Right End Emerson

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER V

  RUSSELL EXPLAINS

  Doubtless Doctor McPherson’s copy of _The Doubleay_ was delivered tohim absolutely on time, but the Doctor was always a busy man, andthis was still very close to the beginning of the term, and so it wasnot until he was at ease in his very large and very old-fashionedgreen leather arm-chair that evening that he found time to scan thepages of the school weekly. This was a thing that he invariably didwith much interest, for the paper echoed very clearly the pulse ofthe School. The Board of Editors and Managers were representativefellows and published their opinions--which were the opinions of theirschoolmates--very frankly. In fact, as the Doctor recalled as he turnedto the first page, there had been times when their frankness had beenalmost alarming; certainly embarrassing to him and the faculty! TheDoctor was very thorough in all that he did, which probably accountsfor the fact that, having perused and digested the news and editorialportions of the paper, he considered the advertisements, and withscarcely less interest. And, having reached one of them, he readit twice, frowning a little, and then, drawing a memorandum-padtoward him along the top of the big desk, he made three funny littlecharacters on it, which, since the Doctor numbered a knowledge ofshort-hand among his other accomplishments, meant much more to him thanit would have to you or me.

  The direct result of those three lines and pot-hooks was the appearancethe next forenoon of Russell Emerson in the school office and hisprompt passage to the Principal’s private sanctum beyond. This room,which Russell had never before entered--and had never pined to!--wasa large, high-ceilinged chamber with cream-white walls and woodworkand three massive windows toward the Green. It was saved from coldnessand austerity by the huge mahogany bookcase along the farther wall,by a soft-piled green rug occupying most of the floor space, by abig mahogany desk in the center of the rug and by the presence alongtwo walls of some half-dozen armchairs of the same warm-toned wood.Nevertheless, the first effect of that chamber on Russell was awesome,if not alarming. Although conscious of no lapse from the straight andnarrow path, he nevertheless felt most uneasy as he closed the heavydoor behind him, responded to the Principal’s smiling “Good morning,Emerson” and seated himself in the chair that stood beside the nearerend of the desk. Secretly curious, he sent a hurried look along thetop of the shining mahogany, thinking that perhaps there would besomewhere in sight a clew to this unexpected summons. But the desk,save for some half-dozen books between handsome bronze book-ends in adistant corner, a large leather-bound writing pad under the Doctor’selbow and a combined ink-well and pen-tray beyond it, was absolutelyempty. Nor did the Doctor’s brown and rather sinewy hand hold anythingthat appeared like incriminating evidence. It held, in fact--I amreferring to the hand that held anything--only a sharply-pointed yellowpencil which the Doctor, as he inquired politely as to Russell’s healthand, subsequently, the health of Russell’s parents, slipped slowly backand forth between his fingers, alternating sharpened lead and rubbertip against one gray-trousered knee. Then he laid the pencil down onthe blotting-pad, very exactly, so that it lay absolutely parallel tothe rim of the pad, and came to the subject.

  “I read in _The Doubleay_, Emerson, that you have opened a shop in thetown--in West street, I believe--for the sale of athletic supplies.”

  He paused, and Russell said, “Yes, sir.”

  “Rather an unusual proceeding, Emerson,” pursued the Doctor. “Unusual,that is to say, at this school. It may have been done elsewhere. Wouldyou mind telling me why you have embarked in this--ah--enterprise?”

  “Rather an unusual proceeding, Emerson,” pursued thedoctor]

  “Why,” replied Russell a trifle blankly, “to make money.”

  “I see. But do you really need money? That is, more money than, Ipresume, your parents allow you?”

  “Yes, sir,” answered the boy emphatically. “My tuition is paid untilthe end of this term, sir, but if I’m to remain here for the rest ofthe year I’ll have to pony up--I mean I’ll have to pay for it myself.”Russell paused, frowned a little and looked speculatively at thePrincipal. The latter smiled faintly and nodded.

  “Yes, I would,” he said.

  Russell looked a bit startled and a bit questioning.

  “Tell me all about it,” explained the Doctor. “You were wonderingwhether you should, weren’t you?”

  “Well, I--” Russell began apologetically. Then he smiled and begananew. “You see, sir, my father isn’t very well off. I guess I oughtn’tto have come here in the first place, but I wanted to pretty badly, andfather said I might as well have the best as any, and so I came. Itwent all right the first two years, but last spring things got sort ofbad in our town. Folks got out of work and went away, and those thatstayed didn’t have much money and didn’t spend much of what they had.And a good many didn’t pay their bills. So father’s business sort ofran down and we didn’t have much money.”

  “What is your father’s business, Emerson?”

  “He keeps a store, sir, a sort of general store. He told me away backlast March that if things didn’t pick up soon there wouldn’t be muchchance of my getting back here, and I tried to think of some way ofmaking money so I could come back. I’d helped in the store a good dealand so, naturally, I thought of selling something, and I was prettysure that athletic goods would go pretty well here, because there isn’tany one in town that makes a specialty of them, you see. Crocker, thehardware man, carries some, but he tries to shove off second-ratestuff at first-class prices, and the fellows have been stung a gooddeal. Then there’s another man away down town, Loring, who carries afew things, but he’s a good distance off, and his stuff is kind ofsecond-rate, too. When the football team or the baseball team or thehockey team want supplies they send to New York for them, and thattakes time and they don’t get any different goods than what we carry.”

