The San Francisco call., 1909-01-03

knowing tndl WAS BOlHB 10 De DO
honored. I got an awful bump
The first game was scheduled for the
Saturday afternoon after the team was
organized. must say that considering
the time he had had TO whip his rustic
material into shape Jimmy had done
wonders with the elev n. They had
practiced a few simple plays until they
had them down fairly well;
only dropped the ball once out
of three or four trials, and he
y coached them up on about
500 odd-some OF them very
trick plays. There were not enough
combinations OF numbers in existence
to give each of Jimmys tricks sep
arate signal, and so he resorted to the
ingenious system of naming them.
Low in the line there" or Jump on
his neck" meant that some clever fake
was about to be attempted.
The opponents for the first game
were to Be the high school team from
s.. They had the reputation of be-
ing a: strong eleven and had won the
county championship the year before.
3inniy commissioned me TO go in and
spy on. them in their game with the
team from one of. the military posts in
s. Il did So undisguised. and saw
them win in easy style. / They were
wei coached. and though much
lighter eleven, I would have bet 100
to i that they would walk all over
.Jimny's Aggregation of clodhoppers
I'M the forthcoming struggle. 1t was
evidently going to be "a case of: brains
VS.: Drawn, though Jinimy had enough
brains. from. football point of view,
to. almost balance the two teams in
this respect.
=. The great day arrived. Jimmy and
a few Others who could get off to as
4 sist him spent the morning laying ou.
the. field: In "a pasture lot. behind the
made of yourg eucalyptus trees, and
the lines marked off with dry lime.
when finished the grfdiron made "a very
presentable appearance, the grounds
.being clean. and firm from regular Sun
day use. at the hands of the. local base
ball nirres
!. James was all In from. his exertions
as: field engineer by noon, but kept up
on his. *nerYe-and a dinner that would
.have killed: any ~one else. The game
was to: start according to 0e hand
made posters which decorated the town.
at 2: O'Clock sharp:
!. The crowd Began to gather early.
and il was evident that we were going
TO have a good attendance, regardless
of the. fact that the majority of the
population were somewhat skeptical
as to. the adxisability of adding foot
: ball:toi .the list: of Mesa Vista dissipa-
tions. A collection Of. ''25 cents per
head" as the signs read, was to be
taken up during the game. A western
rural crowd is always willing to pay
the Gddlef" and a fence around the
field would have been superfuous.
j. The fair sex were all out IN their
pzettiest,-. and encouraged the home
= warriors with "a. gala. display of the
high. school colors, and with songs and
the high school yell, which. was, by the
way. the. oddest thing in the line of
roofing L have ever heard. 1 have for
gotten just how it goes, but put the
words Mesa Vista valley union high
school in a. respectable cheer for your
seIf:if you can.
:. The So boys arrived IN a taIlyho,
about a. dozen loyal rooters and subs
accompanying the defenders of the
cheer amid. the footing of tin horns.
They evidently. had q profound. con-
tempt for*the ..hayseeds" of Mesa Vista;
: at least. L judged: so: from some of the
ye1Is they had invented for the occa-
sion. One of them went. like this:
Farmer, hayseed, pumpkin; -Sauashl
Can we beat them? Yes, by gosh" ::
:: Their team: looked neat and. trim In
Its Uniform suits and gay jerseys. The
speedy manner in which: they went
. through Z: their preliminary practice
seemed to. cast a spell of. the blues
over the home boys, L. noticed that
they cut put lot of the posing which
they had .been doing, much to the ad-
miration of the ladies. present. previous
to the appearahce~.of the rival team on
the field, The Visiting eleven had for
gotten to. bring their own. bali with
them and. had TO. borrow the. one be-
longing to Mesa Vista: to so through
their warming up with.
Two. Men Missing
Jimmy did. his: best to dispel the
gloom Which threatened completely to