rton
Billings, the fat man of the class. Day after day he was captured by the
sophomores and commanded to dance. He was an earnest youth and entirely
without a sense of humor. Dancing to him was not only hard work but
downright wicked. He was a member of the Epworth League, and he took his
membership seriously. Even David, he remembered, had "got in wrong"
because he danced; and he had no desire to emulate David. Within two
days the sophomores discovered his religious ardor, his horror of
drinking, smoking, and dancing. So they made him dance while they howled
with glee at his bobbing stomach; his short, staggering legs; his red
jowls, jigging and jouncing; his pale blue eyes, protruding excitedly
from their sockets; his lips pressed tight together, periodically
popping open for breath. He was very funny, very angry, and very much
ashamed. Every night he prayed that he might be forgiven his sin. A
month later when the intensity of his hatred had subsided somewhat, he
remembered to his horror that he had not prayed that his tormentors be
forgiven their even greater sin. He rectified the error without delay,
not neglecting to ask that the error be forgiven, too.

Hugh was forced to sing, to dance, and to make a speech, but he escaped
the watering-trough. He thought the fellows were darned nice to let him
off, and they thought that he was too darned nice to be ducked. Although
Hugh didn't suspect it, he was winning immediate popularity. His shy,
friendly smile, his natural modesty, and his boyish enthusiasm were
making a host of friends for him. He liked the "initiations" on the
campus, but he did not like some of them in the dormitories. He didn't
mind being pulled out of bed and shoved under 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
commanded 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,
forming 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 f