He was a good teacher, and when either his enthusiasm or expository art faltered, Fatty revived it quickly with a sharp pinch or stinging slap. So, although the average I. Q. of the fraternity was seventy-six, a certain amount of mathematics get through; and it was almost midnight before the unhappy ambassador found himself lying in a dirty, fetid cage, formerly the residence of the fraternity parrot, who had expired for lack of intellegent dialogue to copy. Rabbits, even Venusian ones, cannot weep, but the professor's soul was heavy within him.
And so it went, day after day, week after week.
"I am quite amazed," Professor Cusp told a skeptical colleague towards the end of the term, "at the remarkable way Schultz and his Oh P-Yu bunch have improved. Their homework these last six weeks has been excellent."
"Somebody's coaching them—or doing it outright," was the cynical reply. "I find no improvement in their zoology."
"No, that's what I suspected at first, but it can't be true. For example, on last week's extra credit problem—a real stinker—they turned in over a dozen correct solutions, all different. Nobody would go to that much trouble for the P-Yu crowd; they're about as popular on campus as Malenkov is with the D. A. R."
Another colleague, who had been listening, demanded: "But you won't let Fatty Schultz by, will you?"
"I'll have to," Cusp admitted. "Even though his exams are still horrible, I give quite a bit of weight to good homework, so—"
"You swine!" the other said sourly. "Now I'll get him."
Cusp laughed. "Ah, but you're supposed to be tough; they're afraid of you."
"They'd better be. It's a pity the biology lab has to experiment on poor chimps while we give degrees to anthropoids like Fatty!"