Page:The plastic age, (IA plasticage00mark).pdf/73

Rh did not like some of them in the dormitories. He did n’t mind being pulled out of bed and shoved un¬ der a cold shower. He took a cold shower every morning, and if the sophomores wanted to give him another one at night—all right, he was willing. He had to confess that “Eliza Crossing the Ice” had been enormous fun. The freshmen were com¬ manded to appear in the common room in their oldest clothes. Then all of them, the smallest lad excepted, got down on their hands and knees, form¬ ing a circle. The smallest lad, “Eliza,” was given a big bucket full of water. He jumped upon the back of the man nearest to him and ran wildly around the circle, leaping from back to back, the bucket swinging crazily, the water splashing in every direction and over everybody.

Hugh liked such “stunts,” and he liked putting on a show with three other freshmen for the amuse¬ ment of their peers, but he did object to the vulgar¬ ity and cruelty of much that was done. The first order the sophomores often gave was, “Strip, freshman.” Just why the freshmen had to be naked before they performed, Hugh did not know, but there was something phallic about the proceedings that disgusted him. Like every ath¬ lete, he thought nothing of nudity, but he soon dis¬ covered that some of the freshmen were intensely conscious of it. True, a few months in the gym¬ nasium cured them of that consciousness, but at first