i wish to say in the beginning, and once for all, that i did not set myself up as a saint, or even as a model boy. i made no pretensions, but i did try to be good and true. i felt that i had no one in this world to rely upon for my future; everything depended upon myself alone, and i realized the responsibility of building up my own character. i do not mean to assert that i had all these ideas and purposes clearly defined in my own mind; only that i had a simple abstract desire to be good, and to do good, without knowing precisely in what the being and the doing consisted. my notions, many of them, i am now aware, were crude and undefined.
i have observed that i was a favorite among the[23] boys of the institute, a kind of leader and oracle among them, though i was not fully conscious of the fact at the time. while i now think i owe the greater portion of the esteem and regard in which i was held by my companions to my desire to be good and true, i must acknowledge that other circumstances had their influence upon them. i was the owner of the best boat on lake adieno, and to the boys this was a matter of no small consequence. there were half a dozen row-boats belonging to the academy, but nothing that carried a sail.
i always had money. i had only to ask my uncle for any sum i wanted, and it was given me, without a question as to its intended use. i mention the fact to his discredit, and it would have been a luxury to me to have had him manifest interest enough in my welfare to refuse my request.
i was naturally enterprising and fearless, and was therefore foremost in all feats of daring, in all trials of skill in athletic games. indeed, to sum up the estimate which was made of me by my associates in[24] school and the people of parkville, i was "a smart boy." perhaps my vanity was tickled once or twice by hearing this appellation applied to me; but i am sure i was not spoiled by the favor with which i was regarded.
though i was not an unhappy boy, there was an aching void in my heart which i could not fill, a longing for such a home as hundreds of my young friends enjoyed; and i would gladly have exchanged the freedom from restraint for which others envied me for the poorest home in the town, where i could have been welcomed by a fond mother, where i could have had a kind father to feel an interest in me.
during the spring, summer, and autumn months, when the wind and weather would permit, i went to school in my sail-boat. my course lay along the shore, and if i was becalmed and likely to be tardy, i had only to moor my craft, and take to the road. at the noon intermission, therefore, my boat was available for use, and i always had a party.
on the day that i was called up charged with fighting, the splash—for that was the suggestive[25] name i had chosen for my trim little craft—was lying at the boat pier on the lake in front of the institute building. the forenoon session of the school had just closed, and i had gone to the boat to eat my dinner, which i always carried in the stern locker.
before i had finished, bill poodles came down with an arithmetic in his hand. it was the dinner hour of the boarding students, and i wondered that bill was not in the refectory. our class had a difficult lesson in arithmetic that day, which i had worked out in the solitude of my chamber at the cottage the preceding evening. the students had been prohibited, under the most severe penalty, from assisting each other; and it appeared that bill had vainly applied to half a dozen of his classmates for help: none of them dared to afford it.
bill poodles was a disagreeable fellow, arrogant and "airy" as he was lazy and stupid. i doubt whether he ever learned a difficult task alone. the arithmetic lesson was a review of the principles which the class had gone over, and consisted of a dozen examples, printed on a slip of paper, to test the knowl[26]edge of the students; and it was intimated that those who failed would be sent down into a lower class. bill dreaded anything like a degradation. he was proud, if he was lazy. he knew that i had performed the examples, and while his fellow-boarders were at dinner, he had stolen the opportunity to appeal to me for the assistance he so much needed.
though bill was a disagreeable fellow, and though, in common with a majority of the students, i disliked him, i would willingly have assisted him if the prohibition to do so had not been so emphatic. mr. parasyte was so particular in the present instance, that the following declaration had been printed on the examination paper, and each boy was required to sign it:—
"i declare upon my honor, that i have had no assistance whatever in solving these examples, and that i have given none to others."
bill begged me to assist him. i reasoned with him, and told him he had better fail in the review than forfeit his honor by subscribing to a falsehood. he made light of my scruples; and then i told him[27] i had already signed my own paper, and would not falsify my statement.
