The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1921-04-29

] OF Door JHtOU ltOOutt-tdll tdb the DONe
nicknamed HIND. In whose hands
everything came to pieces and In whose
head nothing would stick, or Job Rud-
kin. whose scandal.zed mother demand
ed on the occasion of a visit from
Madam Brown: Job, Job, where's thy
CAPT"
What Beanie on ma head.
ing one hand from a pocket and feel
ing for the article in question which
he found on his head and left there.
to his mothers horror and Toms great
delight
Rugby was a new world for Tom.
He was sturdy, and combative urchin,
able to fend for himself on his own
heath; yet it was a great boon for
him that he fell into the hands of
boy of his own age, but bit ahead
of him at Rugby. The first sight he
encountered on his arrival was lord
ly crowd of youngsters who looked
quite as If they owned the place. One
of these young heroes ran out from
the rest and accosted Tom 81 say. you
fellow, is your name Brown
"Yes," said Tom, in considerable as
constituent, glad, however, to have
lighted on some one already who
seemed to know him.
"Ah, I thought so; you know my
aunt, Miss East; she lives somewhere
down your way in Berkshire. She
wrote to me that you were coming to-
day, and asked me to give you lift.
You see," said his friend, as they
strolled up toward the school gates,
"a great deal depends on how fellow
cuts up at first. If he's got nothing
odd about him, and answers straight
forward and holds his head up, he gets
on. You see I'm doing the handsome
thing by you, because my father knows
yours; besides, / want to please the
old lady. She gave me half a SOW
this half, and perhaps'll double it next
If keep in her good books"
Thus began a friendship which last
ed through all their school days and
meant much to both of them. Friend
ship and loyalty and good sportsman
ship are great features in this book,
which shows an insight into the brain
and heart of boy which is just as
wise In the year of our Lord 1920 as
it was in the days of William ~.
Tom and East we're together in
games, in mischief in fights, in
good deeds, or in devfltry, as they
were in ingenious syndicating meth
DDS of working out the mysteries of
the Greek and Latin languages. And
years later, when the wise Doctor
Arnold of Rugby decided that Tom
was headed toward destruction, 1t was
by means of friendship for a weaker
boy who needed his protection that he
rescued him. What was the marvel of
the doctors power over boys? I'VE
couldn't enter into half that we heard;
we hadn't the knowledge of our own
hearts or the knowledge of one an
other; and little enough of the faith.
hone and love needed to that end. But |
we listened. as all boys in their bet |
ter moods will listen (aye, and men,
too, for the matter of thaD, TO |
man whom they felt to be, with all /
his heart and soul and strength, striv- /
ing against whatever was mean and 1
unmanly and unrighteous In our little
world. 1t was not the cold. clear
voice of one giving advice and warn
ing from serene heights to those who
were struggling and SHINING below,
but the warm, living voice of one who
was fighting for us and by our SIDES.
and calling us to help him and our
selves and one another. And so,
YEARLY and little by little, was brought
home to the young boy, for the first
time. the meaning of his life: that it
was no fools or sluggards paradise
into which he had wandered by chance,
hut battle field, ordained from of
old. where there are no spectators, but
the youngest must take his side, and
the stakes are life and death. And he
who reused this consciousness in them
showed them at the same time, by d
every word he spoke, and by his whole
daily life how that battle was to be
fought; and stood before them their ,
and the captain of their
guard. The true sort of captain, too,
for a boys army, one who had no mis-
givings and gave no uncertain word
of command, and, let who would yield
or make a truce, would fight the fight !
out $50 every boy felt) to the last gasp /
and the last drop of blood" q
And so Tom lived his life from the
first green days to the last memorable i
night, when he was "chalred" round ]
the quadrangle by the eleven. shout 7
ing in chorus: "For he's Jolly, good
himself as great a boy as all
the rest, despite the passage Of the :,
years and his dignity of captain. 1t :
is n story of humanness, with all its .
good points and its frailties. but espe-
rially of loyalty and of friendship of S
games, so much like our own in spirit, a
and yet so different in details; of East p
md Arthur. of the brutalities of the "
Did tagging system, the school bully O
and Toms classic fight with him, of ii
he final war of independence against Il
What was mean and sOrdid.
''I want to leave behind me- said
Tom. speaking low, the name of a
elbow who never bullied a little boy
,r turned his back on a big one And IL