thing-spell, during which,
while "Nosey" went to bed behind the portieres, he drew his lamp from
its hiding-place and made strong coffee in the coffee-pot or
chafing-dish, whichever had been washed the more recently. Somewhere in
the small hours the seminary would adjourn with "international
complications," "tendencies of the age," "sub-head B," heating their
brains. Out of bed at seven for a final swift review of the subject,
Mason would sail over to class with a great unbreakfasted hollow beneath
his sweater, to pass freely and gloriously, and to forget the whole mess
by the time he had finished his afternoon nap.

And to see Jimmy in the seminary itself! How masterfully he kept track
of headings, sub-headings and modifying circumstances! How he could
scent at a day's distance the things which the professor was going to
ask, as well as those he was going to skip! When he said, "Now, old
Morton is heavy on this," the seminary digested the subject in all its
bearings and ramifications; and when he said, "No use looking that up,"
they skipped the heading, though pages of syllabi were slighted
thereby. When the wandering mind of Pellams slid off the work, it was
beautiful to see Jimmy lead it back with a word and a look; when he sent
some sleepy Senior to bed with the remark, "You're no more good. Sleep
it off and be fresh to-morrow," Jimmy touched the sublime.

The glory of it all was that upper-classmen as well as Freshmen put
themselves absolutely under the Sophomore's rule when it was a question
of an examination. Thus does the elective system level all ranks and
give genius opportunity.

On the night that Boggs dropped in on them, Jimmy and Pellams were
cramming alone. Two seniors who were usually in the group had gone
somewhere to mix up in a complication over Student-Body treasurer. A
Junior seldom out of line was a candidate for the Executive Committee;
he had put his head in at the door to say, "Dead sorry, fellows, but
can't get in it," and then gone down to Palo Alto to make himself
agreeable to a dig girl who had "influence." The popularity of some
people waxes strangely the latter part of April. A Freshman who was
taking the course when he shouldn't and who stood on the dizzy brink of
flunking it, had gone off with a Junior who wanted to stand well with
certain Freshmen of importance, and who had overjoyed the youngster
with an invitation to Mayfield, an event which made flunking clear out
of the Universit