ames you for it. I'm--"

"I'm no more a freshman than you are," retorted Peter John warmly.

"Right you are. But you don't want to make a bad matter worse. If you
keep out you'll be a marked man and everybody in college will hear
about it. It'll be a great deal better for you to go in quietly, and
whatever you think about it, just keep your thoughts to yourself, and
don't call the attention of the whole college to you by your
foolishness. It'll be simply a challenge for the sophs, if you don't do
it, and you'll be the one to suffer."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"I guess the sophs found out what sort of a fellow I was the other
night. I'd have brained the first one that laid hands on me."

"You didn't though, and you wouldn't. It's a great deal better to do as
Hawley did and just laugh it off."

"Oh, I laughed all right, and I'd have given those fellows something to
laugh about too, if they hadn't tied me up."

"Of course, but the trouble is they did tie you up, and the next time
it'll be worse than that. It isn't worth while to kick too hard, Peter
John. A fellow has just got to take some things in life as he finds them
and not as he'd like to have them. It's the only way, and the sooner he
learns it the better."

"But my father told me never to let anybody impose on me," said Peter
John dubiously.

"Nobody is going to impose on you. You won't be doing anything more than
every fellow in the class, and if you don't go in you'll be the one
marked exception. The sophs will take it as an invitation."

"You think so, do you?"

"Yes, sir, I do. Come along, Peter John, and don't make any more fuss
about it."

"Well, I'll think about it," replied the freshman as he departed for
his own room in Leland Hall.

Saturday dawned bright and clear and the interest and excitement in the
college over the parade rose to its highest point. A band had been
secured from a neighboring city, and in the afternoon, when its stirring
strains were heard from the steps of the gymnasium, all the freshmen
were made aware that the time for their assembly had arrived. There were
crowds of strangers to be seen about the streets and the little town was
all active with unwonted bustle. Automobiles were arriving, the
sophomores were assembling at the various buildings, and their jeers and
cries could be heard as they greeted the appearance of the members of
the class below them when they started for the gymnasium.

Will Phelps and F