“No, I’ve never played at all.”
“Oh; well, you’ll find it hard at first,” said Baker. “Candidates for the Freshman team are called for to-morrow afternoon. If you like, Guy and I’ll call for you on our way over to the field.”
“Thank you; I wish you would,” replied Phillip. “What must I wear?”
“Oh, any old sweater and a pair of moleskins.”
“I’ll have to get some, I reckon.”
“You can get them at the Coöperative Society, if you don’t want to go into town. What courses are you taking?”
For the next quarter of an hour the talk ranged over the subject of studies, and Phillip discovered, on the authority of his host, that he had made several frightful mistakes in his choice of courses, and was quite cast down until Baker assured him that it didn’t matter anyhow, because no one studied much in his freshman year. Phillip expressed surprise, and Baker explained that a fellow had too much to do to find time for grinding.
“Of course,” he allowed, “you have to keep up with things after a fashion, for there are the mid-years; but you’ll soon find out just how much work is necessary. Lots of fellows loaf until just before the exams and then turn to and grind and take seminars, but I’ve made up my mind to do a little every day, you know, and keep up with the course of events, as it were. Besides, it costs like the very deuce to be coached. Why, there are some coaches ask twenty and even twenty-five dollars for a seminar, and get it, too! Laurence says he was broke for six months after the mid-years last winter.”
“I couldn’t afford that,” said Phillip, thoughtfully. “But I reckon I’ll follow your plan and keep up with things. I suppose I’m going to have hard work, for I had an awful time passing the exams.”
“Oh, well, that doesn’t cut much ice,” answered Baker. “It’s hard to get into this old place, but fairly easy to get along afterward. Now, some of the other colleges let you in easy, they say, and you’re tickled to death and think you’ve got nothing to do but look pretty. But you find that you’ve got to study like the deuce to stay there, and you wish exams hadn’t been so soft and that you’d learned a lot more before you came. Do you like theatres?”