Paul had a perfect horror of money-loving, of soft and toadying habits,
of the worship of style and society, and nonsense of high life
generally. Nothing cut him deeper at heart than the feeling, as Walter
grew up, that the boy had a streak in his character somewhere of the
very thing that his father detested. It was this knowledge of a weakness
in Walter that led to Paul's great desire to give the boy another
Standard, to impress on him the nobility of labor and the disgrace of
getting something for nothing. The one thing so far that was saving
Walter from becoming a victim to his luxurious tastes was his real love
of scientific knowledge and his desire to make of himself a first-class
engineer. Paul counted on this factor to keep Walter steady to the main
thing, but he realised as he read the boy's letter that there were
influences in the Burrton school powerfully pulling him in other
directions, away from the simple and plain habits he had always known at
home.
Walter's next letter acknowledged with much evident gratitude the
receiving of the money his father had sent and spoke again of the
scholarship opening. That matter, however, would not be settled until a
trying out of several applicants for the honour.
Two months later Paul received a short letter from Walter, written
evidently in some bitterness, saying the scholarship had been finally
given to an upper class man, "one with a pull," Walter declared, adding,
"I shall have to keep at the steward business, I suppose. I can't make
much more than my board at it, father, and the midterm tuition is due in
two weeks. I haven't money enough to settle. My laboratory fees have
been doubled since Wallace came in with his expert division work and
expenses generally are heavy."
Paul replied by sending Walter another check and writing as
encouragingly to him as possible. Walter answered briefly and seemed to
be feeling somewhat more reconciled to the disappointment connected with
the scholarship matter.
Two weeks later Paul had a letter from the publisher of one of his
books, asking him to come East on business relating to the book. He
decided hastily to go on and found he could visit Burrton school on the
way. He wrote Walter of his intention, giving him the date of the day he
should probably reach Burrton. Esther, Helen, and Louis sent many
special messages and Paul was glad of an opportunity to see Walter in
his school surroundings.
When he reached Burrton it happened to be the date of the great boat
race with the Brainerd Technology School. For several stations before
the train reached Burrton, crowds came aboard for the college town. When
Paul reached Burrton an immense and yelling mob filled the station and
swarmed out to the racing course at the meadows, below the school
grounds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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