Homer Greene

“ The principal and teachers were quite at a loss what course to pursue. One thing only seemed feasible, and that was to draw the lines with still greater strictness, and to compel the utmost obedience by the severest discipline.
Thus matters stood at the close of a beautiful May day. It was one of those [59] languid, luxuriant days on which every lover of Nature longs to be in the woods and fields, breathing without stint air sweetened by the touch of bursting buds and growing leaves and springing grass.
It was after supper and before the time for the evening session. ”

“ There was no hope now in any direction. Brightly, whom he had loved; of whom he had been proud; for whom he had suffered; for whom, indeed, he would have laid down his sword and shoulder-straps any day, if that would have saved him,—Brightly was lost beyond hope of recovery, disgraced and ruined beyond possibility of reform. It was sad, it was very sad,—it was dreadful!
The lad started nervously to his feet, and began walking hastily up and down the narrow floor of his room. ”

“ On no one in the school had Colonel Silsbee’s address of the morning fallen with greater severity than on Brightly. The strong denunciation of the language of the petition had cut deeply into his sensibilities. Every boy in the school knew that he had drawn the paper; he believed that Colonel Silsbee himself knew it.
He had of late grown partially indifferent to his suspension and disgrace; even the stings of conscience were becoming somewhat dulled; but now came a thrust [79] at his pride and vanity that not only made new, deep wounds, but set the old ones bleeding afresh. ”

“ I detest the fellow,—absolutely detest him!”
“Well, I’ll admit that he’s not a lovable character; but Colonel Silsbee had some good reason for making him the ranking cadet-officer, you may be sure, and it’s our duty as soldiers to accept the situation and make the best of it.”
“Good reason, did you say? Good reason! Harple, I’ll tell you why Brede is captain and I’m only lieutenant; it’s because his father is a general in the army and worth a hundred thousand dollars, and my mother has to stint herself in order to pay for my schooling. Now, that’s what hurts me; it’s the rank injustice of it!” ”

“ When Brede returned to the schoolroom some fifteen minutes later, he had lost something of his swagger; the curl on his lips was less pronounced, and his face was more than usually pale. Every one who saw him knew that his interview with Colonel Silsbee had not been a pleasant one.
Moreover, from that night on he ignored both Brightly and Belcher; the men in the ranks noticed that he grew more quick-tempered and morose; the principal and teachers in the school found that he became less careful of his standing. ”

“ Then Brede made a dash for his cap. Others ran for theirs. There was a general movement toward the drill-hall door. Talking and shouting began again. Some one cried, “Show your stars!” and in a moment the ink-splashed paper stars were displayed outside of coats and jackets. Plumpy produced one on which he had labored zealously the night before, and which covered his entire breast.
Outside there was a moment’s halt. Brede had turned toward his rash followers, many of whom were pale and trembling with excitement, and cried tragically:
“All cowards turn back! All men and soldiers follow me!” ”

“ It was to be, according to custom, a week of camp-life. Already the white tents were dotting the eastern slope of the lawn; already the schoolroom was deserted and the recitation-rooms were empty; the sentinels were pacing their beats through shade and sunshine, and the grounds of [160] Riverpark were alive with bodies of moving troops.
It was the afternoon of the first day in camp, and the hour for dress-parade. Many people had come up from the city to witness the evolutions of the troops, and the east porch was bright with the summer costumes of the ladies who had gathered there. ”

“ At the moment when the paper was ready for signature, Brede entered the room.
“Here!” cried a dozen boys at once. “Brede, captain! sign the petition!”
“What for?” asked Brede, surlily.
“A holiday! We’re going to have a holiday; sign the petish!”
The captain took the paper and read it.
“Haven’t you put it pretty strong?” he asked.
“It’s got to be strong,” was the reply, “or we won’t get the holiday.”
Plumpy, the fat boy, waddled hastily toward the group, crying out in his falsetto voice: “A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a mule!”
“Plumpy wants a mule!” shouted Patchy, hilariously. ”

