knelt down before the fireplace, and they looked 
 at the watch together. 
 
 " You see, Daisy, it is somewhere between twelve 
 and twelve." 
 
 "Yes," she answered, "I observe that it is, and 
 I m beginning to be quite hungry." As she spoke, 
 there was a noise at the outer door, and Eldredge, 
 rising, stood, with one hand thrust confidently into 
 his pocket, before the fire. 
 
 Joseph Glenn entered, and with him a jovial elderly 
 gentleman, who, to Jack s astonishment, kissed Mar 
 garet on the cheek. 
 
 "Jack," said Glenn, with small formality, "my 
 uncle Bob." 
 
 " Oh, Joe ! " cried Margaret, " what an absurd 
 introduction ! " 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Daisy," said her brother, with 
 a courtesy none the less real for a touch of mockery ; 
 "Mr. Eldredge, my uncle, Mr. Glenn." 
 
 The old gentleman appreciated the little pleasantry 
 and laughed comfortably, while Margaret whispered 
 to Jack, "Mr. Eldredge, isn t it strange that you 
 never thought to ask me where you were ? " and then 
 she added, "My uncle is a little deaf, so if you don t 
 speak loudly he may think you are whispering." 
 
 Presently dinner was announced, and they went 
 into the dining-room, Mr. Glenn with his niece, while 
 
 186 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 Glenn and Eldredge followed. Jack hazarded a 
 guess that the uncle must be either an old bachelor 
 or a widower, but he hadn t the temerity to risk any 
 inquiries. His ignorance was due to the fact that his 
 room-mate had never told him anything about the 
 family of the Glenns, and though he had often talked 
 to Joseph of his own father and mother, he knew 
 little or nothing of the Glenns save what he had been 
 able to surmise or had seen. Nor did Jack know 
 nearly so much as he imagined of either his classmate 
 or of Daisy Glenn. 
 
 Mrs. Fortescue would have been hurt enough if 
 she could have seen where her dinner was being eaten, 
 especially if she could have listened from behind a 
 curtain, waiting anxiously for the sound of her own 
 name. But she was never once mentioned ; for Mr. 
 Glenn was, like enough, quite ignorant of her exist 
 ence, and she had slipped completely off Margaret s 
 conscience, while to the young men she was barely 
 more than a passing episode. After all, it was no 
 great offence, under the circumstances. 
 
 The little company chatted happily over Mr. 
 Glenn s wine, the old gentleman growing merrier 
 every moment. He flattered Jack in a hundred little 
 ways, alluding with great reverence to various heroes, 
 jumbling them without much regard to their sort of 
 heroism, setting them all on one pedestal, from which 
 his wit could have toppled every one with equal 
 grace. Joe was hilarious. He had won great sums 
 of money with which he offered to buy for his sister 
 whatever she might desire. Jack had been brought 
 up in a different way, yet he was as gay as the rest, 
 
 187 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 despite his forlorn appearance and occasional inability 
 to make a proper retort till some one else had stolen 
 it from him. But Daisy was the liveliest of all. 
 Her wit flowed unceasingly, playing upon Jack, and 
 sparkling with an inexhaustible and sometimes too 
 caustic irony. She was so radiant with the excite 
 ment of her own spirits that her uncle was quite 
 carried away by her eloquence. He alternately com 
 plimented and teased her, while she parried his thrusts 
 with fascinating tact and grace. Jack had never 
 known himself quite as he then was. He would have 
 shone in any other company. Yet, after all is said 
 in praise of wit, his simplicity and his kindly lovable 
 manner had their own charm, which is well worth all 
 the sprightliness under the sun. 
 
 The dinner over, Joseph hurried away to keep his 
 engagement, leaving Jack with his sister and Mr. 
 Robert Glenn. The three sat before the fire, and 
 Jack smoked the first cigar he had touched for 
 months. They chatted, and gradually Mr. Glenn 
 grew more silent. Then he began to nod and softly 
 fell asleep. 
 
 188 
 
XXY 
 
 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 IN the weeks that followed the incidents just nar 
 rated, Jack s fame waxed amazingly. Invita 
 tions poured upon him from every hand. He was the 
 guest of honour at dinners innumerable. Fair young 
 women by the score basked in his presence, and con 
 fided to one another what a fascinating man Mr. 
 Eldredge was, how very handsome and how witty. 
 He was called upon for speeches at banquets and was 
 requested to address small boys at church missions, 
 in the belief that his shining example would inspire 
 them to lead noble lives. All these attentions were 
 flattering enough, but they kept the poor fellow in a 
 continuous anxiety, so that he breathed easier when 
 the mid-year examinations were over, and he could 
 turn homeward, leaving all the cares of glory behind 
 him. 
 
 TarbelFs little property in the West had suffered 
 so from the hard times that he had almost decided 
 on going there to look after it; but Jack scouted the 
 idea, and succeeded after some argument in persuad 
 ing his friend that he had better pass his Christmas 
 at The Oaks. There must have been collusion in this, 
 for Tarbell got a pretty note from Mrs. Eldredge, 
 saying in a tactful way that she thought of him as a 
 son, and that Mr. Eldredge often said how much he 
 
 189 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 looked forward to having Tarbell s company. Tar- 
 bell was deeply touched by the kindness of her note, 
 for his own parents were dead, and he had never been 
 so happy as in the three months which he had passed 
 at the home of the Eldredges. So he left his small 
 capital to the mercies of the hard times and his thrift 
 less debtors, and went to spend his holiday at The 
 Oaks. 
 
 As they were driven to the door, Jack clapped 
 Tarbell on the knee enthusiastically. "Tarb, old 
 man," said he, "aren t you glad to be home? By 
 Jove, I am ! and it makes me gloat to think of sleep 
 ing in a bed that is n t like the skin of a rhinoceros. 
 What an orang-outang Andrew is, anyhow! Well, 
 here we are. All out! " 
 
 The carriage had hardly stopped when Jack was on 
 the piazza to greet his mother. "Jack, my boy," 
 she exclaimed, " and Mr. Tarbell ! It is so good to 
 see you ! " 
 
 As they passed into the house, she turned with a 
 smile for Tarbell, saying, " Both of you are my boys 
 now." 
 
 "I wonder, Mrs. Eldredge," responded Tarbell, 
 gravely, " whether you would have suspected a couple 
 of years ago that you might adopt a cowboy." 
 
 "Ex-mayor and deputy sheriff," said Jack; "put 
 it all in, Tarb." 
 
 "So much the better," said Mrs. Eldredge; "Jack 
 needs a good deal to keep him in order. If we don t 
 take very good care, I fear he will some day be brought 
 home in pieces, and I shall be heart-broken." 
 
 "No, my dear little mutter," he exclaimed, "no- 
 190 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 body shall ever whack me again; and if he does, I 
 tell you what I 11 do; I 11 kick him in the head until 
 he s dead, and I 11 knock out his left eye, too! 
 Come, Tarb," he went on, "get your pipe on fire and 
 we 11 go out and have a look at the horses." 
 
 As the two men entered the barn, they were greeted 
 by a chorus of barks, and four dogs came rushing 
 upon them. A great St. Bernard leaped at Jack, 
 and resting his big paws on the boy s shoulders, 
 kissed him roughly on the nose, while the little dogs 
 twisted their bodies, wagging their stubby tails in a 
 fury of pure joy, and raced about yelling as if they 
 had gone quite mad. A bright-eyed fox terrier got 
 hold of a piece of burlap, and flew about the stable 
 shaking the thing and growling furiously. 
 
 "Ho, Timmy, you little scamp," cried Jack, "I ve 
 got you! " and he chased the little dog up and down 
 till Timmy got tangled in the burlap and went head 
 over heels onto a bucket full of water. Jack grabbed 
 the terrier and held him high above his head, while 
 the others stood around, violently wagging their tails 
 and barking excitedly. 
 
 "Oh, I ve got you now, little doggibus!" he ex 
 claimed. "You would try to play tricks on Uncle 
 Jack. Don t you know you must n t make such a 
 fuss when we ve got visitors around? Now, Mr. 
 Timothy, I 11 put you on the floor, and you must be 
 a good doggy and not wriggle yourself all out of 
 shape just because you re glad to have me back! " 
 
 Tarbell had laid hold of a stick and was tussling 
 with the St. Bernard, who was pulling hard in one 
 direction while the big man hauled him the other 
 
 191 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 way. The horses were all at their gratings, sniffing 
 with their ears pointed forward, and uttering little 
 rumbling whinnies. Jack patted them all, saying 
 something to each one as if they could understand 
 what he meant. As he fondled the other horses, a 
 small bay poked his nose through the iron bars of his 
 box-stall, and looked at Jack wistfully. His velvety 
 upper lip quivered, and he broke into a friendly 
 neigh. 
 
 "Don t get impatient, Toby," said Jack. "I can t 
 say How d ye do? to all at once." He threw open 
 the door of the stall and went in. Toby began to 
 nuzzle him affectionately; and he, burying one hand 
 in the horse s mane, stroked the silken nose. "I m 
 very, very sorry, Toby, but I haven t any sugar. 
 You shall have some, Toby horse ; and to-morrow, if 
 it s not too cold, we 11 go off for a ride together, and 
 Tarb shall ride old Abe, who s grinning at us from 
 the next stall." Toby smelt about Jack s pockets, 
 but finding nothing edible, rested his nose contentedly 
 on the boy s shoulder. Jack scratched the pony s 
 ear and whispered softly, "Some day, Toby, when 
 you re a couple of years older than you are now, and 
 have stopped shying at little scraps of paper, I shall 
 bring her here, and you must be very careful when 
 she sits on your back to do nothing foolish, because, 
 if you did, I d have to cut off your supply of sugar, 
 and that would be very sad." He put his arms about 
 the pony s sleek neck and patted him as affectionately 
 as if the animal had been a child. Then he shut the 
 door gently on Toby s nose, and the two men went 
 out of the barn. 
 
 192 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 Till nightfall they wandered over the great place. 
 They talked over their college life and all the friends 
 they had there. Eldredge was in one of his extrava 
 gant moods, but while he rambled on, mentioning 
 every subject as if it had some inherent connection 
 with himself, saying what he had done and what he 
 was going to do, Tarbell kept his own counsel. 
 Having lived eight years more than Jack, and very 
 rough years too, years full of struggles, hardships, 
 and disappointments, he refrained from that men 
 tal plunging which was so easy to his companion. 
 Yet, however much Jack raved about other matters, 
 there was one which he guarded in sacred silence. 
 
 On entering the house, they found Mr. Eldredge, 
 who had just returned from business, looking rather 
 careworn in spite of his vigorous health. He wel 
 comed the young men warmly. 
 
 "I understand, Tarbell," said he, "that you ve 
 been adopted into the family. Well, there s lots of 
 room here, and you shall have a quarter of it when 
 ever you choose to come. Are we going to have you 
 on the railroad next summer?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," replied Tarbell; "I d like to try it 
 again." 
 
 "All right; you shall have your old place as soon 
 as you care to take it. When you and Jack have 
 finished college, some other business may please you 
 better; but you shall have the opening if you want it." 
 
 For three weeks Tarbell and Jack took life in the 
 freest possible way. They played billiards, smoked, 
 rode, and called on their neighbours. This lazy exist 
 ence at an end, they returned to college. Both were 
 13 193 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 on the committee whose task it was to make ready 
 the Junior Promenade, and they went to work hero 
 ically. Jack was selected, on account of his affable 
 manner and prestige as an athlete, to collect sub 
 scriptions. He must have climbed miles of stairs on 
 his thankless mission, and it is possible that he some 
 times had an uneasy conscience because of all the 
 cajolery he had to practise in order to sell men several 
 tickets more than they could use, and to the fresh 
 men tickets which they could not use at all. During 
 the most of January Eldredge spent an hour a day on 
 his studies, possibly less. His "stand" went down 
 like mercury in a freeze, but he had thrown himself 
 heart and soul into the task, and was determined that, 
 at least so far as in him lay, the great dance should 
 be the finest that had ever been given. One of his 
 colleagues on the committee inquired one day what 
 girl he was going to bring. "None," he answered, 
 and that was quite true ; for the only one whom he 
 would have thought of asking had been invited some 
 months before. Tarbell might have bidden some 
 one; but the hundred dollars required for carriages, 
 flowers, etc., would have been too heavy a drain. He 
 therefore had also decided to go as a "stag," and that 
 was high discretion. It was not difficult for two 
 such men to fill their cards with the greatest belles. 
 By special dispensation, Eldredge had Margaret s 
 name four times upon his list; Tarbell was privileged 
 to dance with her twice. If Margaret s card had 
 been long enough, she might have had upon it every 
 great light in the University, from the most renowned 
 athlete down to those whose fame was of the humble 
 
 194 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 sort that comes from being clever at books or know 
 ing how to wield a pen. But there were hardly more 
 than a score of dances in all; therefore a hundred 
 celebrities who must be disappointed. 
 
 For three weeks both Jack and Tarbell toiled tre 
 mendously. The work was by no means agreeable, 
 but they were at it day and night with a dauntless 
 zeal. Finally every preparation had been made and 
 the guests began to arrive. Margaret came with a 
 great trunk full of fine dresses, and was settled at 
 Mrs. Fortescue s, where she held court. The hostess 
 was thus enabled to share the effulgence of her guest, 
 and was a sort of lady-in-waiting, though she did not 
 know it. 
 
 How happy Jack was as he escorted Margaret 
 Glenn from tea to tea! How he revelled each 
 moment he could spend in her company! How he 
 delighted in the very urchins who stared at her in 
 the street as she swept by, stately as a princess and 
 calm as a nun ! 
 
 On the afternoon of the last day Glenn and 
 Eldredge gave a most sumptuous reception at their 
 rooms in Farnam College. They had borrowed every 
 handsome rug or bit of old tapestry they could lay 
 hands on. Some fine palms spread their ornamental 
 fronds in the corners of the largest room, and on the 
 centre -table was a great bowl full of punch. At 
 Jack s suggestion, one bed had been removed, and 
 four or five Hungarians installed in its place to play 
 their bewitching music. Just outside the door stood 
 the sable Andrew, dressed like a flunky, his duty 
 being to announce the guests ; a feat which he per- 
 
 195 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 formed to a charm, though his voice was so thick that 
 it would have been impossible to tell what he said 
 had not the smallness of the place made that per 
 fectly evident. This masterpiece of humour was due 
 to James, and very dearly Jack had to pay for it. 
 
 Miss Merivale came in a fine Parisian gown, which 
 must have roused great envy, for it was a marvellous 
 affair and set off her beauty wonderfully. On the 
 day following it was described in the papers with an 
 estimate of the yards of silk it contained, and of the 
 price which it had probably cost in the Rue de la 
 Paix. And there were other comely countenances, 
 and other resplendent costumes which had no doubt 
 cost thousands of poor worms many a month of toil. 
 
 But Margaret was the fairest of all. There was 
 a sparkle in her eyes, a prudence in her wit, an 
 impartiality in her manner which caused every one to 
 say that no tea like this had ever been given. 
 
 When it was over, Margaret was escorted home by 
 Tarbell, while Glenn and Jack set about restoring 
 their apartment to its former usefulness and sim 
 plicity. The bed took the place of the musicians ; the 
 palms were carried off by the florist to do duty at 
 the Promenade; the punch was emptied out lest 
 Andrew should be led into temptation. Although 
 Andrew was a deacon in his church, he had been 
 known to be tipsy. It was well after seven when the 
 last thing had been put to rights, and Jack must be 
 at his post in little more than an hour. 
 
 "Now, Andrew," said he, "you ve done your work 
 very well. I have n t been so well satisfied with you 
 for a long time. You may keep the white gloves and 
 
 196 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 the rest of my things, but there is still a little work 
 to do." 
 
 "If it don t make no diff rence I 11 go off and get 
 somethin to eat; I ain t had a moufful sence twelve 
 o clock." 
 
 "No," repeated Jack, casting upon Andrew a look 
 which caused the latter some misgivings, " I m going 
 to be busy, and you must stay here till I come back, 
 and get my clothes ready for this evening." 
 
 " Wich close you mean ? De one dat s bobbed off 
 kinder like a waiter s jacket, or dis yere swallow 
 tail?" 
 
 "The swallow tail, of course; the other is being 
 cleaned. You took it to the tailor yourself." 
 
