Lawrenceville School -- Fiction; Schools -- Fiction
The day was passed in fruitless searching but the next morning brought
the answer in the following manner: Dink and the Tennessee Shad--as
the majority of trained Laurentians--were accustomed to wallow
gloriously in bed until the breakfast gong itself. At the first crash
they would spring simultaneously forth and race through their dressing
for the winning of the stairs. Now this was an art in itself and many
records were claimed and disputed. The Tennessee Shad, like most lazy
natures, when aroused was capable of extraordinary bursts of speed and
was one of the claimants for the authorized record of twenty-six and a
fifth seconds from the bed to the door, established by the famous
Hickey Hicks who--as has been related--had departed to organize the
industries of his country. Of a consequence Stover was invariably
still at his collar button when the thin shadow of the Shad glided out
of the door. But on the present morning, the shoe laces of the
Tennessee Shad snapping in his hand, Dink reached the exit a bare yard
in advance. Suddenly he stopped, clasped the Tennessee Shad by the
middle and flung him toward the ceiling.
"I have it," he cried. "We'll organize the dressing championship of
the school!"
That very evening a poster was distributed among the houses, thus
conceived:
FIRST AMATEUR DRESSING CHAMPIONSHIP
OF THE SCHOOL
under the management of that well-known
Sporting Promoter
MR. DINK STOVER
FOR THE BELT OF THE SCHOOL
and
A SEALED MYSTERIOUS PRIZE
Guaranteed to be Worth Over $3.50
Entrance Fee 25c Books Close at 6 P. M.
To-morrow
For Conditions and Details Consult
MR. DENNIS DE B. DE B. FINNEGAN, Secretary.
While the announcement was running like quicksilver through the school
the souvenir toilet set was encased in cotton, packed in the smallest
compass, stowed in a wooden box, which was then sewed up in a gunny
sacking. This in turn was wrapped in colored paper, tied with bows of
pink ribbon and sealed with blue sealing wax stamped with the crest of
the school--VIRTUS SEMPER VIRIDIS. The whole was placed on a table at
the legs of which were grouped stands of flags.
By noon the next day one-half of the school had passed around the
table, measuring the mysterious package, touching the seals with
itching fingers and wanting to know the reason for such secrecy.
"There are reasons," said Stover, in response to all inquiries.
"Unusual, mysterious, excellent reasons. We ask no one to enter. We
only guarantee that the prize is worth over three dollars and fifty
cents. No one is coaxing you. No one will miss you. The entrance list
is already crowded. We are quite willing it should be closed. We urge
nobody!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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