Through trials to triumph : a story of boys' school life

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CHAPTER I. Christie's Home

O you suppose, Phil, the boys will bother me much ? ” inquired the anxious voice of Christie Randolph as, walking by the side of his cousin, he had been discussing the all-engrossing subject of his probable reception at the Franklin Institute, for which he was bound the following day.

“Well, to be honest, I am afraid the first term will go rather hard with such a slender little chap as you are ; for to order about, and bother all greenies, the big fellows seem to think a duty ; and, to do them justice, it is one they most energetically perform. Instead of mulling in the house all this time, when you knew you were going to school with me, you should have been developing your biceps ; ” aqcj the speaker, young Phil Spencer, doubled up his arm, and felt of his own with evident satisfaction. “ Why, they will pounce upon you at once, and down you will tumble like a ninepin, and no one will take the trouble to set you up again, either.”

These evil prognostications fell like lead upon the heart of the little fellow thus addressed. That he was shorter and more slender than most boys of his age was a disagreeable truth which had been brought home to him long before ; but that this very insignificance was to make him the target for all the young pugilists at the Franklin Institute was a thought even more distasteful than he had yet been forced to entertain ; and for the hundredth time that day he bitterly regretted that he must leave his own peaceful home for the roughness and tumult of school-life.

“ Cheer up,” said Phil, arrested in the gratifying examination before-mentioned by the silence of his companion ; “ a little buffeting about will do you good. You are getting to be a regular milk-sop, being so much with your sisters, and dreaming away your time ; besides you wont mind being knocked about after you

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are used to it. You must expect to be ‘hazed’ from time to time, and to make yourself useful in base-ball by waiting on the fellows ; a few cuffs more or less, thrown in, are mere trifles.”

The probable recipient of the “ mere trifles ” hardly viewed the matter with the same resignation and philosophy which Phil displayed, and instead of cheering up as he was bidden, looked, as he felt, like the most miserable of urchins.

“ I wish I could remain at home ; I hate school ; I detest base-ball ; and I must confess I don’t like to be cuffed either. Do you think now I look so very small?” and Christie straightened up in order to appear as large as possible, and anxiously awaited his cousin’s verdict.

“ Well, I don’t know,” answered Phil slowly, as it began to dawn upon him that his consolation was not of the most comforting sort. “ You do look pretty thin, but perhaps you are one of the wiry little fellows, and have plenty of sand. Now sand is a good thing, next to well-developed biceps.”

“ Sand, sand ! I haven’t any,” said Christie, looking down at mother earth with a new interest. “ I suppose I can get some, though.”

io Through Trials to Triumph.

“ You’d better,” returned Phil, a light springing to his eyes. “Just get a little, wrap it up in a piece of paper, and keep it in your pocket, it will be very efficacious and Phil, unable to keep sober a moment longer, burst into a loud roar.

Christie’s cheeks flushed ; that his cousin was laughing at him was evident, but he could not understand wherein he had given him cause, and, painfully mortified, abashed, and indeed hurt, he asked for an explanation.

“ That’s a good one ! ” cried Phil, in his most patronizing style. “ Don’t you know sand means courage ? I dare say that after you get away from your sisters’ influence you may come out quite a knowing chap ; but at present you are uncommonly green, even for a Fresh and with this compliment he commenced to whistle to keep from laughing again.

“ I don’t see why you are always casting slurs upon Annie and Alice,” remarked Christie, rather resenting Phil’s manner of alluding to his sisters.

“Nonsense!” cried Phil ; “I haven’t cast any reflections on them. I think they are very nice, in fact, wonderfully jolly for girls ; but then, you know, girls are not boys.”

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This indisputable statement Christie could not deny, but he ventured to suggest apologetically that they could not help it.

“I know it,” conceded Phil, in pitying accents, “ and a pretty life they have of it, being housed from morning till night. Why, they can’t tell a cricket bat from a base-ball bat ; and that reminds me I must hurry home and pack my new balls. Be sure you are ready in the morning, Christie, and don’t forget the sand.” With this playful suggestion Phil turned gayly down a neighboring street, and was soon out of sight.