 " Wot you spect me to do wid it? " 
 
 "Smooth it out, and be sure your hands are clean 
 when you put the buttons into my shirt." At this 
 Andrew made so doleful a face that his employer 
 fished out a two-dollar bill and handed it to him, 
 hoping that a bribe added to his threats might work 
 persuasion. 
 
 "Do you understand?" said Jack, imperiously. 
 
 "Yessir," replied the dusky maitre Jacques, with 
 something like a growl (which was, like enough, 
 appetite again getting hold of him). "Do you want 
 me to lay out you close, Mr. Glenn?" inquired 
 Andrew, the auri sacra fames for a moment over 
 coming his other hunger. 
 
 "No, thank you; I 11 dress now. Jack, go ahead 
 to dinner. This won t take me fifteen minutes." 
 
 Eldredge went off in great haste, and Andrew 
 began reluctantly to look for the clothes. He loi- 
 
 197 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 tered so over his task that he had scarcely found them 
 when Glenn left the room. Andrew brushed the 
 garments and laid them lazily upon the bed, then 
 rummaged for a clean shirt, and having seated him 
 self comfortably in an arm-chair, began with clumsy 
 fingers to fix two gold studs into the spotless bosom, 
 grumbling over his work and ever and anon muttering 
 a damn. At last the studs were inserted, but the 
 bosom was rumpled and smirched with another black 
 than that of Andrew s skin. He started to lay the 
 garment just as it was upon the bed, when discretion 
 got the better of him, and he washed his hands. 
 After another ten minutes of fumbling he had suc 
 ceeded in putting the buttons into a fresh shirt. For 
 an instant the negro stood uncertain, scratching his 
 head and counting with a stubby finger the figures on 
 the face of his watch; then quietly left the room, 
 shutting the door behind him, but neglecting to spring 
 the latch. 
 
 As he disappeared down the Campus, a disrep 
 utable creature, who had been lurking in the shadows, 
 stole into the entry, and stopping for a moment, 
 scanned his surroundings furtively. Fastened to the 
 wall was a tablet containing the numbers of rooms 
 and names of all who dwelt in that portion of the 
 building. One glance satisfied his curiosity, and 
 without further hesitation he climbed the three 
 flights of stairs, and having listened a moment, opened 
 the door which Andrew had failed to lock. Rapping 
 softly, he said, "Excuse me; is there any one here 
 would like to help an old soldier?" Then, a little 
 louder: "I ve had hard luck. One of me hands is 
 
 198 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 hurt an I can t get no work. Wouldn t one of you 
 gentlemen like to buy some pencils ? " 
 
 Getting no answer to this tentative inquiry, the 
 fellow entered and speedily went to work. With 
 the directness of a messenger he crossed the study 
 and entered one of the bedrooms. Upon the bed lay 
 a dress suit, and beside it a shirt with two gold studs. 
 Dexterously extracting the studs, he tucked them into 
 his vest pocket, and folding the dress suit into a com 
 pact bundle, wrapped it in a piece of brown paper. 
 The sound of a voice caused him to start, but it 
 was only some one passing in the street below. He 
 lingered just long enough to swallow a couple of 
 sandwiches, then left the room, closing the door 
 noiselessly. 
 
 Scarcely had he issued from the lighted entry to 
 the dark Quadrangle when he was accosted by a 
 person who had been waiting in the shadow of the 
 building. 
 
 "Did you get it?" inquired the latter, nervously. 
 
 "Dead easy," responded the man. "Now what 
 will I do widit?" 
 
 " I want you to get it back somehow by to-morrow 
 night," returned the second person, still more ner 
 vously. " Here s your ten dollars. " 
 
 " Look here, young fellah, you re going to make 
 that a twenty; if you don t, I 11 give you away, an 
 if it s back here to-morrow night you ve got to fork 
 out twenty more. Oh, of course this ain t no steal, 
 you know, and you d certainly be robbin me if I 
 took any less n forty! " 
 
 " I m not going to pay you forty. You agreed for 
 199 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 ten, and twenty is all you re going to get. You can 
 hide that bundle around here, and to-morrow morning 
 somebody 11 find it." 
 
 " Hurry up wid that money," said the man, angrily, 
 "or we 11 hot get pinched." 
 
 "Will you hide it?" asked the young man. 
 
 " Hide it ! Well, I just guess ! I 11 put the outfit 
 where it 11 have a chanst to get back fer sure. I can 
 write that name you give me on the paper." 
 
 Without further parley the money was paid over 
 and the scamp made off, holding the bundle under 
 his arm in such a way as not to arouse suspicion, 
 while his companion vanished into the darkness. 
 
 Meanwhile Jack had bolted his dinner and was 
 giving final orders to his satellites at the Armory. In 
 just forty minutes the ball would begin. He jumped 
 into a carriage and was driven in great haste to the 
 Campus. 
 
 "You needn t wait," he cried to the driver; "I 11 
 walk." 
 
 Eldredge entered his room and looked about him. 
 "I wonder," he muttered, "where that darky has 
 stowed himself. Andrew! " Every jet was lighted, 
 but there was no answer. "Andrew!" He stepped 
 into his bedroom and saw the rumpled shirt lying 
 where it had fallen. He picked it up and gazed at 
 the bed, aghast. A partial realization of what had 
 happened came upon him in a flash, and he rushed 
 downstairs, narrowly missing a collision with the 
 delinquent Andrew, who was ascending at a leisurely 
 pace. 
 
 " Where have you been ? " he shouted. 
 200 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 "I jes stepped out for a miunte. I didn t 
 s pose " 
 
 "You didn t suppose, you idiot! What business 
 have you got s posin anything? You failed to do 
 what I told you to, and now somebody has sneaked 
 in and robbed me." 
 
 "Who do you reckon it could a ben?" faltered 
 Andrew, still sleepy with too much food. 
 
 Jack cast one wrathful glance upon the blinking 
 darky and rushed out of the building. He ran 
 to the room of a friend, and then to another and 
 another. Only two or three were in, and they were 
 dressing for the ball. So used was Jack to getting 
 what he desired that it did not even occur to him to 
 stop and weigh the plight he was in. In a great 
 fury he increased his pace, running desperately about 
 in the hope of finding some one to help him. Sud 
 denly he saw a light brighten in Thornclyke s win 
 dow. He stopped and cried, " Fitz ! Oh, Fitz ! " 
 
 Thorndyke thrust his head out. "Hello, Jack!" 
 he shouted. " What s the trouble ? " 
 
 "Everything, Fitz! That imbecile of an Andrew 
 left my door open, and some scoundrel has sneaked 
 in and gone off with my dress suit. By Gad ! if I 
 could lay hands on him, I d choke it out of him ! 
 Can t you help me ? " 
 
 "Stolen!" he ejaculated. "You don t say so! 
 Let me see. Could you wear my room-mate s? " 
 
 "How, in thunder! " cried Eldredge. "He s two- 
 thirds my size. Good-night, Fitz." With one 
 longing look for a carriage, he set out on a dead run 
 across the Green. In half an hour the dancing would 
 
 201 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 begin, and the first name on his list was that of Mar 
 garet Glenn. What would she think if he failed to 
 be there? The absurdity and helplessness of his 
 predicament infuriated him, but there was still a 
 chance, and he kept on running with a feverish haste 
 till he came to a shop whither he had once gone with 
 a chronically impecunious classmate, who banked for 
 the most part at the pawnbroker s. The proprietor 
 had dress suits, but they were in every case too small. 
 At another place he found one that fitted passably. 
 On examination, he discovered that moths had eaten 
 great patches out of the coat. The Hebrew in charge 
 declared " nobody would ef er dake de slidest nodice 
 of such a ting," but Jack was not persuaded. Again 
 he set out running, and came soon to the last place 
 of this kind he knew of. It was the lair of Solomon 
 Solomons, Money Lender and Dealer in Misfit and 
 Cast-off Clothing. 
 
 "Solomon," he cried, "find me a suit, a dress suit, 
 quick! I 11 give you fifty dollars if you fit me." 
 
 "Veil, veil," said the Jew, "have a chair und I 11 
 see what I can do for you. What kind of a suit 
 would you want?" 
 
 "Oh, anything! No, a dress suit. Are any of 
 the ready-made places open?" 
 
 " Of course dey ain t," grunted the Jew, turning his 
 curved beak upon the boy and glaring at him disdain 
 fully. He went to a great heap of clothes and began 
 to lay them out, piece by piece, upon his counter. 
 
 " How you gome to be in such a hurry ? " he asked, 
 eying Jack suspiciously. 
 
 " Look here, Solomon," said Jack, advancing toward 
 202 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 the Jew, "you ve got just five minutes more. Some 
 body s hooked my clothes and I ve no time for talk. 
 If you find something decent, I 11 give you sixty 
 dollars; so be lively." 
 
 "Has somebody ropt you?" asked the Jew, with a 
 show of astonishment. 
 
 " Yes, and not an hour ago ; but stop asking ques 
 tions. You ve three minutes more to earn that 
 money. I can t wait a second longer." 
 
 He flung himself at the smaller pile and began to 
 search it furiously. Meanwhile Solomon laid the 
 other heap upon the floor, keeping his back toward 
 Eldredge. Ever so deftly he removed from the mass 
 of clothing a dress suit which he slipped into some 
 recess beneath the counter. 
 
 "Well," said Jack, "there are two minutes left, 
 Solomon. Can you find anything ?" 
 
 "I fought sure I had one," answered the Jew, 
 "but I must have been thinkin of someding else." 
 He rose from behind the counter and fixed his moist 
 black eyes upon Eldredge. They were as expression 
 less as beads. Jack looked at him for a moment as if 
 dazed and issued into the street. 
 
 After an hour of fruitless search he wrote a few 
 words, saying that he had met with an accident and 
 begged therefore to be excused. He went back to his 
 room and threw himself into a chair, with his face 
 between his hands. Had Jack been less heated and 
 less desperate, he might have made himself suffi 
 ciently presentable to appear at the Promenade. To 
 be sure, no one had ever ventured to present himself 
 at that showy assemblage in any save evening dress, 
 
 203 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 but he was well known, and in a calmer mood could 
 have carried off the situation triumphantly. Indeed, 
 with a little of Tarbell s humour he might have had 
 some amusement from his own discomfiture. Lacking 
 that sense, the situation became a tragedy. Such was 
 the mood which had come upon Eldredge. He sat 
 in dire unhappiness, while some one else among the 
 many who aspired to that honour was dancing with 
 Margaret Glenn, and the ball was proceeding quite 
 as smoothly as if he had been there. How gaily she 
 smiled! How skilfully did she hold her skirts lest 
 they should graze the floor! and how wondrously 
 yellow was the hair that fell in a knot upon her 
 comely neck! No wonder that Margaret without so 
 much as a look could have drawn a hundred vassals 
 into her train, and that more than one would have 
 given up every name on his list for the privilege of 
 dancing with her only once ! 
 
 " I wonder who the chap is that s waltzing with 
 Miss Glenn?" said Billy, as Margaret swept by. 
 
 "She is beautiful, isn t she?" responded Clare. 
 
 "Do you think she takes advantage of it? " 
 
 "I am sure she could if she wanted to." 
 
 "That there is no logical reason for doubting," 
 remarked Billy, with a shade of sarcasm. " It s 
 plain enough to me." 
 
 "You feel convinced, then?" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "But sometimes even dreadfully clever people 
 imagine they understand such things, and in the end 
 it turns out that they were quite wrong." 
 
 " Well, maybe I don t know too much about it. but 
 204 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 I d like to be a priest and have her come to a little 
 seance at my confessional. I d make her own up, if 
 it took all day. By George! it would be pleasant 
 to see Miss Haughty on her knees for a couple of 
 hours!" 
 
 "I don t doubt it would," said Clare, "and I am 
 equally certain that neither yourself nor anybody else 
 could get her to tell." 
 
 "I d accuse point blank and follow that up with a 
 cross-examination which would be simply impossible 
 to dodge." 
 
 "Billy, how long have you known me?" 
 
 " Oh, about one short year. Why do you ask ? " 
 
 "I was just thinking how wonderfully little you 
 know about women." 
 
 "Well, she s fairly good to look at, if a fellow 
 can t see what is going on inside of her, but I don t 
 believe it s all soul." 
 
 " Billy, you are very unjust, and some day you will 
 find it isn t wise to judge people until they have 
 given you a chance to know them. Miss Glenn is 
 lovely, and it is perfectly right that every one should 
 admire her." 
 
 "It s perfectly natural." 
 
 " Billy, if you persist in saying such things we may 
 quarrel." 
 
 "Then I won t," said Billy. "Besides, I m in 
 clined to think that I admire her just like everybody 
 else." 
 
 "Oh, you mustn t," retorted Clare; "I might be 
 come jealous." And with that James and Miss Meri- 
 vale passed on in the throng of dancers who were 
 
 205 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 gliding in and out within the wavering endless chain 
 that was slowly circling the hall. 
 
 Hardly had the music ceased when Tarbell got 
 Jack s message. He made immediately for Mar 
 garet s box. 
 
 "I m afraid," he said, "that something has hap 
 pened to Jack. Will you excuse me if I am not on 
 hand when my turn comes ? You know I am a very 
 poor dancer." 
 
 "Could it be something serious?" she asked. 
 "Tell me, Mr. Tarbell." 
 
 "That is what I intend to find out," he answered, 
 and left her without another word. 
 
 Tarbell found Jack stretched upon his bed. 
 
 "Jack," he exclaimed, "what has happened?" 
 
 "Nothing, Tarb, except that my cake has turned 
 to dough. If Andrew had n t been Andrew, and if 
 somebody else had n t been a thief, we d all be happy. 
 You see I hadn t anything to wear except my 
 pajamas, and they were rather too gay even for the 
 Promenade." 
 
 "Do you mean to say that you have been robbed?" 
 
 "Yes," said Jack, "I ve been robbed of a very fair 
 dress suit and of a good time, to which I d been look 
 ing forward for weeks. . . . Why the dickens have 
 you troubled yourself to come here ? It s kind of 
 you, Tarb, old man, but you can t do me any good 
 and you are missing somebody s dance. Next year 
 I 11 have three dress suits and hire a policeman to 
 watch each one of em." 
 
 Tarbell sat down on the bed and laid his hand on 
 Jack s arm. 
 
 206 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 "Jack," he said, "I wish to goodness you were in 
 my clothes." 
 
 "I know you do, Tarb; but never mind. Every 
 dog has his day, and I m having mine. Go back 
 now, and please tell Margaret that I m sorry, very 
 sorry ; and say that I ask her to the next Promenade 
 and promise if she comes to be there. Will you 
 tell her?" 
 
 "I ll not forget," responded Tarbell; and giving 
 Jack s hand a hearty clasp, he rose and returned to 
 the ball, arriving just in time for his dance with Miss 
 Glenn. He told her how Jack had been robbed, and 
 how he had been charged to invite her in Jack s 
 behalf. 
 
 " Was he quite in earnest, " she asked, " to invite 
 me so far ahead ? " 
 
 "Jack is always in earnest," answered Tarbell. 
 
 " But suppose I should accept and then be unable 
 to come?" 
 
 "In that case," said Tarbell, "he would be dis 
 appointed." 
 
 They had emerged from the throng and were near 
 the stand which held the orchestra. 
 
 "Mr. Tarbell," she said, "unless you wish to con 
 tinue, let us sit down here. It s hard not to be frivo 
 lous when one is dancing, I mean for me, of 
 course, because you are never frivolous." Tarbell 
 scarcely knew what to reply to an assertion so abrupt 
 and whimsical, but obeyed without a word. 
 
 "Do you know," continued Margaret, when they 
 were seated, "dancing seems to me a very foolish 
 thing. Ever since I was a little tot I ve known how; 
 
 207 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 but, for some reason or other, I can never get rid of 
 the sensation that when I dance I m a sort of puppet, 
 and that every one else is a puppet too, turning round 
 and round as if he were wound up and had to move 
 whenever the music plays. Everything appears so 
 unreal. Does it strike you that way?" 
 
 "No," he replied, "I can t say it does. I have 
 just the contrary sensation. I m very clumsy, Miss 
 Glenn, and feel as if I weighed a ton. It s a wonder 
 anybody has the courage to trust herself to such a 
 giraffe." 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Tarbell," cried Margaret, "what a 
 comparison! " 
 
 " Why ? Do you think it s unfair to the giraffe ? " 
 
 "Very," she replied, "because it s giving him 
 something which he does n t deserve. But I d rather 
 dance even with a a giraffe than some very little 
 men; I always feel how easy it would be to lead 
 them ; and besides, they re not very safe. One is 
 likely to be run into by some of those fellows who 
 dance as if they were playing football. But then 
 there are others with whom I feel as secure as if I 
 were protected by what shall I say ? " 
 
 " A giraffe, " suggested Tarbell. 
 
