Frank Armstrong at Queens Page 7

  CHAPTER VII.

  SCHOOL SPIRIT AND SCHOOL INFLUENCES.

  Next morning Frank made the acquaintance of Dr. Hobart, principalof Queen's School. The Doctor had the reputation of being severe,a terror to wrong doers, but gentle enough withal when things wentright. He was a mere wisp of a man, about sixty years old, not overfive feet tall, and with a thin, narrow face and parchment-likeskin. His shoulders were bowed a little, perhaps with his weightof learning, for Dr. Hobart was considered one of the best ofpreparatory school leaders. Indeed, his reputation went far and wide,and the excellence of his school brought him pupils from many partsof the country.

  The Doctor's distinguishing feature was his eyes, or rather eye, forhe only had one which nature gave him. His natural left eye had manyyears before been injured and removed. It was now replaced by oneof glass, and the fixed and unwinking position of it when the Doctorwas aroused bored straight through the soul of the culprit before himand came out the other side, or so it seemed to the unfortunate whofaced him, accused of misdeeds. It would be a brazen youth, indeed,who could stand before that penetrating glance from under the shaggybrows.

  Frank had heard a good deal about the Doctor, and it was with sometrepidation that he approached the august presence in his quarters onthe first floor, third entry of Warren.

  "Old Glass-eye is a ring-snorter," Gleason had told him. "They sayhe dines off freshmen. I'm a brave man, but I was glad when he wasthrough with me. I was so flim-fazzled when he turned that glassorb of his on me that I couldn't have told whether the amateurhundred-yard record had set at ten seconds or half an hour."

  But the Doctor was in one of his most amiable moods when Frank wasushered into his presence.

  "This is the late-comer, is it?" he inquired, gently.

  Frank interpreted it as a criticism, and hurried to say:

  "Yes, sir. But I couldn't very well help being late. I was away formy health, and my parents didn't really intend to have me go toschool till after Christmas, but I made such good progress that theythought it best to get me in as early as possible, after all."

  "H'm; and I suppose you wanted to come?"

  "Oh, yes, sir. I like school, and I hope to go to college if I cankeep up my work here and pass the examinations."

  "So you're going to college. That's good. We can give you thetraining here; the rest of it depends on yourself. Where do youexpect to go to college, my young friend?" and the Doctor brought hisbaleful eye to bear on Frank.

  "York, sir."

  "Very good, very good. You are going in for athletics, Mr. Armstrong?"

  "Just a little, sir. Do you advise it?"

  "Yes, Mr. Armstrong, I advise athletics--just a little, as you say.But one thing I insist upon, that whatever you go in for, it must bewholeheartedly. The great curse of the present time is the spiritof dabbling. Don't be a dabbler." And the glass eye transfixed hishearer. "Whatever you do, do well. When you are in the class-room,do what you have to do. Make your time count. When you study, study;when you play, play. If you go out on the athletic field, make themost of it, and if you go into any sport, carry it to the highestpoint of development you can consistent with the time you have togive it. Athletics are only another kind of education, and carriedon in the right way they very powerfully supplement the work of theclass-room. And, above all things, play fair. Play hard, but playfair. Win if you can, but be a gentleman in your winning, and in yourdefeat, if you meet defeat, as you will in school and out of it. Youhave the appearance of quality in your face. You have a chance hereto show what you can do in the class-room and on the field. Whateveryou do, make yourself felt. Make yourself respected, but also makeyourself felt. Respect your schoolmates worthy of respect, and makethem respect you by your uprightness.

  "I did not mean to make this a lecture, my boy," added the Doctor,pleasantly, the bushy eyebrows drawing into a kindlier line. "I wantto help set you straight on this school road, which is not so easy asit may appear to you. If you ever want advice, and you think I canhelp you, come to me without hesitation. I am not so black, maybe,as I'm painted," and the Doctor's right eye assumed a kindly twinkle."And now," he continued, "go over to Mr. Parks, whom you will findin Russell, and he will give you an outline of your school work andassign your classes. Good morning."

  "By Jove! he's a brick," said Frank, as he hurried across the yard."I thought I was going to find a bear, and he was nothing more than akindly human being with a whole reservoir of good advice."

  Mr. Parks, the assistant master, inducted Frank into the schoolroutine, and the boy's school life began that morning auspiciously.He felt that he had made a good friend in the Doctor, and he was benton satisfying his demand as far as studies were concerned. As to howhe would make his way with his schoolmates, was another matter, andhe approached it with less of a feeling of certainty.

  In the early afternoon of that day Frank made a call on his oldfriend Jimmy, who was industriously working up his history; but whenFrank put his head in at the door, the history book was shut with asnap.

  "Hello, Web-foot, how did you get along last night? No hazers, Ihope."

  "Got along finely," said Frank, "in spite of lots of excitement. Tooka forced swim in the Wampaug last night, preceded by a young scrap inNo. 18, and this morning I had a session with the Doctor, who gaveme enough good advice to keep me straight in line through the wholeschool course."

  "The dickens you say!" exclaimed Jimmy. "You don't mean to say thatthey got you after all?"

  "They certainly did, got me good and hard. Started out to stretchmy neck down on the meadows somewhere,--that was the sentence theysaid,--and then changed their minds, not being willing to sacrifice abudding young genius like myself, and gave me the water cure."

  "The water cure?"

  "Yes, the water cure, which consisted in making me swim the river,after nine o'clock, and back in my bare pelt."

  Jimmy was indignant. "By George, that was tough. Who did it?"

