see Elmer Quiggly wearing a collar
like that. He always looks neat."

"For heaven's sake, Eddie," says Sister, "take off that tie. You
certainly do get the most terrific-looking things to put around your
neck. It looks like a Masonic apron. Let me go with you when you buy
your next batch."

By this time Edgar has his back against the wall and is breathing hard.
What do these folks know of what is being done?

If it is not family heckling it may be that even more insidious trial,
the third degree. This is usually inflicted by semi-relatives and
neighbors. The formulae are something like this:

"Well, how do you like your school?"

"I suppose you have plenty of time for pranks, eh?"

"What a good time you boys must have! It isn't so much what you get out
of books that will help you in after life, I have found, but the
friendships made in college. Meeting so many boys from all parts of the
country--why, it's a liberal education in itself."

"What was the matter with the football team this season?"

"Let's see, how many more years have you? What, only one more! Well,
well, and I can remember you when you were that high, and used to come
over to my house wearing a little green dress, with big mother-of-pearl
buttons. You certainly were a cute little boy, and used to call our cook
'Sna-sna.' And here you are, almost a senior."

[Illustration: "I can remember you when you were that high."]

"Oh, are you 1924? I wonder if you know a fellow
named--er--Mellish--Spencer Mellish? I met him at the beach last summer.
I am pretty sure that he is in your class--well, no, maybe it was
1918."

After an hour or two of this Edgar is willing to go back to college and
take an extra course in Blacksmithing, Chipping and Filing, given during
the Christmas vacation, rather than run the risk of getting caught
again. And, whichever way you look at it, whether he spends his time
getting into and out of his evening clothes, or goes crazy answering
questions and defending his mode of dress, it all adds up to the same in
the end--fatigue and depletion and what the doctor would call "a general
run-down nervous condition."

* * * * *

The younger you are the more frayed you get. Little Wilbur comes home
from school, where he has been put to bed at 8:30 every night with the
rest of the fifth form boys: and has had to brush his hair in the
presence of the head-master's wife, and dives into what might be cal