The Honorable Peter Stirling | Page 7

and so Peter eventually allowed himself to be "taken up." Perhaps the
resistance encountered only whetted Watts's intention. He was certainly
aided by Peter's isolation. Whether the cause was single or multiple,
Peter was soon in a set from which many a seemingly far more eligible
fellow was debarred.
Strangely enough, it did not change him perceptibly. He still plodded
on conscientiously at his studies, despite laughter and attempts to drag
him away from them. He still lived absolutely within the comfortable
allowance that his mother gave him. He still remained the quiet, serious
looking fellow of yore. The "gang," as they styled themselves, called
him "kill-joy," "graveyard," or "death's head," in their evening
festivities, but Peter only puffed at his pipe good-naturedly, making no
retort, and if the truth had really been spoken, not a man would have
changed him a particle. His silence and seriousness added the dash of
contrast needed to make the evening perfect. All joked him. The most

popular verse in a class-song Watts wrote, was devoted to burlesquing
his soberness, the gang never tiring of singing at all hours and places:
"Goodness gracious! Who's that in the 'yard' a yelling in the rain?
That's the boy who never gave his mother any pain, But now his moral
character is sadly on the wane, 'Tis little Peter Stirling, bilin' drunk
again. Oh, the Sunday-school boy, His mamma's only joy, Is shouting
drunk as usual, and raising Cain!"
Yet joke Peter as they would, in every lark, be it drive, sail, feed, drink,
or smoke, whoever's else absence was commented upon, his never
passed unnoticed.
In Sophomore year, Watts, without quite knowing why, proposed that
they should share rooms. Nor would he take Peter's refusal, and
eventually succeeded in reversing it.
"I can't afford your style of living," Peter had said quietly, as his
principal objection.
"Oh, I'll foot the bills for the fixings, so it shan't cost you a cent more,"
said Watts, and when Peter had finally been won over to give his assent,
Watts had supposed it was on this uneven basis. But in the end, the
joint chambers were more simply furnished than those of the rest of the
gang, who promptly christened them "the hermitage," and Peter had
paid his half of the expense. And though he rarely had visitors of his
own asking at the chambers, all cost of wine and tobacco was equally
borne by him.
The three succeeding years welded very strong bands round these two.
It was natural that they should modify each other strongly, but in truth,
as in most cases, when markedly different characteristics are brought in
contact, the only effect was to accentuate each in his peculiarities. Peter
dug at his books all the harder, by reason of Watts's neglect of them.
Watts became the more free-handed with his money because of Peter's
prudence. Watts talked more because of Peter's silence, and Peter
listened more because of Watts's talk. Watts, it is true, tried to drag
Peter into society, yet in truth, Peter was really left more alone than if

he had been rooming with a less social fellow. Each had in truth
become the complement of the other, and seemed as mutually
necessary as the positive and negative wires in electricity. Peter, who
had been taking the law lectures in addition to the regular academic
course, and had spent his last two summers reading law in an attorney's
office, in his native town, taking the New York examination in the
previous January, had striven to get Watts to do the same, with the
ultimate intention of their hanging out a joint legal shingle in New
York.
"I'll see the clients, and work up the cases, Watts, and you'll make the
speeches and do the social end," said Peter, making a rather long
speech in the ardor of his wishes.
Watts laughed. "I don't know, old man. I rather fancy I shan't do
anything. To do something requires that one shall make up one's mind
what to do, and that's such devilish hard work. I'll wait till I've
graduated, and had a chin with my governor about it Perhaps he'll make
up my mind for me, and so save my brain tissue. But anyway, you'll
come to New York, and start in, for you must be within reach of me.
Besides, New York's the only place in this country worth living in."
Such were the relations between the two at graduation time. Watts, who
had always prepared his lessons in a tenth part of the time it had taken
Peter, buckled down in the last few weeks, and easily won an honorable
mention. Peter had tried hard to win honors, but failed.
"You did too much outside work, old man," said Watts, who would
cheerfully have