an effort in self-denial

when tommy opened his eyes the next morning, awakened by the ringing of a bell, he found himself lying in an iron bed, between the whitest of white sheets. it was a most comfortable bed, and he stretched himself luxuriously as he looked about the pleasant room. in an instant he found himself gazing straight into another pair of eyes, whose owner was sitting up in a bed just opposite his own.

“i say,” said the stranger, “where did you come from?”

“wentworth, west virginia,” answered tommy, promptly.

“never heard of it. what’s your name?”

“tommy remington. what’s yours?”

“i’m jack sexton. but, i say, i wouldn’t let myself be called ‘tommy.’ that’s a kid’s name. make ’em call you tom.”

tommy lay for a moment without replying. he had not thought of it before, but the stranger was right. “tommy” was unquestionably a baby-name. just then another bell rang.

“hullo, there goes the second bell!” exclaimed jack. “we’ve got to hustle if we want to get any breakfast.”

he sprang out of bed, and tommy followed him. he picked up a great, soft towel, and vanished through a door at the farther end of the room. in a moment tommy heard a prodigious splashing of water.

“hurry up,” called jack. “bring your towel and come in here, or you’ll be late.”

tommy picked up his towel and hurried into the other room. he paused an instant at the door in amazement. jack stood under a wide stream of water, dancing fiendishly and rubbing his face and head.

“come on in,” he sputtered. “it’s great fun.”

tommy threw off his night-clothes, and in an instant was also under the stream. the water made him shiver when it first touched him, but his healthy vitality asserted itself, and that first shower-bath was enjoyed to the uttermost. then out again, with the great towels around them, rubbing the skin until it glowed.

“gee-crickety!” exclaimed jack, casting an admiring glance at tommy’s neck and shoulders. “you’re a good un. let’s feel your arm.”

tommy obligingly held out his arm and made the biceps swell.

“hard as a rock,” said jack, fingering it with great respect. “you must have been in training all your life.”

“in training?” repeated tommy. “i don’t know. i’ve been digging coal pretty near all my life.”

jack gave a low whistle of astonishment.

“digging coal? in a mine? well, i’d dig coal for a year if i could get a pair of shoulders like yours. you’re just the man we need for guard.”

“for guard?” and tommy remembered the three men with winchester rifles who watched the company’s safe at wentworth on pay-days.

“yes, for guard. you’re too big to play back of the line, you know. come on. i’ll introduce you to the captain.”

tommy followed him, wondering bewilderedly what it was he was expected to guard. down the stairs they went, and into the cool, airy dining-room, where some twenty boys were gathered, under supervision of the house-master, mr. prime. sexton introduced tommy to the other boys, and though he felt somewhat shy at first, this wore off as the meal progressed. and such a meal it seemed to him!—the spotless napery, the shining table-service, the abundant, well-cooked food,—small wonder these boys seemed happy and brimming over with animal spirits!

it was not until after the simple little service in edith chapel, where the whole school gathered every morning to open the day’s work, that he met captain blake; for blake, being in the fourth form, enjoyed the privilege of rooming in the great brick upper house, apart from a house-master’s supervision. blake shook hands with him, and then he and sexton took him over to the gymnasium, stripped off his shirt, and looked him over. tommy stood patiently while they examined him, and listened to sexton’s enthusiastic praise.

“he’ll do,” said blake, at last, nodding emphatically. “we haven’t another pair of shoulders and arms like that at lawrenceville. the only question is, does he know how to use them? now, remington, what do you know about football?”

tommy stared.

“i don’t know anything about it,” he said; “i never heard of it.”

“well,” said blake, smiling, “you won’t hear much else around here till after thanksgiving. it’s a game, and we’re going to teach you how to play it. you bring him out this afternoon, sexton, and we’ll give him his first practice.” and blake hurried away to attend to some other of his multitudinous duties as captain of the school eleven.

that morning tommy had an interview with the head-master, who questioned him closely about his studies and seemed much interested in him. the boy felt that here was a man upon whose kindly sympathy and encouragement he could rely.

“i think you will get along all right,” he said at last, “though it will not be easy for you. but, with study, you should be able to keep up with your classes. my friend bayliss has written me much about you,” he added. “he thinks a great deal of you, and you must try not to disappoint him. mr. king will arrange your studies,” he concluded; and tommy was turned over to the tutor.

he found mr. king a kindly though somewhat impatient young man, who probed his attainments to the bottom and soon decided just what classes he must join. his studies were scheduled, his text-books arranged, and the real work begun without delay—a routine much like that in all good preparatory schools.

sexton carried him off immediately after lunch.

