Saving Time and Money Using SAS 1st Edition Philip R. Holland instant download
Uploaded by
takoedeusSaving Time and Money Using SAS 1st Edition Philip R. Holland instant download
Uploaded by
takoedeusSaving Time and Money Using SAS 1st Edition
Philip R. Holland pdf download
https://ebookfinal.com/download/saving-time-and-money-using-
sas-1st-edition-philip-r-holland/
Explore and download more ebooks or textbooks
at ebookfinal.com
Here are some recommended products for you. Click the link to
download, or explore more at ebookfinal
SAS Stored Processes 1st ed. Edition Philip Mason
https://ebookfinal.com/download/sas-stored-processes-1st-ed-edition-
philip-mason/
Using SAS for Data Management Statistical Analysis and
Graphics 1st Edition Ken Kleinman
https://ebookfinal.com/download/using-sas-for-data-management-
statistical-analysis-and-graphics-1st-edition-ken-kleinman/
A Handbook of Statistical Analyses using SAS Third Edition
Der
https://ebookfinal.com/download/a-handbook-of-statistical-analyses-
using-sas-third-edition-der/
More Java Pitfalls 50 New Time Saving Solutions and
Workarounds 1st Edition Michael C. Daconta
https://ebookfinal.com/download/more-java-pitfalls-50-new-time-saving-
solutions-and-workarounds-1st-edition-michael-c-daconta/
Logistic Regression Using the SAS System Theory and
Application 1st Edition Paul D. Allison
https://ebookfinal.com/download/logistic-regression-using-the-sas-
system-theory-and-application-1st-edition-paul-d-allison/
PROC SQL Beyond the Basics Using SAS 2nd edition Edition
Lafler
https://ebookfinal.com/download/proc-sql-beyond-the-basics-using-
sas-2nd-edition-edition-lafler/
SAS and R Data Management Statistical Analysis and
Graphics 1st Edition Ken Kleinman
https://ebookfinal.com/download/sas-and-r-data-management-statistical-
analysis-and-graphics-1st-edition-ken-kleinman/
Analysis of Clinical Trials Using SAS A Practical Guide
1st Edition Alex Dmitrienko
https://ebookfinal.com/download/analysis-of-clinical-trials-using-sas-
a-practical-guide-1st-edition-alex-dmitrienko/
Survival Analysis Using SAS A Practical Guide Second
Edition Paul D Allison
https://ebookfinal.com/download/survival-analysis-using-sas-a-
practical-guide-second-edition-paul-d-allison/
Saving Time and Money Using SAS 1st Edition Philip R.
Holland Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Philip R. Holland
ISBN(s): 9781590475744, 1590475747
Edition: 1st
File Details: PDF, 1.73 MB
Year: 2007
Language: english
Praise from the Experts
“At first glance I thought that this might be just another book of SAS coding examples.
Not so! A closer inspection shows that this book is all about the problems and issues,
some big and some small, that are sure to cause heartburn when they are encountered. It
provides both standard and nonstandard solutions to a wide variety of production
situations. Before you pull your hair out, grab this book…it will save you both time and
money.”
Art Carpenter
California Occidental Consultants
“Phil Holland’s unique, valuable book covers not only fundamental concerns common to
all programmers (such as disk space usage and processing run times), but also their
potential needs (for example, accessing SAS data without SAS code and transporting data
between SAS and databases without using SAS/ACCESS). There is wise advice to enable
you to get the most out of your hardware when using SAS. But most remarkable are the
creative ideas and ingenious methods of this versatile author, eminently skilled in both
SAS and other software, that can help you to get the most out of your existing SAS
software by integrating it with other software that you might already have. This book is a
resource without equal.”
LeRoy Bessler, Ph.D.
SAS User Since 1978
“This book offers an eclectic mix of practical techniques for getting more out of your
investment in SAS software. It is rare to find z/OS mainframe, Windows PC, UNIX, and
client/server information in the same book, but Phil achieves this feat most effectively.
“His fully worked code examples and detailed explanations should enable readers not
only to create their own programs when using these techniques but also to understand
how and why their programs work. Use this guide to explore the capabilities of the SAS
software you license, and you will surely enhance the value of those assets.”
Steve Morton
Principal Consultant
Applied System Knowledge Ltd.
“I've enjoyed reading Phil’s book. It has a good mix of text and illustrations, making the
book readable and instantly usable. Phil’s sound, experienced advice is all very practical,
and there’s something in the book for everyone from SAS novices to metadata and macro
masters. My copy of the book is now well-thumbed and stays within easy reach.”
Andrew Ratcliffe
RTSL.eu (“Solutions in SAS”)
“I like Phil Holland’s new book because it is quick and easy to use. You can dive in and
find useful examples of code that you can incorporate immediately to craft your own
solutions. With the combination of this functionality and the many step-by-step
instructions and screen shots, this book will pay for itself in the amount of time it saves. I
also really like the mix of topics and SAS products used, which goes where the topic
leads and incorporates everything from SAS Enterprise Guide to DB2, and Base SAS to
DB2 on z/OS. I highly recommend this book, which I think will be used by SAS
programmers very frequently as they go about their day-to-day programming tasks.”
Phil Mason
Independent SAS Consultant and Author
Saving Time
and Money
Using SAS
®
Philip R. Holland
The correct bibliographic citation for this manual is as follows: Holland, Philip R. 2007. Saving Time and
Money Using SAS®. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.
Saving Time and Money Using SAS®
Copyright © 2007, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA
ISBN 978-1-59047-574-4
All rights reserved. Produced in the United States of America.
For a hard-copy book: No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the publisher, SAS Institute Inc.
For a Web download or e-book: Your use of this publication shall be governed by the terms established by
the vendor at the time you acquire this publication.
U.S. Government Restricted Rights Notice: Use, duplication, or disclosure of this software and related
documentation by the U.S. government is subject to the Agreement with SAS Institute and the restrictions set
forth in FAR 52.227-19, Commercial Computer Software-Restricted Rights (June 1987).
SAS Institute Inc., SAS Campus Drive, Cary, North Carolina 27513.
1st printing, June 2007
SAS® Publishing provides a complete selection of books and electronic products to help customers use SAS
software to its fullest potential. For more information about our e-books, e-learning products, CDs, and hard-
copy books, visit the SAS Publishing Web site at support.sas.com/pubs or call 1-800-727-3228.
®
SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS
Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration.
Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Chapter 1 Accessing SAS Data without Using SAS Code 1
1.1 Abstract 2
1.2 Introduction 2
1.3 ODBC 2
1.3.1 Setting Up a SAS Server for the SAS ODBC Driver 3
1.3.2 Microsoft Access 2000 8
1.3.3 Microsoft Excel 2000 17
1.3.4 Visual Basic 6.0 22
1.3.5 Lotus Approach Version 9 26
1.3.6 OpenOffice.org 2.1 27
1.4 Dynamic Data Exchange 43
1.4.1 Visual Basic 6.0 45
1.5 SAS Integration Technologies 45
1.5.1 Visual Basic 6.0 46
1.5.2 LotusScript Version 9 54
1.5.3 OpenOffice.org 2.1 55
1.6 Conclusions 59
1.7 Recommended Reading 59
Chapter 2 Out of Space with SAS Software? 61
2.1 Abstract 62
2.2 Introduction 63
2.3 Space Allocation under z/OS 63
2.3.1 Reallocation of Space under z/OS 64
2.3.2 Common z/OS Disk Space Errors 65
2.4 Saving Permanent Disk Space 65
2.4.1 Creating a SAS Data Set (All Platforms) 65
iv Contents
2.4.2 Replacing a SAS Data Set (All Platforms) 66
2.4.3 Appending to a SAS Data Set (All Platforms) 66
2.4.4 Inserting and Deleting Observations (All Platforms) 67
2.5 Saving Temporary Disk Space 68
2.5.1 Creating Multiple SAS Data Sets in the Same Data Step
(All Platforms) 68
2.5.2 WORK Allocation 68
2.5.3 SORTWORK Allocation 69
2.5.4 WORK and SORTWORK Allocation in Batch 69
2.5.5 Virtual Disk Space 70
2.5.6 Reusing WORK Data Set Names and Other Housekeeping
(All Platforms) 70
2.6 General Disk Space Economies 71
2.6.1 Tape Format SAS Data Sets 71
2.6.2 Transport Format SAS Data Sets (All Platforms) 72
2.6.3 XPORT Engine Files (All Platforms) 72
2.6.4 PROC CPORT and PROC CIMPORT Files
(All Platforms) 73
2.6.5 Releasing Unused Space in a SAS Data Library 73
2.6.6 Compression (All Platforms) 74
2.7 Recommendations 78
2.7.1 All Platforms 78
2.7.2 z/OS Mainframe Specific 78
2.8 Recommended Reading 78
Chapter 3 Why Does My Job Run So Slowly? 79
3.1 Abstract 80
3.2 Introduction to SAS/ACCESS Software 80
3.2.1 Access Descriptors versus Pass-Through SQL versus
DB2 LIBNAME Statements 80
3.3 PROC SQL 82
3.3.1 Processing Data in DB2 or in SAS? 83
3.4 Summary of Results 94
3.4.1 Summarizing Rows in a DB2 Table 94
3.4.2 Combining DB2 Tables Using Inner Join or Left Join 94
Contents v
3.4.3 Selecting Rows from a SAS Data Set
Using Another SAS Data Set 95
3.4.4 The Effects of Sorting with z/OS DFSORT 95
3.5 Converting SAS/ACCESS View Descriptors to SQL Views 98
3.6 Recommendations 98
3.7 Recommended Reading 99
Chapter 4 Distributing SAS/GRAPH Reports 101
4.1 Abstract 102
4.2 Introduction 102
4.3 GIF, JPEG, Bitmap, and Other Graphics File Formats 105
4.4 The HTML and WEBFRAME Graphics Devices 106
4.5 The ACTIVEX and JAVA Graphics Devices 108
4.5.1 SAS/GRAPH ActiveX Control 109
4.5.2 SAS/GRAPH Java Applets 111
4.6 The SAS Metagraphics Data Devices 113
4.7 Creating Drill-Down Graphs 116
4.7.1 HTML and WEBFRAME Device Drivers 116
4.7.2 SAS Metagraphics Data Device Drivers 119
4.8 Summary 124
4.9 Recommended Reading 129
Chapter 5 Importing Data from and Exporting Data to
Databases without SAS/ACCESS 131
5.1 Abstract 132
5.2 Introduction 132
5.3 Access to Live Database Data 133
5.4 Access to Database Extracts 134
5.4.1 Delimited Flat Files 134
5.4.2 Fixed-Column Data 136
5.4.3 Fixed-Block Data 137
5.4.4 Reading All Data as Text 138
5.4.5 Converting Data between z/OS and Other Platforms 139
vi Contents
5.4.6 Accessing Data in Spreadsheets 142
5.4.7 DDE (Windows Only) 142
5.4.8 OLE (Windows Only) 143
5.4.9 Reading Spreadsheet Files as Raw Data (Windows, Linux,
and UNIX) 160
5.5 Writing Data to Compatible Files for Spreadsheets 168
5.5.1 Delimited Flat Files 168
5.5.2 HTML Files 171
5.6 Converting Date and Time Formats 173
5.7 Summary 179
5.7.1 Importing 179
5.7.2 Exporting 180
5.8 Recommended Reading 180
Chapter 6 Developing SAS Applications Using
SAS Enterprise Guide 181
6.1 Abstract 182
6.2 Introduction to SAS Enterprise Guide 183
6.2.1 What Is SAS Enterprise Guide? 183
6.2.2 Limitations of SAS Enterprise Guide 184
6.2.3 User Interface 185
6.2.4 Tasks 189
6.2.5 Traditional Programming 191
6.3 Hints and Tips for SAS Enterprise Guide Administrators 192
6.3.1 Accessing Local SAS Installations 192
6.3.2 Accessing Server-Based SAS Installations 192
6.3.3 Why You Cannot Use Autoexec.sas 193
6.3.4 Why Do Platform-Specific System Commands Fail? 194
6.3.5 Changing the Current Directory 195
6.4 Hints and Tips for SAS Enterprise Guide Users 197
6.4.1 Installing SAS Enterprise Guide Custom Tasks 197
6.4.2 Using the Add-In Manager to Remove a Custom
Task 198
6.4.3 Generating SAS Code Using SAS Enterprise Guide
Tasks 203
Contents vii
6.4.4 Scheduling Batch SAS Processes 203
6.4.5 Linux or UNIX Remote Servers 205
6.5 Introducing SAS Enterprise Guide at a New Client Site—
A Case Study 207
6.5.1 Environment 207
6.5.2 User Training 209
6.5.3 User Perception 210
6.5.4 Conclusions 211
6.5.5 What Happened Next 211
6.6 Recommended Reading 212
Index 213
viii Contents
Acknowledgments
My wife, Angela, and my three daughters, Sarah, Rachel, and Jessica, for their
tolerance and encouragement.
Bruce Bovill, formerly of SAS UK, for introducing me to SAS software while
we were both working at the University of London Computer Centre.
Jeremy Rankcom, SAS Australia (formerly of SAS UK), for his advice on SAS
Enterprise Guide software.
LeRoy Bessler, Assurant Health, for his advice on SAS/GRAPH software.
Keefe Hayes, SAS Institute, for his invaluable assistance in running mainframe
SAS with DB2.
Julie Platt and Donna Faircloth, SAS Publishing, for encouraging and supporting
my writing, and the editing and production teams for their work on my final
manuscript.
VIEWS committee members, for giving me the chance to present my ideas at
VIEWS conferences and in VIEWS News.
x
Introduction
When selecting a technical book for myself I tend to choose one where there are lots of
examples and sample code snippets that I can use and adapt for my own development
projects. I wanted to write a book that I could use for reference myself, so I have tried to
make sure there are code snippets wherever possible.
Instead of licensing additional SAS components at your site, I believe you will continue
to use SAS software for longer if you have a deeper knowledge of your existing
components. Most of the recently introduced SAS components have functionality that
can be provided using your existing components. Introducing new components may save
maintenance costs, but at the expense of valuable programming expertise.
As a former performance analyst, I still look at any programs I write to see if I can make
them smaller, quicker, and/or easier to maintain. Resources may appear to be limitless,
but there will inevitably come a day when a program needs more, e.g., WORK disk
space, memory, processing power, faster disk access, etc. Looking at your existing
programs will move that day further into the future, saving money on resources and
maintenance. I have spent the majority of my time as an independent consultant assisting
my clients to make better use of their existing components by demonstrating new
features, improving their coding efficiency, and helping them to develop applications
that are easier to maintain. I want this book to continue this work.
Some of the chapters look at the way information stored in SAS data sets can be viewed
using applications other than SAS, e.g., with the SAS ODBC driver, with SAS
Integration Technologies, and with graphical report files from SAS/GRAPH programs.
Other chapters concentrate on techniques to optimize specific tasks, e.g., merging data
from SAS data sets and external database tables, and the use of disk space.
The remaining chapters demonstrate how to accomplish a particular task without having
to license a new SAS component, e.g., reading data from and writing data to databases
and spreadsheets without the need to license SAS/ACCESS software, and developing
SAS programs on a PC without having Base SAS software installed there.
During the research I carried out while writing this book I greatly increased my
knowledge of SAS. I hope that by reading this book and experimenting with the
examples, you can increase your understanding of SAS software too, and that the book
will help you to get full value out of the SAS components you are licensing.
The following sections provide brief overviews of the chapters in this book.
xii Introduction
Chapter 1: Accessing SAS Data without Using SAS Code (Windows only)
Recent developments in SAS for Windows have provided users with routes to SAS data
and applications without having to write SAS code using SAS. This chapter describes
three very different interfaces to SAS: ODBC, DDE, and SAS Integration Technologies,
which could place SAS at the center of any application development for the Windows
platform. I have tried to select a diverse range of applications other than SAS to
demonstrate the scope of this integration.
Chapter 2: Out of Space with SAS Software? (z/OS, with Windows and UNIX
Examples)
When running SAS programs on a PC, users need to worry only about how much free
space there is on the PC they are using. However, when SAS programs are run under
z/OS on a mainframe machine, the correct use of disk space for WORK and permanent
SAS data libraries is more complex, but essential to their smooth running. This chapter
describes various methods of exploiting the space available on a mainframe, but also
considers how some of these methods can be applied to other platforms such as Windows
and UNIX.
