The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-01-02
THE FOOTBALL BOY

THE FOOTBALL BOY.
II was a great cross 20 1ir. AID Mrs.
Bartlett that Roger was apparently
/ quite devoid of any worthy ambition.
Their two older boys were so utterly
different Fred had been graduated
from Yale with highest honOrs, and
+ Horace was making remarkable progress
! ct the Scientific school. III fact, they
were both exceptionally fine students,
/ which made tie contrast all the more
striking.
For Roger was sadly unlike his broth
/ eTs. He seemed to labor under TIE In
preston thai BE had been sent to college
simply and solely for the purpose Of
learning to play football. Apparently
nothing else had power 10 kindlo the
slightest enthusiasm IL his sluggish
breast, and his father and mother ;r-
! gOei and cxpJstulated with him in vain
''You are frirtoriIg away your valuG-
ble tine, " they argued again and again,
"and are letting slip golden oppo;tu
mites, which, once gore, never VIII
! come back to you, and what have you 10
show for it all bat q broken nose and a
fractured collar bcne:'
'.Is there any prospective benefit TO be
derived from these hours spent in scrab-
bling after q football:' his father ques-
toned severely, tOvhich Roger merely
responded IN bis usual oIhaEd style.
''Who knows but ! may be elected cap
tain Of the varsity team next year,
''Is that the height Of your ambi-
tion:' his parent returned bitterly. Il
am terribly disappointed in you, sir.
Are you to 20 on playing football for
ever and ever, or what do you propose
to make Of your life: Perhaps you think
tha5 your reputation rs football player
viii prove IN open sesame 10 al de-
siTable positions. Do you suppose that
any one wants q fellow who has will
fully wasted his best opportunit.os?
had hoped 10 make professional man
of you-not q professional athiete-and
had cven asPired 10 seeingyou some day
in Gar leading Law Office with my old
friend Wilkinson Smailey. but its no
use. Smalloy wants cEiy young men Of
the highest promise" and Mr.. Bartlett
sighed woariiy.
at docs no good to talk to Roger"
he confded 20 his wife afterward, ''for
hardly ten minutes had elapsed after l
had been demonstrating with him about
the evils OF football before he inquired
if wouldn't bring YOU down to see tie
game on Saturday and informed ne that
he had saved two tickets for Us. p"
Nrs. Bartlett regarded her husband
helplessly. What did you say to him
them" she queried
II told him certainly not, F" NJ.
Bartlett exclaimed warmly, "and / ex
pressed my surprise at his daring 10
suggest such thing. Show me some
lasting benefit, or any abiding good,
that j. TO be derived from this ridicu
Ious game, told him. and then come
70 nlo to abct you il such folly, but not
till then. -
And so Mr. and Mrs Bartlett failed
TO witness that memorable game in
which their youngest son gained for
himself such onyiabie laurels. Once IL
the field, Roger was like one trans
didly 10 every emergency, no one would
have known him for the same slow, in
different, easy going specimen of hu-
nianity who c-ievcd the ambitious souls
of his parents by his small aptitude for
Greek
Not that Roger was by any means q
daEce, for his class standing WAS fairly
good, bat what panied his father and
mother was the recognition of what he
might have accomplished had it not
been for that arch enemy, football
The great game over. the victorious
team hastened back 70 their gymnasium
with all possible speed. They had some
little distance 10 20, . the gymnasium
was not very pear the ball grounds, so
that III ordar 10 reach it they wcre
obliged to traverse tie center OF the
town and cross the railroad tracks
Roger, who had boen detained q mo
ment or SO longer than the Cthcrs,
reached the station short time after
they had crossed and found the plat
forms. crowded with people who were
returning from the game, mingled with
those who We're alichting from inc0m-
ing trains. As le stepped upon the plat
form he became conscious that some
thing unusual was going On, and lie i'm
mediately perceived that the eyes Of the
multitude were riveted upon a figure
half way across the tracks, a figure paus-
ing there in bewildeTmont.
There's a train coming each way"
somebody easped- why doesn't he set
of OF the track!''
The station agent and one or two
other officials were shouting loudly, but
the man, who was old and very deaf,
appeared thoroughly dazad. As he pre-
pared 10 step upon the track nearest
him he had caught sight of one train
coming down upon him, and he now
staggered bacl. and was about to plunge
in front of the other down coming ex-
press when suddenly something very
unexpected happened
AS the crowd Of bystanders shrank
back with horror stricken faces, con-
WINGED that they We're about to witness
| the terrible fate which must instantly
overtake the old man, figure in
much begrimed canvas jacket sprang
out from among them, and clearing the
tracks at a bound alighted beside the
swaying form Of the other.
A shudder, and a wave Of pitiful re-
| gret swept over the motionless crowd.
"He can never drag him back in time,
they breathed. They will both be
killed. Oh, the pity of it!''
But our football man had no thought
Of dragging the unsteady figure IN front
of either approaching engine. In an in
slant lie had tackled the man and
thrown him fiat upon the ground be-
tween the two tracks, for all the world
quite as if he had been an opponent ON
the football field. Then he dropped