A happy-go-lucky sort of a fellow was Phil Spencer ; thoughtless, heedless, good-natured, and, in his way, very fond of his cousin. That he was a greeny and a milk-sop Phil averred with the utmost candor, always adding, however, that it was his sisters’ fault ; and having thus shifted the blame upon those' pretty shoulders, he condescended to patronize and make much of poor Christie, who in return looked up to him with unbounded admiration. Indeed, Phil was very generally admired by boys ; for his grand, generous ways, his invariable good spirits, and his readiness to join in any frolic, regardless of consequences, were just the attributes most attractive to school-boys. Older friends might fear that his thoughtlessness proceeded from a selfish indifference to the comfort or happiness of others, and that his acts were not influenced by high aims or steady principle. In fact, Phil did not make much effort to do right, nor did he think much of serious subjects ; but slipped along feeling very well satisfied with himself, and wishing Christie would take life easy.

His remarks to him during the afternoon were hardly conducive to that end, and made Christie very uncomfortable as he slowly bent his steps homeward. He lingered on the way to argue himself into something of the right kind of feeling. If his cousin, who knew all the circumstances of his life and loved him so well, considered him “ green,” how would he appear to other boys ? O how he wished he was stout and handsome like Phil, whom all admired ! Unlike most boys, he had no glorious visions of school-life. What cared he for the pursuits which interested them ? He knew no more of cricket and base-ball than his sisters, whose ignorance of such matters had called

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forth such unmitigated scorn from his cousin. He could not shoot at a target, set snares, fence, nor excel in any of those sports which most boys delight in ; then, there was the sickening dread of leaving home and meeting strangers. He knew he should feel lonely and discontented ; and how impossible it would be to do right with no one to help and encourage him, at the very time, too, when he most needed assistance. Visions of severe discipline, hard task-masters, and tormenting companions rose to his mind, and almost decided him to make an effort to escape his hard fate.

Christie knew it was the earnest desire of his parents that he should go to school ; he knew the parting was quite as much of a trial to them as to him ; but they were willing to make any sacrifice of their own feelings for his good, and it was his duty to comply cheerfully with their wishes. He loved his parents with an ardor and devotion not possible to boys of a different temperament ; they were to him the wisest, most beautiful, and the best that his imagination could picture, and many an hour he beguiled dreaming of the time when, by some glorious, impossible act he might prove to them all he felt. He remembered this the first time the subject of leaving home was discussed before him. Here, now, he could realize his fondest desires, not, to be sure, in the romantic, chivalrous manner of his idle dreams, but naturally and practically. He need not add to their unhappiness by murmurs or complaints ; so he had been bravely trying to conceal, as best he might, every look and sign of discomfort. This was no easy task. Many a time he had felt his courage giving way ; many a time, as on the present occasion, he had been on the point of begging that the evil day might be put off yet a little longer ; but then, as now, he had bravely fought the weakness, and in a few hours would be beyond the possibility of yielding to it.

As he neared his home, it had never seemed more attractive and imposing. It was a large free-stone house on one of the fashionable avenues in New York ; and there, watching out of the French plate windows, watching for his return, were two dimpled, rosy faces, which vanished only to appear again at the door, “ to meet dear Christie.”

“ Dear Christie ” brightened up as he caught

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sight of the sweet young faces of his sisters, and listened to their merry chattering. The new trunk had arrived — such a beauty ! — with his initials, “ C. W. R.,” painted in famous big letters on the end ; sundry hints, too, were thrown out concerning certain packages which had been placed therein, which it did not require much cleverness on Christie’s part to divine, were presents for himself.

Christie followed the excited young creatures into his own room, and found his mother there busily engaged in packing. Her eyes were very red, and Christie noticed something very like a tear as she bent over the trunk ; but she spoke in such a bright, cheerful voice, he concluded he must be mistaken.

“ Here is a new desk,” she said, “ filled with writing materials. I expect many a sheet of this paper will be returned to me, containing glorious accounts of the progress you are making, and the happy times you are having at school.”

Christie thought he could not stay there a moment longer, he felt such a strong, ridiculous disposition to cry ; so, picking up his cap from the floor, he ran out of the room in such a hurried, excited manner, that one might very naturally suppose the house was on fire, or some other calamity impending, which necessitated the greatest possible speed. As he wandered through the beautiful house, all the surrounding objects seemed to bid him goodbye, like old familiar friends : there were his favorite pictures, the rare flowers in the conservatory, the aquarium, the golden fishes, the birds, and last, but not least, old Ponto, who poked his cold nose into his hand, and seemed to understand matters exactly.

Christie often remembered this last evening at home, and felt that if it had not been for the uncomfortable sensation before alluded to, it would have been delightful. All seemed to exert themselves to amuse him. One by one the family jokes were aired for his entertainment, and what good stories his father told of his own school life. Even John, the waiter, tried to show his regret at parting with his young master by pressing the raisins upon him, at dinner, with a pertinacity as distracting as it was unusual ; then, the pleasant hours in the library that followed, when the old familiar songs never sounded sweeter or more attractive.