Chapter 3: Why Does My Job Run So Slowly? (z/OS Only)
Almost every operation you are able to perform using SAS software can be achieved in
many different ways, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. It is not always
possible to predict the disadvantages, as a basic operation may be suitable in one
circumstance but may be totally inappropriate in another. Using SAS/ACCESS software
and PROC SQL gives you a wide variety of alternative methods but, in general, only one
is likely to give a solution and a fast response time. This chapter explores these choices
and gives insight into how to determine the most efficient approach. It is not always
possible to predict in advance which solution will be the quickest, but I hope my
discussion will help you to see, after the event, why any solution is not!
Chapter 4: Distributing SAS/GRAPH Reports (All Platforms)
The early releases of SAS/GRAPH software were used on large mainframe computers,
and its device drivers catered almost exclusively to the dot-matrix and pen plotters, or to
dumb terminals, which were widely used at the time for graphical reporting. If a
graphical report was required to be distributed around a business, it would be stored in a
SAS/GRAPH catalog, and a SAS program would be executed to reprint the report
whenever it was required.
Now there are more requirements for storing graphical reports in files so that they can be
distributed around an organization as individual pictures, or as part of illustrated reports
from word processors or on Web pages, as universal access to SAS software installations
is no longer as common. This chapter discusses a number of methods of producing
portable graphic report formats using SAS/GRAPH, none of which require SAS/GRAPH
software to be installed on the recipient’s system.
Introduction xiii
Chapter 5: Importing Data from and Exporting Data to Databases without
SAS/ACCESS (All Platforms)
This chapter discusses a number of methods of importing data from and exporting data to
external databases and spreadsheets using SAS software without the need to license
SAS/ACCESS software. It also looks at techniques for reading specific data types,
e.g., EBCDIC characters, packed and zoned decimals, dates and times, etc., from flat
files into SAS data sets.
Chapter 6: Developing SAS Applications Using SAS Enterprise Guide
(Windows Client)
®
The bundling of SAS Enterprise Guide with SAS 9 has introduced a much greater
number of users to this thin-client front end to SAS. Using a thin client, rather than SAS
on a PC, to develop SAS applications requires different techniques to get the best out of
the new environment. This chapter discusses a number of features of SAS Enterprise
Guide that can assist both novice and experienced SAS developers. It also describes a
case study involving the introduction of SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS software to a
new client site.
Final Thoughts
It has taken a very long time to write this book. This has, in part, been due to project
commitments to my clients, but mostly due to my unwillingness to let an interesting
topic go. There are still a number of topics in most of the chapters in this book that have
not been fully explored. However, because fully exploring all the interesting topics
would have meant never finishing the book, I have reluctantly decided to call time on my
writing efforts.
I am sure that you will have questions that are not fully answered, or that are not even
covered in this book. Therefore, as I have not been discouraged from writing more, I
would welcome comments and suggestions for topics and ideas for a future book,
particularly if you enjoy reading this book or, at least, find this book helpful. My hope is
that this book will encourage you to continue to use SAS coding to develop your
business processes, rather than relying on black box applications.
xiv
C h a p t e r 1
Accessing SAS Data without Using SAS Code
1.1 Abstract 2
1.2 Introduction 2
1.3 ODBC 2
1.3.1 Setting Up a SAS Server for the SAS ODBC Driver 3
1.3.2 Microsoft Access 2000 8
1.3.3 Microsoft Excel 2000 17
1.3.4 Visual Basic 6.0 22
1.3.5 Lotus Approach Version 9 26
1.3.6 OpenOffice.org 2.1 27
1.4 Dynamic Data Exchange 43
1.4.1 Visual Basic 6.0 45
1.5 SAS Integration Technologies 45
1.5.1 Visual Basic 6.0 46
1.5.2 LotusScript Version 9 54
1.5.3 OpenOffice.org 2.1 55
2 Saving Time and Money Using SAS
1.6 Conclusions 59
1.7 Recommended Reading 59
1.1 Abstract
Recent developments in SAS for Windows have provided users with routes to SAS data
and applications without having to write SAS code using SAS. This chapter describes
three examples of these interfaces: ODBC, DDE, and SAS Integration Technologies,
which could place SAS at the center of any application development for the Windows
platform.
1.2 Introduction
In the past, SAS has been used to read data from other Windows data sources,
e.g., Microsoft Access tables using SAS/ACCESS for ODBC, and to control other
external Windows applications using Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). SAS is, of course,
available as a Windows application itself and can now be used as an external application
for those other Windows applications. This role reversal expands the range of uses for
SAS in the Windows environment in areas where SAS has not been traditionally the first-
choice application. The ability of SAS to read and maintain data from a wide range of
sources can now be used throughout the Windows arena.
Further discussion on SAS Enterprise Guide, a thin-client application for the Windows
client platform that uses SAS Integration Technologies to communicate with SAS
installations on remote servers, can be found in Chapter 6 “Developing SAS Applications
Using SAS Enterprise Guide.”
1.3 ODBC
The SAS ODBC driver has been supplied with Base SAS for Windows since SAS 6.10 to
provide an interface to SAS data libraries for other Windows applications. Each
application has its own particular uses and limitations for the ODBC interface. This
section describes the practicalities of using the SAS ODBC driver 9.1 with Microsoft
Chapter 1: Accessing SAS Data without Using SAS Code 3
Access 2000, Microsoft Excel 2000, Visual Basic 6.0, Lotus Approach Version 9, and
OpenOffice.org 2.1. It should be noted here that StarOffice 8 is functionally equivalent to
OpenOffice.org 2.1, and so all future references to OpenOffice.org 2.1 can be assumed to
include StarOffice 8.
Single ODBC access to SAS data on the same machine that the user accesses uses the
ODBCSERV procedure, which is supplied with Base SAS, running in a single SAS
region. Multiple ODBC access to SAS data, or ODBC access to a remote machine,
requires SAS/SHARE, and possibly SAS/SHARE*NET as well.
1.3.1 Setting Up a SAS Server for the SAS ODBC Driver
It is very important to plan, in advance, which SAS data libraries will be accessed via the
SAS ODBC driver, as the LIBNAME statements must be defined using the ODBC
Administrator application by selecting Start X Control Panel X Administrative Tools
X Data Sources (ODBC). In particular, for any ODBC data source, there can be only
one library reference that can be written to by an external application, i.e., USER, as
Microsoft Access and similar applications can write to data sets with a single-level data
set name only. This name, say XYZZY, would be assumed to be the data set
WORK.XYZZY, except that the USER library name will override the normal default
WORK library name, allowing permanent SAS data sets to be created whenever
single-level names are used.
Other features of the ODBC data source definitions include the following:
The SAS ODBC server must be added to the SERVICES file (found in
C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC, depending on the
Windows platform used) prior to using the ODBC Administrator, as the SAS
ODBC driver uses a TCP/IP connection to communicate with the SAS ODBC
server. The additional lines should look like the following line, with a unique
number greater than 1024 and the columns separated by tab characters:
sasuser32 7001/tcp #SAS OBDC Server
Command line options when invoking SAS (e.g., -AUTOEXEC, -NOLOGO,
etc.).
SAS data library names used for importing into external Windows applications.
Changes to the library references in a running SAS ODBC server can be made
for subsequent ODBC connections.
Library references within SAS 8 are limited to eight characters, which are not
case sensitive. The names cannot include blanks or punctuation, must start with
an alphabetic or underscore character, and the second and subsequent characters
may be numeric characters.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
goal. What’s your line?”
“Line? Oh, goal, too, I think. Crowell seemed to think I’d better try
that.”
“Hah! Me hated rival!” exclaimed the other beamingly. “‘Tucker
versus Creel, or The Struggle for Goal!’ Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
Know what Crowell’s going to spring on us in a minute?”
Toby shook his head, smiling. He found Creel amusing.
“Well, he’s going to inform us that to-morrow afternoon we’re
expected to go down and build the rink. Last winter I was horribly ill
that day.” Sid Creel winked knowingly. “Had a beastly cold. If I was
you I’d sneeze a few times and blow my nose. That gives you a
chance of coming down with grippe before to-morrow.”
