- dent of his class. He was very timid about talking
lest somebody should overhear, but when assured that we had the whole house to ourselves he took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to me.
He said: "Mr. Speer, I wish you would read this."
I looked at it and saw that it was written in a girl's handwriting, and said: "No, tell me about it."
"No," he said, "please read it. It will tell you a great deal better than I can."
So I opened his letter and began to read, substantially as follows:
"Dear :
"I know all about your life at
College, and I want to tell you what I think about you. You and I have known one another all our lives, and we have been good friends; but I think you are a coward and I think that I ought to tell you so."
I closed his letter and handed it back to him.
His lips were quivering and his eyes were moist
as he said:
"You can believe that when I got that letter it cut me all up, and the worst of it is that what she says is true."
His father was a minister; his mother was of the salt of the earth. He had grown up under the best influences of a clean and wholesome