 Margaret spread out her fan and looked at it 
 thoughtfully. Tarbell found himself studying her 
 profile. The wavy hair rippled about a forehead as 
 serene and comely as that of some antique marble. 
 And how graciously uneven was the outline of her 
 nose ! What a fascinating curve there was to her lips, 
 and how firm and admirable was her chin! The 
 former cow-puncher and ex-mayor of Eureka, Arizona, 
 
 208 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 sat gazing at her like one of those enchanted knights 
 we read about in the tales of chivalry, who were 
 always slaying other champions in bloody combat and 
 afterwards getting into the spell of some enchanting 
 damsel. Like enough, that was why they slew one 
 another in such quantities. 
 
 The enchantress, raising her eyes from her fan and 
 turning her face upon Tarbell, said, without so much 
 as a flutter of the eyelids, "Mr. Tarbell, it would 
 have been tragic indeed if the thief Lad stolen your 
 things as well as Jack s. Just imagine how sad / 
 should have been! But poor Jack! I hope he s not 
 very unhappy." 
 
 "He is, "said Tarbell, more earnestly, "and I m 
 sorry from the bottom of my heart. Jack is one of 
 the dearest fellows that ever lived. Everybody is 
 fond of him because he s always so ready to do what 
 he can for any one else." 
 
 "Then you and he are fast friends?" 
 
 "We are." 
 
 "Yet," she went on, "you haven t known him so 
 very long, have you?" 
 
 "No, scarcely three years; but it s not a question 
 of time. It s the man, Miss Glenn. Jack is so good 
 a fellow that you have to like him, faults and all. 
 As they say down in our country, he and I are 
 pardners." 
 
 "That s a pretty expression," said Margaret. 
 
 "It isn t a bad one," he answered. Tarbell had 
 
 become so absorbed in his talk of Jack that he failed 
 
 to notice how the music was making its final flourish. 
 
 Margaret glanced at her card indifferently and laid it 
 
 14 209 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 upon her fan. They were almost hidden from the 
 other dancers. The musicians ceased for a moment. 
 Then they began playing one of those crooning, sen 
 suous melodies which are so well fitted to the Ameri 
 can waltz. But Tarbell did not hear it. Nor did he 
 even turn his head to catch a glimpse of the stream 
 that moved behind him, but sat (even as Jack had 
 done and would have been doing now) listening in a 
 sort of trance to a music more bewitching than any 
 that is ever played on fiddles ; and while the stolen 
 moments fled away, he found himself betraying to 
 her his own life as he could never have done to any 
 woman less persuasive than Margaret Glenn. 
 
 During those few minutes which Margaret had 
 pilfered, and twice more during the evening, Tarbell 
 told her a small part of his history : How he remem 
 bered living in Vermont in his dim childhood; how 
 he had been deeply attached to a little girl of five, and 
 shown his admiration and prowess by standing on his 
 head upon her front doorsteps; how his father had 
 moved out to try his fortune in the West, going 
 from place to place until he had at last been struck 
 down by an Apache; and how then his father s 
 friends had taken care of him till he was big enough 
 to make his own living. There was a modesty and 
 candid good sense in the man s way of telling these 
 bits of his life which gave them all the greater charm. 
 And as Margaret compared him with the other men 
 whom she had met that evening, they suffered beside 
 this giant of the Arizona desert who had, like enough, 
 already experienced more of the ordeal of life than 
 half of them put together. Had she known Tarbell 
 
 210 
 
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 
 
 to be a poor man, nay, even a debtor, the knowledge 
 would have made no difference, save to give him in 
 her eyes the dignity which comes of hard, success 
 ful struggles. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that while Jack lay sleepless 
 upon his bed, tasting for the first time in his existence 
 the gall of disappointment, the best of his friends 
 the one whom he loved most was with Margaret 
 Glenn and they were happy. 
 
 211 
 
XXVI 
 
 THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 IN Jack s morning mail was a note from Margaret. 
 It must have been written but a few hours be 
 fore, very likely as soon as she had returned from 
 the Promenade. 
 
 DEAR JACK, I am going away very early to-morrow 
 or to-day would be more truthful, because it is morn 
 ing now. I am ever so sorry to have missed seeing you, 
 and for such a reason. Mr. Tarbell gave me your mes 
 sage. It was nice of you to think of me so far ahead, 
 and I only wish I could say Yes without hesitation. But 
 what would you say if I made the promise and could not 
 keep it ? Indeed, it seems improbable that I could, for 
 my father has been talking of passing next winter on the 
 Eiviera. Of course we shall return in time to see you 
 graduate. 
 
 Joe has invited me to be present at the Senior Society 
 elections, " to see me tapped." I think it would do him 
 lots of good to have his plans upset, since everything 
 seems to happen just as he says it will. At the same 
 time I should feel dreadfully humiliated if my brother 
 were not elected. Much to my regret, I shall not be 
 able to come, but I have no doubt that you will be 
 chosen amongst the first, or the very last, for it appears 
 that is the highest honour. Inasmuch as I may not see 
 
 212 
 
THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 you for a long time, may I offer you my congratulations 
 in advance ? 
 
 I hope you have n t lost faith in the efficacy of four- 
 leaved clovers. Some day mine is sure to bring you 
 luck infallibly. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 MARGARET GLENN. 
 
 Jack took these disappointments seriously, so much 
 so that his demeanour seemed for the moment to have 
 lost its healthy gaiety. Those who did not know 
 him (and many of those who did) attributed his 
 gravity to the approaching elections, a very natural 
 suspicion arising from the tendency of a man when 
 he is worried to imagine that his disease is epidemic. 
 Had Eldredge known what some of his classmates 
 were gossiping about, he would, like enough, have 
 been disgusted that they should imagine he was fret 
 ting over a certainty. He was, however, perfectly 
 unaware of their prattle, and his closest friends were 
 no talebearers. 
 
 Early in March Jack yielded to persuasion and 
 went into training for the Varsity crew. He had 
 never swung an oar save in a scrub or class crew, 
 but his ability to do almost anything in the athletic 
 line, and the sudden departure from college of a 
 famous rowing man, had caused the boating folk to 
 hit upon Jack as the most likely candidate. The 
 work was far from amusing, and used up four or five 
 hours a day ; but Jack, who was innocently inclined 
 to look upon himself as a pillar of the University, 
 gave up his amusements and toiled in the galleys. 
 
 It was about this time that James became a man of 
 213 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 letters. He was elected an editor of the "Literary 
 Magazine," with a record of seven body -pieces (chiefly 
 essays, and noble specimens of learning), of three 
 poems (in which the word "ineffable" occurred four 
 times), and of sundry "portfolios," that being the 
 Yale name for what literary folk are supposed to 
 throw off in moments of the lesser inspiration. Billy 
 and his four or five peers had laboured painfully, and 
 merited the little golden triangles which are awarded 
 at Yale to those who can wield a pen. 
 
 While all these things were going on, the spring 
 days were at hand. Just as before great battles and 
 notable assassinations the air is believed by some to 
 be laden with storm clouds and strange lightnings, 
 so now the atmosphere was charged with dreadful 
 portents. The various soothsayers of the Quadrangle 
 held their heads very close together, whispering 
 secrets solemn as destiny. Their chief haruspex, 
 divinus Ballentinus, could be seen at any hour with 
 his tablet and stylus, making notes and more notes, 
 betting and hedging, foretelling and gainsaying, 
 while all the other haruspices followed his auguries. 
 Divinus Ballentinus had played the races, and dallied 
 with the Uncertain, till he had acquired a skill that 
 must have made Dame Fate rather uneasy, as to 
 whether she could elude him or not. Concerning 
 himself alone was the seer silent ; rumour had it that 
 he had lent a princely sum to a certain needy but 
 important classmate, and that they would "go" to 
 gether on the fateful day. Furthermore, it was sus 
 pected that a well-known senior had lost his heart to 
 Miss Jane Ballentine, and that the young lady had 
 
 214 
 
THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 given him a strong hint as to the possibility of his 
 being jilted if her brother failed to "make" his 
 Society. Budson hoped; Desmond was pale, and 
 indecently anxious lest he should be seen in humble 
 company. Sallow fear sat upon his gills to quote 
 Milton (or was it James ?) and it was this hunted 
 expression which caused Ballentine to bet that Des 
 mond would "go," and also that Desmond would not 
 "go." For a year past the man had wavered be 
 tween the hard drinkers and the religious set, but his 
 soul had finally yielded to the influences of religion. 
 So complete had been his conversion, that he parted 
 company with his room-mate, who came home very 
 drunk on Saturday (as w r ell as on any other week 
 day), and made night hideous with roystering song 
 and ribald cries. 
 
 If Jack had been a prattler, he might have made 
 short work of his enemy. A few words said at the 
 right moment to the right person, and cautiously, 
 sorrowfully repeated to some one else, would have 
 travelled quickly enough to accomplish the damnation 
 of a skilful liar, and done something for the purifica 
 tion of politics ; but Jack held his peace. Desmond 
 called upon him one day, and came away looking very 
 sick and ugly. Whether, in his suspected capacity 
 as a "packer," Desmond had endeavoured to pledge 
 Eldredge for a certain society, or whether he had 
 merely attempted a desirable reconciliation, must 
 remain a mystery. 
 
 About the middle of April began the secret con 
 claves in the tomb-like houses of the Senior Societies. 
 The walls were thick, and no windows could let the 
 
 215 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 awful plottings transpire to the outer world, for the 
 windows were all in the roofs. Some time near twi 
 light, the chosen proceeded to the deaf, dumb, and 
 blind abodes, to feast and enjoy themselves before, 
 taking up the solemn task of choosing new members 
 to fill their places. No one, save a few negro ser 
 vants, and an occasional plumber or purveyor, pledged 
 to secrecy, ever got within the walls. It is said that 
 somewhere in the sixties a whimsical and reckless 
 student, who cared nothing for his safety nor good 
 name, broke into one of the houses ; that he filched a 
 number of priceless relics and escaped, afterwards 
 demanding an election, which to the general surprise 
 was granted him. But his end was tragic, for he 
 died a ghastly death in the streets of Hong Kong, 
 and the riddle continued to be a riddle. Had the 
 wretch s vanity not been so great, what tales he might 
 have told! What hair-raising descriptions he might 
 have given of the things he saw ! What pleasing ex 
 planations of symbols that charm through their very 
 mystery! But what a scandal it would have raised, 
 and how great would have been the disillusions! 
 Peace rest upon his unholy spirit! His marauding 
 is over, and he has paid the penalty of his crime. 
 
 It is said, furthermore, that some inquisitive dis 
 consolate tried to bribe a baker, whom he had seen 
 entering the cellar of one of these tombs, to tell him 
 what was within; but the man looked sourly at his 
 tempter, and held his tongue. Had he, too, been 
 pledged, or could it be that he had seen nothing 
 more than bolted doors, while some mysterious hand 
 had reached out of the darkness to receive his 
 
 216 
 
THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 wares? Mystery, and more mystery, and all is 
 mystery ! 
 
 There is nothing so magic in its works as the occult 
 and invisible. That is why men have such curiosity 
 about the after life. John of Patmos, sitting on 
 some lonesome rock, devised a heaven full of gold 
 and jewels, gathering in a gorgeous whole all the 
 finest things he had ever looked upon, but men are 
 suspicious that Heaven does not look that way. John 
 had never been inside. Dante tried it, and he, too, 
 made another world, according to that in which be 
 lived. Besides him there s QEdipus, trying the 
 Sphinx and finding the secret no such great one after 
 all, and other prying mortals without number. What 
 if all the riddles were solved? Ah! says your phi 
 losopher, in that case, my dear sir, life would become 
 a bore, for nothing would be so wearisome after a 
 while as omniscience. Nothing more to know? 
 Preposterous ! 
 
 Be that as it may, five-and-forty plotters in the 
 year of grace eighteen hundred and ninety-four were 
 holding secret councils twice each week, planning, 
 scheming, selecting, rejecting, in order that they 
 might find five-and-forty others to join and succeed 
 them in the observance of their festive rites. But 
 there is the rub ; for who outside of the three secret 
 halls could know what choices were to be made? 
 Could the electors themselves know with any cer 
 tainty ? Ballentine was " morally sure " that " Bones " 
 and " Keys " had dickered for Glenn, despite the 
 probability that Joe would follow upon his father s 
 heels, and he was equally positive that James was 
 
 217 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 going to be bilked by Desmond, and that Jack and 
 Tarbell would both go to "Bones." In fact, Ballen- 
 tine had drawn up three lists with fifteen men in 
 each, and had added the names of dark horses, 
 "solid men," who were going to get something, sure, 
 if some one else didn t. 
 
 Of the three hundred juniors who might be chosen, 
 a hundred, no doubt, were out of the race and knew 
 it; another hundred hoped, amongst them Budson ; a 
 hundred others regarded their chances as considera 
 ble, while of these hundred seventy-five at least were 
 either perfectly confident or horribly anxious. Some 
 made as much of the matter as if life and fortune 
 were at stake. There were a few friendships broken, 
 and much snubbing on the part of snobs. Quiet 
 suppers were given, costing several dollars a plate; 
 for wealth has its methods too. H. de Godfrey de 
 Kay, who knew as much about literature as a Pata- 
 gonian, founded a literary club, and gave a great 
 dinner, to which he invited all the literary lights 
 in the University. He himself delivered a speech 
 (which must have cost him dear), and was lauded by 
 his friend Edgeworthy Small as "zhe patron of all 
 zhe arts." It was a dreadful fiasco. Ballentine 
 rubbed H. de Godfrey off his list, and much ridicule 
 was cast upon his lordly hospitality. Stoutenborough 
 Jones (whose family was one of the most recent in 
 all the West) fell ill, very ill, and had to go to Ber 
 muda, a deprivation which caused him to drop a 
 class. It was thought his chances would be better 
 another year. 
 
 With the warmth of spring it became de rigueur to 
 218 
 
THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 go a-walking along the finest avenue in town. This 
 matter was arranged by some, days beforehand. 
 Tarbell, who had never got rid of his plain habits, 
 was disgusted at the whole business. He and Jack 
 and Billy slipped away, and spent their Sunday 
 afternoons no one knew where. Frequently Budson 
 went with them, and Joshua, too. Drake had been 
 elected recently into a Junior Society, but nobody 
 dreamed of him as a candidate, nor did the matter 
 trouble him in the least. Joshua s continuous com 
 munion with Nature gave him an indifference to small 
 social glories. Save his friends, to whom he was 
 devoted, he looked upon men as he looked upon the 
 rest of breathing things. He had no prejudice, if it 
 came to picking up a pulpy worm, nor did he avoid 
 any one of the human kind, provided the specimen 
 was morally decent. Eldredge would not open his 
 head, but he listened to James, who raved a bit now 
 and then, and said some fine things about snobs, none 
 of which have been preserved. 
 
 About the second week in May there appeared a 
 pamphlet called the "Horoscope." Its contents con 
 sisted chiefly of a mass of vilification, divided up into 
 brief biographies of all those who had a chance of 
 election. Tarbell was lauded to the skies, but Jack 
 was called a blockhead, who had won popularity 
 simply and solely because he had a fine shape and 
 knew how to use it. The biographer hinted subtly 
 that Jack s father was a robber baron, and that his 
 mother had been a domestic servant. Jack read 
 the article, and was so cut by the reference to his 
 parents that the tears came to his eyes, but he gritted 
 
 219 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 his teeth, and turning very red, swore that if ever 
 he found out who the writer was he would punish 
 him. 
 
 As the days went, the suspense of those who hoped 
 for election became ever more terrible. Not a few 
 looked as haggard and worn as if they had suffered 
 some great misfortune. To many an election meant 
 honour, prestige, worldly success, and happiness; a 
 failure meant ignominy and social debasement, if not 
 ruin. Few, indeed, were those who in their hearts 
 did not prize an election to any of the three societies, 
 however they might scoff and rail. In these days 
 there was much talk as to the passing of democracy 
 and of the Yale spirit. Some Campus philosophers 
 asserted that things were not thus in the good old 
 times. Then it was not wealth, but worth, that was 
 rewarded. Many a glorious name was called up from 
 the days of yore, of Yalensians who had come to 
 college shabby and penniless, and then, by dint of 
 energy, had risen, step by step, till their worth won 
 recognition and fame. 
 
