Owen Johnson (1) (1878–1952)

A 1910 school boy story. Expelled for disruptive mischief Stover arrives at Lawrenceville in spring term thinking he has a handle on things only to make as bad a mess for himself as this goody-two-shoes of a how a boy becomes a man book can propose. How he takes advantage of his scrappy and imaginative (only by the author's designation) nature for the next two years is the center and final portion with way too much football.

1910. Dink Stover’s career at Lawrenceville prep school in NJ, from bounder to house president, and football star. These are set in the days when the boys arrived in stage coaches, and had wash stands in their rooms with which to perform their ablutions. In his first year he’s a stubborn cuss, eventually put in coventry by his housemates. No friends. But he sticks it out and makes good in his second and third years. I enjoyed it, although there is rather a lot of football in the middle. show more The boys get up to some clever hijinx. And they all have to translate latin, as well as play sports. Towards the end he discovers girls too, and moons around like a lovesick pup. I gather this is the second in the series. I shall endeavor to read the others. show less

As a Yale graduate student and a reader of te opular fiction of the turn of the century, I have long known of this as a classic of its kind, though I have not read it.