Chapter 1: The narrator (Gene) returns to the Devon School in New Hampshire, that he graduated from 15 years earlier. He goes to a certain tree and switches back to the past. Phineas dares everyone to jump from a branch in the tree into the river. Phineas, and Gene both jump. On the way back Phineas and Gene play fight so that they are late for dinner. Chapter 2:Mr. Prud'homme, a master, stops by the boys' room …showed first 75 words of 1531 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1531 total…a foxhole. Brinker himseld cannot accept his fahter;s mindless announcement that everyone should be willing to die for his coutry. Gene realizes that wars are caused by "something ignorant in the human heart." He realizes also that the hard part of the war is over for him; he endured it at Devon. For the real horror of war is slowly mitigated through the difficult period of preparation of war, not through actual war experiences.