then the boys sang with him,
huskily, sadly, some of them with tears streaming down their cheeks:

"Sanford, Sanford, mother of men,
Love us, guard us, hold us true.
Let thy arms enfold us;
Let thy truth uphold us.
Queen of colleges, mother of men--
Alma mater, Sanford--hail!
Alma mater--Hail!--Hail!"

Slowly the circle broke into small groups that straggled wearily across
the campus. Hugh, with two or three others, was walking behind two young
professors--one of them, Alling, the other, Jones of the economics
department. Hugh was almost literally broken-hearted; the defeat lay on
him like an awful sorrow that never could be lifted. Every inch of him
ached, but his despair was greater than his physical pain. The sharp,
clear voice of Jones broke into his half-deadened consciousness.

"I can't understand all this emotional excitement," said Jones crisply.
"A football game is a football game, not a national calamity. I enjoy
the game myself, but why weep over it? I don't think I ever saw anything
more absurd than those boys singing with tears running into their
mouths."

Shocked, the boys looked at each other. They started to make angry
remarks but paused as Alling spoke.

"Of course, what you say, Jones, is quite right," he remarked calmly,
"quite right. But, do you know, I pity you."

"Alling's a good guy," Hugh told Carl later; "he's human."

CHAPTER XI

After the Sanford-Raleigh game, the college seemed to be slowly dying.
The boys held countless post-mortems over the game, explaining to each
other just how it had been lost or how it could have been won. They
watched the newspapers eagerly as the sport writers announced their
choice for the so-called All American team. If Slade was on the team,
the writer was conceded to "know his dope"; if Slade wasn't, the writer
was a "dumbbell." But all this pseudo-excitement was merely picking at
the covers; there was no real heart in it. Gradually the football talk
died down; freshmen ceased to write themes about Sanford's great
fighting spirit; sex and religion once more became predominant at the
"bull sessions."

Studies, too, began to find a place in the sun. Hour examinations were
coming, and most of the boys knew that they were miserably prepared.
Lights were burning in fraternity houses and dormitories until late at
night, and migh