CHAPTER XIX.
COMMENCEMENT.
The next day was Commencement.
A brief, informal session was held in the morning, but it was a session from which none wished to be absent, for then the names of the prize-winners were to be announced.
There were many anxious hearts, and a few hopeful ones, for though the rank-list read the day before told each boy his standing in class, it did not settle the matter of the prize scholarships.
It is safe to say that only one boy grudged Stanley Clark the first rank that he had so fairly won by his steady, thorough work. That boy was Everett St. John. He would not have been present at all, that morning, but for the Latin essays. He had still a lingering hope that his might be adjudged the best.
But now Mr. Horton was writing on the blackboard, and every boy gazed eagerly forward to read what was written. In his clear hand, they read the names of the six colleges offering the scholarships. Then, with the chalk in his fingers, he faced the school.
“You all heard the rank-list read yesterday,” he said, “so you know that Clark, St. John and Gordon would have the first claim on the second, third and fourth of these scholarships, but as these three are to enter other colleges, these scholarships go to the next in rank, Graham, Griffin and Bent; the two last named being members, as you know, of section A.
“The last two scholarships on the list have, I am happy to say, been won by girls. And now there remains but one—the first—which will be awarded to the boy whose Latin thesis has been considered by the judges to be the best. That thesis I hold in my hand, but I do not know what name it bears, as it was handed to me in this sealed envelope.”
Every eye watched as he tore open the envelope and read the name of Stanley Clark, and hearty cheers expressed the satisfaction of his classmates at the result.