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Notwithstanding this, Christie was glad when the evening was over and he could escape those loving, watchful eyes which he feared would penetrate through the vail he so clumsily wore.

He had just turned off the gas in his room for the night, and was meditating upon the feasibility of indulging in “ a little weep ” all unknown to a soul, when the door was softly opened, and he found his mother had come in for one more quiet talk.

“I know it will be a pleasure' for you to remember, when far away,” she commenced, “that your father and I appreciate the effort you have made at self-control. It is a great trial for one so constitutionally shy and reserved to battle his way alone in the mimic world of a large school.”

“O mother, mother, why must I be sent from all I love?” cried Christie.

“Because, my child, the defects of your character are such that your present course of training tends to their development ; you are too deficient in energy and self-reliance. To become a successful, useful man, you must learn to think and act for yourself; and that you will never do at home.”

“ But how can I be independent, how can I do right, while I am the butt of the school ? Even Phil says I am green, and the boys will fight me because I am so small.”

“ I don’t believe they will hurt you very much for so innocent a cause. Phil, you know, is a little inclined to exaggerate matters. Of course, you cannot expect that other people will be as careful and considerate of your feelings as your home friends ; but you can, in a great measure, influence the treatment of others toward you, and can surround yourself with an atmosphere of love and kindness as surely as you can with one of discontent and distrust. Interest yourself in the feelings and pursuits of others, that you may be companionable. You must remember, however, that pleasant though it may be to gain popularity, it must never be obtained by the sacrifice of principle. Be merry, obliging, sympathizing, and patient, but never do wrong to please your school-fellows, for it is infinitely better to have God’s approval than that of the whole world besides.”

“ But how shall I know what is right without you to help me ? ”

“ God’s own word, the Bible, is a better guide

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than I can be; and O, my child, let nothing interfere with the study of that. Read it faithfully every night and morning, just as if you were at home, for it teaches us that it is through forgetfulness of self, and a steady, constant struggle to do right, that we become pure and strong. Trials, buffetings, and hardships, are what we need to discipline our hearts, and keep ever before our eyes the object and aim of our life here ; so that if they come to you in your school-life, accept them cheerfully as from God.”

When his mother left him, an hour later, Christie felt his courage higher and his trust in God stronger than ever before. It was not that school appeared any more attractive, but he felt the necessity of improvement, and he determined to set himself at once to the task of correcting those faults which threatened to interfere so seriously with his future, grudging no time or discipline which could further the work ; and with a fervent prayer to God that he would not withhold his aid, he fell into a calm and pleasant sleep, from which he did not wake the following morning until a heavy hand was laid upon his shoulder.

It was early morning ; the gray misty sky was just touched up in the east with a few rich tints of gold and rose color, which but dimly hinted of the coming glory, and shed but a feeble light into the room, yet Christie could discern the figure of his father standing by his bedside, and heard his cheery voice bidding him dress at once, as the train would not wait for sleepy boys. The hours which followed were all bustle and confusion. First, the hurried breakfast, for which no one seemed to care. Christie’s naturally fine appetite deserted him upon this occasion, and the tempting muffins and rich coffee, which he had often been known to partake of so freely to the imminent risk of his digestion, were left untouched. Then came the carriage and the good-byes, the hand-shaking with all the servants, the hurried kiss, and a “ God bless you ” from his mother, a tight squeeze from the little girls, and somehow he and his father were in the carriage rattling through the streets. How strange it looked at that time of the day ! Christie thought New York hardly seemed New York without the great throng which crowded the streets at noonday. The splendid equipages and their

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gay occupants had vanished, and only heavy teams were to be seen, or the milk carts going their rounds, from whence proceeded those shrill, unearthly whistles. The only pedestrians were a few workmen hurrying to their labors, or here and there a policeman sauntering wearily up and down his beat.

Notwithstanding the streets were so devoid of interest, Christie persistently held his head out of the window. It may have been that his curiosity was awakened at this unusual view of the city, or perhaps it was to hide any emotion which he considered unbecoming in a Franklinite. However deficient in excitement they found the streets, the depot was the scene of the usual bustle and confusion, and there, in the midst, surrounded by trunks, boxes, hackmen, and porters, stood Phil gesticulating wildly, and disputing loudly with the baggage-master. The cause of his vehemence seemed to center in a big black dog, which, disgusted at the prospect of being severed from his master and put into the baggage-car, was as miserable as a dog might be, and was adding to the general melee by giving evidence of his displeasure in sundry barks, which were by no means pleasant to hear.

