Mr. Stack

There is a term that little fellows on losing teams may possibly in the future apply to the athletes of the Massee Country School (Shippan Point, Conn.). One of the latter may knock out run after run on a spring afternoon or, when November has turned the leaves wan, may carry a begrimed ball for endless gains; even so, he shall not come to honor. For the little fellows and their supporters will murmur among themselves. "That guy, how does he get in?" they will demand of the spring sky, of the autumn clouds. The Massee School's headmaster, should he hear them, would doubtless reply: "Why, that boy is a special student." "Student, yeah," the little ones will savagely rejoin. "A ringer, that's what he is! A ringer!"

Mr. W. R. Slack is headmaster of the Massee Country School. A fortnight ago he caused the following advertisement to be inserted in the columns of a Manhattan newspaper:

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE, BOYS' PREP SCHOOL, TO ATHLETES AND MUSICIANS. BOX 926, STAMFORD, CONN.

It was not a conspicuous advertisement. Many people passed it over without serious attention. Not so a certain old man who sits all day under a green celluloid visor, peering at papers in the editorial rooms of a certain metropolitan daily. His clothes are shabby; he is unable to play any musical instrument; if in a ball game, the pitcher should "walk" him, it would take long for him to get to first base; but he is paid money, this dilapidated curmudgeon, for one distinguishing asset--the length of his nose. He smells news as a hound smells an opossum. He drew a circle in red crayon around the advertisement of Mr. Slack, threw it in a basket, sent it to the City Editor, who handed it to a Bright Young Reporter. To Stamford, Conn., hastened the B. Y. R. His nostrils quivered also. Headmaster Slack was the opossum. Next day, in the great daily, appeared a front-page headline: "PREP SCHOOL CUTS RATE FOR STAR ATHLETES." Headmaster Slack was out on a limb.

In the interview which accompanied the article, Headmaster Slack defended himself, making to the B. Y. R. the distinction he might have had to make to the little boys on the losing teams--that between a special student and a ringer. He asserted, in effect, that since the Battle of Waterloo had been lost many times on the playing fields of Massee, he had been advised to strengthen the school's prowess in sport by judicious advertising. His advertisement had been printed "for some time," and rallied to Mr. Slack's service, he declared, "eight fine fellows" (among them the captains of the Massee football and basketball teams). For these he cut the tuition rates from $1,000 to $500. In secondary schools, the practice of cutting rates for athletes was a general one, said Headmaster Slack.

Other educators, athletic arbiters, sportsmen who gave to the press their ready opinions of Mr. Slack's methods, condemned him.