A Far Country, Book 1

lords of a "herdic." How sharply the smell of the salt-laden east wind and its penetrating coolness come back to me! I seek in vain for words to express the exhil

eshmen, assuming an indifference to the beings by whom we were surrounded and who were breakfasting, too,-although the nice-looking ones with fresh faces and trim clothes were all undoubtedly Olympians

und ourselves gazing out of the windows at the mellowed, plum-coloured bricks of the University buildings…. All at once our exhilaration evaporated as the herdic rumbled into a side street and backed up before the door of a not-too-inviting, three-storied house with a queer extension on top. Its steps and vestibule were, however, immaculate. The bell was answered by a plainly overworked servant girl, of whom we inquired for Mrs. Bolton,

we had introduced ourselves, and as we mounted the stairs behind her

the bare walls of our sitting-room. "We'll have to go into the house-furnishi

e opening of one's trunk. The sight of the top tray gave me a pang I shall never forget. I would not have believed that I loved my mother so much! These articles had been packed by her hands; and in one corner, among the underclothes on which she had neatly sewed my initials, lay the new Bible she had bought. "Hugh Moreton Paret, from his Mother. September, 1881." I took it up (Tom was not looking) and

y with our unpacking, we became

" he cried. "We're c

t. His face was pimply, his eyes a Teutonic blue, his yellow hair ru

," he announced si

ver dawned on him that there was such a thing in the world as snobbery. But Tom and I had been "coached" by Ralph Hambleton and Perry Blackwood, warned to be careful of our friendships. There wa

fact sealed our future relationships. He seated himse

qualified to speak for "old H

pall-bearers for somebody

seemed no po

, gazing about a room which had seemed to us the abomination of

ad been lost in the old country, and made eye-glasses and opera glasses. There hadn't been a fortune in it. He, Hermann, had worked at various occupations in t

nt to come here

ebs retorted genially. "To

tion!" ec

e was an exaltation in Krebs's voice that arrested my attention, and

," sa

ome for?" Mr. K

id Tom. "I expect to have

not fathom, it suddenl

f this statement, th

new dignity that curiously belied

silence followe

t a crust!" sa

e more complicated; but I took my cue fr

ared. "Here's to old Harvard, the greatest i

r homesickness, but it returned with redoubled inten

may not be discussed directly, and the conduct of life at a modern university-which is a reflection of life in the greater world-is one of these. Perry Blackwood and Ham did most of the talking, while Ralph, characteristically, lay at full length on the window-seat, interrupting with an occasional terse and cynical remark very much to the point. As a sophomore, he in particular seemed lifted immeasurably above us, for he was-as might have been expected already a marked man in his class. The rooms which h

her send 'em?

uter, and his clothes were more striking, more obviously expensive than ever…. On our way homeward, after we had walked a block or

m had become a favourite. He had the gift of making men feel that he delighted in their society, that he wished for nothing better than to sit for hours in their company, content to listen to the arguments that raged about him. Once in a while he would make a droll observation that was greeted with fits of laughter. He was always referred to as "old Tom," or "good old To

m care an

car

ine, '

es the j

rway to declare that we were a disgrace to her respectable house: the university authorities should be informed, etc., etc. Poor woman, we were outrageously inconsiderate of her…. One evening as we came through the hall we caught a glimpse in the dimly lighted parlour of

n't our friend Kr

I recognized in the social system of undergraduate life at Harvard a reflection of that of a greater world where I hoped some day to shine; yet my ambition did not prey upon me. Mere conformity, however, would not have taken me very far in a sphere from which I, in common with many others, desired not to be excluded…. One day, in an idle but inspired m

ten encountered Hermann Krebs,

done?" he would i

r, when he was out of ears

id not seem to bother him in the least; on the contrary, I got the impression that it amused him. He seemed to have mad

ead of me, his trousers above his ankles. I was bundled up in a new ulst

etting along?" I ask

se that I should have addressed him at

for two or three newspapers. I began by washing windows, and doing odd jobs for t

iency that made my sympathy seem superfluous, giving the i

w you're getting

ar we abandoned Mrs. Bolton's

had significance. I have mentioned my knack for song-writing; but it was not, I think, until my junior year there was

ated. And when, in reading aloud certain magnificent passages, he forgot his affectations, he managed to arouse cravings I thought to h

thinly veiled contempt. None so quick as he to detect a simulated interest, or a wily effort to make him ridiculous; and few tried this a second time, for he had a rapier-like gift of repartee that transfixed the offender like a moth on a pin. He had a way of eyeing me at times, his glasses in his hand, a quee

is penholder to a pulp. In his muttering, which was mixed with the curious, stingless profanity of which he was master, I caught the name of Cheyne, and I knew that he was facing

