The Van Buren press., 1897-07-03

had been cheating. bat | had long BE-
fore decided. ike many a colleague =
those days. that it vas both nndignified
and futile 10 try TO prevent i b. watch
ing.
As the EYES of the freshman met
mine. [ was conscious Of tug o. fel-
low-feeIing for MeRawney: he and I
thought alike about cheating, il
seemed. and he stood there apparently
so solitary. while the fnrtiye Kisses ran
round the room Yet neFcr was there
a man in less need Of sympathy.
I'm sorry to hear you hiss. boys,
h.. vent on, eool1y. but xou viii prob
ably have cause 10 hiss a good deal
louder before sit down. I'm going TO
do something that most Of you. reck-
On. won't ike al all, aud I'll tell YOU
why | am going 10 do it. | pass BY
my personal feelings in this matter,
though | DO say this: When a man
has studied Greek hard all this term.
as have. and can't pass, and then
sees another man get through By
cheating. it's rough. II isn't fair
shake; but | waive that point.
The more important NATTER he
spoke very gravely. is that we have
been disgraced as class by the act
of dishonest classmate. Down where
used TO live, how long do you suppose
a man like that could stay in school
among gentlemen? Not one day-no,
sir! not over night. The boys
wouldn't stand it down there. and !
don't propose to stand it here. The
man that | saw cheat must apologize
10 the class"
The anarchist paused. There were
no Kisses. One could have heard the
snow feeking against the window
panes. so still was the great room. No
body knew who il was that McRawney
had caught. There were perhaps
dozen men in pitiable fear that they
had been detected. No one moved.
McRawney frowned. rs the man
waiting for me to name him." he thun-
dered
The dozen men stole glances at one
another The face of high-rank man
near McRawney was CHASTITY gray.
Every well" remarked the anarchist
'As you wish" He pulled ont an old
silver watch. Il shall give him just
30 seconds; if he does not apologize,
shall name him, and then he leaves
college or | do. / don't want to stay
here with him. and he certainly won't
want to stay here with me-
/ have seen some solemn things, but
never more solemn sight than those
boys struggling with themselves and
thrilling with a new conception of
honor.
Five said the anarchists drawing
voice, and at intervals that seemed end
less there-followed "ten'-"tifteen'-
twenty -''twenty-"
MIR. President exclaimed a black
eyed, handsome little Philadelpbian,
rising from the far corner of the room,
"and fellows, this is all wrong We
don't want anybody to leave. If any
body leaves | suppose | ought to. /
haven't cheated to-day, because-well,
brought the wrong papers! But l
have cheated lots of times, that is, for
freshman. And / apologize. I'm sor-
~. | think Mr.. McRawney is right
about it. A gentleman ought not to
cheat in examinations" He looked all
around him on the faces of his class
mates, and spoke on;
1--WE can beat these southern colleges
in athletics, but they have some good
ideas, and / think the class of ninety
blank is the class to intro
duce them here. Fellows, / be-
lieve the professor will give us
another examination if we ask for
it, and if he will, move you, Mr.. Presi-
dent, that from this time forward the
class of ninety-blank puts itself on its
honor"
lie glanced timidly across the room
al me and sat down.
The anarchist pocketed his watch.
as the motion secondedT he said,
gravely, But all parliamentary de-
corum was lost in tumult of boyish
clapping, and a dozen freshmen were
on their feet at once, stammering out
confessions and apologies.
The professor made an incoherent
speech and the next day he gave out
rev Greek pepper, so easy, in TRUTH,
that even McRawney passed it; and
thus the honor system" famous
enough now, but suspiciously regarded
then. made its entrance into the old
college, where it has wrought more
miracles than will ever be set down in
print.
As for its foster-father, the anarchist
he dropped around to my rooms few
weeks later. to ask what | thought OF
the adyisability of his studying modern
Greek at Athens. ] replied, somewhat
lightly, that he would doubtless find
it an interesting experience.
81 thought So" he said, simply. 81
reckon I'll go. You you see a man OF
my age gets kind of restless sometimes
here among these boys"
"But how can you goW | ventured.
He stretched his big shoulders.
"Oh, that's easy enough" he laughed
I've made a couple of voyages. And
after I've picked up that modern Greek
professor" he confded, I'm going tc
rush on east and see what it's like
Did YOU ever read this poem?'
He pulled tattered newspaper clip
ping from his pocket and passed it
over to me. 1t was "A single stanza
from kipling's "Mandalay." He muir
INJURED couple of lines of it, lying back
in my casy-chair, and staring at my
cast of the Olympian-llermes:
''On the road to Mandalay
Where the fiyin' fishes play,
An the dawn comes up like thunder
Outer China, 'crost the bay!"