Boys of the Central: A High-School Story

by I. T. Thurston

So full of interest and enthusiasm was the committee of four, that Professor Keene decided to have them give their report before the entire school. At first the boys objected strongly to this. They did not so much mind speaking before all the boys, but the girls too—that was another thing!

But after all, it was not so bad, for their interest soon made them forget the gentler portion of their audience, and when they had each spoken of the points that had most impressed them, and told of the cordial hospitality they had enjoyed—they could not help speaking of that—the professor said that the committee would answer any questions that might occur to any one.

A storm of eager questions followed, and not all of them were asked by the boys.

Many of the pupils saw at once the advantages of the method proposed, and many were eager to have it adopted, at least in the battalion, but some still fought against it, and none more bitterly than Coyle and Griffin.

A week or two later, a delegation came from the Institute, and the four members of the committee had an opportunity to return the hospitality that had been shown them; an opportunity which they were not slow to improve. Either there was an exceptionally fine class of boys at the Institute, or else the principal had shown great wisdom in his selection, for they made friends of everybody, from Professor Keene down to the roughest and rudest boys in Company C. Even Coyle and Griffin were forced to acknowledge that they were “good fellows enough.”

But amid all the good times crowded into these two days, the boys did not forget the purpose of their coming. They were always ready to talk self-government to anyone who was interested, but they did it so wisely that nobody was bored or offended, while most were so convinced of the advantages of the system that, to the great satisfaction of the Institute boys, the battalion voted by a large majority to try the plan for the remainder of the year.

Of course, the entire battalion escorted their guests to the depot when the visit was ended, and though they could not be in waiting at a station further on, they did the best they could. They engaged a brass-band to meet the committee at the station nearest the Institute, and give the boys a welcome home with all the martial music that they could render.

It is needless to say that the most friendly relations continued between the two schools from this time on, each manifesting a strong interest in the doings of the other.

At the Central, after a spirited meeting, an election was held, resulting in the appointment of Gordon as judge, with a jury of twelve boys, two from each company.

Singularly enough, the first offender brought before this court was Coyle himself, and his disgust at this was in no wise lessened by the knowledge that he himself had actually been the one largely instrumental in bringing this new court of justice into being, in the Central.