70
THE PLASTIC AGE
ball field, with the cry of “Wood, freshmen, wood!” ringing down the line. Hugh was always one of the first freshmen to break from the line in his eagerness to get wood. In an incredibly short time he and his classmates had found a large quantity of old lumber, empty boxes, rotten planks, and not very rotten gates. When a light was applied to the clumsy pile of wood, the flames leaped up quickly—some one al¬ ways seemed to have a supply of kerosene ready— and revealed the excited upper-classmen sitting on the bleachers. “Dance, freshmen, dance!” Then the freshmen danced around the fire, hold¬ ing hands and spreading into an ever widening cir¬ cle as the fire crackled and the flames leaped up¬ ward. Slowly, almost impressively, the upper¬ classmen chanted: “Round the fire, the freshmen go, Freshmen go, Freshmen go; Round the fire the freshmen go To cheer Sanford.”
The song had a dozen stanzas, only the last line of each being different. The freshmen danced un¬ til the last verse was sung, which ended with the Sanford cheer:
