Ward Hill--the teacher

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Prefatory Note

So many calls came for a story of Ward Hill’s experiences immediately after he graduated from college, that Mr. Tomlinson consented to go with him a little farther. Immediately after his graduation he is offered and accepts a position as a teacher in the Weston School. There he meets many of the pranks, escapades, mistakes, and traditions which before he faced as a pupil. Now he meets them as a teacher — working out his own problems while he deals with the boys. Naturally, the point of view is somewhat different, but no less interesting or vital. The easy or the popular way as contrasted with the right way — which shall he take?

Incidentally one of the most perplexing — not to say perilous — problems of modern school life — clean athletics — enters largely into the story.

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Contents

Chapter Page

I. The Return to Weston ii

II. Jack's Adventures 20

Chapter I

O, thank you. No riding for me, when I can

1 ^ tramp about Weston again. I don’t want to miss even a stick or stone on the way.”

Ward Hill laughed as his enthusiastic friend expressed his eagerness to walk from the station to the school buildings. “ You’re the same old Jack,” he said, as he glanced affectionately at his companion.

“ You’re a wise man, professor,” replied Jack Hobart lightly, “ but your wisdom is a trifle askew just there. I’m not the same old Jack. Far from it. I’m a student of law now, and can tell you the difference between jurisprudence and the court of chancery. Oh, you needn’t laugh. It’s true. There was a time when I was not so wise. Ah, me; to think of the load of ignorance I once carried! I didn’t even understand what equity is. A tort or a statute law — why, sir, neither was so much as

II named by the Jack Hobart that once was. Now I know. I can define and explain it all to you. No, my learned professor, Jack Hobart, called Speck for short, pupil in the Weston school, and John Henry Hobart, Bachelor of Arts, enrolled student in the law school, are not the same individual, let me tell you. I sigh to think of those happy days when, as a care-free, happy lad, I roamed these hills, gently poured a pailful of water upon the back of Little Smith when he halted too long beneath my window, or when I gave Mr. Crane such joy by being able to translate for him a few — not too many — lines of Caesar. Strange how happy it used to make Mr. Crane just to have me explain to him what a few words in an old dead language like Latin really meant. I saw him one day last week, Ward.’^

“ Did you ? How was he ? What did he have to say ? ”

He’s the same man he used to be, only more so.”

“ He’ll do great work at Tegrus. I believe he has been the greatest force in my life. Jack. I think I was almost as pleased as he was when the college called him.”

“ You might well be. Ward,” laughed Jack. “ When he left Weston he left a place for you, didn’t he? I should think you would be pleased.”

'' Not that way,” responded Ward Hill quietly.

When Mr. Crane resigned at Weston he left a place which nobody can fill.”

That’s all right,” said Jack glibly. “ He left a place anyway, and you’ll make it yours, just as he made it his.”

“ I hope you are speaking the truth, Jack.”

“ Truth? Hold still a minute. Mr. Crane was a teacher in Weston, wasn’t he?”

“ He certainly, was.”

“ And besides what he taught, he was what he was, wasn’t he ? ”

“ I can’t deny that. Jack,” laughed Ward.

“ Of course you can’t. Now, then, so far as the mere position is concerned, you have that, haven’t you?”

“ Yes, but ”

Hold on ! I haven’t done with you as a witness yet. So far, you acknowledge, do you, that you have been called to the position in the Weston school, which once Mr. Crane held?”

I do.”

Very good. Now — remember the serious nature of the affirmation — you hold, and Mr. Crane held exactly the same position in the Weston school. He resigned to accept a call to Tegrus College, and after your brilliant career in the same college you were called to the position left vacant by Mr. Crane.”

“ Same position, but not the same place. Jack.”

** There must not be any attempt at evasion. I insist upon a direct reply to my question. Is it yes, or no?”

“ Yes.”

“ Very good. Now then, each of you has held the same position. You have already admitted that much. Now, resting upon the mere fact of position, Mr. Crane made his own place in the school, didn’t he?”

“ He certainly did.”

“ And you hold the same position he once held ? ”

“ Yes, after a fashion.”

“ I insist upon a direct reply.”

“ I fancy I’ll have to say ' Yes ’ ”

“You acknowledge it, do you?”

“ Yes,”

“ Very good. Very good, indeed. Our reluctant witness is improving. Oh, there’s nothing in the world like a real shrewd, cross-examining lawyer. He’ll twist the truth right out of a witness, no matter how hard he tries to squirm or evade. Now then, holding the very position once held by Mr. Crane, you’ll have an opportunity to make your own place. Is it not so ? Again I must firmly insist upon a direct reply.”

“ I’m afraid it won’t be much of a place.”

“ A direct reply, if you please.”

“ I have the opportunity, all right. But there’s a big difference between holding a position and making a place.”

“ True. There was our elongated tutor in the days of yore — what was his name. Ward?”

“ Do you mean Mr. Blake? ”

“ The very man. ’T is passing strange how, with the coming of age, the memory fails one.”

“ You’re twenty-two, aren’t you, Jack? ”

“ Yes, sir, I am; and you’re another. We’re getting old. Ward.”

“ What about Mr. Blake ? I must try to hold you to some one line for two minutes in succession.”

“ Do you remember how tall he was.”

“Yes; six feet seven. One of the tallest men I ever saw.”

“ That’s so. Do you remember Big Smith’s statement that Mr. Blake filled a long-felt want in the Weston school?”

“ Yes. Poor Big Smith.”

“ Poor Mr. Blake too.”

“ What do you mean ? ”

“You remember how lofty he was?”

“ Yes. I said he was six feet seven.”

“ Well, he’s fallen very low.”

“ Explain yourself.”

“ Very low,” murmured Jack. “ One would scarcely believe it, but the evidence is indisputable and the witness unimpeachable. The testimony is ”

“ Drop you law-school jargon and tell me what you mean.”

“ Poor Mr. Blake ! His head once carried so high that it almost bumped the stars. Now — now he is a member of my class in the law school.”

“ Is that all?”

“All! Isn’t that enough? He has held seven positions in five years, and in spite of his height he hasn’t held anything long. Now he’s of the opinion that anybody can be a lawyer. Lost every position he ever held ! Now he thinks he’ll make a place for himself. Poor chap; I can’t tell him that a man must have brains to be a lawyer. Remember Drake in college, Ward?” suddenly asked Jack.

“ I haven’t exactly forgotten him, or Oliver either,” said Ward, a slight flush appearing on his face as he spoke. “ I received an invitation to his wedding a few days ago.”

“ So did I,” said Jack without glancing at his companion. “ I went to it too.”

“Did you?”

“ I did that. It was the experience of my life — up to date.”

“ It was this way,” continued Jack soberly. “ You know four of us room together in town: Ned Butler, Pond, Henry Boyd, and I.”

“ Well, all of us are poor — only some are poorer than others. I’m living on an allowance. Oh, you needn’t praise me for it. It was entirely at my father’s suggestion. I had nothing whatever to do with it, and I can’t say I’m enthusiastic over it yet, and I’ve been trying it a long time.”

“ How long? ”

“ Almost a month — since I entered the law school. My bank account was overdrawn in three days.”

“ Poor fellow ! ” laughed Ward. “ What are you doing here at Weston then? How did you get money for your ticket ? ”

“ My mother took pity on me. It’s a way she has, and she knew better than my father did how hard I have been working, and how much I needed a vacation. It was at her suggestion I took a day or two off and came up here to spend Sunday with you. That’s all money is good for anyway, Ward, just to use.”

I haven’t had much experience,” said Ward lightly. “ But what has that to do with Drake’s wedding ? ”

“ I’m coming to that. You always were such an impatient fellow. Ward. Remember the time

“ I want to hear about Drake’s wedding,” interrupted Ward.

He was married,” said Jack shortly.

‘‘ So you said.”

“ Well, four of us room together, and we’re all of us being economical. We have to be. Ward, you don’t know what it means to have to live as we do. It’s socialism, anarchy, and multiform degeneration of the primordial activities, all in one. We don’t have enough to ”

“Did you say you went to Drake’s wedding?”

“ I did.”

“ Tell me about it.”

“ That’s what I’ve been trying to do for five minutes, but you won’t let me get started at the beginning.”

“ Begin at the end, then.”

B l8 WARD HILL — THE TEACHER

“ You ought to have taken a position in a young ladies’ seminary, Ward. Your curiosity is as bad as a girl’s. Well, then, the bride was perfectly lovely. She wore a cream-colored wedding-gown of purple bias. It was made long in the back and fitted her like a glove. Her eyes had that dreamy look of one who implies, ‘ Look at me, I am it.’ The organ played the beautiful wedding-march of Isaac Watts : ‘ This is the way I long have sought, and mourned because I found it not.’ The bride’s veil was of seersucker cretonne, and in her left hand she carried a bunch of ‘ don’t-you-forget-its ’ ; with her right she kept a pretty firm grip on herself when she came down the aisle ; and when she pulled her father along to tell how glad he was that now the family might go to bed any night they chose before it was too late, both her heels came down together and produced a feeling of unmitigated relief on the part of the best man.”

