The Oxford intelligencer., 1861-04-17
From fzs 1ss Eork stspf,ss ef tas Emss.r
HOW BOB WAS CAUGHT.
nrursnscrxcr al. ,.y. NJ ....,,... 49,

Doo naiuoh was me prime MINISTER OF mis-
chief at B. institute, when rwas one of the
small boys" there, years ago. In spite Of nu.
merous threats of expulsion on the part of the
dr." Bob had lived through half dozen OF
sessions, the maker Of every ''muss" and leader
in every scrape, and had come out as vet right
side up, and remained at school with all his crig
inal exuberance Of spirits untrammelled by rules
and above the restrictions Of the Faculty.. Bob
used TO answer, with sly laugh and a wink,
when wonderingly asked how he managed al
ways TO get out Of scrapc so smoothly as he
always did, and merely said it was all owing to
his genius in that line, but rather imagined il
was more than traceable to his oily tongue, for
though Bob was-oh! Of course-an example
of truth in the school. remember to have heard
him say that he believed in always telling the
truth, the whole truth, etc, ercept-that is,
never lie except when it is necessary"
Bob had that passion, peculiar to ''old boys.
of rehearsing the numerous exploits of himself
and others in bygone days, "when Smith taught, "
'when the Doctor was off to Europe" etc, and
at no time was he SO voluble as on the first few
evenings Of new sessions when the newly ar
rived green 'uns" and the returned scholars
were assembled beneath the elms on the green
In the warm May mornings, or in the coy sit
| ting-room-ahl what room Of rooms was that !
| by the blazing fire in the November nights
| imagine | see him now--though years have
passed since then and Bob, as know, is gone
to his long home-as he was wont to sit and de-
claim to the listening audience Of wondering and
awe-struck ''newies," and the less affected "old
'uns." Bob was good chap though he ,cas
wild (and who will deny that the wild ones gen
orally are p and no one in school was liked as
well as he. as all who did the "4Encid" there in
1856 win well remember.
L.
which he took prominent part, and the various
acts which served above his faults to endear him
to the school and ''Profs," from the time he
fished poor drowned Willy Homer out of the
muddy canal, up to the time when he saved my
head from numerous punches from the sledge-
hammer Rst of brawny "Free Schoolcr." How
well is the night and circumstance pictured in
my minds eye, which in his own language
give below, as he related it under the old elm
on the background ono night, the second Of
new term.
81 never was really and actually caught but
once, however, by the Doctor, and even then
under rather peculiar circumstances" he began,
having just concluded former yarn. "You re-
collect it. Jim ?" Ito me)
"Ycs indeed" responded I; for knew to
what he alluded
"How was ty' "Let's have itw ''Tell us
pcct of the little audience was that of one cx-
pecting a rare treat in the narration. | was
covering ball, and reclining on the grass near
me was a new boy, arrived the day before, and
to whom had taken fancy.
"Look out for somethin' jolly, now, Green"
| said to him, in low voice he smiled quietly
1T was his way, had found and Bob began:
"You see it was in the winter session three
no! let me see-tsco years ago We had tarin'
set of fellows that winter, and kept the Doctor
and old Grifiiths pretty much all the time in the
hottest kind of hot water There were a lot Of
Southern chaps here, and you know they're al
ways regular devil-maycare boys-making, of
course, an honorable exception of myself Bob
hailed from Lousville) and if we didn't raise the
dust in school and out occasionally, then I'll eat
my hat There was Charley D'IIannan, from
Mobile-you remember him, Jim, Il was the
next ''oldest" scholar in the crowd, and Bob ma
turally appealed to my authority reg lar high
one he was-fired off his revolver in the dormi-
tory one night about the witchng hours and
brought down the housc-likewise a heap of
ceiling plaster and then sworc to the Doctor
that Somebody had scared him almost to deathr
By Jove how he would carry on. And then
there was Hal Trowbridge, Gus Town, Billy
Moon, and Holhrook-all of them of the first
water of the go it while you're young genius.
and your respectfully obedient servant, myself
who hung around them tines for anything
that offered, and Jim there wasn't backward at
any time (?D
swell, one night we were havin' a rousing
time in the attic about ten or after. You see
Holbrook registered q fearful vow on Jim's big
dictionary that he would have sport out of Ba.
ncna, the Cuban chap that slept in the end room
where Nilcoxen does now, and duly armed with
a pillow, made descent upon the aforesaid for
eign individual followed by half the boys in
might armor,' as that small fellow, George Bur-
nev, had it, In fact half of them were just
come from their beds, If not greater portion.
The natural result was, that then and there CON-
mcnccd one Of those pillow fights that this in
stitution is celebrated for. BY George! it was
flni Bob Law was placed at the stairs as sem
tinel, and every one warning against every one
managed to raise considerable noise Banens,
suddenly and unceremoniously reused from his
sound slumber, rushed around, with pillow in
each paw, with innumcrablc and immense Car
ajos' and 'Dablos' George Town sent a mug
fying at him. which he lodged with Madre
di Dios.' no doubt thinking that such q sober
exigency required a stronger oath, as the thing
crushed in thousand pieces against the wall
and ratified on the floor. This very consldera-
BILE addition to the already dcafening din was al
most Immediately augmented by an internal
noise of some kind or another from the immedi-
ate vicinity of Billy Moon. As is generally the
case, you know, after big noise, there is an in
stants silence, or at least momentary lull in
the storm of pillows, boots, slippers, etc, and
in that minutes space creaking step was heard
on the stair, and Banena, who stood near the
landing. rushed to his room, giving utterance to
an 'El Veto in a vehement whisper.
al saw how il was Bob Law had left bis post
in a moment of carelessness-1 never saw the
fellow yet who could watch decent when there
was fun going on-and the Doctor was already
almost on the top step, and my room on the
other side for the stairs came up into one side
of the hall near the centre There was no help
for it so | made dash. The Doctor saw me
indistinctly as glmmered by in the dark, and
made grab at me, and, by George blow me il
he didn't catch me right by that part OF the
shirt known as the hind fiapP Demonstration
among audience)
Il always did hate those long night-gSwns my
sis made FOR me, and now | imagined il was 60
ing to bring me to grief; but struggled pretty
hard for a second, and rip-p-p went the dry
goods. the whole flap tearing of. let me into
my room on my nose leaving the 'remenant IN
The Doctors hand. You may imagine ! made
into that bed, an did do just that very same
thing. though If had half my wits about me Il
would have got another shirt on, for the entire
f1ap'-aboui Sx16 inches of Canton flannel was
.-s.,,. brt had no idea what was going to