The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-08-02
HIGH JORDAN"

He was six feet two, and as clumsy
as he was tall. He would como into
recitations and lectures, take his seat
without word or sign of recognition
to any one, fall at work upon his notes
In perfect silence, and then shamble out
again. AT first an amused smile went
around the class whenever he entered
the room, but the students soon got
used to his odd ways. and he came and
went without remarks.
His namo was Hiram Jordan. 'High"
Jordan, big, good-natured Joe Stanley
called him one day, with laugh, and
the nickname stuck like burr, as nick
names will.
No one seemed to know anything
about him. He was poor, that was evi-
dent enough, for his ill-ftting clothes
were of the cheapest material. He as
sociated with mono of the boys, and sell
dom appeared on the campus.
There happened that year to be un-
usual interest in the class races. The
crews were very evenly matched, and it
was hard to say which of them stood
the better chance OF winning.
Its dollars and pennies which comes
in first" gloomily said Joo Stanley,
captain Of our crew. 'If I only had
gnnd aeven,' + think could mako it,
but there doesn't seem to be man in
the class fitted for the positon;" and,
try our best, we could find no better
man than Charley Harvey, who was a
good fellow, certainly, but not a '.good
seven"
One afternoon, as the members of
this crew were lying around on the
float, just before their usual daily pull,
High Jordan came up and asked for
Stanley. Joo was in the boat-house FIX
ing his stretcher, and Jordan was told
to walk in. The two men did not como
out for some time, and when they did
finally appear, every one was surprised
to hear Jos say:
':Boys, Jordan has rowed good deal,
and wants to try SEVEN and I am
going to give him chance to pull there
today"
Poor Charley Halvey's face showed
his disappointment. He had been
working very hard to keep his place in
the boat, and now he was to be crowded
out, and of all men by 'High" Jordan
'shan't I row today9" he asked, un-
able to conceal his chagrin.
Il don't SEQ how we can work it,
Charley" answered Joe, kindly.
Hadn't you just as lief rest todayl'
Harvey watched the boat as she slid
off the float. His eyes were on ono man,
the new number seven. At the word.
tho men leaned forward, their oars
struck tho water simultaneously, and
the shell shot lightly ahead. The time
was perfect.
'Tts all up with mer murmured
Charley. That's the man we have
been looking for" aud he turned and
went off to his room.
Every man in tho boat sympathizsd
strongly with Charley Harvey. High
Jordan's popularity was not increased
by his sudden cutting out Of tho hard
est worker and one of the most popular
men OF the class, and no little grumb-
ling was heard from the crew, though
they must have seen at once that Jordan
was the better man of the two.
"It's beastly shame to put Charley
out ! know" said Joe Stanley, who
could not help noticing tho prevalent
feeling. II would like to see him in
the boat as well as any of you. You
know that, for there is no man in col
lege I like better. know Jordan does
not belong to our set, and is what you
call muff, but he is good fellow, for
all that, and the best oar in the boat,
and as captain of the crew, / am bound
to keep the best man."
The weeks slipped by, and confidence
In our crew steadily increased. The
race was now only three weeks of, and
the names of the crew were officially
announced in order that the men might
be initiated into the ''H. k" tho class
society.
This society, although ono remained
an active member of it for only one
year, was the controlling fact in the
social life OF the class. The first mem
bers were elected by those who had
formed the society in the preceding
class, and the new members elected
others of their own class. But a
"crewman" was understood to be en-
titled to membership in tho ''H. K"
almost as q matter of right. To be
sure, 1t required only one black ball to
reject c,ndidate, but no one had ever
known member of the crew to be
voted against.