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Page 26
"Oh, yes, Peter John. Don't pull off that way," said Will cordially.
"Not much. I'm not so big a fool as they take me to be."
"You'll be a bigger one if you keep out."
"Maybe I will, but I'm not going to go into any such doings."
"Now look here, Peter John. You're a freshman, but you can't help that
and no one blames you for it. I'm--"
"I'm no more a freshman than you are," retorted Peter John warmly.
"Right you are. But you don't want to make a bad matter worse. If you
keep out you'll be a marked man and everybody in college will hear
about it. It'll be a great deal better for you to go in quietly, and
whatever you think about it, just keep your thoughts to yourself, and
don't call the attention of the whole college to you by your
foolishness. It'll be simply a challenge for the sophs, if you don't do
it, and you'll be the one to suffer."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
"I guess the sophs found out what sort of a fellow I was the other
night. I'd have brained the first one that laid hands on me."
"You didn't though, and you wouldn't. It's a great deal better to do as
Hawley did and just laugh it off."
"Oh, I laughed all right, and I'd have given those fellows something to
laugh about too, if they hadn't tied me up."
"Of course, but the trouble is they did tie you up, and the next time
it'll be worse than that. It isn't worth while to kick too hard, Peter
John. A fellow has just got to take some things in life as he finds them
and not as he'd like to have them. It's the only way, and the sooner he
learns it the better."
"But my father told me never to let anybody impose on me," said Peter
John dubiously.
"Nobody is going to impose on you. You won't be doing anything more than
every fellow in the class, and if you don't go in you'll be the one
marked exception. The sophs will take it as an invitation."
"You think so, do you?"
"Yes, sir, I do. Come along, Peter John, and don't make any more fuss
about it."
"Well, I'll think about it," replied the freshman as he departed for
his own room in Leland Hall.
Saturday dawned bright and clear and the interest and excitement in the
college over the parade rose to its highest point. A band had been
secured from a neighboring city, and in the afternoon, when its stirring
strains were heard from the steps of the gymnasium, all the freshmen
were made aware that the time for their assembly had arrived. There were
crowds of strangers to be seen about the streets and the little town was
all active with unwonted bustle. Automobiles were arriving, the
sophomores were assembling at the various buildings, and their jeers and
cries could be heard as they greeted the appearance of the members of
the class below them when they started for the gymnasium.
Will Phelps and Foster Bennett felt keenly the prevailing excitement,
and when they entered the gymnasium building they found a large number
of their own classmates already assembled and keenly alive to the
demands that were soon to be made upon them.
Under the experienced guidance of the committee of juniors the freshmen
were soon equipped for their various parts and the procession was
formed. In advance moved the band and behind it was a huge hay wagon in
which in great dignity were seated six of the seniors. The wagon itself
was drawn by sixteen freshmen, all of whom had a tight grasp upon the
ropes that had been fastened to the wagon tongue. Directly behind the
wagon came Will Phelps and Foster Bennett and two of their classmates,
all dressed in the garb of firemen, with red jackets and helmet hats of
paper. In their hands was a huge rope at least two and a half inches in
diameter, which was attached to a tiny tin fire engine not more than a
foot in length. Behind the firemen came Hawley, who was dressed as an
infant with a lace cap on his head and carefully tied bows under his
chin, while in his hands he was carrying a bottle of milk. He was seated
in an improvised baby carriage, which was being pushed by one of the
smallest members of the freshman class. "Sunny Jim," Charley Chaplin and
Ben Turpin were among the characters that could be seen in the long
lines of freshmen that, three abreast, were arranged still farther back
in the procession, and at last, at the word of Allen, the junior who was
acting as the marshal of the day, the march was begun. Frequently Will
turned and glanced behind him at the long, tortuous line, and its
ridiculous appearance caused him to laugh and say to Foster:
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