“i’ve got an extra suit,” he said, “i can lend you. i thought once that i could make the team myself, but i’m not heavy enough.” and he led the way to the gymnasium, where he opened a locker and produced the suit. and presently tommy found himself arrayed in canvas jacket and great padded knickerbockers, long stockings, and shoes with heavy leather cleats on the bottom. then he was taken out into the field, where he found some two dozen other boys similarly attired.

blake nodded to them curtly.

“you give him his first lesson, sexton,” he said. “tell him what it’s all about, and let him watch the other fellows awhile, until he catches on a little.”

so sexton told tommy about the game: how it is played by two teams each of eleven members, whose object it is to force the ball, an oblong sphere of pigskin, down the field before them, until they carry it past the end of the field, or gridiron. this is called making a “touchdown,” and scores five points. how the ball is then taken out into the field again and kicked, and if it passes between the two uprights and over the bar which are fixed at the end of the field, it is called a “goal,” and scores another point. how if the ball is kicked over the bar from the field while it is in play, it is called “kicking a goal from field,” and also counts five points. many other niceties of the game sexton told him, which need not be set down here, and when the candidates for the team were ready to line up, he had a pretty good idea of what they were going to try to do. he watched them take their places and kick off the ball, and was soon shouting up and down the side-lines with the best of them. he had never seen such a game, and it appealed to his every instinct for good, hearty, honest strife and exertion.

“all right, remington; come on out here,” called blake, presently, and tommy ran out. “now you’re to play left guard,” continued blake. “you stand right here next to the center. now the minute you see the ball snapped back, you push this man opposite you out of the way, and charge ahead. if anybody else tries to tackle you, block him off this way with your elbows”; and blake suited the action to the word. “of course,” he added, “in a real game you wouldn’t be tackled unless they thought you had the ball, but just now i’m going to break you in a little, so that you’ll learn something about tackling for yourself.”

“all right,” said tommy, and took his place in the line.

“now keep your eye on the ball, fellows,” cautioned blake. “one-six-eight-eleven.”

tommy had no idea what the string of numbers meant, but he saw the ball snapped back, and he threw himself forward with all his strength. the man opposite him went down like a ninepin, and tommy caught a glimpse of a little fellow jumping at him with extended arms, and wondered at his temerity. somebody grasped him about the knees, clung to him with tenacious grip, and down they went in a heap. two or three others fell over him, and then they slowly disentangled themselves.

“good work, remington. good tackle, reeves,” commented blake, briefly; and tommy saw it was the little fellow who had brought him down with such apparent ease.

“say, that was game!” said tommy.

little reeves smiled.

“oh, it was easy enough. you weren’t going fast. why didn’t you jump?”

“jump?”

“yes. whenever you see a fellow coming at you, and you haven’t room to dodge him, jump right at him. that will knock him over backwards, and even if he hangs on to you, and you fall, too, you have gained some ground, and maybe cleared the way for the man with the ball who’s coming after you.”

“thanks,” said tommy, gratefully. “i’ve got a lot to learn, you know. i’ll try it next time.”

“hurry up, fellows; line up,” called blake; and for the next hour tommy was hauled around and kneaded and rolled on the ground. then they gave him a lesson in falling on the ball,—it was wonderful how elusive and slippery it turned out to be,—and at the end blake was pleased to commend him.

“you’ll do,” he said. “you’ll make a good guard after you learn the game. mind you’re out to-morrow afternoon. it isn’t every man has such a chance.”

and tommy retired to the gymnasium for a bath and a rub-down, feeling very good indeed. when he had got back to his room, it occurred to him that he ought to write a letter home, and he sat down to this duty. but how far away new river valley and the cramped, monotonous life there seemed! he had been away from it only a day, but it seemed ages off, and he reflected with satisfaction that he was going to escape it altogether. he shivered at the thought that he might never have escaped it—that he might have passed his whole life there, without knowing anything about the great, glorious outside world. he addressed the letter to his father, but it was really for his two old teachers that he wrote, and he told something of his trip and of his great good fortune in getting a chance on the team. he had an uneasy feeling that the letter was not so loving as it should have been, but he tried to make up for this with some affectionate words at the close.

