The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1909-08-11
OLD ADAM IN BOYS
PuciLlsTIc ENCOUNTERS OF THE
FAIRGROUNDS.
"E-e-e-e-yoi FeiIers! A Fight" u
the Slogan That will Draw the
Crowd Even from the De-
limits Of Baseball.

There probably isn't school in the
country in which there doesn't arise
each day some cause for a fight. II II
isn't In one class it is in another, and
it is the strictly proper thing to pull
the fight on in the noon hour. After
three o'clock baseball is in order. and
as that has fights of its own mere
school fight would interfere. So you
know it's come when you see crowd
of boys swarming and hear shrill
cries of:
He said" Yer dassent-"- 81
didn't neither say" Well. go ahead
and" You're iar!" You're an
other!" $50 are you!" Back it up"
Yes. will" will yer?" Yes,
will" Come on" "E-e-e-e-yo! Eel
lers! a fight"
1t always starts that way, and some.
times it is severe enough for all con
cerned to get up an extra appetite. OF
course, accidents will happen, and &C.
casiOnally one boy runs into another
boys fist with such force that he gets
hero for some hours. but his repu.
tatiOn usually forces him into another
fight and he is apt to lose the reputa
ton.
But the other day a really good fight
happened, though it wasn't one that
was on the calendar. George Helm.
rich held Willie Burke responsible fol-
the disappearance of his baseball
mitt-thOugh he found 1t later at
hOme-and from accusations the thing
developed through recriminatiOns, de-
fiances and challenges to actual war
fare. The cOmbatants had been fight
ing in deadly earnest amid the thrOne
of bowling boys for ten minutes, and
one of them had almost struck q
blow when the crowd was violently
jostled.
Ollie Swift, aged Is, had been one
OF the lOudest yellers and advisers
but he certainly was not expected tC
be SO violently smote on his class but
ton that it was nearly driven through
his chest. Neither was he expected
to have handful of fingers Irvine IL
his hair and nearly pull it out. But
that happened while the shrill voice
of Georges ten-year-old sister &C
cused Ollie of having caused the
fight and encouraged it. He tried to
explain, to back away, to cover up
and do all other compromising an0
safety-seeking things 1t was in vain
She was after him like a terrier after
a frankfurter. and safety for him lay
in flight. SO he broke and ran.
The derisive cheers that followed
him told plainly that he had forever
sacrificed the esteem of that crowd
Still he didn't dare return and face
her. though she had no cause to at.
tack him in the first place.
When she had driven him from the
field she broke out weeping. and half
of the crowd would have been willins
to swear that not only did Ollie start
the fight, but that he had also at
tackled Georges sister.
The result was that in the after
noon he received dozen challenges
and after school received two licking.
and gave two. For the next three
days his hands were full, and it wa.
only by desperate aggressiveness that
he managed to keep from becomins
the mark and butt of the whole school
The fighting hardened him and trained
him, and when the other boys found
that he would fight on any provoca
ton, and on almost none, the,
stopped picking" on him. In q
couple of days more the matter wa.
and Ollie has even beer
seen walking home with Georges sis
ter and carrying her books.