“Oh, I guess I shan’t mind helping,” laughed Toby. “How do we do
it?”
“You lug a lot of planks from under the grand-stand and nail ’em
together and drive posts into the ground, which is always frozen
solid, and then you shovel dirt up outside the planks. It’s all right if
you’re strong and healthy, but to one of my weak constitution it’s
fierce. After you get the dirt shoveled up—Did you ever shovel
frozen dirt? No? Well, it’s no fun. Last year they had to pick it first.
You’d think they’d make the rink before it gets cold, wouldn’t you?”
“Why, yes, I should,” agreed Toby. “Why don’t they?”
Creel shook his head sadly. “No one knows. It’s a sort of—sort of
impenetrable mystery. I guess it just isn’t done. Anyway, after you
get the dirt piled up outside the planks you hitch a hose to the
hydrant and turn the water on and wait for it to freeze.”
“Well, that part sounds easy,” said Toby.
“It may sound easy, but it isn’t,” responded the other boy
lugubriously. “Because you have to stand around and watch the
bank you’ve made. You see, the dirt’s mostly in chunks and of
course the water oozes out under the bottom of the planks and you
have to yell for help and shovel more dirt on and puddle it down
with your feet. And while you’re choking up one leak about thirty-
eleven others start. Oh, it’s a picnic—not!”
“But look here,” objected Toby, puzzled. “If you were sick last time
how do you know so much about it?”
Creel gazed sadly across the cage and made no answer for a
moment. Then he sighed deeply, and: “They came up to the room
and pulled me out,” he answered sadly. “Unfeeling brutes!”
Toby’s laughter was interrupted by Captain Crowell, who called for
attention. “There won’t be any practice this afternoon, fellows,”
announced Crowell. “And I don’t believe there will be any more until
we get the rink ready. We’re going to do that to-morrow afternoon.
Every one be on hand as near three as possible so we can get the
work done before dark. It doesn’t take long if we all show up. If any
of you fellows develop colds between now and then you needn’t
report again. We don’t want fellows on the teams who are as
delicate as that.” Toby thought Crowell’s gaze dwelt a moment on
Sid Creel’s innocent countenance. “A lot of you are new to the game
and I want to tell you right now, so there won’t be any kick coming
later, that if you put your names down for hockey you’ll have to
show up regularly or you’ll be dropped. We mean to turn out the
best seven this year that has ever played for Yardley, and if we are
to do that you’ll simply have to make up your minds to come out
regularly for practice and work as hard as you know how. That
means the second team candidates as well as the first. As soon as
we get ice the class teams will be made up, and any fellow that
shows good hockey with his class team will have a chance to show
what he can do on the school squad. You fellows who haven’t put
your names down will please do it before you leave. Halliday is
manager and he will take them. I guess that’s about all, fellows.
Only if you really want to make the teams, show it by doing your
best. Listen to what is told you and do your best right from the start.
We play our first outside game in a little more than a week, so, you
see, there isn’t much time to get together. I hope you’ll all pull hard
for a victory over Broadwood this year. We owe her two lickings and
we might as well start out this winter and give her the first one.
Don’t forget to-morrow afternoon at three sharp, fellows.”
Toby gave his name to Ted Halliday and found Arnold waiting for
him at the door of the cage in conversation with Frank Lamson.
Frank hailed Toby jovially. “Going to be a hockey star, Toby?” he
asked. “Well, we need a few earnest youths like you. Have a good
time on your vacation? You and Arn must have been mighty busy, I
guess. I called up twice on the ’phone and each time they told me
that you were out doing the town. How’s Greenhaven? Say, that
must be a dreary hole in winter, isn’t it? Is your sister well?”
“Fine, thanks. Going back, Arn?”
“N—no, I guess I’ll loaf around here awhile. See you at supper,
Toby.”
Arnold and Frank parted from him on the steps and Toby made his
way across the yard, past the sun-dial at the meeting of the paths in
front of Dudley and, finally, through the colonnade that joined
Oxford and Whitson and so around to the entrance of his dormitory.
As he went he puzzled again over the friendship that existed
between Arnold and Frank. Personally, he thought Frank Lamson the
most unlikeable fellow he had ever met. Perhaps, though, he
reflected, Frank possessed some qualities apparent to Arnold and
not to him. The two had been friends, though never exactly chums,
for several years, while Toby and Arnold had known each other only
since the preceding June. Probably when you had known a fellow
three or four years you got to like him in spite of his—his faults.
Toby almost said “meannesses,” but charitably substituted the other
word. Of course, there was no reason why Arn shouldn’t go with
Frank if he wished to, only—well, for a fortnight or so preceding
Christmas recess Arn had spent a good deal more time with Frank
than he had with Toby, and the latter wondered, as he climbed the
twilight stairways to his room, whether Arn was beginning to get
tired of him. He was very fond of Arnold and the contingency made
him feel rather sad and lonely.
He shed his sweater and cap and seated himself at the deal table,
which just now was a study desk and not an ironing-board, and
drew a book toward him. But his thoughts refused to interest
themselves in Cæsar and he was soon staring out the window and
drumming a slow tattoo on his teeth with the rubber tip of his pencil.
Perhaps it was only imagination, but, looking back on the last two
weeks of vacation, it seemed to him now that Arnold had been less
chummy, that something of the wonderful friendship of the summer
had been lacking. Of course, Arnold had been perfectly splendid to
him, had given him an awfully good time in New York and had
probably given up other good times in order to spend that week-end
with him at Greenhaven. And there were the gold cuff-links, too.
Toby arose and got them from a hidden corner of the top drawer in
the bureau and took them back to the window and looked at them
admiringly and even curiously, as though striving to draw
reassurance from them. In the end he laid them on the table and
sank back into his chair. They were handsome and costly, but they
meant little, after all. Arnold had heaps of money to spend; as much,
perhaps, as any fellow in school. Doubtless he would have given him
something equally as fine had their friendship been far less close.
Why, for all he knew, Arn might have given just such a Christmas
present to Frank Lamson! A wave of something very much like
jealousy went over him and he scowled at the cuff-links quite
ferociously and pushed them distastefully aside. Just that afternoon
he had noticed a new pin in Frank’s tie, a moonstone, he thought it
was, held in a gold claw. It was just the sort of a thing that Arnold
would select. In fact, now that he thought of it, Arnold had a pin
very much like it! There was no doubt in the world that that
moonstone scarf-pin had been Arnold’s Christmas present to Frank,
and Toby suddenly felt very, very miserable.
The daylight faded and the words on the pages of the open book
were no longer legible, although that was a matter of indifference to
Toby since he wasn’t looking at them. What Toby was doing was
something far less commendable and useful than studying his Latin.
He was imagining all sorts of uncharitable things about Arnold and
trying to recall all the faults that Frank Lamson had ever exhibited
and making himself extremely miserable. And finally he arose with a
shrug of his broad shoulders and lighted the gas and pulled down
the shade. After that he scooped the cuff-links up contemptuously
and tossed them back into the bureau drawer.
“Let him,” he muttered. “Who cares, anyway? He’s not the only
fellow in school! I guess I can find some one else to chum with if I
make up my mind to do it.” He closed the bureau drawer with a
bang. “He won’t ever see me wearing those things. Maybe he
bought them for Frank and Frank didn’t like them, or something! He
can have ’em if he wants ’em. I’m sure I don’t!”
After that, since there were no clothes to be cleaned or pressed
this afternoon, he resolutely tried to study, and really did manage to
imbibe a certain amount of knowledge by the time the supper hour
came. He and Arnold had managed to secure seats at the same
table in commons (Yardley Hall, founded by an English schoolmaster,
still retained a few English terms); but they had not been able to get
seats together, and save on infrequent occasions when some boy’s
absence made a rearrangement possible they were divided by the
width of the table. Supper was usually a jolly and enjoyable meal for
Toby, as it was for most others, but to-night he was plainly out of
sorts, and when Arnold came in a trifle late and sank into his chair
looking flushed and happy, he became more morose than ever.
Arnold’s greeting was answered coldly, but Arnold failed to notice the
fact and went to work with a good will on the cold meat and baked
potatoes which formed the principal course. There was a good deal
of talk and laughter that evening amongst the ten occupants of
Table 14, and consequently Toby’s silence and gloom went unnoted
by any one until supper was almost over. Then Arnold, appealing to
Toby for confirmation of a story he had been narrating, was met
with such a chilling response that he paused open-mouthed and
stared across at his friend.
