Part 9 (1/2)

”No, I won't. They don't give that. 'A' is the highest mark they give.

But I think I got everything right. How did you answer that question about what Christian tenet the Greeks believed in?” he added, glancing at the copy of the questions which he held in his hands.

”How did _you_ answer it, Peter John?” inquired Foster quickly.

”I answered it that they believed in the immorality of the soul.”

”In the _what?_” demanded Foster soberly.

”In the immorality of the soul.”

”You meant immortality of the soul, didn't you?”

”Y-e-s, I suppose I did,” a.s.sented Peter John somewhat ruefully. ”But old Splinter will understand,” he added quickly. ”Splinter will know I just left out a 't', and he won't count that against me.”

”No, a little thing like a 't' doesn't count for much, not any more than a decimal point. It doesn't make any difference whether a decimal point is placed before or after a figure, you know. It's only a little thing anyway.”

”Yes,” a.s.sented Peter John, failing to perceive what Foster was saying.

”Then there was one other question that was dead easy,” he added.

”Which one was that?”

”The one about the animals.”

”Let me see, what was that question?” said Foster thoughtfully.

”Why, don't you remember? It was 'Name six animals that were common among the Greeks'.”

”Oh, yes; I recall it now; but I don't think I had it right. I could think of but four.”

”Pooh! Easiest question of the whole lot.”

”What was the answer?”

”Easy! Dead easy! I just said, 'Six dogs'.”

The laughter that rang out in the room might have been heard across the campus; but Peter John was only slightly ruffled, and said:

”Oh, well, you fellows may laugh if you want to, but you'll find out when you see my marks.”

”They'll put you in Splinter's place as soon as you graduate,” suggested Foster when at last he regained control of himself.

”I wish they would,” responded Will heartily.

”Splinter” was the term by which the Winthrop boys were accustomed to speak of Professor Hanson, who was in charge of their Greek work. The t.i.tle did not appear in the college catalog, it was true; but it was the only one by which he was known among the irreverent students. He was an elderly man, whose sensitive nature had suffered for many years from the inadequate preparation of successive cla.s.ses, until at last not only were his teeth on edge, but his entire disposition as well. He had become somewhat soured and sarcastic in his dealings with the students, and was more unpopular than any other professor in the college. His scholars.h.i.+p was accurate. His ability to impart his knowledge to such students as were eager to learn was also unquestioned, but for the indifferent and lazy, or for the dull or poorly prepared, his words were like drops of vitriol.

His popular t.i.tle of Splinter had been bestowed upon him because of certain physical characteristics however. He was a very tall man and exceedingly thin, and the very beard which he wore imparted by its sharp point an additionally suggestive emphasis to his slight and slender frame. No one knew how the t.i.tle originated or how it came to be bestowed upon the professor; but its appropriateness had at once fastened the term and every entering cla.s.s received it as a heritage from those which had preceded it.

Will Phelps already had acquired a keen dislike for the man, and he had laughed heartily when Mott one night had declared that the student body had been compelled to give Professor Hanson the new name he had received. ”You see,” Mott had said, ”the faculty and the trustees decide what t.i.tles a man can wear _after_ his name; so it's only fair that the students should decide what t.i.tles he shall wear _before_ his name. Now this man's name used to be simply John Hanson. Then some college or other said it should be John Hanson, PH.D. Well, the students here have only gone a step further and they've not taken anything away from the old fellow. They've added to him, that's what they have; and now it's Prof. Splinter John Hanson, PH.D. He ought to be grateful, but it's a cold world and I sometimes fear he doesn't appreciate what was done for him. In fact such bestowments are rarely received as they should be.”