I can't seem to think of a thing." He rose to fling

Can

amily at the ceiling. "Whenever I have some darned foolish theme like this to write I want to g

h you

tamaracks and balsams!" And he began, for something like

f he had been able to write; for, when he was interested in any matter, his oral narrative did not lack vividness. I began to ask him questions: what were the trees like, for instance? How did the French-Canadian

for you," I exclaimed

ot abou

's a persona

urface of the pool broken here and there with the circles left by rising fish; I pictured Armand, the guide, his pipe between his teeth, holding the canoe against the current; and I seemed to smell the sharp tang of the balsams, to hear the roar of the rapids below. Then came the sudden hooking of the big trout, habitant oaths from Armand, bouleversement, wetness, darkness, confusion; a ha

ed into bed. I had no desire for sleep. My brain was racing madly, like an engine without a governor. I could write! I could write! I repeated the words over and over to myself. All the complexities of my present life were blotted out, and I beheld only the long, sweet vista of the career for which I was now convinced that nature had intended me. My immediate fortunes became unimportant, immaterial. No juice of the grape I had ever tasted made me half so drunk…. With t

notice him, yet I was vaguely aware of his standing over me. When at last I looked up I gathered from hi

the deuce of a me

e matter?"

on the table

lonzo,"

membered

s he done?"

've been lazy and hid my light under a bushel! He says he knows now what I can do, and if I don't

anguish, I was seized wi

staring at

to become of me? That's what I want to know. I've been in troubl

as gra

ding. "Say, Hugh, old man, you can temper 'em down-temper 'em down gradua

actually

icament striking me for the first time i

e to hold a gun over yo

the slightest desire to be one I was appalling, besides having in it an element of useless self-sacrifice from which I recoiled. On the other hand, if Alonzo

ng towards me a dapper figure which I recognized as that of Mr. Cheyne himself. As I saluted him he gave me a

or March, Paret

agreed in a

, "that was an excellent theme your roommate handed in. I had no idea that

ir,-I r

rprised?" inqui

e talks just like that, sometimes-that

, but the thing was very well done, for an undergraduate. I must confess I never should have suspected it in Peters, and it's most interesting what you say about his cleverness in conversation." He twirled the head of his stick, apparen

ir

s this merely commendab

no,

reatly hoped," he added meaningly, "that you mig

as

ime to come over to my rooms f

ainly

s number in B

ok what little nourishment I could at a modest restaurant, and restlessly paced the moonlit streets until eight o'clock, when I found myself in front of one of those low-gabled colonial houses which, on less soul-shaking occasions, had exercised a great charm on my imaginatio

id, in a tone that was

lled recesses. Between these were rows of books,-attractive books in chased bindings, red and blue; books that appealed to be taken down and read. There was a table covered with reviews and magazines in neat piles, and

atmosphere. And he had, moreover, dropped the subtl

d to the blaze, looking down at me. "It was built by a certain Colonel Draper, who fought at Louisburg, and afterwards fled to England at the tim

would undoubtedly have been the same. And I watched him, dazedly, w

orestall a comment, "but it's rather good, I think. I picked it up at a sa

d took down other articles in which I managed to feign an interest. Finally he seated himself in the

u could fool me,"

ing of a great clock in th

ctly that I am led to think you have a gift that may be cultivated, Paret. You wrote that theme in the way Peters would have written it if he had not been

u, sir,"

lecture-room manner, "seriously thought of literature as

of my father's opinion of the profession. Ambition-a purer ambition than I had known for ye

me in a most disillusionizing light that conception of the university held by me and my intimate associates. After I had left him I walked the quiet streets to behold as through dissolving mists another Harvard, and there trembled in my soul like the birth-struggle of a flame something of the vision later to be immortalized by St. Gaudens, the spirit of

y old landlady's, Mrs. Bolton's, and summoned up before me was the tired, smiling face of Hermann Krebs. Was it because when he had once spoken so crudely of the University I had seen the reflectio

g than ever, answered the bell. Life had taught her to be indiff

had been a frequent caller. I had never once da

, and hesitated….

had in it a touch of bitterness, "I guess there's no reas

peated. "Is

no wonder! He hasn't had any proper food since he's be'n here!" She paused, eyei

be so kind as to tell him-when he's well enou

d she stood with a hand def

tell him,

aving been baffle

racted by a slowly approaching cab whose occupant

e, 'tis wine, that

ded a pair of shoeless feet, out of the other a hatless head I recognized as belonging to Tom Peters; hence I surmised that the feet were his also. The driver got down from the box, and a lively argument was begun inside-for there we

elling movements began from within, "Easy, Ham,

her!" exclaimed a voice from

oud roars and vigorous resistance from the obelisk, the cab rocking violently.) "This gintleman" (meaning me) "w

all right

Peters. Now will ye r

oice from the darkness, the mined

r him!" came forth in

ybe

jerk, and we had him fairly upright on the pavement minus a collar and tie and the buttons of his evening waistcoat. Those who remained in the cab engaged in a riotous game of hunt the slipper, while Tom peered into the dark interior, obse

sousin' good time. Went to Babcock's-had champagne-then to see Babesh in-th'

e don't step on m

kespheare. C'n do what I damplease." He halted in

, nor th' gi

ll outlive m' p

t, Alonzho

I demanded, momentarily

lied, "says I wrote

door into the bedroom and recalled the times when I, too, had been in that condition. Tom Peters drunk, and sleeping it off, was deplorable, without doubt; but Hugh Paret drunk was detestable, and had no excuse whatever. Nor did I mean by this to set myself on