 On the afternoon of the last Thursday in May a 
 crowd had gathered by the Fence, near an oak which 
 stands close to the Chapel door. It was almost five 
 o clock ; the air was sultry, and the dust, stirred up 
 by many feet, rose and floated in a motionless mist. 
 At every window whence the elections could be seen, 
 men and women had gathered, some from distant 
 cities. In the first storey students were perched 
 upon the very sills. No vantage point was left unoc 
 cupied. Every foot of the Fence had been taken. 
 
 220 
 
THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 The crowd beneath the oak was so tightly packed 
 that only those on the edges seemed free to move. 
 
 On the stroke of five there rose a murmur from the 
 standing throng. It began to move slowly in the 
 direction of the Old Library. Some of the most 
 curious craned their necks, or bracing themselves on 
 their neighbours shoulders, strove to catch sight of 
 the approaching figures. Presently a young man 
 clad in black came toward the crowd. Entering 
 where it was thinnest, he pushed his way silently 
 through, while every eye strove to follow him. Sud 
 denly stopping behind Tarbell, the young man smote 
 him on the back, crying, " Go to your room ! " There 
 rose a cry of delight, but Tarbell simply looked about 
 and made for his room, followed by the one who had 
 tapped him. A second later, another mournful figure 
 emerged from the alley between Durfee and the 
 Chapel. He, too, forced his way into the thickest 
 part of the throng, but not finding his man, came 
 out. An outpost spoke to him, and turning, he 
 walked along the Fence. A second more, and he 
 slapped none other than Drake upon his unconscious 
 back. Joshua looked about with astonishment. " Go 
 to your room! " said the man; and Drake went off 
 with his head down, while a friendly cheer went 
 up from many a throat. Ballentine consulted his 
 list, 
 
 Meanwhile other figures were silently threading 
 their way through the crowd, their eyes straight 
 ahead, and with the grim expression which a man 
 gets when he is doing awful deeds. The crowd 
 surged slowly to and fro, but there was scarcely a 
 
 221 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 sound, except a cheer as some one was tapped and 
 headed for his room. As man after man received an 
 election, the excitement grew more intense. Just as 
 when passengers are being taken from a ship that is 
 gradually sinking, those who remain upon the deck 
 wait anxiously for their turn to come, and their faces 
 are drawn and white, though they may struggle to 
 express their joy at the rescue of their companions; 
 so upon that day, as each new man is chosen, those 
 who have set their hearts upon it struggle ever 
 harder to hide their feelings as the probability grows 
 with each election less. 
 
 When James was elected, some of his worst ene 
 mies leaped up, waving their hats and slapping one 
 another on the back, while their cheer rose huskily 
 like a gasp on the stifling air. Billy went straight to 
 his room, as if in a daze, and hardly daring to look 
 around. In a minute or so he returned to the Quad 
 rangle, and was warmly congratulated by Eldredge 
 and Tarbell, who seized both his hands in such a 
 grip that he winced. 
 
 "Bill, you re a bully boy," said Tarbell. "I was 
 afraid some other man would get you. " 
 
 "I was afraid nobody d get me," answered James. 
 
 "It looks bad for me," observed Jack, with a smile. 
 " There are only two places left and there goes one 
 of them now! " 
 
 The three men looked in the same direction. Evi 
 dently there had been a great surprise, for the crowd 
 uttered a queer yell, and every one seemed to be 
 exclaiming to his neighbour. A junior was making 
 for his room with his face scarlet, and his chin on his 
 
 222 
 
THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 breast. He was closely followed by a senior. Sud 
 denly the senior quickened his step, and, just as the 
 two reached the entry whither they were headed, he 
 laid his hand on the junior s shoulder. 
 
 "I m sorry," he faltered, "I ve made a mistake; 
 you re not the man I was after. Please forgive me." 
 With these words he turned rapidly back to his hall. 
 The junior s face was deathly white. He staggered 
 a few steps, and would have fallen, had he not been 
 caught and supported by a couple of classmates, who 
 put their arms about his waist and helped him to his 
 room. For a moment the throng beneath the oak had 
 scattered, in order to see what had happened, but in 
 that instant of excitement the incident had scarcely 
 any effect. Afterwards it was spoken of as a 
 "tragedy." 
 
 Scarcely had the crowd reassembled, when Glenn 
 was seen to refuse one society and a few seconds 
 later receive election to another. The next instant 
 Desmond was tapped. His partisans, some of whose 
 faces were ghastly for the fear that was on them, 
 raised a fierce yell, and danced with histrionic joy, 
 shouting hoarsely, and breaking into laughter that 
 sounded more like a hysterical paroxysm than the 
 utterance of healthy human beings. 
 
 An hour had passed, and each of the three socie 
 ties had chosen all but one or two of its men. As the 
 result of the election became more certain, the excite 
 ment seemed to lessen. Various men were beginning 
 to compare notebooks, and discuss the justice or in 
 justice of the choices. Jack slipped quietly into the 
 densest part of the throng still gathered beneath the 
 
 223 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 oak. Presently another man was chosen. A shout 
 went up, more careless and enthusiastic now. 
 
 "It s Benbow! " some one shouted; "it s old 
 Chub Benbow! Well, well, well! Bully for you, 
 Chub! Go straight to your room!" There must 
 have been some allusion, for a shout of laughter rose 
 as the newly elected and his tapper issued from the 
 press, and hurried down the Durfee walk. How little 
 we know what is to become of a man! Two years 
 later this very fellow, mounted on a table in a street 
 of Athens, was reciting some verses of Homer, which 
 he had once been forced to learn, while a delirious 
 swarm of Greeks hearkened to his ravings as if he had 
 been a Byron. The next day he took ship, and was 
 later fighting amongst the Turks ! 
 
 The surprise and amusement aroused by the election 
 of this man had put the on-lookers into good humour. 
 Believing that Eldredge was to be the last man chosen, 
 they closed around him five or six deep. Apparently 
 the awe felt during the earlier stages of the perform 
 ance was giving place to a desire to have a little fun 
 at the expense of the Senior Societies. It is said that 
 persons who go to funerals are often affected in this 
 way. 
 
 A sombre fellow, fresh from his mausoleum, came 
 toward the crowd with a dreadfully humbug expres 
 sion on his countenance. The jesters wedged Jack 
 all the closer, and looked at the solemn young man 
 with curiosity. There were a few foolish witticisms. 
 
 "It s very close here," said one. 
 
 "Hush!" said another; "speak gently; my leg is 
 asleep;" and some one whispered: "I wonder what 
 
 224 
 
THE BAUBLE FAME 
 
 the gentleman wants?" The gentleman was rather 
 nettled. His dignity, and in him the dignity of his 
 society, was being put to a test impertinent, if not 
 vulgar. The game lasted so long that the myste 
 rious young man, after prowling about the crowd like 
 a wolf that is trying to get his booty from the midst 
 of a lot of old horned cattle, began to look disgusted 
 in a refined way. Then he started off. The little 
 crowd fell apart for an instant. In that instant an 
 unknown gentleman, who had approached unseen, 
 stepped behind Eldredge and slapped him lustily be 
 tween the shoulders. 
 
 "Go to your room," said he. Jack turned about, 
 and observing that the gentleman wore on the lower 
 left side of his bosom a piratical gold symbol, he made 
 for his room. A lusty cheer went up. There was a 
 clapping of hands from the windows, and many an 
 exchange of congratulations. Poor Wilbur Fay, who 
 for three years had thrown his studies by the board 
 and licked boots every day of that time, burst into 
 tears ; and faith, there was many a sour supper eaten 
 that night. 
 
 15 225 
 
XXVII 
 
 LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 SOME men, when they have been elected to what 
 the College esteems as highly as if it were a 
 demi-deification, relapse quickly into the idleness 
 which ambition or love of badges has for a while dis 
 turbed. They have played with bat and ball, suffered 
 their bodies to be bruised in harsher struggles, writ 
 ten essays on subjects of which their ignorance was 
 deep, and tales that failed to thrill; they may have 
 wheedled, shirked, or beguiled, or (be it heartily con 
 fessed) they may have taken themselves seriously, 
 and believed it was simply the Ideal. Suddenly the 
 goal is reached, and they go no farther. Such, for 
 instance, was the case with the late Parker Hay 
 "late," for once he was thought a great man, and 
 rather thought so himself, but it was merely mutual 
 and self deception. He rose to the height of his fame 
 in his twenty-second year, has ever since been rotting 
 and is now worse than dead. 
 
 Ballentine, on the other hand, was disappointed 
 but still lives. He acquitted his bets long ago 
 (though Mr. Harmsby the haberdasher and others 
 still regret his remarkable power of purchase and 
 his small tendency to pay). As for Jame s, he settled 
 back into his editorial chair, and read effusions with 
 out number, of which the relatively best were con- 
 
 226 
 
LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 signed to a place called Heaven, while others waited 
 in the basket called Purgatory, or were flung into 
 that marked Hell. Meanwhile he wrote sonnets to 
 an Unknown, read the Chapbooks, and discussed the 
 world s failings with remarkable grace of style. 
 
 During those days of June Tarbell, with a pound 
 or two of clothes on his two hundred weight of body, 
 cast huge iron balls and hammers, and the uncovered 
 parts of his skin turned browner and browner till he 
 looked like a prehistoric man. Somebody with a 
 dash of learning nicknamed him "Dante," and, of 
 a truth, his face, especially from the side, bore a 
 strong resemblance to that of the stern Florentine. 
 
 Meanwhile Jack was toiling like a galley-slave on 
 the Varsity crew, and working at his books whenever 
 he got the time. It was hard work, even for the 
 splendid men who took part in it. Nor was there any 
 noisy approval, nor any personal parade; each man 
 was only a variable fraction in an orderly machine, 
 and each man s business was to lose his personality 
 for the sake of all. 
 
 How fine they looked in their glistening duck 
 breeches, their blue jackets with the white initials of 
 the crew upon the breast pocket, and their broad- 
 visored caps ! And what a pleasing thing to see their 
 stalwart forms covered only with a sleeveless shirt, 
 short trunks, and heavy loose-fitting socks, as they 
 raised the shell with a dexterous swing above their 
 heads, and laid it gracefully upon the water ! 
 
 Four, even five hours a day, they trained steadily, 
 obeying in silence whatever they were told to do. 
 As the shell sped through the often choppy waters 
 
 227 
 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 of the harbour, a coach followed them closely in the 
 launch, yelling his orders through a broad-mouthed 
 trumpet: "Number Five, don t drag your oar. Lift 
 clean. Shoot out your arms. Now steady! All 
 together! " and the shell glided along each day more 
 smoothly. The little coxswain sang : " All together, 
 All together, Now! Now!" keeping time to the 
 stroke s oar; and on rough days the waves came 
 smacking against the side of the shell, and threw a 
 salt spray into the faces of the crew, and little streams 
 trickled down their backs mingling with the sweat. 
 
 As the day of the great race drew nearer, each oar 
 fell into the water with a smoother dip, and on the 
 end of the pull was swung through the air with an 
 ever evener and swifter grace, so that the boat ceased 
 gradually to rock and lunge forward like a tired horse 
 at the goal. There was something beautiful in the 
 obedience, the silence, the harmony of it all. 
 
 Jack had grown very serious in those last days of 
 June. Bad news had come from home. Mrs. Eldredge 
 was ill, indeed she was worse off than Jack knew; 
 but Mr. Eldredge had written that she might soon be 
 better, and that Jack should know if there was any 
 danger. Besides that, there sometimes lurked in his 
 mind an uneasy feeling, which he could not define. 
 Now and then he heard of Margaret s doings through 
 his room-mate Glenn. She had gone to New York to 
 study singing under a famous master. Occasionally 
 she slipped into her letters to Joe some little word of 
 remembrance, but that was all. Jack would have 
 liked to find some excuse for writing to her; yet she 
 had never asked him to do so, and the boy could not 
 
 228 
 
LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 have written if he would, for his mind was of an 
 eminently practical kind, and it would have seemed 
 to him, no doubt, almost like the assumption of some 
 thing which had no recognized existence. Margaret 
 was very proud, and her dignity was of a queenly 
 kind. Sometimes she had seemed very girlish and 
 friendly; but then she had a way of surrounding 
 herself with a certain atmosphere that would have 
 kept the most reckless man at his distance. Jack 
 held her in a sort of awe, while more and more the 
 remembrance of her beauty and the fascination of her 
 ways clung upon him. 
 
 James, who had the intuition of a woman, knew 
 something was amiss, and in one of those confidential 
 moments which one man may have with another, he 
 asked Eldredge what was the matter. 
 
 " I m getting bad news from home," said Eldredge. 
 "My mother isn t well, Billy. It looks as if they 
 were hiding something from me. I hardly know 
 what to make of it. My father s not in the habit of 
 covering things over, but I feel it, you know. I ve 
 told them I d give up rowing for a while for good 
 if necessary, and come home, but they say everything 
 will be right soon, and that I d better stay here. 
 They will tell me my father will tell me if she 
 gets worse." There was a tremor in the boy s voice, 
 and he looked at Billy with a very hard expression on 
 his face, as if there was a struggle within and he was 
 trying to conceal it. It was just this that caused 
 some of Eldredge s classmates to say he had got a 
 "swelled head " and imagined he was the great mogul 
 of all creation. 
 
 229 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Just before the final examination the crew went to 
 New London, and took up quarters at Gale s Ferry on 
 the Thames. The Harvard Eight were some dis 
 tance down the river. They had not been there long, 
 when Jack got a letter from his father. His mother 
 was much better; she had been able to sit out on the 
 piazza, and had read all the papers that said any 
 thing about the crew. Jack became more cheerful, 
 and pulled his oar so well that the coach seldom 
 blamed him. The other men were rowing splendidly, 
 and from what could be seen with a spyglass of the 
 Harvard crew, it looked as if there were to be a hard- 
 fought race. 
 
 A proctor was sent down from the University to 
 supervise the examinations of the crew. He had been 
 a rowing man in his day, and knew so well with what 
 breed of men he had to do, that they were left to their 
 honour, which in crew men is very high. While the 
 proctor sat outside to catch the breeze from the 
 Thames, ten men (to say nothing of the coxswain), 
 sat inside and answered questions. Meanwhile they 
 continued to row, and the coxswain learnt where the 
 worst of the eelgrass grew, where the tide swerved 
 trickily, how to dodge the swiftest parts of the cur 
 rent, and above all, how to steer so thriftily that his 
 left hand would not have to sin because the right had 
 pulled too strong. 
 
 On the day before the race, Eldredge received a 
 letter written in the hand he knew so well. It was 
 from Margaret. Her father had delayed sailing for a 
 week, and she was coming to look on from some 
 body s private car; she was to be under escort of Mr. 
 
 230 
 
LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 Tarbell; would Jack try to see her after the race? 
 She named a place where she expected to be, but that 
 was all. 
 
 On the evening of that day Eldredge slipped away 
 from his companions, and went down upon the float, 
 where he sat staring at the moonlit water and won 
 dering. So her father had chosen a later sailing, 
 and she was coming, coming with Tarbell. For a 
 moment there flashed into his thoughts a fancy which 
 he had not known before. He rose, and began to 
 walk slowly to and fro, thinking. She was coming 
 to-morrow with Tarbell, and at home his mother was 
 lying ill. If he saw Margaret, it could be for only a 
 moment after the race, for then he must go home; 
 and in that moment? And how was it that her 
 brother was not mentioned? But after all, no one 
 was to blame. Mr. Glenn had changed his plans, and 
 Tarbell could easily have found that out, and would 
 naturally not have hesitated to extend to her such a 
 courtesy. Eldredge stopped for an instant, and 
 looked at the dark blue river. A breeze was gradu 
 ally freshening from the southeast, and masses of 
 bluish clouds began to obscure the moon. Perhaps 
 a storm would come, and make rowing impossible, 
 and then he would be able to see her more, for he 
 knew that she would not fail. Ever Margaret, Mar 
 garet! Even in absence she possessed him. He 
 could almost hear the ring of her voice and see her 
 form. He stood quite still, and the emotion flooded 
 his soul until he forgot all that was about him and 
 could think of her alone. The clouds had grown 
 murkier and thicker, they were hurrying across the 
 
 231 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 moon; rain-drops were falling slowly on his bare 
 head, but his body alone perceived them. Suddenly 
 he felt a hand laid gently on his shoulder, and some 
 one spoke. It was the captain of the crew. 
 