“You mean she jumped down the aisle?” laughed Ward.

“ No, it was poor Drake who was ‘ on the jump.’ You never saw a fellow so scared in all your life. His face matched that beautiful gown of the bride. I told you it was made of bias, didn’t I ? ”

“ It must have been a unique affair. Jack.”

“ It was.”

“ And yet Drake was one of the most dignified fellows in college, and his bride was as modest and well-bred a girl as one ever saw.”

“ That’s all true, professor. He was that and she was this, and both were it. Everybody said it was one of the prettiest weddings in the history of the world. I’m just telling you what I saw, that’s all.”

“ I never knew you to be so observing before.”

“ I’ve been trying to tell you that I’m not what I once was. Now, if you’ll keep still a minute and let me talk. I’ll tell you just what I started out to say when you shut me off.”

Chapter II

A s I was saying, four of us room together and are communists.”

“ What do you mean, Jack? ”

“ What I say. We own all things in common or, if we don’t exactly own them that way, we use them jointly anyway. For example, there is just one good pair of pumps in the establishment. I believe I was the one who bought them ; at least I paid for them ; but when it comes to wearing them, why, the first fellow that puts them on has them, you see. It’s the same with various other articles of wearing apparel or personal adornment. We’re the original socialists — only Ned Butler and I are the ones that usually have to pay for the things, for the shopkeepers refuse to look at it as we do.”

“ Did you go to Drake’s wedding? ”

“ I did. That’s what I’m telling you about.”

“ Oh, is it?”

“ Yes, sir; it is. Well, the day of the wedding I rushed back early to our rooms, for I wanted to be on time to find a necktie left. As luck would have it, I was the early bird — or I thought I was. I put on the pumps first thing, to make sure of them any- 20 way, and then, while I was shaving, I happened to think of the dress shirts. I knew the last one I owned had gone to the laundry, so I stopped and began to look for the other fellows’. Ward, would you believe those roommates of mine could be guilty of such a dastardly piece of work ? ”

What had they done ? ”

“ Done ! They hadn’t left a shirt in the place ! There I was, almost ready to start — you know both the families are living in Orange now — moved out there about six months ago.”

“What did you do?” laughed Ward.

“ I stepped out into the hall and yelled for Jimmy to come. You recollect him, don’t you?”

“ I’m not likely to forget him. What was he doing there ? Is he studying law too ? ”

“ Nay, verily ! Jimmy’s strong point is studying human nature. We took him with us to be a sort of general utility man for us. He blacks our shoes, pretends to sweep the rooms, acts as a witness for us when we are working up our cases, and makes himself generally a useful nuisance to us all. And then too, he spurs us on in our worthy endeavors by his continual references to a certain Ward Hill. He thinks you are the paragon of all the virtues. Ward, and he sings your praises from early morn till dewy eve.”

“ He always was a discerning little fellow.”

“ He was, was he ? Well, you ought to have seen him when I yelled for him to make his best time for the laundry and get that long-lost shirt of mine. I felt a bit easier when I saw his heels disappearing around the corner of the street — you see, the laundry was only three blocks away — and I felt easier still when I thought he’d be back in a few minutes. Well, I went on with my work, finished shaving, brushed my silk hat, and then I waited. No Jimmy! No dress shirt! No time either, for I had just thirty-seven minutes left to get to the ferry. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I slipped on a sweater, grabbed my silk hat, and made a bee-line for the laundry myself.”

“ I should think you would have made a sensation on the street. Jack,” said Ward, laughing as he spoke.

“ People did seem to be a bit interested. But then, it isn’t every day you can see a man making good time in the streets of New York, especially when he is dressed up in a silk hat, a pair of pumps, and a sweater. I didn’t blame them much myself, but I didn’t have any time to waste, so I never once stopped to explain. It wasn’t very long before I burst into the office of the laundry. ‘ I want that shirt of mine,’ I called out to the girl behind the counter in the office. My demand seemed to surprise her, but she never said a word — just kept her eyes on me and backed up toward the telephone. I thought she was going to call an officer, so I tried to soothe her. Instead of demanding the article for which I had come, and to which I had a perfeet right — to wit, the right of ownership — I dropped my voice and said soothingly, ‘ Fm Mr. Hobart. I just sent Jimmy over here to get my laundry work. There’s a dress shirt I want very much ”

“ ' Jimmy’s gone,’ said the girl, as she hung up the receiver.

