Beadle's Pocket Library No. 391

Museum Catalog Note This 1891 Beadle and Adams publication features "Charley Skylark, the Sport," a school-adventure serial by Maj. Henry B. Stoddard. The narrative follows Charley Skylark and his roommate Lincoln "Lil" Arnold through escalating pranks between boarding-school boys and college students. The boys stage a midnight serenade with noisemakers at the college dormitory; Charley is captured and blanket-tossed by students. When the college tutor who apprehended him later arrives at the school dining hall, Charley retaliates by dumping a large canful of ice water on his head from a window. The tutor flees across fields pursued by schoolboys, who capture him, toss him in a blanket, tie his arms, and march him back to college wearing a humiliating ribbon. The story portrays school-day mischief, inter-institutional rivalry, and good-natured physical horseplay as entertaining recreation for adolescent boys.