Harvard University -- Fiction; Love stories; Plantations -- Virginia -- Fiction; Youth -- Fiction
He had not given up hope of gaining a place in one of the crews,
but John had advised against it for the present and so he put off
the attempt. He joined a class at the gymnasium and went there every
Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons and did strange things with
chest weights, dumb-bells, Indian clubs, ladders and bars, and had
aches in all sorts of out-of-the-way corners of his body. But he
measured and remeasured his chest and biceps and found, to his delight,
that he was rapidly increasing the girth of both.
Squad E had not yet been called to the field, and Phillip realized that
his chance of playing on the Freshman Football Team that year was not
worth considering. Guy Bassett had been taken onto the second squad and
was distinguishing himself there. But Chester, like Phillip, was quite
out of it and they bemoaned their fate together.
The freshman reception came off, and Phillip and Chester went to
Saunders Theatre and heard much excellent talk and shook hands with
a great many persons whose names they could not recall afterward and
whom they were practically certain never to meet again. Later, in the
transept, they came across Guy Bassett wearing an expression of lively
interest. He was in conversation with an earnest and thin-faced man
whose clothes looked several sizes too large for him. As they passed
Guy called to them and introduced his companion. They didn’t understand
his name; it sounded like “Mr. Mumumum.” Later they learned that Guy
didn’t know it himself.
“We have been talking about the Christian Club,” said Guy, “and――――”
“Christian Association,” corrected the earnest man gently.
“Of course; very stupid of me――Association I should have said. It’s
very interesting; in fact, quite astonishing, I refer to the good that
the Association has accomplished here in college.” Guy laid a hand on
Chester’s shoulder and addressed him with large enthusiasm. “And I’ve
been telling――er――this gentleman how deeply interested you both are
in――er――that sort of thing, you know, and I want you to hear him tell
about it. That is,” turning to the earnest one, “if you have time.”
“Yes, indeed; I shall be happy to explain something of our work,”
replied the other eagerly. “I am delighted to find any members of
the――ah――entering class who are interested in the subject of spiritual
betterment and christian endeavour.” He positively beamed. Chester
strove to break away from Guy’s detaining grasp and Phillip looked
blank.
“Awfully kind of you,” exclaimed Guy. “You’ll find both these chaps
earnest and――er――eager, I am sure, to take practical interest in the
Association. Mr. Baker, especially, is the man for you, and I truly
hope that you may be able to prevail upon him to take up the Bible
study work. I’m very glad to have met you, sir, and hope to do so again
frequently.” He shook hands with the other. “I will consider the matter
and let you hear from me. Good-night, sir; good-night.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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