  “I see,” commented the Doctor interestedly. “And so you and Patterson,your room-mate, decided to start this shop. That was last spring, yousay?”

  “We didn’t exactly decide then, sir. That is, I decided to do it ifI could, but I couldn’t get Stick--that’s Patterson, sir: his name’sGeorge, but every one calls him Stick--I couldn’t get him to promiseuntil about the middle of the summer. I’d have gone into it alone, onlyI didn’t have enough money, and Stick had some he’d saved and I wantedit. You see, it takes quite a lot to get a thing like this started,sir.”

  The Doctor nodded gravely. “Undoubtedly,” he agreed. “And between you,you managed to get enough together to put it through, Emerson?”

  Russell shook his head ruefully. “No, sir, not enough, but--well, ithas to do,” he answered a bit defiantly. “Stick didn’t want to--I meanhe found he couldn’t put in quite as much as he thought he could, sir,and I didn’t make quite as much during the summer as I’d expected to,and so it left us sort of short when the time came.”

  “You worked during the summer, then?”

  “Yes, sir, I waited on table at the Pine Harbor House. They didn’thave a very good season. Too much rain and cold weather. A lot of thefellows made less than I did, though, so I guess I oughtn’t to kick,”added Russell thoughtfully.

  There was silence for a moment, and then the Doctor, having taken uphis pencil again, said: “I don’t want to pry into matters that don’tconcern me, Emerson, but it must have taken at least several hundreddollars to start this shop of yours. Now, just suppose that there isn’tthe demand for your wares that you anticipate. What then? It’s going towhisk that money away, isn’t it? You’ve laid out most of it, I presume,on goods, you’ve had to sign a lease of the premises you occupy andyou’ve paid some rent already. Have you thought what may happen? Whathappens every day in retail business?”

  “Yes, sir,” replied Russell. “It’s a risk, I know, but it isn’t as bigas you think, I guess. We didn’t have much money to start on and so wedon’t stand to lose very much, even if all went, which it can’t. We’vetaken only half a store and we’ve leased it by the month. A florist hasthe rest of it, a man
named Pulsifer. You see, we couldn’t afford totake a whole store, not where we wanted it, and so we made an offer tothis florist fellow and he fell for it right away. He had more spacethan he needed, except around Christmas and Easter time, and he wasquite keen about renting it. Then we haven’t put in a very big stock,sir. You see, there are so many things that we have to handle thatwe just couldn’t begin to keep them all. So we have samples of mosteverything and a fair line of the fall things. If we don’t happen tohave what’s wanted to-day we telephone to New York for it and we get itto-morrow.”

  “I see,” said the Doctor. “And of course you aren’t depending solely onthe Academy trade?”

  “No, sir, we’re after the High School fellows and the public generally.But we do expect to get a good deal of patronage from the Academy. Infact, sir, what I want to do ultimately is persuade the athletic teamsto trade with us instead of New York!”

  “Well, I endorse your courage, Emerson, and I trust you won’t bedisappointed. That is--” The Doctor stopped and frowned at the pencil.“To be frank, Emerson,” he went on, “I had some idea of persuading youto give up this scheme when I sent for you. I say persuading becausethere is nothing in the rules of this institution that empowers me toforbid it. The mere fact that it has never before been done doesn’tprohibit it; although it is probably the reason that there is noregulation that does! I dare say you can understand why the facultywould view such a proceeding askance, Emerson.”

  Russell looked frankly puzzled and finally shook his head. “No, sir,I’m afraid I can’t,” he said.

  The Doctor’s brows went up a trifle and he smiled faintly. “Really?Doesn’t it occur to you that keeping a shop might interfere somewhatwith the real purpose of your presence here?”

  “You mean it might keep me from studying, sir?”

  “Exactly, from study and progress, which, after all, Emerson, are whatyou are here for.”

  “Why, but don’t you see, sir,” exclaimed Russell, “that if I don’t runthat store I can’t stay here? Why, I--I’m doing it just because I wantto study and learn! I’m doing it so I _can_, Doctor McPherson!”

  The Doctor’s golden-brown eyes lighted kindly and the creases thatran from each side of his straight nose to the corners of his ratherwide mouth deepened under his smile. “Yes, I do see it, my boy,” hereplied heartily. “And because I see it I’ve quite changed my courseof action since you arrived. I certainly would not like to see yourexample followed by--well, by many of your companions, Emerson. Andfor that reason I trust shop-keeping won’t become the fashion here atAlton! But in your case--well, we’ll see how it works out. I sincerelyhope that we shall be satisfied with the results, Emerson. And Icertainly hope you will, too. In fact, I wish you the best of luck, myboy. And, while I know very little of merchandising, I’ll be very gladto give you any assistance in my power. And”--whereupon the Doctor’seyes twinkled--“I’ll certainly patronize ‘The Sign of the Football’ inpreference to the gentleman who keeps second-rate goods at first-rateprices! Good morning, Emerson.”

  “Good morning, sir,” stammered Russell. “And--and thank you.”

  “Not at all. And let me know how you’re getting on sometime!”