re.

I remembered one of them well. It came after two weeks' omission on
Tom's part, and ran thus:--

"Dear Tom,

"A pretty fellow you are to correspond with! Here am I, piping to you
with all my might, but I can't get you to dance. I know what you'll
tell me, you old humbug--`awfully hard grind'--`exam coming
on'--`lectures day and night,' and rubbish like that. All very well,
but look here, Thomas, don't fancy that your diligence in cutting off
legs and arms can be an excuse for cutting yours truly in this
heartless manner. Not having a letter of yours to answer, I don't
know how I shall scrape up material enough for a yarn. There was a
big football-match on Saturday, and Jim and I were in it. You should
have seen me turning somersaults, and butting my head into the
fellows' stomachs. Jim and I got shoulder to shoulder once in the
game. You know old Howe? Well, he was running with the ball to wards
our goal, and Jim and I were in front of him.

I was nearest, and charged, and over I went like a ninepin; then Jim
was on him, and over _he_ went too. However, I was up again in time
to jump on Howe's back; but he shook me off on to the ground on my
nose. Then Jim, having recovered, took _his_ fling, and a rare fling
it was, for Howe dodged him just as he was at the top of a kangaroo
leap, and left him looking very foolish in a sitting posture on the
ground. However, in dodging, Howe had allowed me time to extricate my
nose from the earth and make my third attempt. This time was more
successful, for I got my hands round the ball; but I shouldn't have
kept them there if Jim hadn't taken the opportunity of executing
another astounding buck-jump, which landed him safe on his man's
shoulders, where he stuck like a scared cat on the back of a
somnambulist. So between us we brought our quarry to earth and gained
no end of applause. Wasn't it prime?

That's about all the news here, except that Willoughby is going to
Trinity at Midsummer, and that Salter is laid up from the effects of
an explosion of crackers in his trousers pockets.

"I've taken a turn at reading hard, which may astonish you. The
doctor told me, if I really thought of some day arraying my manly form
in a scarlet jacket and wearing a sword, I ought to put it on with my
mathematics, which are not my _forte_, you know. So now I'm drawing
circles and triangles at every av