“Well, what’s wrong with you, T. Tucker?” he asked wonderingly.
“Nothing,” replied Toby, very haughtily.
Several other fellows turned to observe him and the younger of
the two Curran brothers laughed and said: “Oh, Tucker’s peeved
because trade’s fallen off. Every fellow had his trousers pressed at
home, I guess.”
Jack Curran frowned at his brother. “Cut that out, Will,” he
growled. “Try to act like a gentleman even if it hurts you. I say, Glad,
I found that book I told you about. If you want it, come around, will
you?”
Gladwin replied and conversation became general again. But now
and then Arnold cast a puzzled glance across at Toby’s lowered head
and wondered what had happened to the usually even-tempered
chum. By that time Toby was angry with himself for having shown
his feelings. He wouldn’t have had the other fellows at the table
guess the reason for his glumness for anything in the world. Nor did
he want Arnold to guess it. He had meant to treat the latter with
chill indifference; he hadn’t intended to act like a sulky kid. When he
left the table Arnold followed him to join him on the way out as was
usual, but to-night Toby skirted another table, reached the corridor
in advance of Arnold and, without a glance, pushed through the
swinging door to the stairway and mounted swiftly to his room. Once
there he paused on the threshold and listened. If he had thought to
hear Arnold’s footsteps in pursuit he was mistaken, for Arnold,
viewing his friend’s singular behavior, had merely shrugged his
shoulders a bit irritably and let him go.
In his room again, Toby turned up the light, which had been
reduced to a mere pin-point of flame, dragged the chair to the table
again and, settling his head in his hands, determinedly attacked his
Latin. But for a long while, although he kept his eyes on the page,
his ears were strained for the sound of Arnold’s footsteps. Other
footsteps echoed down the corridor and several doors opened and
shut. Roy Stillwell, across the corridor, was singing a football song,
keeping time with his heels on the floor:
“Old Yardley can’t be beat, my boy,
She’s bound to win the game!
So give a cheer for Yardley, and
Hats off to Yardley’s fame!”
Toby, listening whether he wanted to or not, wished Stillwell would
be quiet. How could a fellow study with such an uproar going on?
Presently Stillwell was quiet, and then Toby sort of wished he would
sing again. The silence was horribly lonesome. He raised his eyes
from the book at last and viewed disconsolately the shabby little
room. He wished himself back at home and, for the time at least,
honestly regretted ever having come to Yardley. It had been, he
assured himself, a silly thing to do. Most of the fellows weren’t his
sort. Nearly all that he knew—and he knew few enough—were boys
with well-to-do parents, boys who had about everything they
wanted, who lived in comfortable rooms with pictures on the walls
and rugs on the floors and easy-chairs to loll in and all sorts of nice
things. Secretly, of course, if not openly—and he had to
acknowledge grudgingly that they didn’t do it openly—they looked
down on him for being poor and ill-dressed and having to press
clothes to make enough money to assure his return another year.
They weren’t his kind at all. It would have been far better had he
kept on at the high school in Johnstown, as he would have done if
Arnold hadn’t beguiled him with glowing accounts of Yardley. And
there was the matter of the scholarship, too. Toby had rather hoped
to secure one of the six Fourth Year scholarships, if not a Ripley,
which credited one with sixty dollars against the tuition fee, then a
Haynes, which carried fifty dollars with it. Arnold had been quite
sure that Toby could do it and Toby had thought so himself just at
first, but there had been trouble with mathematics in October and
during the time that he had striven to make good as a football player
he had slumped a little in Latin as well. The announcement would be
made the last of the week, but Toby no longer dared hope to hear
his name coupled with one of the prizes.
Suddenly he turned his gaze toward the door and listened intently.
Footsteps on the stairs! They sounded like Arnold’s! Then they came
along the corridor, nearer and nearer. Were they Arnold’s? One
instant Toby thought they were and the next doubted it. They
weren’t quite like, but if they stopped at his door—
They did stop! And a knock sounded! Toby held his breath. He
wanted to run across the room and throw the door open, but
something held him motionless. Another knock, louder this time, and
then the door-knob was tried.
“Let him knock,” said Toby to himself stubbornly. But he didn’t
really mean it. If Arnold called, he decided, he would let him in. He
waited tensely. There was a moment’s silence outside. Arnold must
know that he was in, Toby assured himself, for he could see the light
through the transom and if he really cared about seeing him he
would try again. If he didn’t—
“Tucker!” called a voice from beyond the locked door. “Tucker, are
you in there?”
Toby’s heart sank. It wasn’t Arnold after all! Outside the door
stood a small and apologetic preparatory class youth with a suit
draped across one arm. “S-sorry to disturb you, Tucker,” he
stammered, “but I wanted to know if you thought you c-could do
anything with these. Th-they’re in an awful mess. I b-brushed up
against some paint in the village to-day.”
“I’ll fix them,” answered Toby listlessly. “What’s the name?
Lingard? All right. I’ll have them for you to-morrow evening.”
“Thanks,” exclaimed the youngster gratefully. “I—I hope you won’t
find them too—too m-messy.”
“I guess not. Good-night.”
Toby closed the door again, tossed the clothes over the back of
the dilapidated arm-chair and returned gloomily to his lessons. He
was a fool, he muttered, to think Arn cared enough to seek him out.
Not that it mattered, however. Not a bit! Arn could plaguey well suit
himself. He didn’t care!
CHAPTER VII
FIRST PRACTICE
I t’s remarkable how different things look in the morning! A chap
may go to bed the night before in the seventh subway of despair
and wake up in the morning feeling quite cheerful and contented.
And this is especially true if the sun happens to be shining and a
little frosty, nippy breeze is blowing in at the window and the faint
odor of coffee and other delectable things floats in with the breeze.
As Toby’s room was over the kitchen, which occupied the basement
of Whitson, he was quite frequently treated to a presentment of
what was to happen in commons. This morning, sitting on the edge
of his bed, and shivering a little as the playful zephyrs caressed his
legs, he sniffed knowingly and decided that there was an
unmistakably choppy bouquet to the fragrance arising from the
kitchen windows. And he was pleased, because he was especially
fond of lamb chops. Also, he was particularly hungry to-day, having
eaten scantily of supper because—
That because brought back to memory his overnight’s grievance.
But this morning it seemed absurdly trifling. He had, he decided,
made a silly ass of himself, and he wondered what on earth had got
into him! He would find Arnold the very first thing and show him that
he was sorry. Of course Arnold liked Frank Lamson. Why shouldn’t
he, since they had known each other several years? Besides, Frank,
after all, wasn’t such a bad chap probably—if you knew him well!
Meanwhile there was a bath to be taken, and one had to do a lot of
hustling to get a bath in before breakfast for the reason that the
bathing facilities in Whitson were archaic and there were some
twelve boys for each tub. This knowledge spurred Toby to action and
he jumped up and closed the window with a bang, seized the
gorgeous new crimson dressing-gown that his mother had given him
for Christmas and, struggling hurriedly into it, dashed down the hall.
For once promptness earned its reward. Only Stillwell and Framer
were ahead of him and Toby was back in his room in five minutes,
glowing and happy and hungry.
When, on his way downstairs, he knocked at the door of Number
12 and was invited to enter, he found only Homer Wilkins within.
Homer was still very incompletely attired and very sleepy looking,
and he informed Toby with a prodigious yawn, that Arn had gone on
down. “He’s a regular Little Brighteyes,” he complained. “No worm
would have half a chance with Arn. What’s the weather like, Toby?”
“Great! You’d better hustle if you want any breakfast.”
“I don’t expect any,” replied Homer sadly. “I haven’t had a square
meal in the morning since I’ve been here. Everything’s sold out when
I get down. They ought to have a lunch-wagon for fellows—”
But Toby didn’t hear the rest. Arnold was busily adorning his plate
of oatmeal with much cream and sugar when Toby reached the
table. Only four others were on hand so far.
“Morning,” greeted Toby as he sat down and pulled his napkin out
of its numbered ring.
“Hello, Tucker!” “Morning, Toby!” “Greetings!” “Shove that sugar-
bowl along this way, will you?”