 "Jack," he said, "don t you see it s raining? " 
 
 Eldredge turned and said, "Yes, I know it," 
 though he had not known it until then. 
 
 "How is your mother?" asked the other man, 
 gently. "I hope she s better, Jack." 
 
 "She is," he answered. "She is much better." 
 
 The words were uttered in an odd tone, but the 
 captain did not notice. 
 
 "It s a bad night," he muttered. "Looks now 
 as if we were going to have a choppy course to 
 morrow." 
 
 "Yes, I m afraid to-morrow will be a rough day," 
 Eldredge answered, as his companion turned and 
 walked up to the quarters. Jack did not follow him 
 immediately, but stepped absent-mindedly to the edge 
 of the float, where the water was bubbling along the 
 planks, purling and chuckling to itself as it played 
 beneath him. He was suffering as he had not suffered 
 before. The thought that his own wishes had car 
 ried him beyond the power of his will ; that he had 
 utterly forgotten, in his own selfish absorption, the one 
 who had never forgotten him an instant of his life, 
 but had watched, prayed, and dreamed for him, was 
 like anguish. On the other hand, what had the other 
 done? Why was it that the very thought of her 
 seized him and made him oblivious of all else, as if 
 she had been an angel of goodness, his angel, ready 
 to endure for his sake all things, to give a year of her 
 
 232 
 
LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 life, if need be, that his own might be happy? Is 
 there a sadder truth in nature than that a man should 
 ever forget that tie, and let the spell of another being 
 seize him body and soul with such force that the love 
 and goodness of her who would sacrifice the last drop 
 of her blood become as nothing ? 
 
 Eldredge stood for a while a prey to his confused 
 emotions, staring sadly out upon the waters. Then 
 he passed by his friends with a quiet good-night, and 
 went to his room. He drew from his pocket a small 
 gold thing, a locket containing a four-leaved clover, 
 withered a little now, but still green. His eyes rested 
 on it earnestly, as if it had been a symbol instead of a 
 mere toy given to him in a moment of caprice. Well 
 he remembered the touch of her finger-tips and her 
 smile, the lurking mysterious expression in her eyes, 
 and the tone of each word she had uttered. Then 
 Tarbell came into his mind, and he fell to wondering 
 why he, rather than some one else, had happened to 
 be Margaret s escort; but, after all, she had spoken 
 often to him of Tarbell. Indeed, how could she help 
 it; for there was a man stanch and loyal to the core, 
 his best and ablest friend, well worthy of what favour 
 she might show him ? Tarb had done well to ask her, 
 and to-morrow he, Jack, would see them. His 
 thoughts came pell-mell, hurtling one another, passing 
 so swiftly that they hardly seemed to desire a conclu 
 sion. Finally, Eldredge heard some of his companions 
 approaching, and so with his mind still in a whirl, 
 anxious as well as somewhat guilty and sad, he threw 
 off his clothes, and his tired body slowly won back its 
 sway, so that the sweetest queller of sorrows came 
 
 233 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 upon him, driving away for a while the cares that 
 were not soon to end. 
 
 Hardly had the crew breakfasted, when a postman 
 came with a special delivery letter for Eldredge. Jack 
 tore it open anxiously, and went off to read its con 
 tents alone. Mrs. Eldredge had suffered a relapse ; 
 she had fainted, but her physicians said she was now 
 no longer in great danger; she might be well within 
 a week or two. At all events, the crisis had passed, 
 and Jack should stand by the crew till the race was 
 over. The letter ended cheerfully, with an admoni 
 tion to do his best. 
 
 Eldredge relied so thoroughly on the good sense of 
 his father, that it scarcely occurred to him to give up 
 his place. No, he would stick to his post for the few 
 hours which remained, and then he would go home. 
 Having read the letter once more, he tucked it into 
 his pocket, and rejoined the crew, who were receiv 
 ing instructions from the coach, the final touches. 
 
 Meanwhile, gaily decorated steamers from New 
 York, New Haven, and Boston were slowly working 
 their way to a vantage-point on the river. Many 
 steam yachts with streamers flying were manoeuvring 
 for a good position, and dozens of smaller craft were 
 tacking in and out amongst the steamers in search of 
 the safest anchorage. 
 
 Clouds, still rising out of the stormy southeast, 
 were moving in gray masses across the sky, and the 
 harbour was whitened in places by the breaking crests 
 of its greenish waves, while an ocean breeze meeting 
 the river s current roughened it so much as to keej 
 
 234 
 
LOYE AND GLOOM 
 
 the smaller boats ashore. If the weather did not 
 abate by noon, the race would have to be postponed. 
 
 By eleven o clock a long train of flat cars, crowded 
 with the partisans of Harvard, arrived opposite the 
 starting line. A few hundred feet behind came an 
 other train densely laden with people, indistinguish 
 able behind a mass of waving blue. In a closed car 
 of this train, near the front, were Tarbell and Mar 
 garet Glenn. 
 
 Shortly before noon the wind began to die down, 
 the Thames grew smoother, and the white caps on the 
 harbour disappeared. Sodden clouds hung motion 
 less, but the sunlight was stealing through them, 
 lightening their edges to a silvery gray. Presently 
 one of the crews was seen to launch its shell and 
 move slowly toward the line. A cheer went up from 
 thousands of people along the river-banks, whistles 
 blew, and flags went shooting up and down the hal 
 yards of many a yacht. A minute later Yale s crew 
 was seen nearing the line. The two shells, held by 
 their sterns, were allowed to swing down the current. 
 Sixteen oars swung back together, and remained for 
 an instant motionless over the stream. A second 
 later they struck the water, and the two boats were 
 moving evenly down the river. 
 
 "Which is our crew?" asked Margaret. 
 
 "The one this way," answered Tarbell. 
 
 " Can you see ? " she continued. " You may look 
 over my shoulder, if you will." Margaret moved a 
 little nearer the edge of her chair, and Tarbell placed 
 his own so that they both could get a good view. 
 Margaret removed her hat, and laid it upon her lap. 
 
 235 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 A ray of sunlight stole through the clouds, and shone 
 on her face and hair. 
 
 "They are rowing finely," she said. "How 
 straight their backs are! And isn t it beautiful the 
 way they all come forward together so smoothly ! 
 I wish we were near enough to see their faces. Have 
 you ever noticed those long-legged insects that go 
 skipping across little pools?" 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said Tarbell. "But I don t sup 
 pose they ever imagine themselves to resemble Varsity 
 crews." 
 
 "Perhaps not," answered Margaret; "but they 
 certainly know how to manage their oars." She 
 smiled a little at the nonsensical comparison, and 
 taking an opera glass, followed silently for a few 
 moments the progress of the two shells. 
 
 " Would you like to look through my glass ? " she 
 said, turning partly around toward Tarbell. "Per 
 haps you can tell me who is at each oar." 
 
 "Well," said Tarbell, scanning closely while she 
 awaited his answer, "Number Four is Jack." 
 
 " Is it ? " she responded; " and who are the others ? " 
 He named them one by one. The Harvard men were 
 quickening their stroke, and seemed to be drawing 
 slowly ahead of Yale. 
 
 "Why don t you row on the Varsity crew? " asked 
 Margaret. 
 
 "They tried me one day," he answered. 
 
 "Only one day?" 
 
 "Only one. The coach said I was too big and 
 clumsy." 
 
 "I don t think you are clumsy," she answered. 
 236 
 
LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 Tarbell was on the point of saying that it was a good 
 thing for the University she did n t manage the crew, 
 but remembered that she was a woman, and held his 
 tongue. Margaret continued to gaze out through the 
 window, as if intent upon the steady glide of the 
 crews. Suddenly she turned half around and spoke 
 in a low tone. 
 
 "Did you know," she asked, "that in another 
 week I was going away?" 
 
 "Joe told me you were," said Tarbell; "but he 
 didn t say when you were coming back." 
 "Would you like to know?" she asked. 
 "Yes," he answered. The two boats were moving 
 swiftly down the Thames, but Tarbell did not see 
 them. He was looking at his big hands awkwardly. 
 There had come upon him a sensation, once vaguely 
 felt, now subtle and pervasive as a thrill. He almost 
 feared to look up lest she might see. Margaret drew 
 a long silver pin from her hat, and laid the heavier 
 end of it upon her lips. 
 
 "I am glad we are going," she said. "No one 
 knows, and you cannot understand." There was a 
 momentary silence. Tarbell looked at her face a 
 single instant. She smiled, but rather sadly. He 
 stared at the racing crews, hardly realizing what they 
 were doing out there on the river, and all this while 
 Yale had been creeping up on the Harvard boat, and 
 three miles of the course were done. Other people 
 in the car were following the race eagerly, but they 
 did not speak. 
 
 It was at this moment that a messenger arrived at 
 the quarters of the Yale University crew, and asked 
 
 237 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 for Eldredge. A man in charge told the boy to sit 
 down and wait. The Varsity would be back in less 
 than an hour. "All right," observed the boy, who 
 was anxious to see the crew. "I 11 sit down here till 
 they come. But this telegram s marked Haste. " 
 
 "Well, just take it easy, young man," remarked 
 the keeper. "They ll be back in a while." 
 "How near the end are they? " asked Margaret. 
 "They have been rowing seventeen minutes," said 
 Tarbell. " I should think a mile. " 
 
 " Our crew is a length ahead, is it not? " 
 "And drawing away," he added. "The Harvard 
 people are getting tired. Do you see how they 
 splash ? Our boys are as steady as if they were being 
 towed. In three or four minutes we 11 have it won. 
 May I have another look through your glass, Miss 
 Glenn?" 
 
 He peered for a while through the two barrels, 
 adjusting them to the distance. Half or three-quarters 
 of a mile from the train, each boat, a colourless streak 
 upon the leaden Thames, was moving nearer and 
 nearer to the goal. The oars moved more swiftly 
 but less evenly now. Between the nose of one shell 
 and the rudder of the other was a rod or so of open 
 water. A sound of cheering rose above the rumble of 
 the trains, while off there across the now hazy river 
 the hardly distinguishable blue of countless flags 
 waved from the decks of crowded steamers and 
 yachts. Whistles were beginning to blow, and there 
 came from out on the Thames the faint sound of a 
 cheer. Tarbell handed the glass to Miss Glenn, who 
 looked earnestly toward the finishing line. 
 
 238 
 
LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 "How many minutes have gone?" she asked. 
 
 "Twenty-two," said Tarbell, "and they are over 
 the line." 
 
 " Oh, look ! " exclaimed Margaret. " Something has 
 happened. A man has fainted. It s Number Four! " 
 
 "It s Jack, "said Tarbell. 
 
 Unconsciously Margaret had laid her hand on Tar- 
 bell s arm. In the other she clutched her forgotten 
 glass and was straining her eyes to see all that had 
 happened. A moment later the observation train had 
 begun to move slowly toward New London. 
 
 A flush had overspread Margaret s face, which 
 heightened when she realized that for a single instant 
 she had lost her self-possession. She drew back with 
 a slightly averted glance. 
 
 "What is the matter?" said Tarbell, in a low, firm 
 voice. " You re not afraid of me, are you? " 
 
 "No, no," she answered, "it wasn t that. I was 
 wondering Joe has told me you do not under 
 stand." 
 
 "I think I do," he whispered. Their eyes met; 
 there was a recognition, a thousand unspoken words 
 passed between them in a moment. 
 
 "Now you see," continued Margaret, in a voice so 
 low that he alone could hear. " You see why I want 
 to go away. My brother has told me that Jack s 
 mother is very ill ; but that is not all. She will be 
 well again, I m sure." 
 
 "I hope she will," he answered. "It would be 
 very hard for Jack ; he feels such things he feels 
 everything more than most men do. Besides, Jack 
 has never known what it is to be wretched." 
 
 239 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 "He is beginning to know now," she answered. 
 
 There ensued a moment of silence. The train was 
 coming into New London. 
 
 " You said you were going away, " Tarbell ventured. 
 
 "Yes," she replied; "this afternoon. In a week 
 we sail. You see," Margaret went on, with an effort 
 to smile, "I m running away from my crimes. I ve 
 done very wrong, and there s a heavy burden on my 
 conscience my punishment has already begun. It s 
 dreadful to think of. I could not bear to have added 
 to anybody s misfortunes. You are his friend." 
 
 "I m almost his brother," said Tarbell. 
 
 "Then some day, when I am gone, you will tell 
 him Oh, no ! I could not ask you that ; it would 
 be too cowardly. Oh, how weak it is of me to shift 
 my faults on you! " 
 
 "No," he said, "it is not weak or cowardly. You 
 have done no wrong; only Jack was self-deceived." 
 
 "You don t blame me, then?" 
 
 "No one is to blame," he answered; "it s only a 
 misfortune. If Jack suffers, I shall stand by him." 
 
 " How fond you are of him! " 
 
 "I couldn t very well be anything else," said 
 Tarbell. 
 
 The train was slowing down as it entered the 
 station. The other persons in the car who had been 
 jubilantly discussing the race rose and moved toward 
 the door. Tarbell helped Margaret to put on her 
 jacket, and handed her the little blue banner, which 
 neither had thought to wave. He started to say 
 something, but the words clogged in his throat. 
 
 "This is the end," said Margaret. 
 240 
 
LOVE AND GLOOM 
 
 "Yes," he answered, "this is the end. Are you 
 coming again soon?" 
 
 "In a year." 
 
 " A year is a long while. How am I to know what 
 has become of you?" 
 
 "I shall tell you," she answered. They descended 
 from the train, and joining their party, made their 
 way slowly through the jostling crowd. It was still 
 early in the afternoon. The storm clouds had drifted 
 away upon the horizon, and a July sun was shining 
 cheerily into the thoroughfares of the old town. For 
 some moments neither Tarbell nor Margaret had 
 spoken. Both moved forward with the crowd, almost 
 as if in a dream. The new life had come, shining 
 into the mournful shadows, and the old fancies had 
 been of a sudden stricken out ; but the ghosts of them 
 were there, the ruthless memories of moments passed 
 in unthinking happiness and the loyalty of man to 
 man, greater but far less enthralling than any love of 
 woman. 
 
 An hour later a carriage, driven in haste, stopped 
 before the entrance to a house in Huntington Street. 
 
 "Wait a minute," said Eldredge to the driver. 
 "This seems to be the place." He ascended the 
 steps quickly and rang. A servant came to the door, 
 and looked startled at the white face of this man who 
 came to interrupt a feast. 
 
 "Give this card to Miss Glenn," he said, "and tell 
 Mr. Tarbell I wish to see him." He entered the 
 parlour, but remained standing. A moment later 
 Margaret appeared, and coming toward Jack, held 
 out both her hands. Tarbell stood beside her. Jack 
 16 241 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 tried to speak, but the words failed him and his eyes 
 filled with tears. 
 
 "You ve come," said Margaret, faltering. "I 
 hoped you would come." Tarbell stepped forward 
 and laid his hand on Jack s shoulder tenderly. 
 
 "Good-bye, Margaret," said Eldredge. "Good 
 bye, Tarb." 
 
 "Oh, Jack," cried Margaret, bursting into a flood 
 of tears, "she is dead, your dear mother is dead! " 
 
 For an instant he stood there speechless, holding 
 their outstretched hands, his face pale as death. He 
 turned away then, saying, ," Good-bye, Margaret; 
 good-bye, Tarb. I m going home." A moment later 
 he had gone. 
 
 242 
 
XXVIII 
 
 ON THE RAILWAY 
 
 OUTSIDE the house of Eldredge flowers were 
 blooming and nodding their perfumed heads 
 in the breezes as if nothing had ever happened. Tim 
 othy and his companions frisked over the lawns 
 thoughtlessly, too, as in the days of old. But within 
 there was stillness, for the figures that had passed 
 silently to and fro were gone, leaving three men 
 alone, one of whom at least had borne it all to the 
 end gently, as becomes a gentleman who has known 
 some of the worst and some of the best things the 
 world has to give. Jack, being less self-controlled 
 than his father, was more visibly affected. When 
 the first, most painful signs had disappeared, he gave 
 vent, like the boy he was, to an emotion stronger 
 than his will. And Tarbell stood by him, grim and 
 strong and comforting. More and more Jack trusted 
 in Tarbell, who became to him what few brothers are 
 in fact, though less in name. 
 
