A Son of the City

A Son of the City, by Herman
Gastrell Seely,

The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Son of the City, by Herman Gastrell
Seely, Illustrated by Fred J. Arting
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: A Son of the City A Story of Boy Life
Author: Herman Gastrell Seely

Release Date: February 28, 2007 [eBook #20708]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SON OF
THE CITY***
E-text prepared by Peter Vachuska, Julia Miller, Mary Meehan, and the
Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net/c/)

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which
includes the original illustrations. See 20708-h.htm or 20708-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/0/7/0/20708/20708-h/20708-h.htm) or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/0/7/0/20708/20708-h.zip)

A SON OF THE CITY
A Story of Boy Life
by
HERMAN GASTRELL SEELY
Illustrations by Fred J. Arting

Chicago A. C. McClurg & Co. Copyright 1917 Published October,
1917 W. F. Hall Printing Company, Chicago

To My Father
THE COMPANION OF MANY A YOUTHFUL STROLL
THROUGH CITY PARK AND SUBURBAN FIELD

[Illustration: "H'ist away," he ordered finally. "I'll shove under when he
gets high enough."]

CONTENTS
I. In Which Our Hero Goes Fishing
II. In Which He Goes to School

III. He Plays a Trick on the Doctor
IV. In Which a Terrific Battle Is Waged
V. He Composes a Love Missive
VI. In Which We Learn the Secret Code of the "Tigers"
VII. He Goes to a Halloween Party
VIII. Wherein He Resolves to Get Married
IX. He Saves for "Four Rooms Furnished Complete"
X. Concerns Santa Claus Mostly
XI. He Has a Very Happy Christmas
XII. In Which the Path of True Love Does Not Run Smoothly
XIII. He Crushes and Humiliates a Rival
XIV. He Buys Valentines
XV. The Spring Brings Baseball
XVI. More About "The Greatest Game in the World"
XVII. He's "Through With Girls"

A SON OF THE CITY
CHAPTER I
IN WHICH OUR HERO GOES FISHING
Startled from a sound sleep, he fumbled blindly beneath the bed that he
might throttle the insistent alarm clock before the clamor awakened the

other members of the household. Then he lay back and listened
breathlessly for parental voices of inquiry as to what he might be doing
at the unearthly hour of half-past three on a late September morning.
Far down the railroad embankment which passed the rear of the house,
an engine puffed lazily cityward with a load of empty freight cars. Over
the elevated tracks a mile to the south, a train rumbled somnolently
towards the park terminal, and under the eaves of the house, just above
his room, two sparrows squabbled sleepily. Inside, the only audible
sounds were the chirpings of a cricket somewhere down the hall, and
the furious, muffled pounding of his own little heart.
He glanced from the window near the head of his bed. The air was
oppressive with a strange, almost rural quietude. In the east, a faint
streak of light brought the tree tops of the park into indistinct relief, and
to the north a thin line of smoke floated apathetically from a hotel
chimney to show that a light breeze from the west augured favorably
for the morning's sport.
Stockings, knickerbockers, and blouse were drawn on with unwonted
rapidity. His coat and necktie he left hanging over the back of the chair,
disdained as unnecessary impediments on a fishing trip. Then with a
final glance from the window at the fast-graying sky, he reached behind
the bookcase for his carefully concealed pole and tackle, gathered his
shoes in one hand, and tiptoed down the pitchy hall with the stealth of a
cat.
Down the stairway he went, step at a time, scarcely daring to breathe as
he shifted his weight again and again from one foot to the other. On the
first landing, a board creaked with alarming distinctness. Came a
maternal voice:
"John."
Her son hugged the stairway in a very agony of fear lest his carefully
made plans had been spoiled. Why hadn't he walked along the end of
the steps as bitter experience had taught? He knew that board was loose.
Again the well-known tones:

"John, what are you doing?"
A subdued babel of conversation in the big south room followed, in
which his father's deep bass took a prominent part.
"Nonsense, Jane, you're imagining things!"
"But you know I forbade fishing during school mornings. And he was
looking at the DuPree's weather vane when he watered the lawn last
night. Get up and see what he's doing."
John drew a sigh of relief as the deep