“ It is no use talking,” said the baggage-master angrily, “ the dog will have to go in with the freight. It is against orders to allow them in the passenger-car ; they are in the way and annoy people.”

“ What is the trouble ? ” broke in the gentlemanly voice of Mr. Randolph, Christie’s father and Phil’s uncle.

While the man was narrating the circumstances of the case, and bitterly complaining of the obstinacy of boys, Phil took the opportunity of squeezing unmolested through the crowd with the dog, and established himself comfortably in the car, from which height he frowned down upon his enemy in triumph, perfectly indifferent whether the dog was in the way of his fellow-passengers or not.

"All aboard,” shouted the conductor, and Christie had hardly time to reach his cousin before he was fairly started on his journey.

“ A pretty time I have had of it,” said Phil, breathing freely once more, and commencing to stroke the glossy coat of his favorite. “ A little more and that baggage-man would have felt the might of my biceps. I am a terrible fellow when I am roused. However, I got the start

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of the man without a collision, and here we are as snug as a bug in a rug, and I can save my strength for another occasion. You see I have plenty of use for it, as it is against the rule for boys to keep dogs, and I have to pummel some of the little chaps well to prevent their telling the teachers of the little circumstance. No trouble about the other fellows ; they find it very convenient to have a knowing animal like this at their command without the peril of discovery resting on their heads.”

“ But I shouldn’t think you would want it to rest on yours,” said Christie.

“ I can’t say I do exactly enjoy that part of it ; but it is all in the way of business, and this is a paying one. You see there is no fun in gunning without a dog, and the Franklinites are very fond of that sport, though the innocent diversion is forbidden by the authorities. However, that only adds to the excitement of the thing, and between you and me and the post,” said Phil, with a confidential nudge, “ it is very freely indulged in by the boys.”

“ Surely you don’t go, Phil, when you are expressly forbidden ? ”

“ O bless you, no, not often,” replied Phil demurely, “ because I prefer the profits of letting out my dog to the others for a stated sum. Half of that dear delightful money I am forced to part with weekly to a greedy villager in compensation for his keep, the rest is a neat little amount, which ekes out my allowance to very comfortable proportions, and makes me the envy of the school. Some of the boys pretend to be dreadfully shocked at the way I get the money, but I notice that they don’t disdain borrowing occasionally. I always lend, though I find they are apt to forget such trifling debts.”

Christie listened to his cousin with astonishment. That school rules were often infringed upon he never doubted, but that they should be set at naught and profited by in this world-wise manner by a boy as honorable as he had always considered Phil, startled him.

“ Money is a good thing every-where,” cried Phil, “but it is particularly comfortable at school. The boys think ten times as much of you if you dash about with plenty of chink. By the way, how much does Uncle Christopher allow you a week ? ”

“01 have never had any regular allowance,”

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2 5 answered Christie ; “ I’ve always had money given me as I needed it, and I suppose I shall continue now in the same old way.”

A look of great annoyance passed over Phil’s bright face at this announcement.

“ It don’t sound very promising,” said he, “ but I remember your gov. tips you pretty often. I hope you will always seem flush before the boys, for they all know your father is rich, and will expect you to be pretty liberal with them. You’d better buy a good many bull’s eyes just at first. That looks well, and tastes better and Phil beamed upon his cousin as if he had imparted a very valuable plan of action, which it had taken great shrewdness and cleverness to devise.

“ Don’t like them,” said Christie.

“ All the better,” returned the unquenchable Phil ; “ you can pass them round, and seem very generous.”

“ But I shouldn’t have money for any thing else if I did that often,” said Christie.

“ Why not make more, as I do. There is nothing in this world like enterprise,” remarked this embryo trafficker, settling himself back in his seat with much complacency. “ I know q first-rate way to make money this term, and if you say so we will go partnerships.”

“ Would it involve breaking the rules of the school ? ” asked Christie hesitatingly. “ If so, don’t say any thing about it.”

“Afraid I shall put naughty ideas into your head ? ” observed Phil maliciously. “ Well, I’ll try not to corrupt you until you make friends with some of the good fellows who never break rules, and are perfect prigs. Faugh, how I do dislike religion ! ”

“You do!” exclaimed Christie, opening his eyes in amazement. “ Don’t you like people to be patient and gentle ? ”

Phil bowed his head in assent.

“ And to be truthful, charitable, and unselfish, without pride or petty vanities,” continued Christie.

