Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-03-12

long stick, beats the measure of the
cries and Of the songs of each camp.
The song vary. The cries are always
the same. The cry of Yale, for ex-
ample, is the chorus of the Frogs Of
! AristOphanes, which one prOnounces
thus, scanning it like a war-cry:
Brekekekex! kOexl
Brekekekex,- koex.
Ho! up. Ho! up!
Paraboloo.
YaleI
All this is thrown out like a sort of
terrible and savage barking, and fin
+ ishes with the word Yale, in a tone
of supreme enthusiasm.
The cry Of Harvard is still more
, savage:
Rah! Rah Rah. Rah-
Rah. Rah. Rah! Rah-
Harvard!
Imagine ten thousand, twenty thou
sand solid threats scanning this cry
eight times under the open heavens,
like broken rOllings of a drum, in
time, under the rhythmic stick of an
orchestra-ieader! 1t is terrifying with
its power and energy. And all lne
time that the game lasts, these same
, cries, exchanged from one end of the
! stand to the other, will accompany
the plays, will sustain and will excite
by their magnetism the courage Of
the strugglers.
tr,i0 70 ho ho1 70
extraordinary heights, the men held
consultations, outlined practice plays;
then, in the midst of the silence, the
ball was thrown into play. Today
everyone knows football; two camps
of eleven adversaries who try, accord
ing to agreed rules, to send or to car
ry a great ball of skin into the hostile
camp. There are celebrated football
games in England, there are even
some good ones in France, at which |
have been present; but what l saw in
America, as a sensation of brutality
goes beyond all that one can imagine
The Game Impossible to Describe
| will not describe to you the game;
besides, l would be incapable of it;
for as soon as the signal is given, it
is impossible to see anything else on
the turf than curved backs, stiffened
legs, hands stretched and clutching,
as if towards a precious prey. Then,
when the ball is thrown, a terrible
jostling is produced. One player
pulls the legs out from under his adj
versary, who falls with a crash, gets
up again Immediately, unless he be
crushed by the mass of those who are
fighting over his body If by chance
one of the champions succeeds in dis
engaging himself with the ball, and
in fleeing, then it is terrible race.
They throw themselves on the earth
before him and we see him stumble,
fall, clutching always the ball in his
arms. like a cherished child. Or else,
if he escapes this danger, other hands
grip him as he passes, by the head,
by the shoulders, by the legs, by the
feet, until he is stretched on the
ground. But during this time, those
of his camp do not remain inactive.
They precipitate themselves upon
those who wish to oppose the passage
of him who carries the ball, jostle
them, push them back. and it is then
general miXup, prodigious, impos-
sible to follow; it is so rapid, ardent
and multiform.
A "GentIe Apostle" Gets Excited.
The enthusiasm of the public I'M
derlines every change in the struggle.
The cries of the students, the ''koeX,"
the ''rah," powerful and rhythmic,
fills the tide and l assure you that one
thinks neither of laughing nor joking.
We breathe an electric atmosphere,
saturated with force and energy, and
the spectacle of the crowd is beauti
full. Every neck is stretched toward
the turf: every eye burns with the
ardor of battle. Fingers clutch the
balustrades. fists are clenched, and l
heard, at a critical moment of the
struggle, a student cry Kill him"
and Break his neck."I turned around
and I looked at this gentle apostle.
He was a young man of nineteen or
twenty years, brown, beardless, cor
rect. His eyes were gfeaming with a
sharp flame, between his frowning
eyebrows. His teeth were tight to-
gether and his jaws protruded the
more on this account. l know we'll
that these were only words and that
he was not himself an assassin. But
all the same, a game from which ema-
! mates such a frenzy of brutal strife
cannot be good for civilization. Opin-
ions, besides, are divided in America,
as to the moral value of football.
Some wish to suppress it; others re-
! fuse to do so. I think, however, that
no one will sustain that it develops
gentleneIs and kindness. But on the
! other hand, it cutivateS prodigiously
the force of resistance, a good eye,
and combativity l do not think that
righteousness enters into it at all.
/ The game finished, these young men
remain friends like fencers after a
combat Even at the beginning Of
the game, Yale salutes Harvard and
Harvard salutes Yale with three long
cries of welcome.
The Players Described.
l was able to see these fighters neal