“ You’ve lost your shoulder-straps without doubt.”
Harple took the pitcher and hurried down the hall for some warm water with which to bathe his friend’s wounds. “I haven’t much hope for you after this,” he said, returning. “You simply won’t listen to advice.”
“Well, how could I help it, Charley?” Brightly stood in his shirt-sleeves, waiting for the water. His wrath was rising again at the remembrance of Belcher’s taunting words.
“How could I help it?” he repeated. “A fellow would have to be more than human to stand such abuse. It was simply impossible not to strike him.” ”

“ Among his five advisers Brede did not appoint Brightly.
The drum, sounding the call for the evening session, interrupted the deliberations of the conspirators; and, one by one, they passed quietly into the hall and down the stairs. The short recess preceding tattoo was devoted to proselyting, and before taps sounded that night, many an ink-splashed paper star was pinned in a hidden place on coat or vest.
In the school at large there was feverish excitement. Those who were not in the secret were puzzled by the general air of mystery which prevailed. ”

“ The morning was beautiful. Nature was propitious; there was not a cloud to be discovered either in the blue sky or on the bright hopes of the students. Everybody was jubilant. Even Brightly had awakened to an unusual degree of enthusiasm, and Brede was smiling and swaggering with much of the old-time manner.
[69]
Colonel Silsbee entered the room, read the Scripture lesson as usual, and offered the morning prayer. Then, seating himself again in his chair, he looked down for a moment on the bright and expectant faces before him. ”

“ Graydon, one of the teachers, happening to stand at the window of his recitation-room, saw the boys as they ran to the fence, leaped over, and passed into the fields beyond. He was too greatly astonished by the act to realize at once what it meant. Then it occurred to him that these lads had broken into open rebellion, and were about to take the holiday that had been denied them by the principal. He hurried across the schoolroom to Colonel Silsbee’s office, and entered it in a state of great excitement.
“They have gone!” he exclaimed. ”

“ Captain Brede and Cadet Belcher were walking up and down the south side of the drill-hall, conversing together in low tones.
“I wouldn’t stand it,” said Brede, looking furtively at Brightly as they passed. “I’d let him know he couldn’t insult me if I was in the ranks. And he struck you with his sword; why, I heard the blow myself. It’s an outrage,—it’s a brutal outrage. He wouldn’t use a man that way the second time that belongs to my company, [23] I can tell you; but Harple, your captain, why Harple’d lie down and roll over to let Brightly stamp on him. ”

“ I cannot—no teacher could—receive with favor a paper couched in such language as is the one which you have presented to me this morning. A holiday in this school is not a matter of right, but of grace. That must be plainly understood. Petitions must be so worded as to imply authority in the principal; if they are not, they certainly will not be granted; they will not even be considered. More than that, the presentation hereafter of such a petition as the one of this morning [72] will be regarded not only as a breach of courtesy, but of discipline, and will be acted upon accordingly. ”

“ At last he said,—
“Belcher, if you don’t do better, I shall send you to the awkward squad. You are a disgrace to your company.”
The boy looked out angrily from the ranks, and made as if to reply.
[11]
“Stop!” exclaimed the officer. “Not a word! There’s no possible excuse for you. You have eyes; you can see. You have arms; you can keep touch. Now pay attention to your duties.”
Again the platoon was wheeled, and again Belcher pushed out ahead of the line, and broke it hopelessly in the centre. Brightly, who was at the pivot, watching the alignment, was exasperated beyond endurance. ”

“ It roused within him a spirit of resentment that he had not felt before; it changed his moodiness into reckless obstinacy; it gave him an excuse to take another long leap downward.
He had descended, by degrees, from his lofty height of six months before, one step after another, three steps at a time, until, with this latest plunge, he found himself down among the common elements, among ignoble spirits, mixing with the lawless crowd. ”