“ Don’t be silly, Christie ; of course I like that.”

“ Then you like religion, for that is religion, or the fruits of religion.”

“ Well, I don’t fancy religious boys, then. There’s Whitehouse ; what a splendid fellow he would be if he wasn’t pious ! ’

« Perhaps it is his piety that makes him

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splendid,” suggested Christie, “ for religion is purifying and ennobling.”

“ Hullo ! ” whistled the volatile Phil, who was beginning to weary of so serious a subject ; “ do you see that somber, shabby-looking fellow two seats ahead, on the other side of the car ; that’s Dabney, of the first class.”

Christie followed his cousin’s gaze, and noticed for the first time a boy dressed in rusty mourning. This boy’s back being turned toward him, Christie could not see his face, but his figure was awkward in the extreme. He had high and narrow shoulders, on which his head seemed almost to rest, so short was his neck ; while his legs, long and thin, were at present disposed of in the most ungainly fashion ; the one being wound around the other as if by habit, and the whole figure almost bent double over a book in which he appeared to be absorbed.

“ Poor fellow, he is in mourning,” said Christie.

“ All but his hair,” laughed Phil, “ which is bright colored enough for a more festive youth. As you see him now, so he is always ; bent double over a book. He is the greatest dig in the school.”

“ What do you mean by a * dig ? ’ ” asked Christie.

“ Well, greenie, be it known, a dig is a fellow who is always working at his lessons, like Dabney. He never looks at or thinks of any thing else, I really believe ; and the teachers are continually begging him to take more exercise and not to overtax himself. O dear, how strange it must seem,” mused Phil. From which remark Christie shrewdly surmised that his cousin was not often so entreated.

“ Is he a friend of yours ? ” questioned Christie, beginning to feel an interest in his odd-looking traveling companion.

“ I never exchanged half a dozen words with him in my life. He never speaks to any one unless he is obliged to. As he is in our dormitory I saw a great deal of him last term, and taking compassion on his forlorn, desolate state, I tried once to make friends with him ; but he repulsed me in such a disagreeable manner that I fled to the society of a few chosen spirits, real wide-awakes, who know how to enjoy themselves in spite of monitors, teachers, or the Rev. Dr. himself. You mustn’t peach, Christie, but we are members of a secret society, gotten up

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for the purpose of having a good time, and helping each other out of scrapes ; I’m treasurer, and have considerable influence. I will try and get you in. Upon my word, there is the president now,” said Phil as the car stopped at a waystation, and a boy was seen strolling leisurely up and down the platform, unconcernedly eating a large piece of gingerbread. “ Bonner as large as life, up to his old tricks, stuffing. I must go and speak to him. Come on, Christie.”

But Christie, shy of strangers, was not obedient to the call, and on being left alone, curled himself up in a corner of the seat and speculated on all he had heard. The little insight into school-life which had just been given him confirmed the suspicions he already entertained, that it would require no small degree of moral heroism to follow the dictates of his conscience, and bear the ridicule of Phil, who, it seemed, belonged to a set that looked upon the teachers as so many monsters, who, to gratify their tyrannical tastes, made rules to which only the weak willingly submitted. Christie knew this was not so. His common sense told him that rules were necessary to secure order and discipline, without which a school would fail of the end for which it was intended.

He had always been surrounded by the purifying influences of a Christian home. His parents were humble followers of Christ, who in their daily life gave evidence of the grace which cometh from him alone. The beauty of holiness, thus exemplified, was not lost upon this impressible child. The story of Christ’s sufferings had early touched his heart, and he earnestly desired to dedicate his manhood to the Gospel ministry that he might lead others to love, trust, and worship that Saviour who alone can bring eternal life. But how could he stimulate others to the culture of a spirit of obedience toward God unless he could humble his own heart ? How could he teach or help others until the elements of the Christian life were strongly developed in himself? He had learned through God’s Holy Word that the Almighty takes his own way in perfecting the human soul ; that the every-day trials and annoyances of life alone can discipline our hearts. It is through trials and temptations resisted that we are made pure and strong. Why, then, should he shrink from the life now opened before him if he knew it was

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what he needed to make him good and useful ? O weak and timid heart ! he feared lest in resisting temptation he should being ridicule upon himself and be deserted by Phil, the only one in a large school upon whom he had any claim.

With this dread in his mind he looked out of the car window: rich meadow lands, wooded hills, intersecting valleys, and winding streams passed swiftly before his vision. How great and wonderful are God’s works ! Surely the Being who made all this was able to comfort and sustain him, though every earthly friend should forsake him.