The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-09-22
Thanks to Xenophon.
.s.s"s' N.s.s.s.
Being q Story Of q Greek Tutor, q
Small Boy and q Pretty
Sister.
.s.s-s.a s-s-s.
BY HOWARD MARCUS STRONG.

SlC0l prepS lutO tue AIiuss "a -NS"'
phon's Anabasis before they had com
pletely mastered the Greek alphabet.
Travelling a rougher road than did
Cyrus we marched up with the 10000
hoplites and took part IN the battle or
Ounaka. At this point an unexpected
examination developed Il weakness
In grammar and p%recipitated an IN
glorious retreat. An Instructor Of the
section, l naturally shared In the COM
mon ignominy, a fact which did not
tend to increase my amiability IN the
classroom.
Out Of the IL doAts intrusted to my
care ''Inky' Allen was perhaps the
most obtuse, and upon him my wrath
descended with great frequency.
"Allen," | commanded n morning,
-bring me whatever that Is you have
In your book. You are giving It more
attention than your lesson"
Its nothing" he responded, remov'
ing the object from the cover OF his
xenophon and hiding 1t beneath his
seat.
1t took several minutes Of insistence
and q dire threat OF corporal punish
ment to separate the culprit from his
treasure. With great reluctance he
finally deposited 1t upon my desk. 1t
was an artistic photograph Of a young
lady. Several times during the recita.
ton l withdrew my gaze from the pie
ture, only to find operations suspend.
ed and the class regarding me with
looks Of III concealed wonder. told
Inky that he might remain after tho
others had departed, as l had some.
thing to say to him. He grinned cheer.
fully.
Allen" l began sternly when We
were alone, "whose picture Is thlsT
"Ett's."
"Whose"
"Henrietta Joyce Allen's-my sis.
ter's."
ut will be necessary" l said firmly,
''for me to retain possession Of this un.
til there Is a noticeable improvement
In your conduct. You may 90 now"
The following day "Inky" grew very
much agitated while engaged In scrawl-
ing the ramlfcations Of a Greek verb
on the blackboard. Catching my eye
upon him, he jerked his head at an
alarming rate and pointed energetical.
" out of the window. Fearing some
dire catastrophe, I fastened to his side.
'There she goes" he whispered
hoarsely, ION the other side Of the
street. Look quick"
1t was the original Of the photo.
graph. only far mor sweet and dain.
ty. When directly opposite she glanced
mp at the window and, catching sight
Of "Inky." smiled and waved her
hand. An angle Of the building pre-.
vented my seeing her after she had
picked her way across the crossing.
1T was her" 1nky whispered. 1T
was Eft. Amt she a peach"
Az U quarterly literary exercises
drew ear Inky set himself the task Of
committing a passage from the origI-
nal Greek.
II want to do something extra" he
conflded to me, because they're all
coming. dad and Eft and the mater"
1t Is useless to deny that l looked
forward to this event with a consider
able amount of pleasure. Much time
was spent In furthering lnky's lauda.
BILE ambition and In correcting his nc.
cent. felt thankful, however, that
the odds We're against any person be-
ing present who could follow his
Greek defamation with anything like
a intelligent understanding,
The eventful day at last arrived, and
with It the Aliens. lnky was
and half choked by the height Of his
collar, but he fastened to Introduce me
to his father, a big. red faced man,
with a grip like n wise, and to his
mother, an impressive lady who gave
me two fingers and looked over my
head,
"Ett's coming, too" Inky Informed
me-, with n wink. "She hasn't got all
her tiXings on yet"
A moment later Miss Allen entered
with Archibald Lyden. | am not an
expert on the subject Of feminine ap-
parel, but l do know that she wore
something pink and fluffy that was
very becoming. Lyden | had known
o. an honor man at college, and !
thought with uneasiness of Inky's
defamation,
Inky presented me to his sister and
volunteered the information that ! was
AL right" and "a mighty square tel
low"
Che said that she was delighted to
meet Ingram's instructor, and ! said-I
do not remember what, LydeA's pres,
.ence annoyed me, ! had hoped 80 much
ef this first Interview,
Inky's performance was even worse
than had anticipated, think his
collar was partly to blame for the
weird sounding Of his liRguals and tho
startling aspiration OF his vowels, Ly'
Aen laughed throughout tho entire
duration 0f the agony. Every one
eoomed relieved ~ II drew 10 q close,
when the fsmaininx exercises were
ever, ynky started out 10 show his
- - y UA