When at nine o’clock that evening Mr. Ames returned from his conference with the principal, he found his study occupied by Bert, Harry, Cameron, and Cotton, who for the better part of an hour had impatiently awaited his return and the doctor’s decision in regard to the playing of the right half back. Mr. Ames’s report was disappointing to Harry, who had hoped for an affirmative decision, and agreeable to Bert, who had feared the worst. The doctor, explained Mr. Ames, would leave the decision to the school. A meeting would be called for to-morrow evening, the case would be put before the fellows by Mr. Ames and a majority vote would decide the matter.

“Good!” cried Bert. “We’ll win!”

He spent the next day, as did other members of the team, in securing support for his side.[242] Cameron himself, however, took no part in the proceedings; in fact, to see him one would have thought him the last person in school to be interested by what was going on.

At half-past seven, the hour set for the meeting, the hall was filled to the doors. Even the “towners,” who as a rule were not to be dragged back to the academy after supper, were present in force. In fact, it is safe to say that every student physically able to reach Academy Hall was on hand when Mr. Ames called the meeting to order.

Just as quiet prevailed, a newcomer arrived, and made his way up the center aisle to the platform. There was a long moment of breathless surprise; then the clapping began and grew to a veritable tempest of applause. Never before since his connection with Beechcroft had Dr. Lambert attended a meeting of the students, save at commencement time, and the fellows were at once surprised and flattered. The doctor, too, seemed a bit surprised, probably at the length and vigor of the applause, but whether he felt flattered I cannot say. Mr. Ames lifted a chair to the platform for him and he subsided into it[243] gravely, folded his arms and looked slowly about the room. With the doctor’s advent the meeting seemed to take on a more serious aspect, the question to be decided suddenly assumed a larger importance, and the fellows presented an attentiveness so respectful and silent as to appear almost alarming.

Mr. Ames presented the case briefly and fairly, and ended by stating that the decision rested with the fellows. “If,” he concluded, “you honestly believe that Cameron should be permitted to represent the academy a week from to-morrow, you will vote so. On the other hand, if you honestly think that he should not be permitted to play, you will vote so. The sentiment of the majority will be accepted by Dr. Lambert as the sentiment of the school, and will be accepted as final. We will have a standing vote, if you please.”

“One moment, please.” Dr. Lambert held up his hand toward the instructor and arose from his chair. There was a slight clapping of hands which died out as the principal walked to the front of the platform.

“I wish to say,” began the doctor, “that[244] your decision this evening will decide a question of more importance than whether Mr. Cameron is to play football for you, which, while it probably seems to you to be of great moment, is of really little consequence. I understand that without the services of Mr. Cameron, you may be beaten in your game of football, but that would not be a very grave calamity. I believe this school has been beaten before, and we are alive to tell the tale. I hope you will win. I know very little about the game, but I intend to be on hand a week from to-morrow, if my duties will allow, and learn something about it; and, naturally, I should prefer to witness a victory rather than a defeat.

“But there are two ways of securing victory. One way is by fair means, honestly, aboveboard; the other way is by unfair methods, by questionable tricks, by deceitful subterfuge. As far as I am concerned personally, I should prefer to witness an honorable defeat rather than a victory won by underhand methods. I hope you all would. Note, if you please, that I am not inferring that you have any intention of sacrificing honor to the lust of winning. I make no such[245] charge. I know so little of athletics, that I do not pretend to be able to judge infallibly the intricate points involved. I am leaving such judgment to you. And whatever your decision may be, I shall accept it.

“Mr. Ames has spoken to you this evening of what he calls school spirit. What I understand by school spirit is the moral attitude taken by the school as a body in regard to the problems, large and small, which daily present themselves in school life. School spirit is an important factor, I might almost say the most important factor, of an institution of learning. Handsome buildings, a capable teaching corps, liberal endowments, beautiful surroundings, all these may fail to create a good school so long as the school spirit is wrong. A faculty may lay down laws and enforce them, prescribe rules of conduct for study hours and recreation hours, watch, guide, and instruct, and yet fail miserably in the creation of a perfect school. Those laws and rules, that guidance and instruction, must have the spirit of the school back of them, or else they are worth no more than the paper they are inscribed upon. The student is the school; if he cares less[246] for the benefits to be attained by faithful attention to his studies than he does to the pleasure and fleeting distinction to be won in athletics, the school will not thrive for any length of time; if he holds the end to be of more importance than the means, either in the schoolroom or on the athletic field, the school will never attain to a position of honor among institutions of its kind.

“School spirit is the foundation, then. And school spirit is of the students, not of the faculty. The faculty may influence it, it cannot form it. It is so intangible that the cleverest faculty cannot lay its hand upon it and say, ‘Here it is; I will mold it to suit me.’ It is a tree toward which the faculty plays the part of gardener. Its growth is its own. The gardener may aid it or stunt it; he may, with infinite pains, extending over a long period, direct the growth of the branches, but that is as much as he can do; for when all is said, he is only the gardener, and the tree is Nature.

“The spirit of the school is as vital here as elsewhere. And when I said a few moments ago that your decision this evening would decide a matter of more consequence than the fate of[247] Mr. Cameron in regard to the football game, I meant that you would determine how the spirit of your school stands with regard to athletics. If you say to-night that it stands in favor of virtually hiring athletes to win your games for you—mind, I do not say whether this is right or wrong; you are to decide that for yourselves—then you have committed it to a sentiment which is likely to influence it for some time. In short, you will be, I firmly believe, deciding not alone for this year, but for several years to come. That is all I have to say.”

The doctor bowed gravely and took his seat again. There was a slight clatter of applause which speedily died away for want of support. Mr. Ames glanced questioningly at the principal. The latter nodded, and the coach arose again.

“As I put the question, those in favor of the motion will arise and remain standing until counted. Mr. Foote, will you kindly take the left of the aisle?”

The physical director frowned through his glasses in a surprised manner, nodded his head, and stood up uninterestedly.

[248]

“Those in favor of allowing Mr. Cameron to play will rise,” directed Mr. Ames.

There was a shuffling of feet, and here and there through............