ENTERING SCHOOL
The summer days passed rapidly and Walter spent many of them in the
company of Dan. One day while they were fishing on Six Town Pond the
great snake was seen again and after a struggle was killed, though just
why either of the boys wanted to kill the harmless reptile neither
could have explained. “He had no business to be born a snake if he
wanted to stay here,” Dan said with cheerful assurance and as if his
explanation was sufficient.
There were days when the fishing was excellent and other times when
the efforts of the boys apparently were without avail in tempting the
pickerel which hid among the weeds and refused to leave their shelter.
The return game with the Benson nine provided another day of interest
and Walter greatly enjoyed the experience. Rodman and Benson both
made a gala day of the occasion, and when Walter rode with the Rodman
nine in the huge band-wagon which the Rodman Cornet Band kindly lent
the defenders of the local name, he was deeply interested in the long
line of vehicles which followed the heroes on their way to the rival
village, absorbing dust and loyalty all the way.
The game itself was more or less of a repetition of the preceding
game. Dan’s cunning did not fail him, and exactly the same number of
hitters fell victims to his curves as had struck out in the former
game. Walter’s father had been in town on the great day and, at his
boy’s eager request, had ridden in his automobile to the scene of the
contest. He was quizzically warm in his words of praise after the game,
for Walter had played a better game than in the previous match, but it
was his boy’s enthusiasm over the youthful pitcher’s “great work” that
called forth Mr. Borden’s deeper interest. Upon his invitation both
Walter and Dan rode with him back to Rodman. Silas, the harness-maker,
upon Mr. Borden’s suggestion also occupied a seat in the car, and his
continued praises caused Mr. Borden to enjoy his presence.
“I’m tellin’ ye,” roared Silas, “that Dan ought to have the New Yorks
up here for one game anyway. That boy is a credit to Rodman an’
everybody what lives here! He can pitch th’ legs off a brass monkey! I
never see such a ball-player.”
“He plays a very good game,” remarked Mr. Borden smiling pleasantly at
Dan as he spoke. “Aren’t you afraid, Silas, that you’ll spoil him with
your flattering words?”
“Not a bit! Ye can’t spoil Dan. I hear ye’re goin’ off t’ school with
this Borden boy, Dan.”
“Yes,” said Dan quietly.
“Well, education’s a great thing. I wish I had some o’ it.”
“You have,” remarked Mr. Borden.
“Who? You mean me? I may be a fool ’bout some things, but I guess I
ain’t such a fool as t’ not know that I don’t know nothin’.”
“One of the wisest men that ever lived once said that he thought the
men who didn’t know and knew enough to know that they didn’t know were
very wise.”
“Shucks!” sniffed Silas, his round freckled face nevertheless
betraying his deep pleasure. “I guess I c’n make a harness that can
stan’ the strain o’ five ton, but when ye’ve said that ye’ve said th’
whole thing. Now, here’s Walter. Th’ other day I see in th’ Rodman
‘Reflector’ some newfangled words. If I rec’lect aright they was ‘sick
transum glory Monday’――――”
“_Sic transit gloria mundi_,” interrupted Walter laughingly.
“That’s jes’ exackly what I said,” declared Silas. “I didn’t know no
more what they mean than ’s if they been words that Julius Cæsar spoke.”
“Perhaps he did,” said Walter. “They are Latin words.”
“Ye don’t tell me. Well, Mr. Borden, I couldn’t make head nor tail t’
’em. A ‘sick transum’ an’ ‘Monday’ was all th’ sense there was. But
that boy o’ yourn he come ’long an’, sir, he read ’em jes’ ’s easy
’s if he was fallin’ off a log. Yes, sir. Now, ye see, he had th’
education and I had none.”
“What did Walter say the words meant?” inquired Mr. Borden dryly.
“I disremember, but it was something ’bout glory.”
“Do you think Walter or Dan could mend a horse-collar?”
“Dan might; I’m not so sure o’ your boy, that is, jes’ at th’ present
time. Course he could learn.”
“Then he’d be better educated after he had learned.”
“Sewin’ horse-collars isn’t education!” sniffed Silas.
“I think it is or may be.”
“How d’ye make that out? I never went t’ school much. I c’n make out
th’ scores in th’ Rodman ‘Reflector’ an’ I c’n chalk up th’ charge for
fixin’ Deacon Stillman’s horse-collar, but I never went t’ school none
whatever.”
“Going to school does not necessarily mean obtaining an education.”
“Go on! I guess ye’re tryin’ t’ stuff me.”
“Suppose a boy should go to school and not learn?”
“His teachers will give him th’ learnin’.”
“Unfortunately that is one of the things no teacher can give――at least
he can’t give it unless a boy takes it.”
“I guess th’ may be somethin’ in that, same’s ye c’n lead a hoss up t’
th’ water but if he takes a notion he won’t drink, then th’ whole o’
jumpin’ creation can’t make him swallow a cupful.”
“Precisely. And a boy can be sent to the best school, but if he won’t
learn there’s no education or power for him. I used to know some of
the boys when I was in school who thought they were getting the better
of their teachers when they cheated in exams, or dodged a lesson. The
foolish fellows! They didn’t know enough to know that they themselves
were the only ones that were cheated. A school or college is a place
where a boy learns, or rather can learn if he tries, how to use his
brains. If he doesn’t do the work then he doesn’t learn――at least he
doesn’t learn there.”