^‘‘Gone? Whither? When? Whence? Why? Where ? ’ I began.

“ ' He took the laundry ten minutes ago, Mr. Hobart,’ she broke in, though now she was evidently relieved of her fears, and was contentedly chewing her gum once more.

Jimmy was gone ! That was sufficient for me, so I bolted for the street, and made better time coming back than I did in going. When I got back to the hallway there was Jimmy slowly mounting the stairs and whistling his way cautiously and slowly up to our rooms.

“‘Got that shirt, Jimmy?’ I yelled, as I caught up with him.

“ ‘ Sure,’ he replied scornfully.

“ I never felt such a flow of language in all my life as I did at that very moment, but time was precious, likewise fleeting, so I decided to save my language for a more convenient season, and let him have it then — with usury. I grabbed the shirt and made for the room, but I had locked the door and left the key inside.”

“ Poor Jack,” laughed Ward.

“ Not SO bad, after all. There’s nothing like the training of th'e law for clearing up one’s mental processes. ' Here, you, James the Tardy ! ’ I shouted. ' Up with you ! ’ I lifted the lad, grasping him firmly and without ostentation by his neck and heels, pushing him up to the transom, thrust him through, and heard the sound of weeping and gnashing of teeth when he struck the floor of the room — as he did expeditiously. He didn’t appear to understand my simple request for the door to be opened, and it was only after I abandoned the dire threatenings which arose to my parched lips and substituted therefore, in place of the before-mentioned and above-said reproaches, certain proffers of reward, that the door was at last opened before me.

Upon the face of the aforesaid James I perceived, when I entered the room, an expansive grin, fiendish, malevolent, and continuous. Assured by the expression that Jimmy was in no danger of an untimely demise despite the howls of anguish which he had emitted at the time of his fall, I ignored him and made a rush upon my belongings. Another dire mishap! No studs for the shirt! Mirabile dictu! I at once surmised that Ned had appropriated my belongings. Later I learned that my suspicion was well founded. He not only had them, but he had them on his person. You wouldn’t think that of Ned, would you ? ”

‘‘ Go on. Jack.”

“ I did go on. Soon, clothed but not in my right mind, I fled from the room, hailed a cab, told the cabby to let his horse go, and was on my way to the ferry. My toilet even then was not complete, for my shirt-front had no studs. However, I improvised on the spot by sawing off the corners of a handkerchief and twisting the bits of linen into shape. I made them do duty as adornments for the expansive shirt-front ; and by the time I arrived at the ferry I was as pleased and proud as if I was the only selfacting genius in modern life. Just before I left the cab I recalled that I had left my invitation and pocketbook on the bureau in my room. Fortunately I found a two-dollar bill in my vest pocket, though who left it there, or whose it was, I had not the slightest idea. However, I didn’t stop to quarrel with the fates, but told the cabby to take his fare and give me the change. The idiotic expression of the man’s face when he did as I told him was maddening, but once more I restrained the impulse to orate, and speedily sought the ticket office.”

Did you say you were at Drake’s wedding ? ” laughed Ward.

“ I am explaining all that to you — concisely, clearly, forcefully. Listen! When I went on the ferryboat every one who looked at me seemed to have just that same insane, idiotic grin on his face which had so maddened me when I had observed it on the face of the aforesaid driver of the above-mentioned cab. It seemed to me the whole world had gone mad and I was going — going — and almost gone. I didn’t pay much attention to it though, for I was so delighted because I had caught the last boat I could take that I was in a benignant and somewhat mollified frame of mind.

“ I kept up the feeling too, though whichever way I looked there was still that same senseless, maddening smile to greet me. I saw one little girl, who was standing in the seat beside her mother, stare at me for a long time, and then turn around and pull her mother’s head till she too could see me. Just as soon as she saw me, she too put on that same smile that had greeted me all the way from the rooms ; but I was happy, and I didn’t mind. I’d made the boat anyway.

“ When I took my seat in the train I happened to think for the first time just what leaving my invitation behind meant to me. I didn’t know the street, or even the number of the house where the wedding was to take place. Oh, you needn’t laugh. Ward,” said Jack soberly, as his friend stopped and laughed aloud. “ It may have been comedy up to that time, but it was tragedy, and high tragedy too then, let me tell you. What was I to do ? I certainly was in the worst fix of my life. What good did my new silk hat, my elegantly fitting frock coat — at least that’s what the tailor who made it said it was, and I guess he ought to know if anybody does — even my monopoly of the only pair of pumps in our rooms ; what good did any of these things do me if, after all my trouble, I didn’t know where to go after I had come ? ”

“ What did you do, Jack? ”

'' I used my training in the law school — that’s what I did. That teaches a man to reason, let me tell you ! So I came to the conclusion that probably I wasn’t the only one on the train who was going out to Drake’s wedding, so I got up and went through the train, looking for some one I knew. Every car, everybody seemed to be strange to me, and yet it was the same thing right over again. Whenever anybody looked up at me there was the same idiotic grin on his face that I’d been seeing all the morning.”

