Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-08-02
HONEST HARRY.

fellows. because nicknames, more's
the pity. have a knack of being UNI
complimentary; yet if ever a boy de-
served such AN honorable epithet, il
was Harry,
You had only TO look at hat frank,
open face 10 guess that he was las
honest as the day was long"
In the good old days Of stern disci-
pline and unsympathetic despotism,
the trenlblers under the rod seemed 10
have judged anything fair which
helped them TO cheat their tyrauts,
70 long as they stood stanchly by the
cause Of their companions. But now
that teachers appeal more TO the con
science and less TO the back. the pu-
pills, | think, commonly come for.
ward to meet them on the ground of
mutual good will. In my recollection
the code of schoolboy honor has
changed greatly for the better.
| am writing, however, of a school
where this reform was still somewhat
incomplete, and where it might well
happen that a boy had TO choose be-
tween doing what he thought wrong
and earning the opprobrium of a
traitor TO his fellows.
One scene comes clearly back 90 me,
in which Harry found himself hard
put TO il on the horns of such a d.
leinma.
Ii was a wet afternoon, and some
of us had made our way into the class
room ten minutes or so before the az
rival of Mr.. Greig, our mathematical
teacher.
Then, TO pass the time, what must
Reece do, the wag of the class, but
proceed TO execute in chalk on the
blackboard an absurd ~caricature OF
'0ld Greig." with his long nose, his
spectacles. his bushy wits ;ers-all as
large as life, and, in fact, a great deal
larger.
Reece was clever at this sort OF
thing, and, with a few bold strokes,
succeeded in so hitting of the masters
rather ludicrous features that there
could be no mistake as to who was
meant.
Absorbed in admiration of this work
of art, none of us had needed how the
minutes went, till another knot OF
young mathematicians, bursting in
wet end muddy from the outside, gave
notice that Mr.. Greig was at hand,
and that it was high time TO have done
with our fooling.
where's the duster2' exclaimed
Reece, in confusion, since he must
needs make all haste 10 wipe out his
compromising performance.
Alas certain other idle hands had
carried off the buster, and were play
ing catch with il, rolled up into a
ball, at the farther end Of the room.
This useful article not being imme-
ditately forthcoming, Reece was for
making a dash at the blackboard with
his sleeve, but too late to do nor
than smudge out one corner Of that
unlucky design.
Mr.. Greig already stood in the door
way, commanding, with stentorian
tones:
Seats this momentl Do you hear
me. boysf"
There was nothing for it but to scut-
tie off to our desks as he strobe ma
jesticaily up the room and took his
place right before that blackboard,
with the portrait staring at us from
behind the back of the original.
As yet he had not cast his spectacles
upon it; but sooner or later, he must
turn round-and thenl Reece began
to think that for once his clever lin.
gers had served him an i'll trick.
No soone had the hustle Of taking
places subsidized a little than n litter
broke out aud rolled along the desks
like file firing, which caused our
teacher to proclaim silence in the
sterDest tones.
He could not make out what was
amusing US SO much, why some boys
nudged their neighbors, why others
STUFF Their handkerchief into their
mouths and grew red in the face from
the exertion to control themselves be-
comlngly or why all eyes were turned
in his direction.
''Silencel' repeated he, humping
~vehenently with a pointer. and try
ing to overawe his giggling flock by a
solemn frown, which gave him a
greater resemblance 10 the ~carlcature
than eyer,'so that half a dozen of us
burst outright into a guifaw.
Nj. Greig grew seriously angry.
IF this foolery is not brought to an
end at once, | will keep in the whole
class, he cried.
With such athreat hanging owe us,
we made a great effort at composing
ourselves, casting down our restless
eyes. so as not 10 have them drawn TO
10 the blackboard. Still, from time TO
time our visibility was on the point Of
breaking out afresh, while we sat in
an agony Of suppressed excitement,
awaiting the moment when Mr.. Greig
should discover il, as every moment
he seemed on the point Of doing.
lie kept casting glances Of puzzled
suspicion in front Of him, on each
side Of him, everywhere but in the
right direction, and we could see him
feeling his buttons and wiping his
face with his handkerchief, as if 10
make sur there was nothing wrong
there 10 amuse us-perhaps a smut on
his nose or a splash Of mud on his
shirt front
Instead of going TO work at once
with a proposition Of Euclid as usual
he began that day by examining us in
the definitions, which OF course pro.
Ionged our ordeal, for il kept him sit
ting in his desk with his back 10 the
blackboard. Thus, presently he called
me up and asked me 10 define a paral.
telegram.