Walter was somewhat uncomfortable at the turn the conversation had
taken and interrupting, he said to Silas, “Don’t you think Dan will
make a good pitcher for the Tait School nine?”
“‘Good?’” retorted Silas instantly diverted. “‘Good?’ There’s none
better. If th’ New Yorks onct got a chance t’ see him work then ’twould
be good-day for your school. I’m told that some o’ them players get as
much as ten dollars a game. D’ye s’pose that can be true?”
Walter laughed as he said, “Silas, some of them get four or five times
as much as that.”
“Well, Dan’ll get it then.”
“I believe he will do well whatever he tries to do,” said Mr. Borden
quietly.
“Ye’re right he will. I charged Tim Long two shillin’ for fixin’ his
tugs this mornin’ an’ it took me ’most two hours. If I had Dan’s chance
I’d be makin’ four times that, I guess.”
Dan, who had been the subject of much of the conversation on the way
back to Rodman, seldom spoke. There was an air of seriousness about
the thoughtful boy that was marked. Mr. Borden occasionally glanced at
him, and there was always a quiet smile of approval whenever he did so.
Whatever Walter’s hopes and plans for his friend were, it was manifest
that his father also had thoughts of his own, though he did not once
refer to them in the presence of his boy.
* * * * *
At last the day arrived when Walter was to depart from Rodman. In two
weeks the Tait School was to reopen and there were many things to be
done in the city before he went.
Before the family left for home, Mrs. Borden was seated one evening on
the piazza alone with her husband and broached a subject which had long
been in her mind. “Don’t you think it would be a good thing to take
Dan back home with us for a few days before he enters school? You know
he――――”
As Mrs. Borden hesitated a moment her husband said, “You mean to teach
him a few things?”
“Yes, that’s just what I mean. You know Dan has not been accustomed to
some things that Walter has.”
“Yes, I know. What, for example?”
“Well, he hasn’t had any training, at least such as Walter has had, in
his table manners. Of course his mother is a good woman, but――――”
“He doesn’t use his knife and fork properly?”
“Yes, though that’s only one thing.”
“What else?”
“He needs some clothes.”
“What’s the matter with those he wears?”
“You know what I mean.”
“They aren’t cut like Walter’s?”
“That’s it. If I do say it, Walter always wears his clothes well.”
“They ought to wear well. They cost me enough. His bill at the tailor’s
this spring――――”
“I am not talking about the quality of his clothing.”
“Oh.”
“You know perfectly well what I mean.”
“Perhaps I do. You’re a little afraid that when Dan finds himself among
a lot of boys who have been brought up in wealthy homes and who have
doting mothers and perhaps very foolish fathers that he will mortify
Walter by some of the things he does. I think I understand you.”
“I’m thinking of Dan just as much or more than I am of Walter,”
protested Mrs. Borden. “He will be mortified by some things he’ll do
for which he is not at all to blame.”
“Whose fault will it be?”
“Why――I should say not of anyone exactly. It is just that he’ll have to
meet new conditions, that’s all. I am sure I haven’t any foolish pride.
I don’t want Dan to suffer too much just because he doesn’t understand
some things.”
“How much do you want him to suffer? You say you don’t want him to
suffer too much. Where do you draw the line?”
“I can quietly save him a good deal.”
“Of course you can.”
“Do you agree to his going home with us?”
“Personally I like Dan. I should be glad to have him come home with us
and I am sure he would pick up and use a good many of the very useful
lessons you would teach him in your own quiet way. But I’m afraid
it can’t be done just now. We can arrange for him to come in some
vacation.”
“That will be too late I’m afraid. Why can’t he come now?”
“The work on the farm for one thing. He will want to do all he can to
help Tom with the fall work before he leaves.”
“You might hire a helper for Tom.”
“Yes, I might, but for Dan’s sake I don’t want to. Dan must not think
he is to do any less for his brother. Then too, Dan will not be slow in
finding out what he ought to do in the school. He has eyes as well as
brains. He has something better than either eyes or brains too.”
“What is that?”
“Character. He won’t say ‘no’ and then wobble. He knows just what the
two little Saxon words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ mean. I wish Walter did too, and
it is the hope that Dan will help teach him that more than anything
else that is making me send him to the Tait School. I’m glad to have
him room with Walter.”
“You don’t think he is a brighter boy than Walter, do you?”
“No, but he has learned some things that Walter doesn’t know, and if he
doesn’t learn them soon he never will. No, mother, I honestly believe
it will be better for Walter to let Dan go straight to the school. If
he meets the new conditions, as I believe he will, the effect on our
boy will be all the better.”
“I don’t see; but if you think it is better for Walter, then I’m sure
I’ll not say another word. I was thinking it would be a little easier
perhaps for both of them if I had Dan home with me a few days.”
“It would be easier, but perhaps not better.”
Two weeks later Dan arrived at the Tait School. Walter already had been
on the ground two days, and when his friend at last was directed to
the room he was to occupy, he came with a heavy canvas bag in his hand
and found himself face to face with Walter and another boy, who was
introduced to him as Sin Bradley.