every afternoon, after that, tommy donned his canvas suit, and soon began to have a fair idea of the game. blake put his strongest man opposite him, and the remainder of the boys would throng the side-lines to see remington and smith fight it out. both were unusually strong for their age,—smith had been reared on a great cattle-ranch in the west,—and as it was nip and tuck between them, both grew stronger and better players, while blake contemplated them with satisfaction, and congratulated himself on possessing the best pair of guards that had ever played together on a lawrenceville team. but of a sudden his satisfaction was rudely blasted.

tommy had been practising faithfully for three weeks or more, when he suddenly became aware that he was falling behind in his studies. he had not noticed it at first, so absorbed was he in his new surroundings; but one morning, at the recitation in history, he found that he did not at all understand what the lesson was about, for the reason that he had quite forgotten the events which led up to it. when the recitation was over, he went up to his room and did some hard thinking. it was evident at the outset that he could not afford any longer to spend the best part of every afternoon on the football field. these other boys had an immense advantage—all their lives they had been unconsciously absorbing knowledge which he must work out for himself. their associations had always been with books and with educated people, and in consequence they were so far ahead of him that the only way he could keep up was by extra study. he knew that if he once fell very far behind he would never catch up again.

so that day after lunch, instead of hurrying into his football clothes, tommy mounted resolutely to his room, opened his history at the very first, and went to work at it. it was not an easy task. he could hear the shouts of the boys from the field, and the bright sunshine tempted him to come out of doors; but he kept resolutely at work. presently he heard some one running up the stairs, and sexton burst into the room, and stopped astonished at sight of tommy bending over his book.

“oh, say,” he protested, “you can’t do that, you know, remington. blake is waiting for you before he begins practice. hurry up and get into your football togs.”

but tommy shook his head.

“i can’t do it, jack,” he said. “i’m falling too far behind. why, to-day, in history, i didn’t know what mr. knox was talking about.”

sexton laughed.

“well, what of it?” he asked. “neither did i. don’t let a little thing like that worry you.”

tommy shook his head again.

“it don’t matter with you so much,” he said. “you’ve got other things. but i’ve got only this. if i fail here, i’m done.”

sexton grew suddenly grave, for he saw the case was more serious than he had thought.

“you don’t mean to say that you’re going to give up football altogether?” he asked incredulously.

“i’m afraid i’ll have to.”

“don’t say that,” he protested. “blake’ll excuse you from practice for a day or two till you catch up. i’ll tell him you’re feeling a little stale. how’ll that do?”

“a day or two won’t do any good, jack,” said tommy, resolutely. “you don’t know how much i’ve got to learn before i’ll be up with you fellows.”

sexton paused a moment to consider how best to rally his forces.

“now, see here, remington,” he began, “you’re looking at this thing all wrong. suppose you do fall behind in your studies for a while. the tutors won’t be hard on you, because they know how you’re needed on the team, and you can make it all up again later in the year by a little extra work. there’ll be a dozen of the fellows ready to help you. but if you drop out of the team now, just when the games are coming on, it’s all up with you at lawrenceville. the only fellow who can possibly play in your place is banker, and you know how weak he is. it’s lawrenceville’s honor that’s concerned, old man, and if you quit now, half the fellows in the place will cut you dead.”

“surely it won’t be so bad as that,” protested tommy. “you won’t cut me, will you, jack?”

sexton’s face grew red.

“no, i won’t cut you,” he said. “but lots of the fellows will. they’ll make it as hard for you as they can.”

tommy’s lips went together. his fighting spirit was aroused.

“let them,” he said. “i’ve made up my mind. i can’t see but one thing to do, and i’m going to do it. tell blake i’m sorry.”

sexton’s face grew stern, too, and he got up from his seat.

“is that final?” he asked. “remember, blake won’t send for you a second time. he’s not that kind.”

“i’m sorry,” was all that tommy could say.

sexton stood looking at him a moment longer, and then went out and closed the door behind him.

tommy, shutting all thought of the trouble from his mind as well as he could, turned again to his history. that evening, when he went down to dinner, it was with the comfortable consciousness that he was ready for the next day’s lesson. but his satisfaction was of short duration. as he took his seat at table, instead of the hearty welcome he had grown accustomed to, there was a frigid silence. one or two of the boys nodded to him as he looked up and down the board, but very distantly. tommy felt a lump rise in his throat as he gulped down his food, and began to understand what his new resolution was going to cost him. then his mouth tightened, and he looked around defiantly, as though daring them to do their worst.