Page 33 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

THE FOOT“BALL GAME.

F O R weeks an iimpatient crowd of admirers had followed the

various reports of the condition of the two teams.
They
were old rival:;, though for years the opposing college had
field the championship arid Tucker’s college the second place. This
year Mcllvainc and Plummer felt that they must win the game and
s very tiling had been do lie to strengthen the men.
A s the teams came out of the club-house at a run when the great
game was callcd, a roar went up from the 20,000 spectators who
gathered about the arena* Public opinion was so evenly divided
between the two teams that when one shout went for the boys in scarlet
an equally loud one came from the other side of the field to cheer on

the lads in gold. While the teams met in the centre of the field and
f'aceived their last warnings from the umpire, Tucker’s eyes roved
over the vast audience* Countless pretty faces and bright bonnets
were clustered in the grand stand commingling the scarlet and the gold
of the contending forces* Some such thought as this half flashed
through Tucker's mind:
“ Ifw e w in I will send that little Puritan the biggest bunch of the

yellowest chrysanthemums in the m arket If we don't win— well,
1 will let some other fellow send her red cjuts.
2. The wearers of the scariet jackets took the ball and as the wind
was so light as to be almost imperceptible the choice of goals was not
of much importance. The teams lined up in the centre of the field and
then with heads down and in compact shape the scarlet V started up
the field as though shot from a catapult. The first half passed without
a point for either side anil so evenly were they matched and so fiercely
did each side dispute the ground that neither had come nearer than

the twenty-five yard line of either goal,
3- When they came forward for the second half each player seemed
to lose his individuality and feel himself a mere portion of a huge
engine which at a given signal would be hurled with fearful force
at another engine of equal weight and size, Owing to his place at -full