Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1899-11-25

BY reason of stupid blunder on the
part of the compilers of our curriculum
it became necessary to hurl the clas-
steal props into the midst of Keno
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 Of
Ounaka. At this point an unexpected
examination developed our weakness
in grammar and precipitated an in
glorious retreat An instructor Of the
section, | naturally shared in the COM
mon ignominy, a fact which did not
tend to increase my amiability in the
classroom.
Out of the - dolts intrustcd to my
care Inky" Allen was perhaps the
most obtuse, and upon him my wrath
descended with great frequency.
ALLEN" commanded one morning,
in your book. You are giving it more
attention than your lesson
"It's nothing" he responded, remov-
ing the object from the cover of his
Xenophon and hiding it beneath his
seat
1t took several minutes of insiStence
and dire threat of corporal punish
ment to separate the culprit from his
treasure. With great reluctance he
finally deposited it upon my desk. 1t
was an artistic photograph of young
lady. Several times during the recita-
ton l withdrew my gaze from the pic
ture only to find operations suspend
ed and the class regarding me with
looks of ill concealed wonder. l told
Inky that he might remain after the
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 this?'
"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 I'M
til there is a noticeable improvement
in your conduct. You may go now"
The following day "Inky" grew very
much agitated while engaged In scrawl-
ing the ramifications of Greek verb
on the blackboard. Catching my eye
upon him, he jerked his head at an
alarming rate and pointed encrgetical-
ly 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 more sweet and dain-
ty. 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.
at was her." Inky whispered. at
was Eft. Amt she peach?'
AS our quarterly literary exercises
drew near Inky set himself the task of
committing n passage from the origl-
nal Greek.
II want to do something extra" he
confided 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 n consider
nble amount of pleasure. Much time
was spent in furthering Inky'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 evcntful day at last arrived, and
with it the Aliens. Inky was nervous
and half choked by the height of his
collar, but he FASTENED to Introduce me
to his father, big, red faced man.
with grip like wise, and to his
mother, an impressive lady who gave
me two fingers and looked over my
head.
"Etts coming. too" Inky Informed
me, with wink. "She hasn't got all
her fixings on yet"
A moment later Miss Allen entered
with Archibald Lyden. l 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 l had known
as an honor man at college, and
thought with uneasiness Of Inky's
defamation.
lnky presented me to his sister and
volunteered the information that l was
"all right" and "a mighty square fell
low"
She said that she was delighted to
meet Ingram's instructor, and l said-I
do not remember what. Lydens pres
ence annoyed me. had hoped so much
of this first Interview.
Inky's performance was even worse
than had anticipated. l think his
collar was partly to blame for the
weird sounding Of his linguals and the
startling aspiration Of his vowels. Ly-
den laughed throughout the entire
duration of the agony. Every one
seemed relieved as 1t drew to a close.
When the remaining exercises were
over, Inky started out to show his
friends the LAY" Of the building They