Nearly all the guests--relatives and dear friends--remained for some
hours after the departure of the bride and groom, some conversing
together upon the veranda, some wandering in couples or little companies
about the grounds or sitting in the shade of the beautiful trees on the
lawn.
Most of the young people, especially those of them who had been
attendants of the bride and groom, gathered about Grandma Elsie--for
they all loved her, and everyone felt that she had particular need of
some pleasant distraction of thought just at that time, to prevent her
from dwelling upon the partial loss of her youngest daughter.
Walter was, of course, one of the group, and he presently plunged into
lively accounts of his college-boy experiences, very interesting and
amusing to him and presumably so to others, as, in fact, they were to
most if not all of his auditors, his older brothers among the rest; for
it seemed to carry them back, in at least a measure, to their own
Freshman days, with all their trials and triumphs, their pleasures and
annoyances.
"Did anybody do anything very bad to you, Walter?" asked Grace.
"No; not very," he replied; "hazing has been almost abolished, and what
is still done is by no means unendurable.
"Oh! I must tell you of a bit of fun we had only the other day. On the
porch of one of our boarding houses a countryman had set down a basket
of eggs--about twenty dozen I was told--that he had brought in for
customers; and there they stood, looking as tempting as possible,
especially to wild young college boys, some of whom, coming there when
recitations were over and the dinner hour approaching, saw them and were
immediately smitten with a desire to handle, if not to taste them. One
fellow snatched up an egg and threw it at another; it struck him, broke,
and bespattered his clothes. He, naturally, retaliated in kind, and
other fellows followed their example, the fun growing fast and furious,
till every egg the basket had contained was gone, and porch, students,
and their clothing were a sight to behold."
"And what did the farmer say when he came back for his basket and found
it empty?" asked Lucilla.
"He was very angry, but those who had broken the eggs paid him his full
price, and he went off tolerably well satisfied, though he growled that
he was compelled to disappoint his customers.
"The boarding house keeper was angry, too, but stopped scolding when
told that the mischief should be repaired at the expense of those who
had caused it."
"The clothes of those engaged in the row must have been in a pretty bad
condition," remarked Harold.
"Yes, of course; and they had some fine tailors' bills to pay before
they were again presentable."
"A shameful waste of good food provided by our Heavenly Father, that
someone's hunger might be satisfied," remarked Grandma Elsie gravely.
"Surely the young men engaged in it must have forgotten the teaching of
our Saviour when he said, 'Gather up the fragments that remain, that
nothing be lost.'"
"Mamma! I had forgotten that," exclaimed Walter, blushing vividly.
"A poor excuse, my son," she replied. "'Remember all the commandments of
the Lord, and do them.' Those are his own words given to Moses to speak
unto the Children of Israel. Jesus was and is God; therefore what he
commanded is the command of God. And since he had just proved his
ability to create abundance of food, his command to avoid waste must
have been given for the benefit of his hearers; and can you think he
would have approved of the waste of good, nourishing food of which you
have just been telling?"
"No, mother; I am convinced that it was not right; that it was, in fact,
wicked waste. I must own that I had a share in it; but I promise you I
will never be guilty of the like again. It does seem very wrong when one
thinks of the multitudes of people in different parts of the world who
are actually starving."
"Yes, I hope you will be more thoughtful in future--will use your
influence against such objectionable sport; surely bright young men and
boys should be capable of finding or making better or less blameworthy
fun. You may feel assured, however, that your mother is interested in
all that interests you. So if you have anything more to tell of your
college experiences we will be glad to hear it."
"You found the Sophs rather domineering, didn't you?" asked Herbert.
"About as much so as they dared to be, I should say," laughed Walter.
"For instance, they won't let the Freshes wear white duck trousers till
some time in May. Nor will they allow them to wear the colours gold and
black till just at the close of their Freshman year."
"Well, that is tyranny!" exclaimed Lucilla, "and if I were a Freshman I
wouldn't stand it."
"Ah! but if you didn't you might have something worse to stand," laughed
Walter. Then he went on, "I must tell you about the cane spree. They
have it at the time of the first full moon. The players are three men
from each class--one light-weight, one middle, and one heavy-weight. The
students of all classes gather in a circle around them to watch the
sport. First the light-weights try a tussle for the cane; then the
middles, and lastly the heavys. It is not so much strength as skill that
wins, and the victors keep their canes as trophies, and are proud to
show them for the rest of their lives."
"Well, really," laughed Maud Dinsmore, "it does not strike me as
anything worth taking particular pride in."
"Mayhap that is because you are only a girl, Maud," remarked Chester
teasingly.
"Yes," she returned sportively, "if I were only a boy I might be as
silly as the others."
"Does it strike you as very silly, Gracie?" asked Walter.
"Well, no; not for boys," she returned doubtfully, "but rather so for a
man. There are so many other things in which--at least it seems to
me--it would be better worth while to excel."
"Yes; so there are," he agreed with a thoughtful look. "And yet an
occasional bit of sport is a good thing even for a man."
"That is very true," said Harold; "and certainly as true for
brain-workers as for any who toil with their hands."
"Doesn't it seem pleasant to be at home again, Walter?" asked Grace.
"Yes, indeed!" he exclaimed. "There is no place like home--especially
home with mother in it."
"Or with father in it," added Grace as, at that moment, Captain Raymond
joined the circle.
"Such a father as ours," said Lucilla, looking up at him with a smile of
proud, fond affection. He returned it, accepted an offered seat, and
asked Walter if he had been entertaining the company with tales of
college doings and experiences.
"Yes, sir," returned the lad. "I suppose it is the usual thing for a
Freshman to do on coming home at the end of his year."
"Quite; his head being pretty full of them," was the playful rejoinder.
"Well, little--no, young brother--I hope the old tutor has not been
entirely forgotten, in admiration and affection for the new?"
"No, sir; no, indeed! and never will be," returned Walter, speaking with
an energy and earnestness that brought a smile to the captain's lips and
eyes. "I shall show myself strangely ungrateful if I ever forgot the
patience and kindness with which my oldest brother instructed me; and
all for no reward at all."
"Ah! there you are mistaken," said Captain Raymond pleasantly. "It was
reward enough to know that I was helping to fit you for future
usefulness. I hope, my boy, you will live to be an honour to your mother
and a blessing to the world."
"I hope so, sir; it is my ardent wish," Walter said low and earnestly,
giving his mother a most loving look as he spoke.
"And if you trust not in your own strength, but look constantly to God
for help, you will succeed, my son," she responded in low, moved tones.
Just at that moment there were several additions to their group, among
them Captain Keith and Dr. Percival, and the talk turned upon plans for
the next few days, and after that for the summer. Most of the relatives
from a distance would linger in that neighbourhood for a week or more,
and entertainments of one kind and another would be given by those
residents there. The Oaks, The Laurels, Fairview, Woodburn, Roselands,
and Beechwood would have their turns. After that must come the
inevitable breaking up and scattering of guests to their own homes or
some summer resort, while most of the dwellers in that region would go
northward in search of a cooler climate in which to pass the heated
term. But it was not deemed necessary to settle it all now; only to
arrange on which day each estate would be the scene of entertainment. It
took a good deal of consultation, mingled with merry jests and happy
laughter, to settle all that. Then there was a general leave taking and
scattering to their homes--temporary or settled.