  "Oh, I don't know; half a dozen fellows were waiting for me in myroom, dumped me on the floor, tied my hands, carried me off witha muffler around my face, and then, when I was half way across theWampaug, skipped and left me."

  "Was Chip Dixon in the gang that hazed you?"

  "I couldn't tell. The fellows were all masked."

  "It's a beastly shame," blurted out Jimmy. "It'll come out, see ifit don't, and I wouldn't give a licked postage stamp for the chancesof the fellows who did it, if it comes to the Doctor's ears. I've anotion to go out and play detective. To think that I was studyinghere quietly, and you were being ducked in the river not two hundredyards away!" And Jimmy jumped up and began to walk around the floor,threatening vengeance on the perpetrators of the outrage.

  "Oh, don't you bother about it. It gave them lots of fun, and itdidn't hurt me," said Frank. "The water sure was chilly when I struckit first, but the swim wasn't long. It made me sleep like a top. Andperhaps some good may come out of it."

  Jimmy continued to growl, but Frank laughed the incident away, andthe talk turned on the afternoon's football practice which Horton hadthreatened would be a stiff one.

  "Speaking of football," said Jimmy, "why don't you go out and do alittle something for your newly adopted school?"

  "Oh, I wouldn't be any good. I'd like to try it, all right. But I'vegot my work cut out for me, staying in school without mixing up infootball this fall anyway. Maybe by the time hockey comes around I'lldo some work if I'm standing well enough to escape the terrible eyeof the Doctor. But for this fall at least I'll do most of my footballwork on the bleachers, and giving the right halfback of the elevenfriendly advice."

  "No luck like that for me. I guess I'm not much good and I don'tstand well enough with the ruling powers. But maybe, bye-and-bye,I'll get a chance. In the meantime I'll keep pushing and learn all Ican. Horton knows the game, doesn't he?"

  "Yes, the way he spotted the bad play on both teams was a caution. Hemust have twenty pairs of eyes."

  At this moment in the conver
sation Lewis strolled into the room."I've decided," he announced with heavy dignity, "to cut outfootball. I've been getting on pretty well at it, and the coachdoesn't want me to drop out now when I'm pretty sure of a place"(Jimmy and Frank exchanged winks), "but I feel my studies need mytime. I think I'll go out for the Whitney Fellowship. So you fellowswill have to get along without my society down on the gridiron."

  "Bad, too bad," murmured Jimmy. "Such a chance, too, for the team,just now when you'd be put in at center. It would be a great thingfor Milton, too, to have a representative on the great Queen's Schooleleven. It would be headlines for the papers. Sorry you can't give itthe time."

  "And speaking of time," said Frank, "isn't it about time you weregetting under way for the gym? I think I see the gathering ofthe clans from here," he added, looking out of the window in thedirection of the field.

  "Wonder what Mr. Dixon will feel like when Lewis announces hisintention of retiring from the squad," said Jimmy, with a wink, as heprepared to leave.

  "And I wonder what Mr. Dixon will do to one James Turner," retortedLewis.

  "Oh, I guess he won't bother him very much," said Frank.

  "Is that so? Well, you don't know that youngster as well as we do.You'll hear things about him when you've been here a little longer."

  "I've heard some things and seen some others, and perhaps I know Mr.Dixon better than he thinks I do. And I'm not far wrong when I saythat that young fellow will not bother Jimmy too much."

  "Yes, you'll jump in and hand our lively young quarter a few straightdigs in the ribs, I suppose."

  "Maybe so, but he had better keep himself to himself."

  "Oh, come on here, stop your scrapping. Come on and watch theemaciated Second, now that Lewis has left us, being smeared by theriotous First. Oh, I hate to think of it," cried Jimmy, dashing outof the door.

  When the squad reported for practice at four o'clock sharp, Hortonhad on his business face and he lost no time in getting thingsmoving. "I'm going to see if these two teams know anything aboutfootball at all. We've been dodging around here playing tag for amonth. Now we've got to begin to play football. Let's have a littlepunting and see if you backs can hold the ball to-day."

  The backs were divided into two squads, and two of the best punterswere sent up to the middle of the field, with a center to snap theball. Boston Wheeler--his Sunday name was Worthington, but Bostonwas handier, and better described him, as he came from that famouscity known as "the Hub"--was punting the ball in long, lazy curveswhich carried thirty yards, and then dropped head first, much to thedisgust of the racing backs.

  "Mine," yelled Spud Dudley as with hands outstretched and neck cranedhe drove for one of Wheeler's high ones.

  But he misjudged, as the ball dropped too straight for him andbounced around on the group. The wrath of the coach was drawn uponhim instantly.

  "What do you think you are catching, Dudley, a featherbed? Get underthose high ones. They drop quick when they come spinning with thelong axis parallel to the ground. Don't let them catch you napping.And haven't I told you to make a little pocket for the ball betweenyour hands, which must be held closer together, and your chest? Thenthe ball can't get away from you. That's better, Freshman." This wasdirected to Jimmy, who took a low end-over-end punt from Dobson, theother punter, at top speed. "I don't know where that Freshman got it,but he has the right idea about catching punts," Horton added.

  Punting practice went on for five minutes or so, and then, after abrief signal drill between the First and Second elevens, the coachcalled both teams to the middle of the field.

  "Now, this is the last practice game before the Barrows game, and Iwant you to do your best. You can win easily if you will only forgetabout yourselves, and play for the team. Let's see you do it. Comeon, every one into it," and the whistle spoke out shrilly for thebeginning of the practice game.