“ The captain loosed his hold of Patchy, who immediately made his escape, and thrusting his hands in his pockets, stared for a moment in feigned contempt at his adversary.
“I don’t take orders from disgraced officers!” he said.
Brightly answered, trying to be calm, “A person who has been guilty of forging [56] records shouldn’t talk to others about disgrace.”
Brede’s face grew white with passion. “Nor do I take advice from common and contemptible liars,” he responded scornfully.
It is uncertain what would have been said or done next, had not Harple seized Brightly’s arm and hurried him away. ”

“ But when oppression grows too severe, even soldiers rebel against it, and the civilized world upholds them in rebellion. I say go! I say run up the black flag! I say fight, if need be, for liberty! I say—”
There came a knock at the door, and the impassioned orator lapsed into sudden and trembling silence; but it was only one of the delinquents, who had heard of the meeting, and desired to participate in it. He was allowed to enter.
Not long afterward another one came, and still others, until finally the room was full of excited and rebellious boys. The latest comer was Plumpy. ”

“ Indeed, it seemed almost impossible by any course of treatment to give Plumpy more than the suggestion of physical pain.
Brede was still scanning the petition.
“Oh, come, captain!” said some one at his elbow, “sign the petition. If you don’t sign it we won’t stand a ghost of a show.”
“And if you do,” continued another, “we’ll have a dead sure thing.”
Brede’s vanity was flattered.
“Well, I don’t care,” he said sharply. [66] “What’s the use? If a fellow gets into trouble, all he’s got to do is to lie out of it, and Silsbee’ll coddle him back to virtue. ”

“ The system of marking deportment at Riverpark was, in many respects, an excellent one. Every evening, at retreat, one of the older cadets was appointed to [40] act as officer of the day for the following twenty-four hours. It was his duty to make entry in the “officer of the day’s book” of such offences as were reported to him by the principal, the teachers, or the cadet-officers, and of such also as came under his own notice in the schoolroom, where he occupied a position at the desk throughout the day. ”

“ I think not only that we’ve made fools of ourselves, but that it’s a good deal worse than that; and I believe we’ve got some pretty serious matters to face when we get back. I don’t know what the colonel will do. I shouldn’t be surprised at anything in the way of punishment; I’m sure we deserve all that we shall get. But if he lets us stay at Riverpark, I think we ought to be very thankful, and very humble, too, and take whatever comes to us, and bear it like men. We’ve treated the colonel very shabbily ”

“ It’s a hundred times jollier to let things turn up as they will, an’ take ’em as they come. I say go!”
“The only way to decide it,” said Brede, “is to vote on it. Whatever a majority of us vote to do we’ll do, and we can’t afford [86] to lose any time about it either. All you who want to take a holiday to-day say ‘Ay’!”
There was a chorus of ays. There was but one dissenting voice in the committee, and the owner of that was soon won over.
“Now, let’s have it unanimous,” said Fryant; “put the motion again, Brede.” ”

“ You do wrong to believe it; you can’t believe it. I tell you if it isn’t all a mistake there’s some good reason for it, and one that does no discredit to you, or to Colonel Silsbee either. Why can’t you [19] let it rest at that, Bright, and brace up. Get back to where you were three months ago, and stay there, and don’t give Brede and his set the chance to see you go to pieces.
“And there’s another thing, too,” continued Harple, as Brightly seated himself again in the chair by the window. ”

“ You’re fitted to fill any position you get, and you deserve the best. It simply occurs to me that after a fellow has been here two years, and has stood at the head of the school in study-marks, and has behaved himself reasonably well, he shouldn’t be insulted by having such an egotistical fool as Brede is placed over him in rank.”
“Well, Brede can’t really help being stuck up and silly; it’s in him. But he makes a good officer in many respects; he doesn’t get easily embarrassed, has plenty of self-esteem—”
“Oh, yes, lots of it; struts around in his shoulder-straps as though he owned the school ”