"humph!" exclaimed he, with a sneer. "you hadn't given any one assistance when you signed, but you can do it now, and it will be no lie."
i was indignant at the proposition, it was so mean and base; and i expressed myself squarely in regard to it. i had finished my dinner, and, closing the locker, stepped out of the boat upon the pier. bill followed me, begging and pleading till i was disgusted with him. i told him then that i would not do what he asked if he teased me for a month. he was angry, and used insulting language. i turned on my heel to leave him. he interpreted this movement on my part as an act of cowardice, and, coming up behind me, struck me a heavy blow on the back of the head with his fist. he was on the point of following it up with another, when, though he was eighteen years old, and half a foot taller than i was, i hit him fairly in the eye, and knocked him over backwards, off the pier, and into the lake.
a madder fellow than bill poodles never floun[28]dered in shallow water. the lake where he fell was not more than two or three feet deep, and doubtless its soft bosom saved him from severe injury. he picked himself up, and, dripping from his bath, rushed to the shore. he was insane with passion. seizing a large stone, he hurled it at me. i moved towards him, with the intention of checking his demonstration, when his valor was swallowed up in discretion, and he rushed towards the school building.
for this offence i was brought to the bar of mr. parasyte's uneven justice. poodles had told his own story after changing his drabbled garments. it was unfortunate that there were no witnesses of the affray, for the principal would sooner have doubted the evidence of his own senses than the word of bill poodles, simply because it was not politic for him to do so. my accuser declared that he had spoken civilly and properly to me, and that i had insulted him. he had walked up to me, and placed his hand upon my shoulder, simply to attract my attention, when i had struck him a severe blow in the face, which had knocked him over backwards into the lake.[29]
in answer to this charge, i told the truth exactly as it was. bill acknowledged that he had asked me some questions about the review lesson, which i had declined to answer. he was sorry he had offended so far, but was not angry at my refusal. he had determined to sacrifice his dinner, and his play during the intermission, to enable him to perform the examples. i persisted in the statement i had already made, and refused to modify it in any manner. it was the simple truth.
"ernest thornton," said mr. parasyte, solemnly, "hitherto i have regarded you with favor. i have looked upon you as a worthy and deserving boy, and i confess my surprise and grief at the event of to-day. not content with the dastardly assault committed upon william poodles,—whose devotion to his duty and his studies has been manifested by the sacrifice of his dinner,—you utter the most barefaced falsehood which it was ever my misfortune to hear a boy tell."
"i have told the truth, sir!" i exclaimed, my cheek burning with indignation.
"silence, sir! such conduct and such a boy[30] cannot be tolerated at the parkville liberal institute. but in consideration of your former good conduct, i purpose to give you an opportunity to redeem your character."
"my character don't need any redeeming," i declared, stoutly.
"i see you are in a very unhappy frame of mind, and i fear you are incorrigible. but i must do my duty, and i proceed to pronounce your sentence, which is, that you be expelled from the parkville liberal institute."
"bill poodles is the biggest liar in the school!" shouted a daring little fellow among my friends, who were astounded at the result of the examination, and at the sentence.
"that's so!" said another.
"yes!" "yes!" "yes!" shouted a dozen more. "throw him over! bill poodles is the liar!"
mr. parasyte was appalled at this demonstration—a demonstration which never could have occurred without the provocation of the grossest injustice. the boys were well disciplined, and the order of the institute was generally unexceptionable. such[31] a flurry had never before been known, and it was evident that the students intended to take the law into their own hands. they acted upon the impulse of the moment, and i judged that at least one half of them were engaged in the demonstration.
poodles was a boy of no principle; he was notorious as a liar; and the boys regarded it as an outrage upon themselves and upon me that he should be believed, while my story appeared to have no weight whatever.
mr. parasyte trembled, not alone with rage, but with fear. the startling event then transpiring threatened the peace, if not the very existence, of the parkville liberal institute. i folded my arms,—for i felt my dignity,—and endeavored to be calm, though my bosom heaved and bounded with emotion.
"boys—young gentlemen, i—" the principal began.
"throw him over! put him out!" yelled the students, excited beyond measure.
"young gentlemen!" shouted mr. parasyte.[32]
"three cheers for ernest thornton!" hoarsely screamed bob hale, my intimate friend and longtime "crony."
they were given with an enthusiasm which bordered on infatuation.
"will you hear me, students?" cried mr. parasyte.
"no!" "no!" "no!" "throw him over!" "put him out!"
the scene was almost as unpleasant to me as to the principal, proud as i was of the devotion of my friends. i did not wish to be vindicated in such a way, and i was anxious to put a stop to such disorderly proceedings. i raised my hand in an appealing gesture.
"fellow-students," said i; and the school-room was quiet.