‘‘ What did you do, anyway. Jack? Did you find the place ? ”

“ I did that ! I’d almost given up finding any one on the train who could tell me where the wedding was to be, but when I came into the last car I saw Miss Phillips sitting alone and lovely in almost the last seat ? ”

“ Who is Miss Phillips ? ”

“ Why, she is a girl that I met, and so did you, last commencement. She was staying with the Olivers. I confess I couldn’t just place her when I first saw her on the train, but she recognized me and invited me to take a seat with her. It seems she had been late too, and she had told her family not to wait for her, so she was on the last train out, just as I was. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to find her, but she too smiled when I took my seat, just the way everybody had been doing. At last she said, ‘ Pardon me, Mr. Hobart, but I think you have lost your necktie.’ I clapped my hand to my collar, and sure enough I didn’t have any necktie on. I had left it on the bureau when I started for the ferry. You see, people wouldn’t pay any attention to my hat, coat, gloves — even my pumps didn’t count. What they wanted was a necktie. They seemed prejudiced.”

“ Did you go without it to the wedding? ”

I went to the house without it, but I knew some one would help me out; or, if he didn’t. I’d make Ned Butler take off his, which was mine anyway. But Miss Phillips gave me a shock when she said, ‘ There may not be any carriages at the station, Mr. Hobart, for the guests are already at the house, I fancy. I am so glad I met you, for you can surely find one somewhere for us.’ ”

“ ‘ Delighted, overwhelmed, by all means, greatest pleasure of my life,’ I guess I murmured in reply. I’m not just sure what I did say, but I know what I was thinking about, and that was how in the world I was going to get a carriage for two, when I had exactly thirty-seven cents in my pocket. It was far worse than having no necktie.”

Chapter III

J ACK/’ laughed Ward, you do my heart good.

There never was such an absolutely irrepressible fellow as you.”

“You mean that I haven’t learned to give up? Well, there are worse things than that. The law is different from teaching, you see. Now, in the practice of law ”

“ Never mind that now. Jack, interrupted his friend lightly. “ What I want to know is whether or not you really went to Drake’s wedding.”

“ Of course I did.”

“ Did you get a carriage for Miss Phillips ? ”

“ Certainly. You don’t think I would have been so impolite as to refuse, do you ? ”

“ But you say you only had thirty-seven cents in your pocket.”

“ That’s right. That was the sum total of my fortune.”

“What did you do?”

“ Used my wits and legal training. My first thought was to see if the driver would agree to take us on the instalment plan, but I gave that up, for I didn’t really believe it was feasible. So I 29 simply told the first driver I found to take us to the house, and when we arrived I helped Miss Phillips out and then ordered the cabby to come back at three o’clock. I think he was quite impressed, for he showed up on the minute.”

“ Did you pay him ? ”

“ I always pay my bills.”

“ Where did you get the money ? ”

“ Took up a collection.”

‘*At the wedding?”

“ Not exactly; but Ned had a dollar, Henry had a quarter, and Pond had another dollar — no, his was a two-dollar bill — so the cabby didn’t suffer.”

“ What did you do for a necktie ? ”

“ I ordered Ned to disgorge. I found him upstairs, and in my sternest tones I charged him with having appropriated my property. He couldn’t deny it, either; but he didn’t seem to be willing to give it up. You’d never have thought that of Ned, would you? When he was in Weston he was as honest a fellow as the school had. He got me one, though.”

“ Where?”

“ I don’t know. I didn’t stop to inquire. I just took it and tied it and there I was, the best-dressed friend Drake had at his wedding. It never pays to give up. Ward, no matter how dark the outlook may appear to be.”

By this time the two friends were near the school buildings, and Ward’s impulsive companion was quickly diverted from the story he had been relating. His enthusiasm, however, was still as intense as before, and as he eagerly pointed to the various structures, the sight of each recalled some experience of his own school days. The presence of the many boys who were pupils in Weston, the welltrimmed lawns, the great overhanging trees, and the soft haze that covered the surrounding hills all combined to increase Jack’s delight over his return to the dearly loved and familiar scene.