"It's lucky for you, Cotton-Top, that Sandow didn't hear you say that," came from a First Former. "But I shall tell him, and he'll attend to you, never fear. I don't know what Baxter is coming to when Second Formers can criticize their betters."
The austerity of the First Form student frightened Bronson.
"Do you suppose Mr. Hill will be angry at what you said?" he asked in a whisper.
"He may pretend to be," returned Fred, "but he won't be, really. The Firsts always put on a lot of airs. If you let them, they'll make your life miserable. Just don't take what they say seriously. But there's one thing you must remember—don't talk back to them. It's one of Baxter's unwritten laws that Lower Formers must not talk back to the Firsts."
"Are there many of these unwritten laws?" asked Bronson, alarmed at this constant outcropping of Baxter traditions. He was anxious not to violate any of them, and his own reception had been such as to convince him that unless he soon learned them, he would be in constant hot water.
"No-o, not so very many."
"Are they very hard to learn?"
"Oh, you'll catch on to them soon. Just keep your eyes open and you'll learn them. There's another, though, you should know, or you'll have to stand treat to the whole First Form. When the Firsts are going to classes or coming out, you must never walk in front of them. They have the right of way, just as we Seconds do over the other forms."
"Thank you, I'll remember."
"You'd better. Being new, some candy-loving girl will try to get you in front of her."