College stories, American; Princeton (N.J.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Princeton University -- Fiction
Now he might have sent a portion of it out to his hard-working parents
in Persia, or have helped to defray the expenses of his ambitious
sister at school. This would have been noble of him, but he did
nothing of the kind. One does not need much money in Persia; there's
nothing to spend it on. His people had a large, comfortable home with
a dozen servants to look after it, and they seemed to have leisure
enough to write articles for English and American magazines now and
then. A rich aunt looked out for his sister, and she had the
reputation of dressing more artistically than any girl in the Walnut
Street school. The only thing he did for her was to send an occasional
box of candy, or a book, like any other brother. Davis did not even
save his money. He blew it in on himself and his friends, like any
other natural young man. What do you suppose he worked so hard for if
it were not to go in with the rest of the club for coaches at
Thanksgiving games, and to take runs to Philadelphia over Sunday, and
to give spreads in his room on Saturday nights, and to do the other
things for which one has sore need of money and for which he goes
broke for about twenty days of each month? If Davis had been a modern
undergraduate he would perhaps have spent money on good-looking
clothes, though I hardly think that of him.
The only disadvantage in his way of living was that it took time, so
that he did not have as much of it to loaf in as he would have liked.
Especially as he was mixed up in half-a-dozen outside interests of the
college world, and had a provokingly high stand in class to maintain
besides. For although the fellows used to say he kept on leading his
class from force of habit, as a matter of fact it took considerable
valuable time.
The worst of it was that he had to do his reviewing up regularly week
by week, for he was of no account at cramming all night for exams, he
said. Perhaps this was true. When the crowd used to gather in
half-undressed condition with wet towels around their heads and wild
looks on their faces, Dougal generally stretched out upon the divan
and drummed on a banjo, with his eyes half closed and a pipe in his
mouth, and listened to the others quizzing and getting excited, and at
twelve o'clock, except on rare occasions, he said good-night, and went
to bed and slept like a child, and the next day would saunter into
Examination Hall as fresh as a spring term Sunday, and write the best
paper in the class. It is in this way that many fellows remember him
best.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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