Arnold, however, only looked up briefly and nodded. Toby’s face
fell. When one is ready to apologize and make up it is most
disheartening to find that the other party isn’t ready! Evidently
Arnold was nursing resentment, and Toby knew that as a nurse for
that sort of thing Arn was hard to beat. But he pretended that he
observed nothing different in his friend’s attitude and was quite
chatty—for Toby. Will Curran, who had been severely lectured by his
older brother for snobbishness, showed a desire to make amends
and was unusually attentive to Toby. By the time the table had filled
up, which was only when the leisurely Homer Wilkins had fallen
wearily into the chair at Arnold’s left, Arnold had forgotten to look
hurt and proud and was holding an animated discussion with
Gladwin on the subject of hockey skates. Glad, as he was generally
called, was firm for the half-hockey style and Arnold pinned his faith
on the full.
“A straight blade is all right for racing,” declared Gladwin, “but it’s
too slow for hockey.”
“Too slow!” exclaimed Arnold. “How do you mean, too slow? You
get more surface to the ice and—”
“That’s all right when you’re skating, but when you want to turn
quickly—”
“Oh, shucks! Look here, Glad, you take a skate that’s got a round
toe and how are you going to start quickly? You can’t dig your toes
in, can you?”
“No, but you don’t have to. A fellow can start just as quick on the
edge. A long, flat blade is—”
“Oh, poppycock! You never saw a racer start on the edge, I’ll bet!
Look at the Canadians. You don’t deny that they know more hockey
than we do, do you?”
“They did,” responded Glad cautiously, “but we’re catching up with
’em nowadays. Anyway—”
“Well, they know hockey, son, and they use a full-hockey skate
every time! If that doesn’t prove it—”
“I don’t think the Canadians play any better game than we do
these days,” interrupted Glad. “And that doesn’t prove anything,
anyway. Canadians are more or less English, and you know mighty
well that an Englishman uses the same skate to-day that his great-
grandfather used, and couldn’t be made to change. It—it’s all a
matter of custom with them!”
“Don’t be a silly ass, please,” begged Arnold. “Any fellow who has
seen a Canadian hockey team knows that they use a full-hockey
skate, and a full-hockey skate wasn’t made until a few years ago,
and so their grandfathers couldn’t have used them! Why, you might
just as well say that the best hockey skate is an old-fashioned
‘rocker’!”
“There’s a lot of difference,” began Gladwin, but the audience told
him to shut up and eat his breakfast, and Arnold was restored to his
normal equanimity by the knowledge that he had won the debate.
Consequently, when, a few minutes later, Toby met him in the
corridor, Arnold had quite forgotten his grievance.
“Did you hear that line of piffle Glad pulled?” he demanded. “I’d
like to see him make his quick starts on a pair of half-hockeys! I’ll
bet I could beat him every time!”
“Of course you could,” agreed Toby. “Say, Arn, I—I’m sorry I was
such a beast last night, you know.”
“What? Oh! Say, what was the matter with you, you silly chump,
anyway?”
“Nothing, really. I was sort of—sort of cranky, I guess.”
“Must have been,” agreed Arnold cheerfully. “Had the hump, I
suppose. How is it by you to-day?”
“Oh, I’m feeling great to-day. Let’s get out and tramp a little
before first hour. Shall we?”
“All right. Wait till I get a cap. Guess we’ll need sweaters, too.”
“I’ll have to run up and get mine and I’ll fetch yours on the way
down.” Toby paused with the door half open. “Say, Arn, it’s—it’s all
right, isn’t it? About last night, I mean.”
“Of course it is, you chump! Get a move on. We’ve only got about
twenty minutes.”
At three o’clock in the afternoon of that fifth day of January the
stretch of low ground near the river and south of the running track
became the scene of remarkable activity. Fully half the school turned
out, although not all, I regret to say, with the intention of being
helpful. Perhaps fifty per cent. of the gathering was there to watch
the other fifty per cent. work and to get as much amusement as
possible out of the spectacle. Mr. Bendix, the Physical Director, better
known as “Muscles,” was in charge of proceedings, assisted by Andy
Ryan, the trainer. Corner pegs had already been set when the boys
arrived and the task of digging holes for the uprights to hold the
boards in place was under way. Captain Crowell, acting as
lieutenant, doled out shovels and picks and soon the necessary
excavations were completed. Fortunately, only the crust of the earth
was frozen and once under that digging was easy. The joists were
next lugged from their place of storage under the grand-stand and
dropped into the holes and with one boy holding and two or three
others shoveling, and Andy Ryan running around with a carpenter’s
level to see that the joists were set straight, that part of the work
went swiftly and would have gone more swiftly if the onlookers,
being in a particularly happy frame of mind, had not stood around
and cheered every move enthusiastically.
Then a stream of fellows made for the back of the grand-stand
again and returned bearing the planks, which, being in sections
ready to attach to the uprights, required less labor than the
pessimistic Creel had led Toby to anticipate. Each section was
numbered and fell readily into place, after which a few long spikes
completed the operation. Toby, armed with a hammer and a bag of
spikes, was one of the carpenters. Every time he missed the head of
the spike a shout of derision arose from the attentive audience, and,
in consequence, Toby was very likely to promptly miss again! But
there were plenty of others to aid and before long the three-foot-
high barrier was in place, enclosing a parallelogram of faded and
trampled turf one hundred and thirty-two feet long by sixty feet
wide. Before the last spike had been driven home the boys were
busy with picks and shovels and a foot-high bank of earth was being
thrown up against the bottom of boards on the outside. By the time
the last shovelful had been tossed in place twilight was on them and
the spectators had departed. The thermometer showed the mercury
at twenty-eight degrees, but falling, and it was decided to put in
enough water to only saturate the ground. Two lines of hose were
coupled to the nearer hydrants and the enclosure was thoroughly
wet down. That ended the labor for the time and some forty-odd
boys, abandoning shovels and picks, viewed the result of their labor
with proud satisfaction and tramped somewhat wearily back to the
dormitories. To Toby, at least, who had worked hard and unceasingly
from first to last, the lighted windows up the hill looked very good.
The thermometer was down to twenty in the morning and again
the water was turned into the hydrants, the hose coupled and the
frozen ground sprayed. This operation was repeated twice more
during the day and when, in the late afternoon, Toby and Arnold
walked down to the rink they found an inch of ice already formed.
But it was not until the following afternoon that the rink was ready
for use. The mercury was down to fourteen above zero at three
o’clock and the final spraying at noon had supplied a surface as
smooth and hard as glass. By a quarter past three four squads were
at work, rushing and passing and, it must be acknowledged,
sprawling over the ice. Later two teams were picked by Captain
Crowell and the other fellows pulled their sweaters on again and
lined the barrier and looked on. Most of the school was on hand, as
well, and although there was no line-up that afternoon, they found
plenty to divert them.
Toby, of course, spent most of the practice time outside the
barrier, but he profited not a little by watching the more fortunate
fellows. Going back, he confided to Arnold that he was sure he
would never be able to get around on skates the way those chaps
did. Arnold, whose right to a place on the first team was generally
recognized, had been hard at it and was feeling very perked up and
cheerful and derided Toby’s doubts.
“You wait till you’ve had a few days of it,” he said. “You’ll get the
hang of it all right. There’s only one secret, Toby, and that is skate
low. It helps you to keep your balance and makes it harder for the
other fellow to body-check you. If you’re standing straight on your
skates the least shove will throw you over, but if you’re skating low
you can take a good hard check and keep your feet on the ice.”
“I see that,” said Toby. “But you fellows dodge and jump around
and turn so quickly! Why, I’d break my silly neck if I tried it!”
“You’ll learn. Anyway, if you go in for goal, you won’t need to
know so much about skating.”
“How much does a pair of skates like yours cost?” asked Toby
after a moment’s silence.
“I paid five, but you can get a good pair for three and a half. Don’t
buy any till you find out whether you’re going to play goal or not,
though. If you play goal you’ll be better off with a pair of heavy
skates with short blades. You can move a heap quicker in them.”
“And how much would they be?”
“Oh, three and a half, I guess. What’s the matter with wearing the
ones you have?”
