The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-08-03

have commended themselves no less
forcibly to my parent.
There was at that time perpetually to
be seen about Oxford fellow known TO
the general public as "Three-fngered
Jack, 10y which name alone he shall,
for reasons which will shortly be OBJ
vious, figure in my story; and indeed,
there was more foundation for it than
for most of tho terms of endearment, or
otherwise, which the undergraduate
wits delighted to coin. For this gentle
mans right hand was adorned with no
more than three fingers, though how he
became shorn of his proper complement,
or whether, like Topsy, he "growed so, y
L never knew. He had himself been a
member of the university, though some
time before went up; but his stay had
been neither long nor glorious, nor had
he, believe, earned very good opinions
from any class of men. What brought
him, under the conditions, to Oxford, L
neither knew nor cared to know But
there, at any rate, he always was, lott
ering about the inns we delighted to
honor, and enjoying casual acquaint-
ance with those who were careless what
company they kept, or glad enough to
get any.
Coming, then, into the hall, one
evening in November, toward the close
of my last term of craftsmanship, L
was astonished to see sitting at the
seniors table, the guest apparently of
party of the name of Russell, our
friend of three-fingered fame. was
astonished, say, for the man was, as
have told you, of Indifferent repute,
and we of ST. Dslnstan's rather prided
ourselves on our society. While / was
discussing the strange phenomenon with
my immediate neighbors, there came
to me scout with Mr.. Russell's COM
pliments, and would / give him the
pleasure of my company to wine?" My
aristocratic assumptions faded straight
way into thin air. Certainly | would.
Mr.. Russell was a great parsonage in
the eyes of us freshmen. He was, in
deed, a splendid, though a useless-mem-
Der of the community. He neither
rowed nor boated nor played cricket;
neither did he read, though, to do him
justice, he was very far removed from a
fool. He only loafed; but then-he
loafed magniticently. No one had such
smart rooms as Russell or such smart
clothes, or so many of them; no one
gave such smart parties, smoked such
big cigars, OF drank such good wine !;
and, to give him his due, he stinted his
friends of these Injuries no more than
himself A very fine fellow, indeed,
you may be sure, was this Mr.. Russell
I'll A Il 4
has become of him, and whether any
body has ever paid for all his purple
and fine linen?
Our party consisted of eight, Russell
and his mutilated fried; three seniors,
who didn't stay long, or seem to care
much for their company; two veritable
freshmen, quite overpowered with the
honor of an invitation from the Col
lege Lucullus and myself After the
seniors had left Russell proposed a
game of loo; carried, of course, unani-
mously, and down we sat. 1t was
agreed, out of compliment, suppose,
to the stranger, that the customary
shilling should be replaced by three
of its specie; which, need not in this
company observe, makes considerable
difference In the pecuniary possibilities
of the game. However, l did not care
to make any objection; and as for the
two freshmen, they were so over
whelmed by the claret, the cigars, and
the general novelty and magnifcence
of the whole entertainment, that if
their host had suggested to them that
the dean might like 10 join the party,
| am certain they would have contended
for the honor of carrying the invitation.
Three shillings, then, were the stakes
to be, and the game began.
Loo, as you are doubtless aware, is
an engrossing pursuit, and it seemed
reahy no time Mt all when Russell pro-
posed temporary cessation of play for
refreshments work of superogation
after all the good things we had al
ready swallowed; but the undergradu-
ate is, as some of you possibly remem-
Der, very camel in the matter of stom-
achs, though he uses them, to be sure,
on less economical principle. One OF
the freshmen availed himself of this
opportunity for leaving the party, al
leging his losses, which were happily
slight, and the imminent approach of
"smalls." AS he was a young man
whose means were more limited than
his stupidity, and, moreover at that
time rather disturbed by the quantity
and quality of Russell's hospitality, we
made no objection; and off he accord
ingly betook himself, Gathering down
the stairs like pig on stills, and MAX
ing the night hidous with strange scraps
of discord as he stumbled across the
quadrangle on his way to bed, and down
again sat the rest of the party and took
up the cards.
should have told you, perhaps, be
fore this that l wore my right arm in
sling, the results of a rafting fall with
the drag" This, of course, made
dealing rather troublesome, both to me
and the others, and more than once in
the course of the play / had provoked
sundry anathemas on my awkwardness.
It was arranged, then, before we re-
sumed word, that the others should
take it in turn and deal for me. An
other arrangement, of yet greater inn
portance, was that, as our party was
now reduced to four, we should increase
our stakes to guineas, and further
temDt the vaOaries of fortune by the