Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1899-10-10
Thanks To XenopfonA
Being Q Story oi q Greek Tutor, q
Small Boy and Q Pretty
Sister.
BY HOWARD MARcrs STRONG.

l4 BY HOWARD MARCrS STRONG. !
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By reason OF stupid blunder on tn
part OF the compiiers Of our curriculum
Il became necessary to hurl the clas
sical preps into the midst Of Memo
phon's Anabasis before they had com
pletely mastered the Greek alphabet.
Travelling a roughcr road than die
Cyrus We marched up with the lo.U'
hoplites and took part In the battle o
Ounaka. At this point an unexpected
examination developed our weakness
In grammar and prccipitated an In
glorious retreat. An Instructor OF th'
section. I naturally shared In the com
mon ignominy, q fact which did moi
tend to Increase my amIability In tbs
classroom.
| Out Of the IL dolts intrusted TO IN!
care .Inky" Allen was perhaps th,
most obtuse. and upon him my wrath
descended with great frequency.
| ALLEN" I commanded one morning
'bring me whatever that Is you have
In your book. You are giving IL more
attention than your lesson"
.lts nothing" he responded. remoy'
Ing the object from the cover OF his
Xenophon and hiding II beneath bis
seat
IL took several minutes OF lnsistencc
and q dire threat Of corporal punish
ment to separate the culprit from his
treasure. With great reluctance he
finally deposited II upon my desk. II
was an artistic photograph OF young
lady. Several times during the reci,a
ton withdrew my gaze from the pic
turc. only to ind operations suspend
ed and the class regarding me with
looks Of III concealed wonder. ! told
Inky that he might remain after th''
others had departed. as ! had some.
thing to say to him. He grinned cheer
fully.
ALLEN" I began stcrnly when We
were alone. whose picture Is thisr
"Ett's."
"WhoseY'
"Henriettn Joyce Allen's-my sis.
ter's."
cit viii BE- necessary" said frmly.
''for me 10 retain possession Of this un.
I'll there is a noticeable Improvement
In your conduct. You may go now"
The following day "lnky" grew very
much agitated while engaged In scrawl-
ing the qualifications OF n Greek verb
on the blackboard. Catching my eye
upon him. he jcrked his head at an
alarming rate and pointed energctical-
iy out of the window. Fearing some
dire catastrophe. hastened TO his side.
There size goes" he whispered
hoarsely. "on the other side OF the
street. Look quick"
II was the original OF the photo
graph. only far more sweet and dain-
~. When directly opposite she glanced
up 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.
"It was her" Inky whispered. ut
was Eft. Amt she peachY
As our quarterly literary exercises
drew near Inky set himself the task o:
committing a passage from the origi-
nal Greek.
81 want to do something extra" he
confded to me, because they're all
coming. dad and Eft and the mater"
II Is useless 10 deny thai ! looked
forward TO this event with consider
able amount Of pleasure. Much time
was spent In furthering lnky's lauda'
BILE ambition and In correcting his ac-
cent. l felt thankful. however. that
the odds were against any person be-
ing present who could follow his
Greek defamation with anything like
an intelligent understanding.
The eventful day at last arrived. and
with II the Aliens. Inky was nervous
and half choked by the height OF bis
collar. but he FASTENED to Introduce ME
to his father. a big. red faced man.
with a grip like wise, and to his
mother. an impressive lady who gave
me two fingers and looked over thy
head.
"Ett's coming. too" Inky Informed
me, with a wink. "She hasn't got all
her hxings on yet"
A moment later Miss Allen entered
with Archibald Lyden. | am not an
expert on the subject Of feminine ap-
parel. but I do know that she wore
something pink and fluffy that was
very becoming. Lyden had known
IS an honor man at college, and l
thought with uneasiness Of lnky's
defamation.
Inky presented me to his sister and
volunteered the information that was
all right" and "a mighty square fel-
low"
She said that she was delighted to
meet Ingram's instructor. and said-l
do not remember what. Lyden's pres
ence annoyed me. had hoped so much
Of this FIRST interview.
kuAy Woo SvSn VSscS
than had anticipated. ! think his
collar was partly to blame for the
weird sounding Of his linguals and the
startling aspiration Of bis vowels Ly.
den, laughed throughout the entire
duration Of the agony. Every ono
seemed relieved ~ II drew to close.
When the remaining exercises were
over, Inky started out to show biz
friends the LAY" Of the building. They
seemed particularly interested In ny
recitation room, at least ] felt that
such was the case with Miss Allen.
As she moved to one Of the windows
she chose to mention that once In pass
ing she had glanced up and found
Inky and myself watching her with
painful interest
Just a. they were oil filing ont Of the
room ] saw Inky deftly abstract his
sisters handkerchief and drop II OF the
door. Seeing me start to pick II up.
Inky shook his head savagely. A mo-
nent later Miss Allen returned alone.
II sm always losing my handker.
ehaal.D aha aid. sBrofheS thinks that