El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-09
TOMMY'S TRAINING.
The Making of n Mascot For a COL
leEe Football Team.

n
leEe Football Team.
| A glimpse of the life of the college
athlete is given in The ST. Nicholas in
story by Samuel Scoville. Jr., enti-
tied 1.-The Making of Mascot
"I'n tell you what we can do. kid. -
he said at last. 81 am going to stay up
at college during Easter week with the
trainer and 10 or 10 of the team. and
you can come up then and stay with
me. If you get along well with the
team. perhaps we can finally accept
you as a mascot. though it's very i'm
portant position. and it's very nervy
of boy of your age even to think of
aspiring to such an honor" And Jack
assumed an air of the most intense So
lemnity.
Accordingly Easter week found Tom
my regularly installed in Jacks college
room in place of his "wife'' Gas room
mates are termed at college), who. not
being an athlete. was free to return
home during the recess.
Tommy was greatly impressed with
the beauty and elegance of his big
brother room at college, and privately
resolved to have one just like it when
he entered. The walls were rich with
trophies of various kinds Hideous
masks worn by Jack during secret soci-
ETY. limitations were hung over torn
caps wrenched from unlucky freshmen
during the rush Most of the chairs
were rheumatic in their legs. and they
all bore traces of hard usage-a condi-
tion which battered looking pair CT
boxing gloves on the wall could prob
ably have explained. In one corner
hung long string of signs. which. as
Jack explained. he and his wife had
'borrowed" at different times. Fencing
foils, hockey sticks. tennis rackets. cut
lasses, hintlock pistols and muskets were
festooned by flags that Jack and his
wife had waved at college victories.
Tommy was never tired of learning
the histories of all the trophies which
had accumulated in the room during
the four years of Jacks course and
was hugely delighted with all the col
lege customs. 1t gave one such an i'm
portant feeling to be awakened every
morning by private "sweep" with
such black. shiny face and expansive
grin, who polished the shoes, tidied up
the room and retailed various scraps of
college gossip as his patrons dressed.
Then. the training table. where the
team had their meals, was source of
amending delight to Tommy. Jack, as
captain. sat at the head of the table.
and Tommy, as a prospective mascot,
occupied the post of honor at his right,
though he was occasionally ousted in
favor of some alumnus or ex-athlete
that happened to be passing through
the town and dropped in to see how the
team was progressing. Every morning,
promptly at z. Tommy rolled out of
bed. and, following Jacks example,
splashed cold water all over his small
self and ended by brisk rub with a
huge. scratchy towel. that left him in
a glow. with the blood tingling in every
vein. 1t took Tommy some time to
learn to dress as rapidly as Jack. for
four years Of continual practice in
dressing. breakfasting and getting to
morning chapel. all within IS minutes,
gave the latter a great advantage. But
Tommy would hurry into his clothes as
rapidly as possible. and then. initiating
the captain 8 majestic air. would stroll
across the campus with that august
parsonage to the "Fence,' where all
of the team were bound to meet at
sharp 2 80. and woe be to the man who
was minute or so lateI He might ex
pect scathing rebuke in the presence
of the whole team. for Jack was a great
disciplinarian- When they were all as
sembled, the captain led the way for a
brisk mile walk in the sharp morning
air. and they would reach the break
fast table with wolfish appetites Tom
my enjoyed training diet immensely
To be sure. it seemed little strange at
first to have no bread. but only dry
toast and the water looked so queer
end milky that he hesitated to drink it
until Jack Informed him confdentially
that it was only because oatmeal had
been boiled in it. There was no pastry
or sweets. and the only delicacies were
immense dishes of oranges and stewed
prunes and rice pudding. But the great
steaks. a good two inches thick. the
substantial mutton chops. the foaming
pitchers of creamy milk and dainty
pats of butter would disappear like
magic. and Tommy did his full ehare
In the work of devastation.