Page:The plastic age, (IA plasticage00mark).pdf/124

108 “All right,” Hugh agreed wearily. He went t( bed, but many of the boys stayed up and studied some of them all night.

The examinations were held in the gymnasium Hundreds of class-room chairs were set in evei rows. Nothing else was there, not even the gym nasium apparatus. A few years earlier a wily stU; dent had sneaked into the gymnasium the night be fore an examination and written his notes on dumbbell hanging on the wall. The next day h calmly chose the seat in front of the dumbbell—an< proceeded to write a perfect examination. The ar notated dumbbell was found later, and after that th walls were stripped clean of apparatus before th examinations began.

At a few minutes before nine the entire fresl man class was grouped before the doors of the gyn nasium, nervously talking, some of them glancin through their notes, others smoking—some of ther so rapidly that the cigarettes seemed to melt, other| walking up and down, muttering and mumbling all of them so excited, so tense that they hard! knew what they were doing. Hugh was trying tl think of a dozen answers to questions that poppe into his head, and he could n’t think of anything.

Suddenly the doors were thrown open. Yelling shoving each other about, fairly dancing in the: eagerness and excitement, the freshmen rushed int the gymnasium. Hugh broke from the mob <