E-text prepared by Elaine Walker, David Garcia, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team WINNING HIS "W" A Story of Freshman Year at College by EVERETT T. TOMLINSON M.A. Donohue & Company Chicago New York 1904 PREFACE In this book I have endeavored to relate the story of a boy's early experiences in college life--a boy who was neither unnaturally good nor preternaturally bad, wholesome, earnest, impulsive, making just such mistakes as a normal boy would make, and yet earnest, sincere, and healthy. We all have known just such boys and are grateful that they are neither uncommon nor unknown. Perhaps it may add a little to the interest of this tale if it is stated that many of the events described in it actually occurred. I have not tagged a "moral" upon it, for if the story itself shall not bear its own moral, then the addition will not add to it. EVERETT T. TOMLINSON. Elizabeth, New Jersey. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE OPENING TERM II. PETER JOHN'S ARRIVAL III. NEW FRIENDS AND NEW EXPERIENCES IV. A CLOUD OF WITNESSES V. UNSOUGHT ATTENTIONS VI. A RACE IN THE DARKNESS VII. SPLINTER'S QUESTIONS VIII. THE PARADE IX. THE WALK WITH MOTT X. A VISITOR XI. THE PERPETUAL PROBLEM XII. THE MEET XIII. WAGNER'S ADVICE XIV. THE ADVICE FOLLOWED XV. A REVERSED DECISION XVI. TELEGRAMS XVII. PETER JOHN'S DOWNFALL XVIII. AN ALARMING REPORT XIX. A RARE INTERVIEW XX. A CRISIS XXI. THE EXAMINATION XXII. A FRESH EXCITEMENT XXIII. THE RUSH TO COVENTRY CENTER XXIV. THE MYSTERY OF THE CANES XXV. ON THE TRAIL XXVI. ST. PATRICK'S DAY XXVII. CONCLUSION CHAPTER I THE OPENING TERM "I've got a letter from Peter John." "What's the trouble with him? He ought to have been here yesterday or the day before." "I'm afraid Peter John never'll be on time. He doesn't seem to have taken that in his course. He'd never pass an 'exam' in punctuality." "What does he want?" "The poor chap begs us to meet him at the station." "What train?" "The two-seventeen." "Then we've no time to waste. Is he afraid he'll be lost?" "He's afraid, all right." "What's he afraid of?" "Everything and everybody, I guess. Poor chap." Will Phelps laughed good-naturedly as he spoke, and it was evident that his sympathy for "Peter John" was genuine. His friend and room-mate, Foster Bennett, was as sympathetic as he, though his manner was more quiet and his words were fewer; their fears for their friend were evidently based upon their own personal knowledge. For four years the three young men had been classmates in the Sterling High School, and in the preceding June had graduated from its course of study, and all three had decided to enter Winthrop College. The entrance examinations had been successfully passed, and at the time when this story opens all had been duly registered as students in the incoming class of the college.