then divided into a dining room on the west side, occupying
the greater part of the space, and on the east side a kitchen.
In this dining room all the students, young ladies as well as
young men, and the majority of the professors and their
families, took their meals.
As a result of this arrangement, as may be imagined,
the students spent much more of their time indoors than
they do now. Practicum on the farm and occasional walks
about the country constituted the out-of-door life of the stu
dent of those times. Athletics as they are now carried on,
were then unknown.
One evening several days after the opening ot the term,
Steve Armstrong came in late to supper. I-Ie had been at
work on the farm during the afternoon, and a rather lively
bout with a balky mule had detained him. Paying little at
tention to the few other occupants of the long dining room,
he seated himself at his accustomed place. While waiting
for his meal to be brought he glanced about him.
He was the only one at his table, which stood next the
inner wall of the room. The table on the opposite side of
the room had a lone occupant, a Freshman, whom Armstrong
knew and with whom he exchanged a few words in a loud
whisper. At a table at the farther end of the room sat a
young girl and the lady principal. Armstrong merely
glanced in that direction. He at once recognized the girl
as one of the two young lady students then in College, a
Miss Seymour, whom he met daily in the classroom, but
with whom he had not yet become acquainted.
Aside from these persons mentioned the room had no
other occupants. When Armstrong’s meal was brought and
he was appeasing his hearty appetite caused by his after
noon’s work, the fellow at the opposite table finished his
supper and hurried out. Armstrong almost forgot the pres
ence of the ladies until they rose to go. He happened just
at this moment to be raising his glass of water to drink.