Pepper
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PEPPER
BY
HOLWORTHY HALL
Author of "Henry of Navarre, Ohio," etc.
NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1915
Copyright, 1915, by
The Century Co.
Copyright, 1914, by
Street and Smith
Published March, 1915
To
JOHN MANSFIELD GROTON
JULIAN ELLSWORTH GARNSEY
ROBERT MIDDLEMASS MIDDLEMASS
This is undoubtedly the first book ever dedicated to any of you, but I hardly suppose you will like it any better on that account. You have all grown so bright and manly since we left Holworthy 13 and 14 that I am afraid of your judgment. You are looking for motives, and purposes, and ideals in things; and so you are likely to say that Pepper isn't typical of Harvard, and that his escapades aren't typical of Harvard, and that the whole thing is unworthy of Harvard and of me.
In the first place, this is a book with only one mission—to show the undergraduate in his true field, which is about half way between Plato and Pluto. It isn't serious; it never was intended to be serious; and for Heaven's sake don't take it to be serious—although I'm all prepared for the reviewers who'll shake their heads and say it isn't literature. Of course it isn't—but what of it? I wrote it, not to turn the searchlight of publicity upon the university, but because an editor wanted some college stories, and paid me a good price to write these. Don't think for a minute that they are designed to revolutionize the social system!
But when you infer that Pepper isn't typical, and the various incidents of his life aren't typical, you forget!Each one of us was partly Pepper—
John, especially, was even Tabasco—
And the reason that the incidents sound so hopelessly impossible is because they are largely taken from life. Of course I apologize to all those classmates who think that they have been lampooned in this book, and I also apologize to those who are left out. Going and coming, the author of realistic fiction is in very Hohenzollern.
And please remember, and keep on remembering, as you read through the following pages, that these stories are for the general public; and so there are some details and explanations which to you, as Harvard graduates, are unnecessary. All I want from you three is the assurance that here and there I have recalled memories of men we once knew, and of places we once called our own. Now go ahead with the first story!
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE I PEPPER 3 II THE DEPTH OF PEPPER McHENRY 39 III McHENRY AND THE BLUE RIBBON 56 IV REVERSE ENGLISH 84 V THE TERRIBLE FRESHMAN 107 VI THE TRADERS 131 VII THE IVORY HUNTERS 153 VIII PUTTING IT OVER 175 IX THE BROMIDES 202 X SOCIAL SERVICE 232 XI FATHER ALSO RAN 263 XII McHENRY WEIGHS ANCHOR 391
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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