John Wesley, Jr. | Page 5

don't know them very well. But I can go to the Institute with
the church crowd; and there will be tennis and swimming and plenty of
other fun besides the big program." Which was quite a speech for J. W.
John Wesley, Sr., didn't know much about the Institute, but he had an
endless regard for his pastor, and the mother was characteristically
willing to postpone her boy's introduction to the unknown and, in her
thought, therefore, the menacing city.
So, after the brief but unhurried devotions at the breakfast table, which
had come to serve in place of the old-time family prayers, parental
approval was forthcoming. And thus it befell that J.W. selected for
himself a future whose every experience was to be affected by so slight
a matter as his impulsive choice of a week's holiday. That choice
expressed to him the new freedom of his years, for he had not even
been conscious of the quiet influence which had made it easier than he
knew to decide as he had done.
* * * * *
It was a mixed and lively company that found itself crowded around the
registrar's table at the Institute one Monday evening in July, with J. W.
and his own particular chum, Martin Luther Shenk, better known as
"Marty," right in the middle of it.
J.W. wondered where so many Epworthians could have come from.

Did they really hanker after the Institute, or had they come for reasons
as trivial as his own? He put the question to Martin Luther Shenk.
"Marty, do you reckon these are all here for real Epworth League work,
or does the Institute want anybody and everybody?"
Marty had been scouting a little, and he answered: "No, to both
questions, I should say. Some have come just to be coming, and others
seem to be here for business. But I saw Joe Carbrook just now, and if
he is an Epworth Leaguer I am the Prince of Puget Sound. You know
how he stands at home. Wonder what he came for."
Just then Joe Carbrook himself came up. He was from Delafield too,
member of the same League chapter as the two chums, but he had
rarely condescended to league affairs. Having had two rather variegated
years at college, he felt he must show his sophistication by holding
himself above some of those simple old observances.
"S'pose you are here for solemn and serious work, you two," he
remarked mockingly, as he saw the boys. "I just met Marcia Dayne,
and she told me you were registering. Well, I'm here too--drove up in
my car--but you don't catch me tying myself down to all that study stuff.
I'm looking for fun, not work."
"Nothing new for you in that, Joe," said Marty. "But I should think you
might try the study stuff, if only for a change, after you have spent
good money on gas and tires. And you have to pay for your meals, you
know."
"Well, I studied hard enough last month in college cramming for the
final exams, so I could get within gunshot of enough sophomore credits,
and I'm through; with study for a while. If I find a few live ones in this
crowd, I guess we can enjoy ourselves without interfering with any of
you grinds, if you must study," and Joe Carbrook went off in search of
his live ones.
J.W. and Marty were in no hurry to register. The crowd milling around
in the office was interesting, and J.W. was still wondering how many of

them, himself included, would get enough Institute long before the
week was over. Besides, it was yet an hour before supper.
"Think of it, Marty. All these people come from Epworth Leagues just
like ours, from Springfield, and Wolf Prairie and Madison and all over
this part of the State. What for, I'd like to know? Will you look at those
pennants? Wish we had brought one or two of ours; we could add to the
display, anyway."
"I have two in my suitcase," said Marty. "We'll have them out this
evening at the introduction meeting. And maybe you'll find out 'what
for' by that time."
The introduction meeting in the chapel after supper was for the most
part informal. Yells and songs and the waving of pennants punctuated
the proceedings, as is quite the proper thing in an Epworth League
gathering. Some people, who see only what is on the surface, cannot
wholly understand the exuberance of an Epworth League crowd. But it
has roots in something very real.
The dean of the Institute managed, amid the roystering and the intervals
of attention, to set things up for the week. A few regulations would
need to be laid down; and these would be fixed, not