"I hold the record in the class," said the Codfish proudly. "Four in one day. Such a successful flunker that I have three conditions for next year."
"Conditions, what are they?"
"O, just little attachments that they sometimes put onto Freshmen," laughed Frank.
"Have you any, Frank?" inquired his father.
"In athletics a fellow has to keep up to the scratch, you know. If he doesn't, he can't go into athletics. The Codfish is the free-lance."
"Yes, he's gone into everything," interjected Jimmy, "and so far hasn't won a battle."
"O, but he will," said Mrs. Armstrong.
"Thank you for your confidence," said that individual rising and making a sweeping bow. "'Familiarity breeds contempt,' so they say, and my familiar roommates fail to see the outcroppings of genius as clearly as you do. I've nearly won several battles already."
And then Jimmy gave the history of the Codfish's unsuccessful onslaughts on the News, the Crew and the Mandolin Club to the amusement of the older members of the family.
"The difficulty is," said the Codfish, "that the individual has no chance at college. It is all for the development of the average man, like Jimmy there, for instance. Genius is frowned upon. I could have revolutionized the News if they'd given me a little longer chance at it."