“Do the fellows live up to it?” asked Tom.
“Pretty much. There are one or two a little off color, of course. But any fellow who would lie to Merry wouldn’t stay long at Elmwood if the fellows got on to it.
“Then, the rest of the profs. are about like the average, except that I don’t mind admitting that Burton Skeel is a regular grinder, and as mean as they make ’em. He’s the Latin taskmaster and maybe that’s why I hate it so.”
“Aren’t there any jolly professors?” asked Tom, beginning to think that perhaps, after all, he wasn’t going to like it at Elmwood as much as he had hoped.
“Oh, bless you, yes!” exclaimed Reddy. “I was almost forgetting Live Wire. That would never do.”
“Live Wire? Who’s he?”
“Professor Livingston Hammond. He’s fat and jolly and he almost makes you like trigonometry, which is saying a lot, and, as for solid geometry, and conic sections, well, if anybody can make them look like the comic sheet of a Sunday newspaper it’s the Live Wire. You’ll like him; all the fellows do. But he won’t stand for any nonsense. You’ve got to come ‘prepared,’ or he’ll turn you back to make it up after class.”
“I like maths.,” admitted Tom.
“Then you and the Live Wire will be friends and brothers, I guess,” predicted Reddy.
“Tell me something about the fellows,” suggested Tom. “I know one Senior, slightly.”