"Beg pardon; no offense. Everybody is slick in these times, you know.
You"ll find the men you are dealing with are all sharp as steel. They never play any game frank and open."
Frank looked doubtful.
"Of course you do not mean to place your father in that cla.s.s?"
"Well, I fancy the old boy knows all the tricks," laughed the lad softly. "He"s been able to hold his own with the rest of them. How did you get through college without drinking?"
"That was easy. When the other fellows found I was sincere in letting the stuff alone they respected my principles, and I had no trouble at all."
"You were a great athlete?"
"I made a fair record."
"Well, didn"t you ever see the time when you felt that, just as you were about to take part in some contest, a drink might give you vim and energy?"
"Never. By letting the stuff alone and keeping constantly in the best possible condition, I had vim and energy enough. Had I drunk, it must have robbed me of some of my vim and energy."
"Oh, come, now! Not if you had drunk moderately and discreetly. Not if you had used liquor with good judgment."
"Liquor never gave a thoroughly healthy man any strength that was not false strength. It makes men feel stronger, but in truth it weakens them. I don"t care to preach you a temperance lecture, Arthur, but you sort of forced this out of me."
"I"m glad to hear what you think about it. I can"t agree with you, you know; but you interest me. You don"t mean to say that drinking has ever hurt me, do you?"
"It has never done you a particle of good, and the chances are that it has hurt you."
"I can"t believe it. Look at me, and then look at my father. I"m better built, healthier and stronger in every way than he ever was. I"ve taken an interest in athletics always, and he has encouraged me, saying he made a mistake when he was in college by not doing so."
"Well, you owe much of your good condition, it is likely, to your inclination toward athletics and physical culture; but I believe you would be in better condition if you let liquor alone, and did not smoke cigarettes. Your father has weak lungs, and you are not properly developed across the chest. Still you injure the delicate tissues of your lungs by inhaling the smoke of cigarettes. At the same time you are weakening your brain power and your force of character. I am absolutely certain of this, for no fellow who indulges in those things escapes injury."
There was something in Merry"s manner that impressed the boy. Frank had a way of convincing listeners when he spoke.
"If I thought so----" muttered Art.
"Would you give up cigarettes and liquor?"
"Well, I don"t know. It would be pretty hard."
"Do you mean that your habits have such a hold on you already?"
"If I could go somewhere away from here where there was no whisky and no cigarettes, and I could see none of my chums who drink and smoke, I suppose I might break off."
"Why not here? Are you at your age a slave to cigarettes?"
"Well, you see it"s this way: all the fellows know I drink and smoke, and they would laugh at me if I should say I"d stopped. They wouldn"t believe it. They would keep at me until they shamed me into keeping on."
"Then you confess that you have not the will power to refuse and stick to it. Can"t you see that your will power is weakened?"
"It"s not that; it"s because I don"t wish to be laughed at and jollied."
"Which is a confession of weakness. Let them laugh; in the end, if you stick to your good resolutions, they will stop laughing and learn to respect you."
"Perhaps that"s right; but I"ve seen some mighty mean, narrow, contracted men who never drank, never smoked, and never swore. I"ve seen some rascals who had none of the small vices, and usually they are the meanest sort of rascals."
"I don"t doubt it; but does that prove that all men, or even the majority of men, who have none of the small vices are mean or rascally?
I don"t fancy you believe that. You know it"s natural to suppose that a bad man should be a drinker, a smoker, and a swearer. When you see a bad man who does none of these things, it is so unusual that you immediately look on him as a representative of his kind."
Art nodded.
"Perhaps that"s so," he acknowledged. "Of course, I do know men who have no vices, and who are good fellows. I swear, Merriwell, you"ve almost converted me."
Frank smiled.
"Would that I might wholly convert you!" he exclaimed. "Does your father know you drink?"
"Lord, no! I wouldn"t have the governor know it for anything! He takes a little himself, but he thinks I"m on the water wagon yet--thinks I"m not old enough to get out with the boys and whoop her up."
After a moment he dropped the half-smoked cigarette on an ash tray.
"I believe I"ll quit!" he exclaimed. "I"ve been working for chest development, and it"s coming slower than any other part of me. Perhaps smoking is holding me back. I believe I"ll let tobacco alone for a few months and see if I improve."
"Good!" cried Merry. "But you should knock off drinking at the same time."
"I will! It"s going to be a hard thing to do, but I"ll try it."
"Give me your hand on it, Arthur! Don"t merely try, but make up your mind that nothing shall cause you to break your resolution. Show that your will power and determination have not been weakened."
They shook hands.
Frank was well pleased over the resolution of Arthur Hatch. He was beginning to like the boy.
They were talking in the most friendly fashion by this time, and Arthur began questioning Merry about college days and his life at Yale.
"I"d like to go to Yale," he said; "but the governor has made up his mind on Harvard, and it"s Harvard for me."
"A fine college," said Frank.
"Somehow it seems to me that the fellows at Yale have better times."
"In a way, I believe they do. Harvard is more given to cliques. You know it has been called the rich man"s college. Yale is more democratic.
I have a brother not far from your age who is fitting for Yale."
"Where is he fitting?"
"He has been at Fardale Military Academy; but just now he is traveling abroad in company with his tutor, Professor Gunn, of Fardale."
"Traveling abroad! That must be fine. You have traveled a great deal, haven"t you, Merriwell?"
"I have seen a part of the world. I went abroad myself when I was quite young with Professor Scotch, of Fardale, who was my guardian, as well as my tutor. We saw a great many countries."