esday a junior came to me, and told me I was to be hazed as I left
the Opera House Friday night. After that a great many came to me and
advised and warned me as to what I should do. I decided to get about
fifty of our class outside and then fight it out; that was before I
changed my mind. As soon as I did I regretted it very much, but, as it
turned out, the class didn't come, so I was alone, as I wished to be.
You see, I'd not a very good place here; the fellows looked on me as a
sort of special object of ridicule, on account of the hat and cane,
walk, and so on, though I thought I'd got over that by this time. The
Opera House was partly filled with college men, a large number of
sophomores and a few upper class men. It was pretty generally known I
was going to have a row, and that brought them as much as the show.
Poor Ruff was in agony all day. He supposed I'd get into the fight,
and he knew he'd get in, too, sooner or later. If he did he'd be held
and not be able to do anything, and then the next day be blamed by the
whole college for interfering in a class matter. He hadn't any money
to get into the show, and so wandered around outside in the rain in a
great deal more excited state than I was. Howe went all over town
after putting on his old clothes, in case of personal damage, in search
of freshmen who were at home out of the wet. As I left the building a
man grabbed me by my arm, and the rest, with the seniors gathered
around; the only freshman present, who was half scared to death, clung
as near to me as possible. I withdrew my arm and faced them. "If this
means hazing," I said, "I'm not with you. There's not enough men here
to haze me, but there's enough to thrash me, and I'd rather be thrashed
than hazed." You see, I wanted them to understand exactly how I looked
at it, and they wouldn't think I was simply hotheaded and stubborn. I
was very cool about it all. They broke in with all sorts of
explanations; hazing was the last thing they had thought of. No,
indeed, Davis, old fellow, you're mistaken. I told them if that was
so, all right, I was going home. I saw several of my friends in the
crowd waiting for me, but as I didn't want them to interfere, I said
nothing, and they did not recognize me. When among the crowd of
sophomores, the poor freshman made a last effort, he pulled me by the
coat and begged me to come with him. I said no, I was going home.
When I reached the next corner I stopped.