 And one day Tarbell disappeared. He left no word 
 of explanation except a note which he laid on Jack s 
 table, saying that he had been called away. A fort 
 night later there came from him a letter dated at 
 some out-of-the-way place in Arizona, whither he had 
 gone to look after a certain number of " city lots," 
 the value of which had fallen fifty per cent. 
 
 243 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Mr. Eldredge smiled when Jack read him the 
 letter. 
 
 " Tell Tarbell not to bother about his property," 
 he said. "I ll make it worth his while to come 
 back. His salary will be enough to make up for any 
 losses he may suffer out there." 
 
 I d rather not," said Jack. " Tarbell is n t that 
 sort. It took him ten years to save the money he s 
 buried there, and it s the principle of the thing." 
 
 "You re right, Jack," replied Mr. Eldredge. "I 
 remember now how he feels. But we must have 
 him if we can get him to come." 
 
 A week later Tarbell came back. He had sold his 
 land for a fair sum to "Eastern parties," he didn t 
 know whom. Mr. Eldredge did, but said nothing. 
 Tarbell and Jack spent two months that summer 
 helping to build a branch line. Partly for comfort s 
 sake and partly out of pure good-will, Eldredge had 
 taken board and lodgings in a farmhouse not far 
 from the tracks, while Tarbell slept amongst his 
 books and papers in a shanty nearer the line. Their 
 work was quite different, but they got together even 
 ings sometimes with the other men, oftenest alone j 
 and Sundays they spent at The Oaks with Mr. 
 Eldredge. He was fonder than ever of their com 
 pany now that Mrs. Eldredge was gone. So they 
 lived more and more as if the breach of years had 
 been bridged over, and the fact of memories dear to 
 all and common aims was binding them in an ever 
 closer friendship. What a pity it is that the liking 
 of man for man should ever be blighted or marred 
 even by love of woman ! 
 
 244 
 
ON THE RAILWAY 
 
 One evening Jack came to Tarbell, in an unusually 
 cheery and somewhat excited state. 
 
 " Tarb," he said, "I got a letter from Joe to-day." 
 
 "Did you? And what s he doing? What s he 
 got to say?" 
 
 " Oh, they re travelling," Jack answered, drawing 
 his chair near the lamp. "Margaret sends me her 
 regards. Here it is : Daisy wishes to be remem 
 bered. " Then he added kindly, "She d have sent 
 you a word too, partner; but I don t suppose she 
 knows where you are." Tarbell made no answer, 
 and Jack went on slowly, holding the letter before 
 him to the light : " Let me see, Tarb. To-night s 
 Thursday and to-morrow s Friday ; hence the follow 
 ing day will be Saturday. Now, if I answer this 
 evening, it ll catch that midnight train and be in 
 time for Saturday s steamer. By the tenth or 
 eleventh of September my epistle should reach Dres 
 den, and that will catch him, sure. Joe is going to 
 leave them there. Shall I put in your remembrances 
 or anything ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Tarbell, stopping a moment to look at 
 Jack, who was testing a pen on his nail. " You 
 might send them my regards. Good-night, Jack." 
 
 "Good-night, Tarb," responded Eldredge, with a 
 smile. " God bless you ! " 
 
 Tarbell went to his rough lodging-place, lit a lamp, 
 and sitting down before a pine table, hid his face 
 between his crossed arms. He remained so for some 
 minutes, motionless, then rose and went to a trunk 
 from which he took a bundle containing perhaps 
 a dozen letters, all written in the same hand and on 
 
 245 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 the same kind of paper. Some he merely glanced at ; 
 others he read from beginning to end. One enclosed 
 a spray of withered foreign flowers forget-me-nots 
 a little different from our own. He held them in the 
 palm of his hand for a while, then laid them within 
 their envelope carefully. One of the letters he read 
 several times, and having done so, walked to and fro 
 slowly, staring at the floor like a man whose soul is 
 away from the body. Presently he sat down and 
 fell to writing, halting every now and then to wipe 
 the beads of perspiration off his glasses. It was a 
 hot night in August. When Tarbell had ended his 
 letter, he put on his hat, took his heavy walking- 
 stick, and started down the stairs. His foot had 
 scarcely touched the first step when he heard some 
 one calling him at his window. It was Eldredge. 
 
 " Tarb," he called, "are you up?" 
 
 " Yes," said Tarbell. "Is there anything I can do 
 for you ? " 
 
 " I should say so," he answered. " I want a five 
 cent stamp, and every mother s son in the town that 
 ought to have one has gone to bed. Have you got 
 one?" 
 
 "Yes," said Tarbell, "I believe I have. Wait a 
 minute, I ve got something to mail, too I ll be 
 with you." Tarbell locked his door carefully, de 
 scended to the street where Jack was waiting, and 
 handed him the stamp. 
 
 "It s funny," said Eldredge, "I shouldn t have 
 had one on hand; but then I m an absent-minded 
 duffer. I m glad you didn t have to be routed out 
 of bed, but there is no reason why you should go way 
 
 246 
 
ON THE RAILWAY 
 
 down to the office. Give me your letter. I was bound 
 there anyhow." 
 
 " No," said Tarbell, " I "11 go along with you." 
 
 " That s a good idea," answered Eldredge. " Some 
 of those dagos we ve got working on the tracks might 
 tackle us, in which case we d need your stick." 
 
 They walked on without saying much until they 
 reached the letter-box. Then Jack spoke. 
 
 " Well, Tarb," said he, " I was n t aware that you 
 burned the midnight oil, writing letters; but it s a 
 good thing for a man now and then. Besides, it s 
 enabled me to get a five cent stamp without having 
 to wake you up. I think I 11 take a short cut across 
 the fields. That 11 give me plenty of room to run if 
 anybody gets after me. Good-night, again, Tarb. I 
 did n t forget to give Joe and Daisy your regards." 
 
 " Good-night, Jack," replied Tarbell ; and each of 
 them went his way. It would be hard to say which 
 of the two men had the better right to be happy. 
 
 247 
 
XXIX 
 
 WHEN STORMS ARISE 
 
 FIVE weeks after the occurrence just narrated, 
 Jack and Tarbell had returned to College. Their 
 summer s work had been more than ordinarily trying, 
 and, though each knew that he had hardened his 
 shoulder to the wheel, they were not sorry to take up 
 again the less exacting labours of college life. Not 
 being place-hunters, neither of them refused to do 
 whatever he could for the University s prowess, and 
 neither forewent the chance to have fame while it 
 lasted. Their hand-to-hand experience had given 
 them a point of view unknown to most undergradu 
 ates, an ability to recognize the points in common 
 between the world that thinks for thought s sake and 
 the world that thinks for money. Tarbell had learned 
 something of the matter years before ; but his educa 
 tion had begun, as the saying is, cart before the horse, 
 whereas Jack had got his lessons in the usual way. 
 It is largely a question of maturity. 
 
 At Oxford a man is a man from the beginning, 
 because an Englishman acquires through hard knocks 
 and inborn soberness of thinking what comes later to 
 his American kinsman. For an Oxonian the title is 
 not a claim. The Yalensian calls himself a man as 
 early as freshman year, but as he grows older he is 
 less and less likely to assert his maturity, and, once 
 
 248 
 
WHEN STORMS ARISE 
 
 out of college, will call himself a boy. Tarbell, who 
 was in his day the oldest living undergraduate, had 
 become a man years before he entered college. Jack, 
 on the other hand, was a boy until sometime in his 
 twentieth year. Yet it must be owned that neither 
 of these men could be cited as an average case, for 
 their earlier years had been passed in the opposite 
 extremes of stress and ease. 
 
 Since his mother s death, Eldredge had aged five 
 years ; five years measured by as many months. The 
 grasp of his hand was as warm and his smile as cheery 
 as in the boyhood days, but his expression had become 
 graver and at times there was a tinge of bitterness at 
 the corners of the lips. His grief at the first blow of 
 misfortune had been all the more violent because of 
 his effort to control it ; but now the inborn buoyancy 
 of his character, the redeeming strength of a healthy 
 body, were again exerting their sway. Jack was not 
 the man to put on sackcloth and ashes, though his 
 loyalty was not the less steadfast, nor could it be 
 shaken by the fulsome admiration of which he was 
 daily the victim. 
 
 Meanwhile Tarbell went his way, minding his 
 business so closely that he was hardly to be seen 
 except on the athletic field or at his studies. B alien- 
 tine had long since ceased to make a haunt of Tar- 
 bell s room, and the remainder of the easy-going 
 brotherhood had scattered in search of new diversions. 
 Being now in his thirty-first year, he refrained from 
 spinning tops as well as from the other traditional 
 follies of senior year which Budson practised with 
 the zeal of a Moslem. 
 
 249 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 Autumn fled, and on its trail hastened the short 
 winter days when men bake their brains over hot 
 window-seats and talk of heroes. Then suddenly the 
 dead leaves which had clung through six months of 
 frost and storms began to fall from the oak, little 
 green buds burgeoned on every branch, and it was 
 spring. 
 
 In May, Glenn received word from his family that 
 they would soon come home. Indeed they would have 
 returned long before had it not been for Margaret, 
 who had her way. She sent her brother a marvellous 
 picture of herself, a photograph taken by the Herr 
 Graf von Hohenhausen, in Baden-Baden, upon the 
 back of which he had put his name with a foolish in 
 scription. " He has proposed to me twice," she wrote, 
 " and was so unhappy the second time that I feared he 
 would take his life, or do something still more unrea 
 sonable. That is why I allowed him to make this 
 photograph, which was a wild performance, but it 
 would have been a great pity to think the Herr Lieu 
 tenant had drowned himself on my account." 
 
 However great a simpleton the Herr Graf may have 
 been in other respects, he had at least succeeded in 
 making an admirable picture of Margaret Glenn. 
 With what nicety he had contrived the harmonies of 
 light and shadows ! How judicious or how lucky 
 he had been in seizing the moment when Margaret s 
 face wore the expression which best symbolized her 
 character ! The suggestion of pride, deep-seated, the 
 irony, the apparent simplicity, the winsomeness, and, 
 beneath them all, the possibility of some sudden whim 
 awaiting only the moment to enforce itself wilfully 
 
 250 
 
WHEN STORMS ARISE 
 
 and to be gratified, each of these traits was there, 
 but so mingled with the others as to give the face a 
 most inscrutable charm. Deep set in a frame of 
 ebony, Margaret s likeness hung over her brother s 
 desk between medallions of other members of Glenn s 
 family. One of these, representing a girl of sixteen, 
 was a portrait of a great-great-grandmother. So 
 striking was the resemblance to Margaret that only 
 the old-fashioned tone of the ivory and something 
 antique about the lady s dress could have prevented 
 the conclusion that they were the same person. In 
 one of his few confidential moments Glenn had told 
 Jack something of the lady s history. 
 
 When Virginia rose in rebellion, she, too, had 
 rebelled ; not so much against the iniquitous taxes of 
 King George III. as against parental despotism, and 
 one dark night she had slipped out of the house and 
 ridden off with Captain Glenn, whose likeness faced 
 hers, scowling somewhat stiffly across Margaret s pic 
 ture. Jack, who was fond of romantic tales provided 
 they had actually happened, recounted the story to 
 TarbeU. 
 
 " Just think what courage she must have had," 
 observed Jack, " to give up her family and all that 
 sort of thing for a conviction." 
 
 " You mean for the captain, don t you ? " returned 
 Tarbell. " Do you imagine any girl of sixteen ever 
 had political convictions ? " 
 
 " What makes you think she was only sixteen ? " 
 asked Jack. 
 
 Using a penholder for a pointer, Tarbell indicated 
 certain features of the photograph and of the medal- 
 
 251 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 lion. " There is," said he, " about five years differ 
 ence in the forehead, three in the eyes and mouth, 
 and four and a quarter in the bust. That averages 
 about four, does n t it? " 
 
 "I don t quite grasp your arithmetic," laughed 
 Eldredge. 
 
 " Look here," said Tarbell, " it s like this : Some 
 parts of a face are always behind or ahead of the 
 others, aren t they? Now you just make a little 
 calculation, divide the result by x, and if you don t 
 reach my result there s no truth in Buncombe. In 
 other words, Margaret knows more than her great- 
 great-grandmother probably did when she eloped 
 with Captain Glenn ; but I m mighty glad she was 
 that rash." 
 
 " So am I," said Jack, with earnestness. 
 
 "Have you heard when Margaret is to arrive?" 
 asked Tarbell. 
 
 " Yes, I Ve got an idea, from what Joe said to-day, 
 that she would be here in four weeks." 
 
 " Do you know by what steamer ? " 
 
 " Joe mentioned the German Lloyd. I did n t ask 
 further; you know he never says much about his 
 family." 
 
 " No," responded Tarbell, who had begun to 
 sharpen a pencil, "I don t imagine he does/* He 
 raised his eyes carelessly toward Jack, blew the dust 
 from his fingers, and started to go. At that instant 
 there came upon him a desire to reveal the truth, but 
 something in Jack s face frightened him, and, deeper 
 still, he felt within himself the prompting of reason 
 and justice, bidding him never to give her up. Yet 
 
 252 
 
WHEN STORMS ARISE 
 
 it was a great pity, for some one must suffer, inevit 
 ably, and then what might not happen ? Jack was 
 his friend, his " brother," and no doubt, if occasion 
 required, would be ready to make for him almost any 
 sacrifice almost any and would it not be wiser 
 after all to stifle his own longings and give up the 
 possibility of great happiness ? But could he do so in 
 a way compatible with loyalty and honour ? 
 
 In the midst of Tarbell s meditation Jack had come 
 beside him and rested his arm on Tarbell s shoulder. 
 For a minute the two men stood looking at Margaret s 
 photograph in silence. She was smiling rather 
 vaguely, and in the expression of the face there was 
 a glimmer of artificiality which was not without its 
 charm. If people were only as constant as their 
 portraits, how strangely monotonous a place the 
 world would be ! In Margaret s smile was some 
 thing mysterious, with just that element of witchery 
 which keeps Mona Lisa from being a very ordinary 
 woman. 
 
 Tarbell and Jack continued to look at Margaret s 
 likeness for a few moments, intensely and in silence, 
 as if probing the secret of its charm. She was smil 
 ing upon them with an air of amiable indifference, 
 just as she had smiled upon the Herr Graf von 
 Hohenhausen in Baden-baden. As they started to 
 go, Jack turned toward Tarbell and said, " Tarb, 
 I ve been thinking what I might have done if I had 
 been the Count." 
 
 " What would you have done ? " asked Tarbell. 
 
 " I think," said Jack, " that I would have carried 
 out my threat in the most comfortable way possible." 
 
 253 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 A week after the occurrence just related, Glenn 
 was startled in his sleep by some one shaking violently 
 the door between the hall outside and the study. It 
 was at the dead of night, and Jack, weary with the 
 day s labour, was sleeping like a dead man in the 
 opposite chamber. Glenn rose drowsily, struck a 
 light, and opening the door, was confronted by a boy 
 in uniform. 
 
 " Does Mr. Eldredge live here ? " asked the boy, 
 sleepily holding out a yellow envelope. 
 
 " Wait a moment," replied Glenn, and passing into 
 his chum s room, woke him with difficulty. 
 
 " Jack," he said, " Jack, there s a message for 
 you." 
 
 Eldredge rubbed his eyes and looked about him in 
 a dazed way. " A message," he repeated ; " for me ? 
 What is it?" 
 
 "I don t know," said Glenn. "You ll have to 
 get up and sign. Perhaps you will want to send an 
 answer." 
 
 "I hate these telegrams," muttered Jack, as he 
 went to the door. " Now I wonder what s in this 
 one." 
 
 He tore open the envelope, and held the yellow 
 paper to the light. His face grew suddenly pale, he 
 walked unsteadily toward the centre-table, where he 
 stood still clinging- to the yellow paper. It was so 
 pitiful a sight that even the little messenger stared 
 at the man s tall still figure anxiously. 
 
 " Jack ! " cried Glenn, " Jack, for God s sake, what 
 has happened? " 
 
 Eldredge made no answer, but moved slowly to a 
 254 
 
WHEN STORMS ARISE 
 
 chair, in which he sank with his head resting limply 
 upon his arms. Glenn came beside him and said 
 softly, " Jack, can t you tell me what is the matter ? " 
 
 Eldredge raised his head and looked at Glenn 
 dully. 
 
