Jacksonville High School - Crimson J Yearbook (Jacksonville, IL)

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The N a u t 1 1 u s “Don’t talk nonsense.” “It isn't nonsense. Anything is fair, if the exam is unjust. Now, Nell, you’ve got to promise me to go to this reception tonight. I don't care if the English is tomorrow. You’ve simply got to come and be introduced, even if you slink off after an hour or so. We Juniors planned this affair, and both the young men and the girls of the class are to do the honors. I shall just take it as a personal affront if you don’t go.” “Well—anything—I don’t care—I’ll go.” That evening Nell stood by a low window in the great University Reception Hall. She had, with her usual courage and spirit, gone through the ordeal of introductions, and responded to the usual greetings and polite favors accorded new students. Now, she was trying, in this secluded corner, to withdraw from sight, and as soon as possible she intended to slip away to her work. Some one sat in a chair near by; she didn’t know who. Very likely it was some homesick new comer like herself. She drew the heavy curtain between him and her, and leaned her head wearily against the window frame. “Pardon me; will you have this chair?” said a deep voice. Nell started. “I—I think not. I’m going home.” “Oh, surely not. You have but just come,” said the voice, and Nell now saw that it belonged to a tall, rather athletic looking young man. “Oh, mercy 1 One of those everlasting supercilious Seniors!” thought she, as she observed his smile. “Have this chair. You look tired.” “I can’t. I’ve got to go to my room and study for the English entrance exam for tomorrow morning,” said Nell, somewhat reassured by the kindness of the speaker. “I shouldn’t think that would be necessary if you have had good preparation in the school from which you come.” “Oh, but you don’t know. I’ve always liked the English work,and have bad very good teachers. It isn’t that. It is the fact that that outrageous— Mr.—Mr.------” “Mr. Livingston?” suggested her new acquaintance. “Yes. That outrageous Mr. Livingston is so unmerciful in his examinations and in his markings. I’ve not been able to sleep for a week because I am so afraid I shall have to send home an account of my failure in English.” “You need not fear, if your preparation is good,” reiterated the young man. Nell looked up into the serious face and kind eyes of the speaker. A small demon of perversity seemed to possess her. “My roommate, May Hardin, says that if I had the wit to know how to cheat successfully, I might hope to— er—to get ahead of him. Many of the students do try it.” “But not successfully, I should say 6

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The Nautilus hall of the main building- with her pretty head erect, she felt that she was the object of certain observant glances and low toned remarks- Her intrepid bearing belied her homesick heart, and she set her teeth firmly together in her determination to keep back the tears, as she passed into the deserted cloak room, where, by appointment, she was to wait the return of her roommate and friend. Through the half open door voices drifted, and she distinctly heard: “She’s from the same town as May Hardin, and rooms with her over at the club house. Too bad May, a Junior, has to be tied down to a new girl, a Fresh. May says she doesn’t believe she can get her to go to the reception for the new students tonight. She’s awfully reserved. No wonder, though—with a laugh—she has to take the whole set of Entrance Exams.” “There, I’m labeled and stuck fast with a pin, like the specimens I mounted in the zoology class at the High School last year,” thought Nell as she smiled through her tears. “Well, anyhow, I’m going to have a few minutes' rest before going on with this grind.” She sank into a chair by a window, and, with closed eyes, let the south breeze sweep through the rich waves of her hair. Then, quick footsteps sounded, and a voice said: “Ready, Nell? Asleep? How did the mathematics examination turn out?” “Mercy, May! You’re like a whirlwind. The mathematics? Oh, all right, I think. I never did fear that.” “Well, what’s the matter with you, then? Nell, do you know you’re awfully pale? This studying night and day won’t do, my lady. There’s a limit to everything, you know. Is it the English?” “Yes.” Oh, that’s it? What’s the matter in that line?” “Why, you ought to know. There’s so much to study, and one hardly knows what. I’ve always liked the work, but—oh, it’s that assistant in the department who has charge of the Exams. They say he is perfectly merciless. You, yourself, said so, and you know how easily one could be made to fail. Think of their knowing at home that I---” “Well, you are a goose! He may not be as black as he’s painted. I never had any work under him,and only know what I know from hearsay. Many do fail in his exams, but it may be only those who are really not prepared. You’re a fine English student. Why should you care?” “No, I’m not.” “Well, do a little clever cheating, then. That requires real ability, you know. They say tney often try it with this assistant, Mr. Livingston, in the English. I don’t know how they do it, or how they come out,” said May, laughing; “I hain’t had much experience in that line. I’m not sufficiently gifted to be an expert. You are.” 5

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The Nautilus And I should think you above even trying- it.’’ In the twinkling of an eye a decided change had come over the speaker. His manner was stiff and his voice cold, and be bowed a very distant good night, as she moved away with the parling shot— I think I shall try it tomorrow.” Nell went 1o her room, but not to study. Her thoughts roved from her books, and she finally put them aside. “He must be a Senior; he knows so much about the school. I wonder if he is,” she thought, ‘‘and I wonder, too, what under the shining canopy could have made me give such a false impression of myself to this serious, fine young man.” A few minutes before time next morning, she went to her examination with a troubled heart. Two young men stood by the instructor’s desk, one of them a candidate for examination, she knew by the pen and papers in his hand, the other—her eyes surely did not deceive her—her acquaintance of yesternight. Quickly she bent to the candidate at her right. Who is the taller and older of the two young men at the desk?” she asked. “The one with the light hair? Why, that—that’s Mr. Livingston, the examiner. Didn’t you know that?” The room danced and swam before Nell’s eyes. Her hands trembled with cold, and her face turned deadly pale. The climax of her misery had come. Some one—she did not know who—laid some paper and a list of questions on her desk, and with smarting eyes, and shame at her heart, she gathered herself together to write. One thought only possessed her. She must do her honest best, although her work might never receive any credit. The questions required thought, yes, and much knowledge of the subjects that they covered, but they were all fair, and none of them puzzling. So with the same pale face she wrote on, and with the same pale face she passed in her paper after two hours of solid, unflaging work. “Nell,” said May, as she returned from the postoffice with their mail on the afternoon of that same eventful day, “are you really turning to stone? Well, here’s a great manuscript of some sort in this big envelope, addressed to you, and I hope it will have the power to transform you again into your own lovely, happy self. And Nell opened the great envelope, and found, along with the examination paper which she had that morning handed in, a card, which she treasured faithfully all the rest of her natural life. It ran thus: “You need fear nothing. Honest work means everything. Your credit is ninety-five.” 7