182 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
easy to answer, some that he would do 
much to escai)e. 
One lad wants to know his age, another 
how his "ma" was when he left her. 
One is curious respecting his wisdom 
teeth, another as to what supplies of 
pocket-money the neophyte can com- 
mand. A fat, unctious-cheeked boy asks 
if he has any prime tarts in his box ; a 
gloomy, austere one inquires, with an air 
of mystery, if he likes stick liquorice. Woe 
betide the tyio if, confused and baffled by 
this ordeal, and with his strange sense of 
desertion i)ressing in keen pnin upon his 
heart, he should burst into tears. His 
prospects of future popularity will go un- 
der a cloud immediately, and many days 
will pass before the episode is forgotten . 
The designation of "milksop," tlius 
earned accidentally, and \ery ])robably 
without reasonable desert, wili slick. The 
handkerchief to a new boy's eyes acts on 
his comrades very much as the proverbial 
red rug on tlie nerves of a bull. 
The best a,dvice to the tried one u]wn 
this i)oint is to maintain self-control at 
any cost— to take the questions calmly, 
and answer just as many as he may find 
convenient. Do not be over reticent un- 
less there should be valid cause for re- 
serve. To give confidence is Ihe surest 
way to obtain it. And, on the other hand, 
guard carefully against "gush." In a 
group of lads there will often be one who 
can insinuate himself into very sacred re- 
cesses of a new boy's heart and draw from 
him confessions and little innocent stories 
that will afterwards be used against him 
as the spoils of a rude mirth. It is well 
to ])e on guard against the wiles of this 
provokingly sympathetic individual. He 
will then soon give the game up and show 
hitnself in his true colors. 
Then comes to the new boy the import- 
ant peiiod of what are euphemistically 
spoken of as " larks." All sorts of games 
will be played upon him. His ignorance 
of school routine will be taken advantage 
of in a dozen different ways. Many schools 
have an unregistered but nevertheless 
rarely varying code of tricks for the tyro's 
delectalion. Just as the merchantman's 
apprentice has to endure the details of a 
stereotyped ceremony on flrst crossing 
the Line, so the new scholar at "Our 
Academy " will be sent on a fool's errand 
here, and will endanger his shins by an 
unsuspe(!ted i)itfall yonder. It will be 
best and safest to take it all in good part, 
and to refrain from anything ai)proacli- 
ing grumbling. If the unlucky one laughs 
persistently at disaster, and mildly edges 
his way out of blunders, the idea will 
quickly get afloat that there is good stuff 
in him, that he is a " real brick." 
Never-^except in the most unlikely, 
serious, and aggravated of all cases of 
practical joking— take the step of appeal- 
ing to the authorities. To have fastened 
upon you at tne very beginning the nama 
of "tell-tale," "sneak," will be abso^ 
lutely fatal, in nine instances out of ten, 
to any chance of school happiness. It is 
far better to bear in silence. Even should 
there be a downright bully in the school 
he will surely grow tired of his amuse- 
ment, if he can raise no response of anger 
or sui)plication. Be patient, and all these 
petty annoyances will blow over. Games 
with new-comers are not confined to 
schools xjur et simple. They are found 
wherever young life congregates. 
I knew a young man some time ago who 
thought he had a mission to become a 
preacher of the Gospel, truly the highest 
and holiest of all callings. He was an ar- 
tisan and uneducated, but friends worked 
him up, and by-and-by, with much effort, 
found an entrance for 'him into a training- 
college. He went— after a great fiourish 
of trumpets— but returned crestfallen in 
less than a fortnight. He used some sin- 
gular excuses to account for his disap- 
pointingj^rt8co, but from hints dropped to- 
acquaintances the opinion grew that prac- 
tical jokes had been played upon him, as 
a new-comer, and in his loneliness these 
had driven him back to his bench— there 
very probably to vegetate for life. 
I "knew, too, a boy who tried the plan 
of telling the head master about tricks- 
played upon him after lock-np, and wha 
foulid no more peace until his father 
fetched him away, amidst the jeers, 
(shown in every look and word and atti- 
tude) of those who, in happier circum- 
stances, might have become his fast and 
life-long friends. 
In school life, as in the wide arena be- 
yond, it pays best to practice endurance, 
meekness, and good temper under trial. 
Let any new boy whom it concerns re- 
member this in the hour of his temptation 
and his difficulties. 
Lastly— for space has vanished— when 
in your turn you form one of a group 1o 
receive " a new boy," have in recollection 
the days of your own novitiate, and be 
gentle and considerate accordingly. 
Spartan, the Newfoundland Dog. 
BY BUTH LAMB. 
MONGST the many four-footed 
friends of whom I have delight- 
ful memories, my father's New- 
foundland, " Spartan," stands 
out conspicuously. What a, 
beauty he was ! Large enough to serve 
as a steed for a little boy; gentle enough 
to bear anv amount of pulling and haul- 
ing ptbout by the youngsters. Black, with 
white breast, throat, and paws, and a tail 
like a great plume with a snowy tip. One 
