Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-03-12

turf, running, amid the cheers of the
adherents of Yale. 1t appears that
that is to bring luck to the team.
The Press Stand a Surprise.
l mount to my place, which is on
the side of Harvard, amid the Ameri-
can Press which is here right at home,
separated from the rest of the crowd
by barriers. An extraordinary pro-
fessional surprise was awaiting me
there. There are about fifty report
ers seated at wooden tables and en-
veloped in their great coats They
stenograph rapidly their notes, while
beside them comrade, who has be
fore him Morse machine, reads the
copy of his colleague, and as soon as
phrase is written, repeats it on his
machine. The telegraphic threads
pass under the tables and are con-
nected by a central system to eacn
newspaper office, whether in New
! York or in the other great cities Of
America. So that even the very sec
ond that the reporter relates a fact,
n.
/ Philadelphia, or in Boston, Others
have their typewriters and drum up
on them incessantly, without losing
sight of the spectacle. They have
brought dry provisions, and they eat
while writing and telegraphing. /
think that we are here far removed
from our European means of informa-
! ton.
! In the midst of cries and applause,
( the teams make their entries-that of
/ Yale first; eleven young men in navy
| blue shirts, khaki pants, blue stock
ings; their legs are protected to a
certain degree gainst kicks by leg
! guards of leather; some have on their
heads a sort of leathern helmet with
ears; | see even upon one face false
nose Of rubber. Then there are those
of Harvard, in dark red. And i'm
mediately the acclamations commence
Another surprise. These acclama-
lions are not spontaneous. They are
measured like songs. At the bottom
of the seats, from place to place,
there is kind of orchestra-leader
who, armed with a little flag on a
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:
Observation-Disclosures koex!
Observation-Disclosures! koex!
Ho! up! Ho! up!
Paraboloo!
Yale!
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 - Harvard is still more
savage:
Rah! Rah! Rah, Rah-
kah! 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-leader! II is terrifying with
its power and energy. And all the
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.
The teams tried TO send the ball to
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 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 saw in
America, as a sensation of brutality,
goes beyond all that one can imagine
The Game Impossible to Describe.
| viii not describe to you the game:
besides, 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 ana clutchine,
as II 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 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,
IL he escapes this danger, other hands
grip him as he passes, by the head.
by the shoulders. by the legs. by the