Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1906-06-06

nitrate hrn he shou III grow up.
1 rreolieet one Saturday evening about Two
score of us slipped out Of The grounds 10 meet
the Blood TUBS who han. 30 10 s?rhk ,
81 tbe head of King street. where Doctor All
di,ou once lived, Ne found the doughty Hall
and his cohorts awaiting US. Hall shouted
th,ir hattie crS, ~ Wade IN lrInons snd lie
souerz.J 80 anl came for u.s. We gave our
| coIley, ery and met them half way. WHEN
| Greek mel Gre-k Ihrn came the tug of war.
! 1hrir method Was The same IS that oI Pat,
st Donnybrnok fair: when you ssw head
on hit IT, or raihrr hit AZ H. u was rough
| sud tumble. take aud give, and yrlls Null
] "Nun :" IL the pace WAS loo hot | don't re-
member much OF the engagement, only that
| fellow Hall. leader of the Blood Tubs" hit
! me in the mouth, which c'used my lips to
swell 80 that / couldn't go to church next
! day.
The battle was no. fought TO finish, fcr a
cnast,b;e came on run npthe street and We
| followed his example aud tetreated Up the
pike. each hoy Dragging about what he had
done so that il was j wonder that Hall and
| his blood TUBS" were not extermlnated.
At nine O'Clock the school began. On
das sat the monarch Of the +. II. ). He was
short, stout man. with aclose trimmed beard
aud severe cast Of countenance.
Supreme he sits: "Befne his awful frown
that bends his brovs The boldest eye goes
down" The principal. "Old Mae" inside the
school and Dr. Mcclure outside, were two very
different persons. / learned that later aud
found that bigger, nObler heart never beat
within human breast. He consciously or
unconsciously initiated the great Doctor At
mold of Rugby; sc minglys martinez. really
a philanthrOpist, who tried to hide MS he,
nignity 10y wearin the mask ola tyrannlcll
master.
Wednesdays aud Saturdays were red letter
days; half holidays and pay days.
There was one thing Mr. hcGu re eIacted
from the parents when he entered son IN
the ychOo.-that no money should be given the
lad. A smsl! supply left with the principal
was all that was permitted. This was wise
provision. IS it pu: all the boys on an equal
footing, and kept the rich mans son out OF
mischief. Give the average hoy a loi OF
money and if he is not Of the Sanford and
Merton type, who remember the heather in
their pr yers and give their pocket money 70
the pagan. the A. b. will glide into devil
ment az naturally as a duck takes to water.
But reyenon a las mouton.
Every Wednesday and Saturday afternoons
we formed in line and received from the
treasurer four three-cent silver pieces. and
v hile it iingled in the boy = Tocket il was not
enough TO make him wildlyhilariOus. IL went
for ginger pop and cakes. so us by on old
negro woman who had cabin near the en-.
trance gate. Old Aunt sally did the boys
washing, and she used often 10 say she
''surey knew how TO make dem cakes"
Well. they surely tasiel good. even IL they
did smell of soap 1Le PIP was three cents
bOttlescakes two for a cent. Two bottles OF
pop and three cents worth OF cakes would
fiji a boy so full that he couldn't crOak.
The boys enjoyed their holidays very much
as they do now, Olly the games and customs
we're different IN clear weather chasing the
hare was the fagorite pastme. The tieetest
runner started out with \ bag filled with
paper torn into bits. He would go at tearing
pace and drop the paper as he ran, with the
whole school on the hunt Frequently the
chase lastei for miles. fos it vas rough,
Wild, uncultiyaied region around the High
School half century ago.
Bandy was the great game in my time, and
baseball, as played now, MAS unknown.
Marbles. too. favoriie rasiime, and
Stept0e Nelson, afterwards connected with
the college, was the best player. | can recall
"Step" SLENDER ronnd.shOuldered youth.
with his pockets bulgng out with marbles,
and "Step" ought to have turned out a line
mathematician. for he was cOuntng his
marbles in school half the time. He would
count from his pocket TO his hat and from
his hat to his pocket, his lips moving as If IN
duIlb and secret prayer. and ifthe count dld
not balance step" would scratch his head,
touzle his hair aud go at il again. How
kindly and atiectiOEaiely my memory recalls
him so thoughlful, so 81 sympathetic, 50 gener-
Gus with the boys. so companionable with sll;
altogether he was the MO popular boy IN
the school.
I'm those DAYS there were no trashy paper
covered novels or hashy magazines. Harper's
was the oIly magazine | ever saw 10 the
hands of the pupils. There were many book
worms 10 the school, but they read the good
old En glish classics and the British tssaylst
was 4 prime favorite. There we're no gel
low journals The Alexandria GIzslte,
the Washington National lnt-ligrncer aud
the Baltimore sun were all the newspapers
remrmber tAying seen.
Who ia these days Of patent Argand burn
ers. gas drop lights snd lnelIowr,l electric
lamps would take the trouble To read by
sperm candle? Yet that MAS Whist We used
in thos- days and there Was no complaint
We of the upper ten, who read by solitary
sperm candle. pitied the boys in the bosiding
house who had to study their lessons by the
light of tsllow dip.
The annual examinations were great sfairs,
many of the bOys' parents coming by carriage
from the southern states, often journey OF
weeks or months, for there were no airline raj
roads ,unning through the southern states st
that time. But the r'ch planters had spien-
did horses, aud where every house was open
I'd to them, a jaunt from Alabama or the
Carolinas wss a very enjoyable affair.
The two months Immediately preceding the
examination were spent in hsrd study. The
pride OF the boys was aroused and they cram
med all they knew how and every boy was
willing to help another The exams" were
always passed creditably. Ny bOyish hopes
of gaining ribbon we're doomed to dlsap-
pointment, aud this is how it happened.
referred to MOrsOn before as having disiin-
guished himself in the istic ring. My recol'
| lection of him is of q tall angular, double
ioiuted boy about sixteen years old. He was
something Of tyrant and was continually
getting into fights. lie could hold his own
against any boy in the school except Lynn.
One day. few weeks before commence
ment Marson had some words with Wilmer
| B. swn and cufied him soundly. Wilmer told
| his "pas" and we four went TO Lynn and
| stated our case. Lynn saw Morson. who was
very unruly; so Lynn told him that on Saiur:
day evening he must tight the whole four OF
us, and as he was big boy and the hero OF 4
dozen trays and we were but slim, slight lads
| ii would he a fair thing for him to tackle the
auartette all at once, rough and tumble.
Morson agreed ard we four boys set TO work
| at day's notice. don't remember whether
or lot we dieied or trained down fine in those
twenty.fcur hours, but | am sure that neither
Hector, before the battle with Achilles, or
David, the night prior to the mill with Go
Hath, or Heenan, before he stood up to Sayers
for the championship OF the world, did more
thinking or pass a more sleepless night than
did each individual OF our quarteite.
The morning exercises passed like dream,
and after we had been paid off the whole
crowd wended its way to the place of com.
bat. There was no time lost. The boys
formed ring, the eombatants removed their