The Argosy, December 1905 — page 104: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

82 himself, and again unfortunately for him, he studied his lessons, took notes religiously of all the leetures, and his recitations were well-nigh perfect. But for all this, he was Gussie Smith, and nothing else. Now, if Gussie had delayed his en- trance into Birdseye to avoid the exuberant second years, he was all right —he had accomplished his object. But apparently he had not reckoned upon the fact that he had his own class to deal with. And he did have to deal with it. For one week had not passed before the freshies had vowed a vow that they eould not, would not, and should not stand for a thing like Gussie Smith. For a time Gussie busied himself in fixing up his room to suit his taste. Among other things, he tacked up a complete system of lazy cords. His walls and ceilings were crisscrossed and gridironed with these things, and Gus- sie arranged them so effectually that he could sit at his desk, poring over a book, and could do any one of the following things simply by pulling this cord or that: open the door, shut the door, ditto the window or any window, put out the light, pull down the bed covers, revolve his bookcase, drop (by a patent arrange- ment) coal upon the grate, rake the fire, swing his robe de nuit from the closet to the floor of his room, and change his “ Busy day” sign on his door to “ Walk right in.” And all these things at a second’s notice. Iiverything in Gussie’s room was just so; he was a regular old maid. But it is not these old maid qualities that provoke the admiration of man- kind, and the freshman class found that it could not stand Gussie Smith any longer. Aceordingly, Big Tomlinson, the president of the class, and Jenks Jen- kins and Bully Whitehead put their heads together. They ‘were the three giants of the form, and when there was any deviltry going on they were in the van. In five minutes after they had put their heads together they had decided upon a plan of operations. Bully Whitehead demurred a little. THE ARGOSY. Z “It’s January,” he said, “ and it’s too cold.” “Not a bit,’ retorted Tomlinson; “everything’s melting fast and it’s warm as summer outside. just what he needs. When shall it be? ” “ How’s Saturday?” suggested Jenks Jenkins. “ Saturday it is,’ said Tomlinson. Now, these three young men had al- ready been reprimanded for their exuberant spirits, and they determined that this thing must be done in a Besides, it’s | corner, on the q. t., so to speak, and they - had hit upon Saturday afternoon be- cause the faculty were then generally out of sight. It was fairly late on Saturday when Gussie Smith, studying inside his room, heard a decided knock upon his door, He stretched his arm up above his head and pulled the handle of a rope. “Come in,” he yelled. The latch clicked and the door opened. Gussie looked up; then he rose to his feet and bowed in a respectful manner. For three men had entered, and these three were none other than Prexie Woolworth, the president of the uni- versity, Calculus Manning, the profes- sor of mathematics, and Traditional O’KKeefe, who held the history chair. At least, at first glance that is what they seemed to be. In reality they were none other than Big Tomlinson, Jenks Jenkins and Bully Whitehead, disguised, both for the sake of safety and for the . purpose of duly Gussie Smith. impressing Cleverly disguised, they were, and - closely resembling the members of the faculty whom they counterfeited. “What—what can I do for you?” asked Gussie Smith, in a mild, quaver- ng voice. “Is this Mr. .Charles Augustus Smith?” demanded Big Tomlinson, imitating the precise tones of Prexie Woolworth. Gussie’s hand stole upward before he answered. ‘Then he spoke in a voice trembling with fear. “ Y-yes, sir,” and in his nervousness he grasped one of his lazy cords. Big Tomlinson waved his hand. GomiGcadooks COL