Hattiesburg daily news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1907-1908, 1907-06-27
The College Hero.

II
Whether Tom Trotter was success
or. not in college depends upon what
success>is. Tom was the poorest stu
dent and the best fellow at the uni
Yersity. He would have been popular
anyway, but the fact that he carried
his college TO victory on numerous oc-
caslons on the gridiron excited an en-
thusiasm which, had he lived among
the ancient Greeks or Romans, would
have insured his worship as god.
Tom stood six feet two in his stock
ings, was Of gigantic frame and iron
muscle. Possibly he might have learn
ed something from his books had he
spent any time over them. but how
was he to spend time over his books
when he was obliged to be head and
front of every athletic club at the uni
versty? And how was he to be drop
ped at failure to pass his examinations
athletics and was constantly advertis-
ing the college by the famous victories
he won for 1t? The truth is that the
faculty, realizing the Importance of
keeping him afloat on the university
curriculum, did more worrying about
how to pull him through his exams
than he did about pulling through them
himself. A failure to win an important
game would fill him with dependency.
A failure at examination never trou-
bled him at all.
"Howsoever these things be-" as the
poet says, by hook or by crook Tom
was dragged along till he came to his
graduation examinations. The. words
.'by hook or by crook may be taken
literally, for he made no pretense to
walking straight and narrow path at
his examinations, and he once actually
used wire hook on which he had
strung a lot Of special problems. These
he could pull up into his sleeve by
string at moments notice But now
Toms finals" stared him in the face,
not only him, but the faculty and ev-
cry man In college(
AS the examinations were coming on,
there came also champion game of
baseball with the University of Y. Ev-
erybody knew that Tom must bear the
whole weight of the game himself.
One accident after another had hap
pened to deprive the team of good
men, to be replaced by inferior ones.
When the game came off, Tom was
there in all his glory. Stimulated by
the work before him, he surpassed any
thing he had ever done on any field
He would send the ball far up into the
sky, then keep on running as long as
there were runs to make. When the
game was finished, with crushing de-
feat to the enemy, Tom was carried
in triumph on the shoulders of the
team to his room, where he held re-
ception for the rest of the day. s
The next morning Linden saw an
Lother sight" Tom was sitting in an
amination room. He had been struck
i ball the day before on the fore
1ead and in making a sliding run had
f4hbbed the skin off his leg. No record
was made of these mishaps at the
| time, and few students Orators to
college glory limited that they had
never occurred. Be this as it may,
Toms head was bound up with cloth,
and a pair of crutches reposed in the
seat next to him. Behind table on a
| raised dais sat professor. Every oc-
| cupation has its disagreeable features,
and the man who was wrapped in the
subject he endeavored to engraft into
| others was obliged at examinations to
make spy of himself. He kept his
eyes on the window instead of the
students, where they should have been
and Tom kept his eyes on some sheets
of pdper between which some of the
problems in the list were solved But
Tom found 1t difficult even with the
solutions before him to get them into
hisown examinationp without copy
ing them figure for figure. No sleigh
Of hand would enable him to do this
without detection. The professor who
could see the transaction plainly, o.
rather would not see 1t at all, finally
gave way to qualms of conscience, ant
getting up from his chair walked slow
~ down to Toms seat, giving him am
:, pie time to cover up anything to in
criminate him. Tom laid large square
blotter on the pony" Others were OBJ
servant of what was going on, and tn,
professor had no choice but to demand
) to see what was under the blotter
Tom looked embarrassed.
i I'D rather not show you that, pro
fessor.s he said
"For what reason?"
"Modesty."
The students sitting about snickered
Nevertheless / must insist on see
ing It,"
} Tom heayed a great sigh from hi
enormous chest which sounded like tn
wind coming from the cave Of Eolu
and lifted the blotter.
The picture of a woman in a decd
lete dress with a wealth of black
whirlpool hair and flaring eyes-onl.