Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1893-09-04
A SURPRISE PARTY.


Phiiander Harrow Darrow was q new
student at Merton Hall. He came in with
the spring semester, bearing with him an
ancient haircloth trunk, marked in white
letters. "P II. d." for Merton Hall. My
talent rather beggars description of the
youth. He was tall and lank, clothed with
a wondrous i'll fitting suit of homespun.
His pale, melancholy face and innocent
blue eyes looked out from under the broad
brim of ''wideawake," which would GER
tainly have done credit to any patriarch,
which humanity had never been able to
extend to him. He had asked sympathy
In return he had always received ridicule
and imposition. He received plenty of it
upon his arrival at Merton Hall, having
tramped up from the station a distance of
four miles, over a'muddy road, his cowhide
boots covered with mud, running the
gauntlet of a lot Of elegant college youths
who were playing cricket on the campus.
The boys stopped playing cricket at sight
of him, too astonished to continue. Never
had anything quite so verdant entered the
precincts of Merton Hall. And Algernon
Upperten, who was merely watching the
cricket game from afar, put up his single
eyeglass and wondered audibly if he came
from the ark. When the little haircloth
trunk arrived in company with several
others of larger and more aristocratic ap-
pearance from the station, there were
shouts of derisive laughter in the lower
bo1 fNbo No hox rtoip 1xy fnoI for
the gods Who can say what visions Of
midnight festivities at which the new boy
should be guest of honor danced in their
heads7
Merton Hall boys were not slow. Never
in the annals Of the school had they been
noted for that characteristic, and the dons
of the university had grown prematurely
old and gray in their endeavors to hold the
reins of government over them. That they
had not been entirely successful was noted
in the frequent outbursts of misrule and
midnight maurauding, in which the help
less victim proved to be some innocent and
unsuspecting student, a newcomer, not up
to the varied and interesting amusement
called ''hazing." The boys of '92 were no
less reckless than their predecessors, and
the dons had been powerless to check the
overflow Of spirits. To assist them they
had called in the services of q younger and
enthusiastic man, Professor Van Loo, who
promised to break up the system of hazing
as practiced mt Merton Hall or die in the at
tempt. He had as yet had no occasion to
forfeit his lease on life in defense of his
policy.
When Philander Harrow barrow entered
Professor Van Loo's classroom, attired in
his antiquated garments, sidled into Il seat,
stumbled and stammercd over the simple
questions put to him, series of compre-
hensive winks went around that genial cir
Gle of college youths.
Before noon of that day Algernon Upper
ten and his faithful allies had planned for
surprise party in honor of Darrow-an
initiatory step into the Upper Kingdom of
the Hypopolorums. The preliminaries-a
few sheets for ghostly tout ensemble, a
bucket of tar pillow of feathers, a rope.
That was all, and yet in the gloom Of the
night such tragic results to be developed!
barrow, wandering aimlessly up and
down the deserted cricket ground, his eyes
Latin grammar ran into Bob Stivers-ac-
cidentally, of course.
Studying, heys"
barrow raised his melancholy eyes slowly.
Reckon pll hev ter dew a heap O. that
fore get threw" he said laconically.
Stivers laughed. II guess you'll hev ter
dew heep of something else if you're goin
to get on in this institution. Say, Darrow,
did you ever have q surprise partyi" Stiv-
ers chuckled amusedly.
"S'prise party? Yes, they're common out
our way"
well, you're goin to have one tonight.
See here, Darrow," and Stivcrs drew little
nearer in Il confidential way, better keep
your eyes open till the clock strikes 10 and
be prepared. The boys are rather rough on
a fellow sometimes. Why, do you know,
they took fellow once-a new fellow from
up country-stripped him. tarred and feath-
cred him and tied him up in tree and left
him there till morning"
barrow was evidently much agitated.
He trembled vsibly. you don't mean to
say-they wouldn't''-he gasped.
Eyes, they would" interrupted Stivers.
You don't know 'em. They'd do any
thing"
Stivers went off laughingly. He had
served the Hypopolorums good trick.
Only last week he had been turned out of
the society for some slight thing, and now
he had warned their intended victim.
Then Stivers grew to wondering what
sort of preparation an unsophisticated
''greeny" like barrow could make against
such magic set as that to which Alger-
non Upperten belonged.
It was Ii by the village clock. barrow,
in his little room, sat coming his Latin
grammar.
As tho last stroke of the bell died away
the young man arose and shaded his lamp
till only a subdued twilight flooded the
apartment. The melancholy expression Of
his face vanished; there was slight stern
ness in the pale blue eyes; the stoop in his
shoulders was gone. Helooked really hand
some in that moment. Laughing amused
ly, he took bunch Of keys from a nail on
the wall, and crossing the room fitted one
of them into the lock of the little hair
trunk. The lid fell back, revealing the
contents of the trunk-a pair Of boxing
gloves, bells and weights of various sizes
and other paraphernalia Of pugilistic out
fit.
Perhaps | had better be prepared"
laughed barrow. Wonder how many OF
them am expected to entertain"
He took up the bells, threw off his i'll fit
ting coat and stood there in the center Of
the little room, splendid type of physical
manhood, finely developed biceps and ex-
ercising muscles that showed the perfec-
tion of nm athlete. It was almost the trans