Westport High School - Herald Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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STUDY HALL. E TH AN CLASS IN FRESHM A THE WESTPORT HIGHLSCHOOL HERALD. 27 CUPID'S POSTMAN. I A .I Say, J ack, I don't think it's square to go back on a fellow like this. I thought it was de- cided at the beginning of the year that you were to come home to New York with me. The Patcr, you know, has a fine position waiting for both of us? I I know, Dick, your father is a brick, and it is with regret, I assure you, that I' must re- fuse , but you see I couldn't ask mother to leave the old home and the many associations and dear friends of years-it would mean real sor- row to us bothf' The above conversation tookiplace in Dickh luxuriously furnished 'fdenv atiYale. These two chums had been hazedi together when Freshies, had taken the same course, and in every way were loyal comrades. And now their Senior year was drawing to a close, and Dick Huntington was exerting all his powers of per- suasion to induce his friend, Jack Downley, to accompany him to his home in New York. But Jack was firm. I 'CN o, Dickjj said J ack, I appreciate your father?s kindness more than I can say, but I have been independent all my life, and I expect to hustle from the bottom of theladder to the top, if I ever get there, without any helpf' They sat in silence, puffing their pipes. Each thought of a fair young girl that he had known and loved since childhood. She had shared all their boyish sports, permissible for a girl, and had shown no preference, tho-ugh each boy secretly thought that he found special favor in her clear blue eyes. Owing to his increasing business, Mr. Hunt- ington removed, with his family, to New York. When, four years later, Dick was sent to Yale, by hard struggling Jack earned a scholarship inthe same college. Each boy silently enter- tained the hope that when he graduated he would tell a certain golden-haired girl of his love and try to win heir. 0 Q - - . 1 - . ffDick, see here what I got in this morning's mail-an offer of a position as postinan in our town, from an old friend of my father, who is postmaster there., Now, of course, this must appear to you rather a, slow beginning, and I confess that I have higher ambitions, but this will do for a starter and ,I shallaccept with thanks? ' . Dickyibetrayed great excitement and eyed his friend impatiently. Jack returned the look with interest. I . , . KWell! why don7t you say something-+con- gratulate a fellow on his luck P Dick murmured something that was any- thing but complimentary to his chum. Then, changing the subject, he said, in an off-hand manner: , Oh, by the way, I got a letter from Tess to-day, and -with a frown- she sent you her love and said for me to tell you that you will hear from her soon. She says she is surely com- ing down with your mother to see us graduate. She also asked me if I remember the day she put her foot through a kite we had made,be- cause we wouldn't let her fly it. Girls never could fly kites anyway. Say, J ack, those were jolly times 5 we never realized it until now that they are passed. e And Dick uttered a sigh at the memory. of those by-gone childish pleasures that would never come again. ' ' A V - Two months later old Yale was Hying blue ribbons and bunting decorations from every doorway and window, for the end of the year had come, and the air rang with cheers for Jack Downley, who had carried off the hono-rs. I Tears of joy stood in the eyes of Jack's mother, as he delivered the valedictory, and she had a very sympathetic companion in' Tessic Deane. Tessie, however, was laboring under conflicting emotions, for she could not tell, in her heart, which boy she would rather have had win that glorious honor. ' . o - u Q u Q 1 Another summer had come, and, as Jack assorted his mail in the Hamton postoffice, he thought of the time, just a year ago that very day, when he had been the lion at Yale and Tessie had looked up into his eyes and told him 1

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A FRESHMAN CLASS IN THE STUDY HALL. U, I

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28 THE WEST PORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. how glad she was. He now wondered if she had ever looked at Dick in just that way. He remembered, as he mechanically placed the let- ters and papers in their different piles, just how she looked. Her eyes were as blue as the .Ya-le pin she wore at her throat-the pin he had sent her-and her dark blue dress, with its white collar and belt, formed a bewitching con- trast to her golden hair with the sunbeams caught in it, and her fair, dimpled chin. And, though he saw her every day, for there was al- ways some mail for the Deanes, he never for- got just how she looked whe-n she congratulated him. Some very tender words had rushed to his lips then, but he controlled them with an effort. It wo-uld never do to tell her now that she had been his one great inspiration to win the honors that so many had striven for. N or Would it do to ask the question he so longed to, for a postmanjs salary would not mainta.in two people with any great amou t of luxury, though bushels of love were thrown in. A A He was brought to earth a.gain with a start, as he read the address of the obje-ct of all his musings. It wa.s on a crested envelope, written in a hand he knew only too- well. Now Jack didn't, of course, know the contents of that let- ter, but the fact of its very existence was enough to make him very miserable, and his worst fears were aggravated when Tessie received the let- ter, so reluctantly given, with a smile and a blush, a.nd when Jack asked her why she was in such Nglowingv spirits, she answered some- thing entirely off the subject. This called for the remark: A Some girls areso 'funny' one never can get any satisfaction from them. Whereupo-n up went the pretty head, as sho replied that she had not put out the sign, Sat- isfaction gua.ranteed or money refundedf' Jack went away in a huff, and as the mails continued to bring those letters he had a tempt-ation not to deliver them, but his high sense of honor spurned such a thought. One day, after having delivered a more bulky-looking document than usual the day be- fore, he was very much surprised to see Tess with suspiciously pink'9 eyelids. The fact of his having no mail seemed to relieve rather than to disappoint her. The contents of that bulky manuscript was anything but calming. Dick had asked her to be his wife 5 to live in great New York, and let him care for and surround her with every lux- ury that love and wealth could procure. She was angry and amazed at her feelings. She didnit seem to care for Dick as much or in the way she thought she ought to love the man that she would marry. It would be dreadful to leave her mother and the dear old town where she has lived all her life and-and J ack. No, she couldn't possibly leave Jack, that was her whole reason in a. nut-shell. She was sitting in her cozy little room, thinking it all over when the sharp, familiar lit- tle 'ftoot-tootv of the postman's whistle came to her ears and seemed to fix her decision, what- ever it was, for she tore the letter lying in her lap into a thousand pieces and tossed them into the waste-basket, then fairly flew down the stairs to answer the summons. Jack was in a state of open rebellion. He had decided, the night before as he read over the offer of a fine position with a banking firm, to venture the question which was to decide his fate, if another letter came from Dick. The Boston firm of Messrs. Goodrich Sz Oo. had heard of his Yale record, and were looking for just such a young man as J ack. It was a fine opening with every prospect of advancement, and J ack's eyes glowed as he re-read the letter, and, besides, with Tess to help him, what could he not do? lt's simply the limitj, he muttered, to be obliged to deliver the love-letters of a rival. Then he wondered if anyo-ne had ever been in a. similar position before. He took heart again, ho-wever, when Tessie met him at the door, smiling so sweetly and felt tha.t Fortune might at last favor him when she said: Do come in a minute, Jack. I've just made some delicious fudgef' He needed no second invitation. Then, plunging at once, said: