Page:Dave Porter at Oak Hall.djvu/98



was after dark when Oakdale was reached, a pretty village containing six or seven hundred inhabitants, and located on a stream of water which we shall call the Leming River. The railroad station was new, and back of it was the main street, containing more than a block of stores and a number of fine dwellings. On the cross streets were other houses and also several churches, and the village also boasted of a small park, where the Oakdale Brass Band occasionally gave concerts during the summer.

Around the railroad station all was activity when the train came in. The Oak Hall stage was on hand, to take the boys to the academy, and also a wagon for their trunks and dress-suit cases.

"Hullo, Horsehair!" called out Roger, to the driver of the stage. "How are we to-morrow, as the clown says in the circus?"

"Pretty well, thank you," replied Jackson Lemond, with a good-natured grin. He was invariably called Horsehair because of the hairs which always clung to his clothing. Rh