 " It s from Smythe," he muttered. " He says my 
 father was struck to-night while crossing the tracks 
 and can t live many hours." Jack s voice failed him, 
 and he fell to sobbing convulsively. Glenn stood 
 silent until Jack burst out passionately: "What 
 have I done that all this trouble should come to me ? 
 There is no one left not one." 
 
 In the early morning a train moved out, bearing 
 Jack to a silent house and to the millions which at 
 that moment he would gladly have given for any 
 condition unlike his own. Tarbell and Glenn stood 
 by the track in silence, and watched him standing 
 motionless upon the rear platform of the train until 
 the last car rounded a curve and disappeared. 
 
 255 
 
XXX 
 
 THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 TARBELL had followed Jack a few days after 
 the latter s departure, had done what he could 
 to make the burden easier, and now they were again 
 at College. In two weeks their university life would 
 be over. Four years ! They had passed swiftly, as 
 all that is good must pass, and, for Jack, how bitter 
 had been the end ! He had aged visibly, and seemed 
 preoccupied and unable to adjust himself to new 
 conditions or to find comfort in any thought but one. 
 And in that, too, he felt a restlessness, due, not so 
 much to any definable suspicion as to a belief that 
 some mishap must befall wherever his interests were 
 concerned. Half persuaded though he was that it 
 would be wise to unburden himself to Tarbell, a 
 sense of chivalric obligation toward Margaret kept 
 him from making the confidence. Never had he 
 been so possessed by one ambition, and all the glories 
 that had once meant so much were relegated to a 
 boyish past. Grief, too, was losing some of its sting. 
 To his mind Margaret was the best of living crea 
 tures, pure-souled, high-minded, incapable of injus 
 tice ; beautiful, too, but, boyishly, he did not stop 
 to consider whether that was at the bottom of his 
 adoration. 
 
 256 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 In the last days of their college life Eldredge and 
 Tarbell were so busy in the fulfilment of the various 
 duties which had been intrusted to them by their 
 classmates that neither of them was able to meet the 
 steamer which brought the Glenns. They called, 
 however, on the day following, the Glenns having 
 come immediately to New Haven. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Glenn were out, but Margaret announced that she 
 would see them in a few minutes. Jack had picked 
 up a book and was turning the leaves and listening. 
 As Margaret entered, he rose almost with a start. 
 " Jack," she said, " how glad I am to see you ! " 
 For a second she held his hand as if to express by a 
 sympathetic clasp a thought she was powerless to 
 utter ; then turning, while her lips said, "It is 
 good to see you again, Mr. Tarbell," her eyes ques 
 tioned, "Does Jack know?" but Tarbell s did 
 not answer, and his face wore only its ordinary 
 look of self-possession. " You have n t changed," 
 she added ; and Tarbell said gravely, " No, it s not 
 my way to change not in so short a time as a 
 year." 
 
 " Where is Joe ? " asked Eldredge, and there was 
 something in . his manner of putting the question 
 which showed that he had not said what was upper 
 most in his mind. 
 
 " I think," answered Margaret, " that he is making 
 arrangements for the dance this evening." 
 
 " Of course," exclaimed Jack, a little embarrassed. 
 " I wonder how I could forget he was on the com 
 mittee. Do you intend to go, Daisy ? " 
 
 "Yes," she answered; "Joe has made plans for 
 n 257 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 me, and I can hardly refuse though it will be so 
 unlike old times with both of you away." 
 
 " Why, I thought you were going, Tarb," cried 
 Jack. 
 
 " No," said Tarbell, " I ve made up my mind not 
 to go." He spoke with an abruptness which deterred 
 Jack from further inquiry, yet it occurred to him 
 that Tarbell s reason must be the same as his own. 
 Margaret looked at Jack for an instant searchingly, 
 but there was nothing in his expression to show 
 that he had noticed her inadvertence. 
 
 " On the whole," continued Tarbell, " I am inclined 
 to think that it will be a benefit to everybody for you 
 and me, Jack, to stay at home. Alumni Hall was 
 so jammed last year that it was impossible even to 
 faU down." 
 
 " But was n t that a senior dance ? " asked Margaret. 
 
 " Yes," answered Tarbell, " I just looked through 
 the doors. Of course they would n t have let me in." 
 His eyes twinkled as he added : " I don t see why 
 they re making all this talk about a football game 
 between some female college and Yale. It s easy 
 enough to see which side would win if you look at 
 our Senior Promenade." 
 
 Margaret and Jack laughed at Tarbell s sally, and 
 the conversation turned into a safer channel. Mar 
 garet chatted of her experiences in Europe, avoiding 
 any mention of Graf von Hohenhausen or others 
 who had paid her court, and as the talk ran on 
 lightly from one thing to another, she seemed herself 
 again, a shade older, to be sure, and a little graver 
 and less given to the delicate ironies which had once 
 
 258 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 kept, for Jack at least, the deeper part of her character 
 in darkness. The joy of Margaret s presence made 
 Tarbell oblivious of his forebodings, and he was only 
 recalled when he caught the note of anxiety in Jack s 
 inquiry as to how long Margaret would remain. 
 
 " That will depend on my brother," she answered. 
 "My father and mother will stay here until he is 
 quite ready to leave, and then we shall all go to 
 gether." 
 
 " Joe told me this morning," said Jack, " that he 
 was expecting to get away the day after graduation ; 
 so you will be here till then ? " 
 
 " Yes," she replied, " I think we shall." Her face 
 had grown suddenly serious, but there was no other 
 evidence of her returning apprehension. Tarbell 
 was on the point of speaking when Jack rose. 
 " Tarb," he said, " had n t we better be going? It is 
 past five." 
 
 " You must go now ? " asked Margaret. 
 
 " We have a committee meeting in ten minutes," 
 said Tarbell. 
 
 " I am very glad to have seen you," said Margaret. 
 "A year can be a long time for old friends, you 
 know." 
 
 " When shall I see you again ? " asked Jack. 
 
 " To-morrow at the concert." 
 
 " No," he answered, " I can t very well go there." 
 
 A natural impulse led Margaret to try to atone for 
 her thoughtlessness. " I shall be free on Thursday 
 morning," she said, " and glad to see you." 
 
 Tarbell took Eldredge by the arm. " Come, Jack," 
 said he ; " we must not keep them waiting." 
 
 259 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 The two men had scarcely gone when Margaret 
 wrote a hurried note, and despatched it by a messen 
 ger, saying there would be no answer. 
 
 A few hours later, dressed for the ball, she was sit 
 ting alone in a private drawing-room of the hotel. 
 More than once she glanced at a clock which was 
 ticking loudly at the other end of the room. Pres 
 ently, hearing a step, she rose, and stood face to face 
 with Tarbell. He came toward her without a word. 
 
 44 Oh, Tom," she exclaimed, " I feared you might 
 not come ! And Jack he does not know ? " 
 
 " Not that I am here," answered Tarbell, calmly ; 
 "but I have deceived him for the last time." He 
 spoke deliberately, with no tone of rebuke ; but Mar 
 garet, for the instant taking his words amiss, flushed, 
 and her eyes sparkled disdainfully. 
 
 "I hope," said she, "that you don t mean to re 
 proach me, Tom." 
 
 " No," he answered, " no thought could have been 
 less in my mind. If anybody has sinned against 
 Jack, I am the one. He has trusted me and made 
 me his closest friend, and it seems to me as if he were 
 receiving a poor reward. In return for his friendship 
 I have come between him and possible happiness." 
 
 "What do you mean?" asked Margaret, her eyes 
 flashing. " Does Jack think he has a claim upon 
 me?" 
 
 " No," said Tarbell, " I would not call it a claim. 
 He loves you, Margaret, but that is hardly a claim." 
 
 " And you have come to speak for him ? " 
 
 " No," he answered ; " I came both because you 
 asked me and because I hoped we could plan some 
 
 260 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 way to spare him a humiliation such as no man should 
 be made to suffer. He has borne enough ; I cannot 
 see him suffer any more." 
 
 " Do you think that Jack needs a champion to de 
 fend him against me, or that I would willingly hurt 
 him? I am fond of Jack, but not in a way that 
 would make me think of marrying him if he were 
 the only man left." 
 
 While Margaret was speaking, Tarbell, in obedi 
 ence to her gesture, had dropped into a chair facing 
 hers. He made no reply to her question, but, resting 
 his elbows on his knees, fell to touching his finger 
 tips lightly one against another, in an absent sort of 
 way. A lamp s deep glow lit his face, and there 
 Margaret saw an expression melancholy and wistful, 
 as if some memory had struggled to the surface to 
 make itself incomprehensibly visible, as dreams some 
 times are on the faces of sleepers who cannot tell 
 them when they wake. Margaret, with her chin in 
 her hand, sat watching him, fascinated by his power. 
 Presently, in an altered tone, as if the transparent 
 truthfulness of TarbelTs nature had compelled her to 
 search her own conscience, she said : " I am afraid, 
 Tom, I might have saved Jack from making any 
 mistake if I had acted wisely at the beginning. 
 He seemed to me only a charming boy, and it was 
 cruel of me to let him go so far, after I began to see 
 that he was misconstruing my liking into something 
 warmer than friendship. Of course, he never told 
 you about the gypsy s prediction and the four-leaved 
 clover I gave him as a talisman. I regretted that 
 silliness as soon as I saw how seriously he took it. 
 
 261 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 When I saw how fond of me he was growing, it 
 seemed impossible to change my manner without 
 wounding him. I hoped, too, that he would get over 
 his fancy when I was so long away. Poor Jack ! I 
 seem to have been the worst of his misfortunes." 
 
 For an instant she buried her face in her arms. 
 Hearing Tarbell rise, she looked up. "Margaret," 
 he said, "I have about decided." 
 
 " What are you going to do ? " she asked. 
 
 " I am going to tell him ; it s the only fair thing 
 to do." 
 
 " When ? " demanded Margaret. 
 
 "Now, if I can find him alone. Joe must have 
 gone out before this. It is twenty minutes to nine." 
 
 " He is not coming for me till nine," she answered. 
 Something in Tarbell s face almost frightened her. 
 She rose, too, and stood quite still before him, with 
 one hand clutching an edge of the table. " Tom," 
 she said, " what are you going to tell Jack ? " 
 
 " I don t know, Margaret," he responded with an 
 effort; " I must think a little more, alone." 
 
 " Then," cried Margaret, vehemently, " I can tell 
 you. Say that it is useless. No regret for any wrong 
 that I have done can make me love him ever. He 
 does not love me. It is blind infatuation for him 
 even to hope. And you," she went on with passion, 
 " will he dare to do you an injustice ? " 
 
 " An injustice ? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered ; " if he lacks courage, he will 
 be ready to lay the blame on you. I do not know it, 
 but I fear he will. Do you expect him to give up 
 his delusion generously? If he is blind enough to 
 
 262 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 cling to it in spite of all that I have done to undeceive 
 him, why should he not be blind enough to ask some 
 sacrifice of you ? " 
 
 Tarbell did not reply, but dropped into a chair, 
 bewildered. For an instant he felt a temptation to 
 sacrifice anything except his own happiness; but, 
 after all, happiness gained in such a way would be 
 only the egotist s name for misery. Margaret had 
 used the word " infatuation," and he longed to agree ; 
 yet might she not be giving some other kind of love 
 than his own a name to ease her conscience ? Some 
 instinct bade him follow her, right or wrong; but 
 stronger still were the promptings of a justice that 
 might wound but could not stain. 
 
 In the midst of his distressful revery he heard 
 Margaret speak his name, and looking up, he saw in 
 her face no longer the expression of injured pride, but 
 something wonderfully mournful and tender, as if she 
 had at last read to the bottom of his heart. It was a 
 look of great compassion, disdaining pity, ennobling 
 both to her and to him. She seated herself near and 
 rested her fingers on his arm. " My dear Tom," she 
 said, "how much I have made you bear! and yet 
 you know the reason ; there is only one, I love you. 
 Do what you think is right, and that will be right to 
 me. Go, Tom," she went on, her voice trembling* 
 and scarcely audible, " it is almost nine ; Joe will 
 soon be here, and I must pull myself together before 
 I meet him." 
 
 Tarbell and Margaret rose and walked silently to 
 the door. The clock was ticking loudly, as the large 
 pointer jogged persistently toward the hour. There 
 
 263 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 rose to their ears a murmur of confused voices and 
 ripples of laughter, but there was no profaning eye 
 to witness the parting, no ear to catch the quiet 
 " Good-night." 
 
 On leaving Margaret, Tarbell, to avoid the crowd 
 in the hall-way of the hotel, went out by a side 
 door to the street. It was a warm night, dimly illu 
 minated by the lights of the city and a multitude of 
 stars. Still uncertain as to what would be the wisest 
 course to pursue, and wishing to put himself into a 
 calmer frame of mind, Tarbell did not immediately 
 return to his college rooms, but entered a street in an 
 old-fashioned part of the town, where he found him 
 self almost alone. Having stopped a second to light 
 his pipe, he walked, without heeding the direction, 
 until it burned out. Again he filled it, and turning 
 into another street, began to quicken his steps. Pres 
 ently he halted beneath a lamp and looked at his 
 watch. It was twenty minutes past nine. By going 
 slowly he would reach the Quadrangle at ten. Then 
 he felt sure not only of finding Jack in his room, but 
 that the others would have gone to the ball. During 
 the few moments which remained before his interview 
 with Eldredge, Tarbell knew that he must find in 
 himself alone the guiding counsel. One word ill- 
 chosen, or the right word spoken at the wrong instant 
 would suffice to bring on the catastrophe which he 
 was determined to avert. Yet what could he know ? 
 All his comradeship with Eldredge could furnish but 
 the slimmest clews to the solution of this puzzle. 
 That his happiness was a link in the chain which he 
 
 264 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 and Margaret and Jack had welded was to Tarbell 
 perfectly clear; and to that happiness had he no 
 right ? Was it unfair for him to make what Nature 
 had given him his own ? 
 
 As he climbed the stairs which led to Eldredge s 
 room, Tarbell experienced a revolt against his own 
 persistent endeavour to reach by logic a conclusion 
 fatal to the nobler impulses that kept welling up 
 within him. Hesitating then no longer, he went to 
 his friend s door and knocked. 
 
 " Come in," said Jack. " Oh, Tarb, it s you ! I 
 was wondering where you had gone." He got no 
 further, for, spying suddenly the gloom of Tarbell s 
 face, he stood with half-parted lips, suspicious of some 
 ill. Like a sensitive needle quivering before the 
 storm, Jack s emotions became visible in a second. 
 His face darkened, and he stood motionless, waiting 
 for Tarbell to speak. Softly closing the door, Tarbell 
 went straight to Eldredge and laid both hands upon 
 his shoulders. For an instant they remained stock 
 still, staring into each other s souls, conscious that the 
 cardinal moment of their lives had come. 
 
 " Jack," said Tarbell, " I have been to see Margaret 
 and that is why I am here." 
 
 "Did she send you?" 
 
 " No, I came of my own free will." 
 
 " Oh ! I understand," said Eldredge, turning ashen 
 gray. " You love her. * 
 
 " Yes," replied Tarbell, with terrible agitation, " I 
 love her." He dropped his hands from Eldredge s 
 shoulders. Sure as Jack had been of some evil tidings, 
 Tarbell s utterance sent the blood into his face. His 
 
 265 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 lips became suddenly parched, his throat contracted 
 and dry. For a moment there came to him the im 
 pulse to say something utterly ignoble, but, half 
 maddened though he was, the deeper fineness of his 
 nature restrained him and he gave his thought no 
 tongue. 
 
 " Jack," said Tarbell, " there was no help for what 
 has happened to you and me. My dear fellow, it 
 seems as if some fatality has been pursuing us. My 
 life is bound up in yours has been so almost since 
 the day we struck our partnership nearly four years 
 ago. That I should have added one drop to your 
 bitterness is something I hate to think, but it s true 
 true as we re standing here. Now what are we 
 going to do ? " 
 
 " Only justice," said Eldredge. " I do not ask you 
 to make a sacrifice for me." He spoke feverishly, 
 and there was something rasping in his tone which 
 cut Tarbell like a rough-edged knife. But in the 
 great charity of his heart he bore the cruelly sugges 
 tive words as a man who is dealing with a boy. 
 " Do you mean to imply," burst out Eldredge, " that 
 Margaret has never cared for me, or am I to believe 
 that she has changed in a single year, as if it made 
 no difference whether she trod upon my life ? Damn 
 it ! Have I no right to happiness ? " 
 
 " Jack, Jack ! I beg you not to speak rashly. 
 Think, man, think what you re saying before you 
 condemn. If it were impossible to err, you would 
 have no need of pardoning either her or me, but it s 
 only justice for you to look facts squarely in the face. 
 Margaret does not love you." 
 
 266 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 " You know it," said Eldredge ; " I ask you how ? " 
 44 Because she told me so hardly an hour ago." 
 To this Eldredge made no reply, but threw himself 
 into a chair and stared at Tarbell with a look of des 
 peration. And in that look was an expression of 
 such utter loneliness that Tarbell s heart was torn 
 with responsive anguish. He thought of their early 
 days together, of Jack s ready affection and cheery 
 helpfulness when times went ill. They had been 
 brothers, not by the chance of blood, but in a surer, 
 better way. And as he entered deeper into their com 
 mon past, there came to his mind their journeys to 
 The Oaks, and gentle Mrs. Eldredge, who had made 
 him her son. In the days when disaster pressed 
 upon him, threatening to thwart the ambitions which 
 he had striven so long to attain, the Eldredges had 
 come to his aid simply, with no possible thought of 
 gain. Through Mr. and Mrs. Eldredge, who had liked 
 him at first as Jack s friend but later had come to 
 esteem him for his own sake, he had succeeded. 
 They were dead, and the debt was still unpaid. 
 Like ghosts rising to warn him, the memories came 
 thronging, visions born in his brain to be his hon 
 our s guardians. If the debt was to be annulled, 
 whom could he repay but their heir, his friend Jack 
 Eldredge ? And how would gratitude deferred be 
 different from ingratitude ? But if he followed such 
 logic to the bitter end, by what means could he avoid 
 an act of intolerable cowardice ? To Margaret he 
 had given a pledge which involved not only her 
 happiness but his honour. Whichever way he turned, 
 there rose in his path an insurmountable barrier. In 
 
 267 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 speechless bewilderment he began to pace the room, 
 and Eldredge, forgetful of any agony but his own, 
 followed him with restless eyes, expectant, almost 
 hoping that in another instant Tarbell would utter 
 words of self -damnation. Indeed, he trusted in 
 Tarbell s very loftiness of soul to give him what he 
 believed was his by right. Strangest of all, Eldredge 
 clung stubbornly to the delusion that Margaret loved 
 him even though another had won her. 
 
 Meanwhile Tarbell continued walking to and fro, 
 absorbed in the desire to find some solution which 
 would enable him to save his honour without wreck 
 ing his happiness. In vain he struggled to persuade 
 himself that Margaret might not know her own heart. 
 His knowledge of her, gained at critical moments, 
 and a feeling impossible to define forced him to a 
 contrary opinion. And the consciousness of her love 
 uplifted him now, giving him strength for stoic 
 resolve, even such strength as he needed to hazard 
 his own happiness for the sake of his friend. Beneath 
 the fascination which Eldredge felt, Tarbell had dis 
 cerned the deep loveliness of Margaret s nature, and 
 her yielding to the temptation to make use of her 
 power had seemed to him so natural as to require 
 no pardon. 
 
 In the stress and turmoil of his heart there flashed 
 into his mind a saving thought. He turned for an 
 instant toward Eldredge. " Jack," he said, " there 
 is just one way to settle this. As soon as our work 
 here is done, I am going back to Arizona." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Eldredge. " No, Tarb, I 11 
 never consent to that never. I cannot let you 
 
 268 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 ruin your life for me." He rose with flushed cheeks 
 and tears in his eyes, but his face was no longer tense 
 with disappointment and galling fear. If Tarbell 
 had been less moved, he might have caught the ray 
 of pleasure with which Jack received his renuncia 
 tion. Yet he did not fail to perceive in Eldredge s 
 words a false ring which caused him a certain glad 
 ness, for in that sign he recognized the fulness of his 
 friend s delusion. 
 
 " Jack," he said, " I m not ruining my life, but 
 simply giving you the chance to better yours. Never 
 mind me. Each of us has the right to do for himself 
 the best he can. I 11 go my way. Never think 
 hard of me. You and I have been partners from the 
 start, and, by Heaven, the firm sha n t go into bank 
 ruptcy now ! " He clapped Eldredge on the shoulder 
 and looked him squarely in the face. " My dear 
 boy," he said, "if there s one thing I earnestly 
 desire, it s your welfare ! and I am going to take the 
 only way I can think of to prove it." 
 
 "But, Tarb," said Eldredge, "I need you here. 
 You know my father s wish. He told me again and 
 again that you could work your way to a high place 
 in the Company. What is there for you in Arizona ? 
 You can t make your fortune on a desert." 
 
 " Jack," answered Tarbell, " don t ask me to turn 
 my back on good resolutions. If you believe in the 
 bottom of your soul that I have n t acted like I ought 
 to, I want you to tell me. One of us is wrong, but 
 we re going to be older, and one of these days we 11 
 find out whether it was you or I." 
 
 " Tarb," cried Jack, impulsively, " I beg you not 
 269 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 to think that way. You and I have always dealt 
 squarely with each other, and I feel terribly sorry that 
 you are going away. Neither of us is to blame, and I 
 have nothing to forgive you." 
 
 At this outburst Tarbell was cut to the quick, but, 
 beyond a quivering of the lips, his face gave no more 
 evidence of his pain than if it had been a mask. 
 The note of self-pity jarred him, but he felt a com 
 pensating joy in the thought that Margaret had read 
 Jack truly. He saw, too, with sudden clearness of 
 vision, that the misfortunes which Jack had suffered 
 had not been such as to purge away the dross of ego 
 tism. The generosity which involves self-sacrifice he 
 had still to learn. Knowing Jack s limitations, Tar- 
 bell had hardly looked for magnanimity, and his wide 
 experience of men strengthened his belief in the sav 
 ing power of time. Hence he faced the situation with 
 dignity, charity, and courage. Tarbell had looked 
 deep enough into life to know how shallow is the 
 wisdom which judges a man either by the best or the 
 worst that he can do. In his eyes Eldredge was still 
 the friend who had helped him, his comrade and 
 " brother." 
 
 " Well, Jack," he said, as he turned to go, " you 
 and I have been a good while in the dark, but, thank 
 God, we re once more out in the light. Let s stay 
 there till the end of our lives." He paused for an 
 instant, and his lips trembled. " Good-night, part 
 ner," he said. " I 11 see you to-morrow." 
 
 Without another word Tarbell left the room. 
 Crossing the hall, he shut and locked his door 
 against intruders. He struck no light, but went 
 
 270 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 straight to the open window, and looked out across 
 the Quadrangle to a building which glowed in the 
 blue darkness. Through the still air there came 
 soothingly to his ears faint music. 
 
 For a long while he stood there in a sort of leth 
 argy, his almost only sensation being one of profound 
 relief. So pleasant was this feeling that he made no 
 effort to recall the phases of the recent ordeal, but 
 allowed his mind to wander vaguely over incoherent 
 happenings of his college life. Presently the clock 
 chimed, and he noticed for the first time that it was 
 out of tune. Then he began to count the strokes, 
 and, not being sure whether it was eleven or midnight, 
 lighted the gas, and looked at his watch. About two 
 hours had passed since he had set forth on his errand. 
 They seemed an indefinite time. It was true that 
 within those two hours he had lived a considerable 
 portion of his life,^and that each minute had been 
 exceedingly unhappy. Yet somehow he felt a tran 
 quillity of soul such as he had not known in months, 
 and he looked forward to whatever might come with 
 abundant courage. And courage he needed, for the 
 burden still rested on his shoulders, but he did not 
 flinch at the hazard of his fortunes. 
 
 At the conclusion of his second summer of railroad 
 ing Tarbell had paid off the last penny of his debt, 
 and there even remained a small sum to his credit. 
 In addition, he had most of the money which Mr. 
 Eldredge had given for his real estate, and upon this 
 capital he relied to tide him over to better times. 
 His single troublesome thought was how he should 
 justify his exile to Margaret. Having pondered for a 
 
 271 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 long time, he determined that absolute consistency 
 with his resolution, and faith to Eldredge left him 
 but one way. With this determination, he sat down 
 at his desk and wrote to Margaret, endeavouring to 
 word his letter in such a way as to avoid any biassing 
 emotion. 
 
 DEAR MARGARET, I have talked with Jack, but I 
 fear there is only one way to persuade him. For his 
 sake as well as mine, do all you can to open his eyes 
 and set him right. I am sorry this task must fall to you 
 and that I can do nothing more to help. I have decided 
 to leave to-morrow for Arizona. You must forgive my 
 not coming to tell you all that happened. I would give 
 the world to see you before I leave, but I have deter 
 mined that Jack shall not have further reason for believ 
 ing me disloyal. Be kind to him, and help him to get 
 some more of the good sense which a man needs to live 
 fairly with his friends. I cannot tell you now where I 
 am going to be, but my old address will do. Good-bye, 
 sweetheart. I sha n t give you a chance to forget me. 
 Be good to Jack. He has suffered a great deal, and we 
 must overlook his faults for the sake of old memories. 
 
 Your ever faithful TOM. 
 
 Having posted this letter, Tarbell returned to his 
 rooms and fell to the task of packing. It was a 
 gloomy undertaking. Amongst these relics he had 
 dwelt for four years, living joyfully his belated boy 
 hood. How many bygone scenes flashed back to his 
 mind as he laid away the treasures of his college life ! 
 Moleskin trousers patched and stained, torn sweaters, 
 and other shabby gear, society emblems, a pewter 
 toby scratched with the names of good companions, 
 
 272 
 
THE POINT OF HONOUR 
 
 old text-books, and a hundred other things. To him 
 the meanest of them seemed to have a soul. They, 
 too, were his friends, and he would have been as loath 
 to cast them aside as a man would be to discard some 
 crony who had grown seedy from hard trials or old 
 age. 
 
 When Tarbell had finished his labours, he lit his 
 pipe, and sat for a while on the window-seat, think 
 ing. Across the Campus he could see the gleam of 
 many burners and catch the strains of music dulled 
 by rumbling carriages. He recalled his apprentice 
 ship in the world of fashion, and there passed over his 
 face the glimmer of a smile. Once more the clock 
 chimed, and this time he made no mistake in count 
 ing, for it struck but two. 
 
 is 273 
 
XXXI 
 
 REPARATION 
 
 ON the following day Tarbell was present at 
 the last function of his college life. Hardly 
 had he received his degree when he bade good-bye 
 to his classmates and disappeared. Margaret had 
 not seen him, nor had he caught a glimpse of her, 
 but he knew that she must have been somewhere 
 amongst the throng, and he wondered whether she 
 could already know. Margaret had gone to the 
 Senior Promenade, not merely to gratify her brother, 
 but also because she feared to stir his suspicions, for 
 he would not have failed to press her for an explana 
 tion had he imagined that anything was wrong. 
 Once, when his turn came to dance with her he 
 asked why she kept so quiet. 
 
 " Do I seem unusually quiet, Joe ? " returned 
 Margaret, with a certain air of wonder, and by an 
 adroit digression she guided him into another chan 
 nel. Despite her outward composure, Margaret was 
 heart-sick and eager to be rid of it all to be alone, 
 free to think her thoughts to the end. As it was, 
 she needed all the power of her will to find answers 
 even to the conversation of a ballroom. 
 
 On returning to the hotel, Margaret could hardly 
 resist the temptation to inquire for letters, being 
 anxious to learn how Tarbell had carried out his 
 
 274 
 
REPARATION 
 
 resolution, but was restrained by the presence of her 
 brother. So she bade him good-night and went to 
 her room in a most unhappy mood. It was not until 
 nine o clock the next morning that she received 
 Tarbell s letter. Her first feeling was one of indig 
 nation and anger. Had Eldredge appeared at that 
 instant, his shrift would have been short indeed, but 
 Margaret read the letter again and again, until finally 
 the stalwart nobility of Tarbell s renunciation lifted 
 her to a broader consideration. Nor was Margaret 
 so sure of her conscience that she could give way 
 to the passionate resentment aroused in her by the 
 thought that Jack had driven Tarbell into the desert 
 in order that he might coddle his pet delusion. 
 
 When Eldredge called at the hotel, on the after 
 noon of Commencement Day, he found that the 
 Glenns had gone, leaving Joe to dispose of his nu 
 merous belongings and follow at leisure. After a 
 few futile attempts to write a satisfactory letter, he 
 made up his mind to await an opportunity for an 
 interview, thinking that as the Glenns were to open 
 their summer home, it would not be long in coming. 
 But those first weeks of Tarbell s exile were so 
 bitter to Margaret, and the effort to conceal his own 
 struggle was so manifest in Tarbell s letters, that 
 Margaret peremptorily negatived her brother s sug 
 gestion of inviting Jack for a visit. To be kind to 
 him would have been an impossibility in her present 
 mood. But more and more, as Margaret grew to 
 realize the largeness of Tarbell s nature, she strove 
 to soften her displeasure, knowing that she must be 
 prepared not only to disabuse Jack s mind concerning 
 
 275 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 herself, but to show him how unworthily he had acted 
 toward Tarbell. How to achieve this generously be 
 came her ruling idea. At a house party given in the 
 late autumn by Mr. and Mrs. Billy James the op 
 portunity came, and found Margaret fully prepared. 
 
 On their first meeting Jack saw, although he did 
 not comprehend, the change which a few months had 
 made. Her beauty dazzled him still, nor was there 
 any decrease in her charm, but she seemed years 
 older, infinitely more serious, and held him almost 
 in awe. Nevertheless, possessed by his old idea, he 
 sought an interview, which sufficed to open his eyes 
 and bring his stock of self-esteem to the verge of 
 bankruptcy. Then a letter from Tarbell to Joseph 
 Glenn, inquiring in the old hearty way what Jack 
 had been doing since graduation, completed Jack s 
 conviction of his own injustice. For the first time 
 he realized the difference between the giving of gifts 
 and the giving of one s self. Making the best excuse 
 he could devise, he departed ; every generous impulse 
 in his awakened soul demanding that he make imme 
 diate reparation. 
 
 The first available train found Eldredge on his 
 way to Arizona. The journey was intolerably long, 
 but in the dragging hours of day and night he had 
 time to rear some new ideals ; to view life from a 
 higher, less personal plane. Incidents long forgotten 
 came back to his mind, his meeting with Tarbell 
 and the mere chance which had brought about their 
 friendship ; how that friendship had grown and stood 
 like a rock smitten but not shattered by the storm. 
 How often, too, Tarbell had held him back when 
 
 276 
 
REPARATION 
 
 lie "had been on the brink of some boyish folly ! He 
 realized now the worth of TarbelTs friendship, and 
 fell to wondering why he had never before taken a 
 full measure of the man. Yet it was not so strange, 
 since he had but recently come to see himself ; for it 
 happens sometimes that we go a good piece of life s 
 road without stopping to consider that hidden bundle 
 of faults and virtues which we call soul. 
 
 Eldredge arrived at last at Tucson only to find 
 that Tarbell had left for Phoenix the week before, 
 to enter somebody s law office, the postmaster said, 
 vouchsafing that Tucson was a better place for the 
 study of law. Jack did not venture his opinion that 
 neither was a promising field for that profession, but 
 posted back to the railway station to catch the first 
 train for Phoenix. After a dreary wait of some 
 hours, he was again on the way. Nothing could have 
 been less cheering than the stretch of country be 
 tween Tucson and Phoenix. As Jack looked out 
 upon the blighted land, where there was no sign of 
 verdure, nothing but stunted brush and burning 
 rock, he could but wonder that Tarbell had chosen 
 this for a land of exile. Had he thought deeper, 
 he could not have failed to know the reason. 
 
 When the train arrived in Phoenix about seven 
 o clock, Eldredge went immediately to the most 
 promising hotel and inquired for Tarbell. 
 
 "Tarbell?" said the clerk; "why, certainly. 
 He s here." 
 
 " Where ? " asked Jack, with his heart in his 
 throat. 
 
 277 
 
BOYS AND MEN 
 
 At that instant he felt on his shoulder the pressure 
 of a hand. He turned with a start and stood face 
 to face with Tarbell. "Jack," said he, "you ve 
 found your man." 
 
 Eldredge seized him by the hand. His lips 
 trembled, and he seemed hardly able to speak. 
 Instinctively the two moved away from the crowd. 
 " Tarb," said Jack, breaking the silence, " I Ve come 
 to take you home." 
 
 
 278 
 
 

 
 
 
 
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