“Could I? They’re sort of old-fashioned. I only paid a dollar and a
half for them, and I’ve had them about three years.”
“Let’s see them,” said Arnold. They paused in the light from a
lower window in Merle and Arnold looked them over. Finally he
grunted and passed them back. “I guess they wouldn’t do, Toby.
They’d break in two if some one gave them a good swipe with a
stick or skated into them. What you want to do is to get a pair of
skating shoes and screw your skates right onto them. Those full
clamp skates are always tearing your heel off.”
“How much would shoes cost?” asked Toby.
“Five dollars. More if you want to pay it. But they’ll stand by you
for two or three years.”
“Yes, but Crowell said we’d all have to have hockey gloves, and
they’re frightfully expensive. And I might have to buy a pair of pads
if I got to playing goal. I guess hockey’s a pretty expensive game,
Arn.”
“Pshaw, pads don’t cost much; only about four dollars, I think.
Fifteen dollars will buy everything you’ll need.”
“Gee, that’s cheap, isn’t it?” muttered Toby disconsolately. “I guess
I’ll wait and see if there’s any show of making a team before I buy
much.”
Arnold laughed as they crossed the colonnade and turned toward
the entrance to Whitson. “You were always a cautious chap, Toby!”
“I have to be,” replied the other simply.
“I suppose you do. Look here!” Arnold stopped in the act of
pushing open the door. “I’ve got a pretty good pair of skates
upstairs. They’ve got button heels, but I guess they’d be all right for
you. If you want them you’re welcome. Come on up and I’ll dig them
out.”
They proved all right as to size, but, unfortunately, the heel-plates
had been lost. Homer Wilkins, who came in while they were
bewailing this fact, suggested that they could get new plates by
sending to the maker, and they cheered up again. Toby bore the
skates away with him to his room and, arrived there, studied that
note-book again. Quite a few fellows had paid their accounts by now
and so many of the entries had been scored out, but there was still
nearly six dollars owing him. Most of the accounts were small,
ranging from fifteen cents to thirty, but a few were larger and Frank
Lamson’s was the biggest. Frank had promised to pay after vacation,
but he hadn’t and Toby considered the advisability of reminding him
of his promise. But Toby decided finally that he would rather lose the
money than dun Frank for it any more. What he would do, though,
was to spend an hour after supper trying to collect some of the
other amounts due him. Having reached that decision, he started his
gas stove, heated his iron and pressed two pairs of trousers and a
coat and waistcoat before supper.
Afterwards, he made the rounds of the dormitories before study
hour and returned richer by two dollars and eighty cents. That
amount, together with four dollars and twenty-two cents which he
had by him, he deposited in a little cardboard box and hid under an
extra pair of pajamas in a bureau drawer, after printing on the lid in
ink: “Hockey Fund.”
Seven dollars would, he believed, buy a pair of pads and a pair of
gloves, and now that Arnold had donated a perfectly corking pair of
skates, he wouldn’t have to purchase shoes. He could put the heel-
plates, when he got them, on the shoes he was wearing and use
them for all purposes. He had a feeling that in expending seven
dollars for hockey paraphernalia he was being downright
extravagant, but he had earned the money and, he told himself
defiantly, he had a right to be reckless with it for once. He didn’t
entirely silence an accusing conscience, but he reduced it to
whispers!
Toby had already become an enthusiastic hockey fan without as
yet having taken part in a game! His efforts to make good as a
football player had not been very successful, and he made up his
mind that this time he would conquer. He had an ecstatic vision of
one Toby Tucker, a blue-and-white stockinette cap on his head,
wearing a white sweater with the crossed hockey sticks and the
mystic letters Y. H. T. on it, his legs encased in white leather pads
such as Henry, the first team goal-tend, had worn that afternoon,
armed with a wide-bladed stick, crouching in front of the net while
the cheers of Yardley and Broadwood thundered across the rink. The
vision stopped there because, for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine
what the heroic Toby Tucker would do if some brutal member of the
enemy team tried to put the puck past him! But it was a fine and
heart-warming picture, and Toby wanted terribly to see it realized,
and it didn’t seem to him at such moments that it would be right to
let a small matter of seven dollars interfere with that realization.
Besides, there was still the barest, tiniest chance of that scholarship!
When Toby was feeling cheerful he recognized that chance. At other
times he told himself that it didn’t exist. To-night, being optimistic,
he allowed that perhaps, after all, he might win one of the smaller
ones. If he did he would never regret the sinful waste of that seven
dollars. Fifty dollars would make a lot of difference in his financial
condition. However, he would not, he reflected, get his hopes too
high. It was much better not to expect anything. Then if he did win
a Haynes Scholarship—
Gee, he was getting all excited about it! That wouldn’t do,
because it was very, very likely that he wouldn’t succeed. He pulled
his books to him and settled himself, with a sigh, for an hour of
study. Anyway, he thought, as he opened his algebra, he would
know to-morrow, for to-morrow was the eighth and it was on the
eighth, according to the school catalogue, that the awards were
announced. Of course, since there were only six scholarships for the
fourth class and about one hundred students—Toby sighed again,
shook his head and plunged into algebra.
CHAPTER VIII
THE SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS
A t Yardley you were supposed to get up at seven. Breakfast was
at seven-thirty. You were allowed, however, a half-hour’s leeway.
That is, you could gain admittance to commons as late as one
minute to eight, but whether you found anything left to eat was
quite another question. At half-past eight came chapel, and while
you might with impunity miss breakfast occasionally, being absent
from chapel constituted a dereliction resulting in a visit to the Office.
Chapel was held in the assembly hall on the third floor of Oxford.
There had been a time, when the founder and first Principal, Doctor
Hewitt, had been alive, when chapel had occurred at half-past
seven, but nowadays one fortified oneself with food before the
morning services.
On this Saturday morning Toby, who was so accustomed to early
rising that it was a veritable hardship to lie in bed after seven,
finished breakfast before eight and was out of the hall before Arnold
appeared. Usually he waited for the latter and they crossed to
Oxford together; and sometimes Homer Wilkins, by Herculean effort,
managed to go along. But this morning Arnold had not returned to
his room when Toby clattered downstairs again. Nor was he
anywhere in sight. So Toby set out for chapel alone. Probably Arnold
would be waiting for him in the corridor in Oxford. It wasn’t a
morning when one would linger around out of doors, for the mercury
was hovering about zero and an icy wind was blowing across the
Prospect, cracking the flag and bending the top of the tall mast.
Toby dug his hands into his pockets and scurried. The bell began to
ring as he reached the steps. Inside, a crowd of boys who had
lingered till the last moment, surged toward the stairs, and Toby was
caught up and borne along. As a consequence, he did not find
Arnold, and when he was seated on one of the old knife-scarred
benches he was hedged in between two fellows whom he only knew
by sight. Doctor Collins, the Principal, stepped to the rostrum,
silence descended over the room and the Doctor’s pleasant voice
began the reading.
“‘Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek
the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of
the pit whence ye are digged.’”
Toby, as he listened, glanced furtively around for sight of Arnold.
He had wanted particularly to see him this morning and ask him
when and where the scholarship announcements would be made.
Toby presumed that a list would be posted on the notice board
downstairs, but a hurried examination of the board as he had been
swept past had revealed nothing that looked as portentous. Probably
the list would be posted later. Toby wondered if he would have the
courage to read it! Meanwhile there was no sign of Arnold and Toby
concluded that he had arrived late and slipped into a seat near the
door.
“‘But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which
have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou
hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that
went over.’”
Dr. Collins ceased and closed the Bible. There was a moment’s
pause and the subdued shuffling of feet and moving of bodies. Then
came silence again and the invocation and, at the last, the Lord’s
Prayer, the boys reciting together. Toby always liked to hear that. It
sounded to him like the boom of the sea back home, and thrilled
him. When heads were lifted once more, he became conscious of an
undercurrent of excitement, of suspense. The hall was unusually
still. The boy on his right, a thin, earnest-looking youth with a pair of
eye-glasses set on the ridge of a long nose, sat up straighter and
more tensely, and Toby thought he breathed faster than was natural.
Toby didn’t recall the fellow’s name, but they had several recitations
in common. In front of him two boys were whispering together, but
so softly that he could hear no sound. On the platform Doctor Collins
was turning the papers in his hands, and, presently, having sorted
them to his liking, he began the announcements. Three students
were summoned to the Office; notice was given of a lecture on
Stevenson next Tuesday evening at eight; a course in Bible History
open to First and Second Class students would begin Monday; those
desiring to join would give their names to Mr. Thurman; until further
notice, the library would be kept open until ten o’clock at night, in
response to a number of requests. Doctor Collins laid these notices
on the desk, cleared his throat and began again. Toby heard the boy
on his right take a long breath.
“In assigning scholarships,” began Dr. Collins, “the Faculty judges
the merits of the applicants, as you doubtless know, on three
grounds: scholarship, character and pecuniary need. At present the
School has at its disposal twenty-six endowed scholarships, and for
the current year they have been assigned as follows.”
Toby’s heart was doing queer things between his stomach and his
throat. He wondered if the others were as surprised as he. Then he
realized that every one else had known the announcements would
be made here and now; that the under-current of excitement of
which he had been dimly aware had been due to that knowledge. He
plunged his hands into his pockets and doubled his fists tightly. He,
too, was breathing hard and fast now. His thoughts were horribly
jumbled, and he wondered where Arnold was, wished he was here,
was glad he wasn’t, told himself he had absolutely no chance for a
scholarship, hoped frantically that he had, and all in the small
fraction of time that lapsed while Doctor Collins settled his glasses
more firmly.
“As your names are mentioned, you will kindly stand,” continued
the Principal. “To members of the First Class: Barton Scholarships of
one hundred and twenty-five dollars to William George Phinney,
Clark’s Mills, Rhode Island; David Fearson Caldwell, New York City;
Jasper Haynes, Plainfield, New Jersey; Patrick Dennis Conlon,
Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sinclair Scholarships of one hundred dollars
to Phillip Studley Meyer, Belfast, Maine; William Patterson Byron,
Newark, New Jersey. Elliot Percival Dwight Scholarships of eighty
dollars to Howard Dana Jones, Englewood, Illinois; Horace
Newcomb, Greenburg, Connecticut. The Yardley Hall Scholarship of
sixty dollars to Newton Scott McDonough, Wilmington, Delaware.”
As each name was announced, somewhere in the hall an
embarrassed youth arose and a salvo of clapping greeted him. Toby
clapped as hard as any. It sort of took his mind off the question that
was jumping around in his brain. The nine youths remained standing
until the applause, long continued and hearty, died down. Then:
“You may be seated,” said the Doctor. “To members of the Second
Class—” Toby listened, but only half heard. When a boy stood up he
clapped hard. When a laugh started and rippled around the hall, he
laughed too, a trifle hysterically, but didn’t know what at. The
Second Class recipients sat down and the Doctor began on the Third
Class awards. There were but six of these. Toby only knew one of
the fortunate fellows, Mark Flagg, who played point with the first
hockey squad. The clapping went on and on. Toby wished one
instant that it would cease and the next that it would continue. Then
it died away, Doctor Collins nodded and the boys sank back gladly
out of sight. Toby clenched his hands again, set his countenance in a
vacuous stare and held his breath.
“To members of the Fourth Class:” began the fateful voice. “Ripley
Scholarships of sixty dollars to Gordon Pitman Wells, Cincinnati, Ohio
—”
At the far side of the assembly hall there was a scraping of feet.
The clapping broke forth afresh. Toby didn’t join this time, nor did he
look around. He was too busy keeping his eyes on the back of the
head of the boy in front of him, and, besides, it is doubtful if he
could have unclenched his hands just then.
“—John Booth Garman, Fitchburg, Massachusetts—”
The boy at Toby’s right got slowly to his feet. Toby stole a look at
his face. He was rather red and very embarrassed and there was a
little crooked smile twisting one side of his mouth. Toby’s gaze fell to
Garman’s hand which hung by his side. The long fingers were
doubling back and forth nervously. Toby felt for Garman, wanted to
tell him he was glad. Then, the applause lessening, he strained his
ears again. Not that the crucial moment was yet, for he had no
hopes of a Ripley now, nor much hope of anything. He wished it was
all over! Doctor Collins seized the moment’s calm:
“Tobias Tucker, Greenhaven, New York!”
Something inside of Toby turned a complete somersault. Perhaps
it was his heart, but it didn’t feel like it. His gaze went startledly,
incredulously from the exact middle of the head in front of him to
Doctor Collins’ face. Some one was shoving him from behind and a
voice hissed over his shoulder: “Stand up, you chump!” Toby climbed
dazedly to his feet. If it was a mistake, he told himself hollowly, he
would feel like an awful fool! But there didn’t seem to be any
mistake. Every one was clapping enthusiastically and he saw, or
seemed to see, about a million faces smiling at him. His thoughts, as
he held onto the back of the bench in front, were horribly confused
while the applause lasted. After that, when the Doctor announced
the recipients of the three Haynes Scholarships, and the school’s
attention was shifted from him, he found himself mentally deducting
sixty from one hundred and twenty-five and arriving at the joyful if
slightly erroneous result of sixty. Why, his tuition bill for the rest of
the year would be only ten dollars! (Afterwards he found that it
would be fifteen, but he managed to survive the shock!) So busy
was he dwelling on the beatitude of this thought that he didn’t see
Doctor Collins nod nor observe the fact that the other five fellows
had seated themselves again, and only became alive to his hideous
conspicuousness when Garman tugged at his coat. He sank back
onto the bench blushing, but still happy.
After that there was a short congratulatory address by the
Principal and then they all stood up again and sang a hymn. Or, at
least, most of them sang. Toby didn’t. But then his heart was
singing, and maybe that was enough. When the final note had died
away Doctor Collins gave the word of dismissal and a quiet and
orderly exodus began which turned, outside the doors, into a
stampede. Toby, however, went slowly, the better to enjoy his
pleasant thoughts, until some one linked an arm in his and dragged
him helter-skelter down the remaining flight.
“Hurray, T. Tucker! Didn’t I tell you you’d do it? It’s great, and I’m
tickled to death, Toby!”
Of course it was Arnold, Arnold laughing and eager to show his
delight by risking his neck in a final mad plunge down the crowded
staircase. Toby brought up at the bottom breathless and shaken and
leaned against the wall. “Wh-where were you?” he gasped. “I looked
all around for you.”
“I waited for Homer and we were late and just got in by the skin
of our teeth. Didn’t you see me waving to you when you stood up?
Gee, but I’m glad you got a Ripley, Toby. I was afraid it might be
only a Haynes.”
“I was afraid it might be only nothing,” laughed Toby. “I was so
surprised when Doc said my name that I guess I’d be sitting there
yet if some fellow hadn’t shoved me and told me to stand up! I don’t
see now how I happened to do it. I made an awful mess of math for
a while, and then in November I had trouble with Coby about Latin.
I don’t see—”
“Oh, never mind what you don’t see,” interrupted Arnold gayly.
“You got it. That’s enough, isn’t it? Come on over and chin awhile.”
“What time is it? I can’t. I’ve got English at nine. But, gee, I won’t
know a thing, I guess!”
“All right, then, I’ll see you at eleven. I’m awfully glad, Toby. You
deserved it, too. Every one says that. Lots of fellows were as pleased
as anything when Doc announced your name. I guess you got as
much clapping as any of them!”
“Did I?” asked Toby in surprise. “Why, I didn’t suppose many
fellows knew anything about me! I guess—I guess you’re just
jollying!”
“Honest, I’m not! Lots of fellows around where I was sitting nearly
clapped their old hands off for you, and four or five said afterwards
that they were mighty glad you’d copped it. So long! Come up to the
room at eleven, eh?”
Toby nodded and turned back toward the entrance to Oxford. It
seemed strange, even incredible, that any one should have cared
whether he won that scholarship. But it was mighty nice. It made
things even better. He hadn’t supposed that he had any friends in
school beside Arnold and, perhaps, a couple of chaps in his own
class who had been more or less chummy at times. Well, he would
just have to show them and Doctor Collins and—and every one that
he really deserved it. He would study as hard as anything and
maybe—well, it was only a chance, but maybe, he’d finish in June an
Honor Man! Rather a stupendous dream, that, but Toby was feeling
stupendous this morning!
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade
Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.
Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and
personal growth!
ebookfinal.com
