Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1909-07-29
OLD ADAM In BOYS
PuoILIsTIc ENCOUNTERS oFTHE
FAIRGROUNDS.
"E-e-e-e-yol FeIIersI A FightI" Is
the Slogan That Will Draw the
Crowd Even from the De-
IIshts Of Baseball.

mere PROBABLY isn't q school In the
country In which there doesn't arise
each day some cause for a fght. II it
Ism I In one class 1t is in another, and
II Is the strictly proper thing to pull
the fight on in the noon hour. After
tnree o'clock baseball Is In order. and
az that has fights OF its own a mere
school fight would interfere. SO you
know it's come when you see a crowd
OF boys swarming and hear shrin
cries Of:
He said" Yer dassent-" 81
didn't neither say" We'll, 20 ahead
and" You're a nar!" You're an
other!" so are you'll" Back it up!"
Yes, 1 will" ''Win yer?" Yes. 1
Will" Come on!" "E-e-e-e-yo! Eel
lersi a fightl"
IL always starts that way, and some
tunes 1t Is severe enough for all con-
cerned to get up an extra appetite. OF
course. accidents will happen. and CO.
casionally one boy runs into another
boys INST with such force that he gets
blinker. The giver of the blinker is
hero for some hours, but his repu-
tation usually forces him into another
light and he is apt to lose the reputa-
ton
But the other day a really good fight
happened. though 1t wasn't one that
was on the calendar. George Helm
rich held Willie Burke responsible for
the disappearance of his baseball
mitt-though he found it later at
home-and from accusations the thing
developed through recriminations. de-
nances and challenges to actual war
rare. The combatants had been fight
Ing In deadly earnest amid the throng
OF bowling boys for ten minutes, and
one of them had almost struck a
blow when the crowd was violently
1ostled.
Ollie Swift, aged Is, had been one
OF the loudest yellers and advisers
but he certainly was not expected to
De so violently smote on his class but
TON that 1t was nearly driven through
his chest. Neither was he expected
to have handful of fingers Irvine in
his hair and nearly pull 1t out. But
that happened while the shrin voice
OF Georges ten-yeer-cld sister &C.
cused Ollie of having caused the
night and encouraged it. He tried to
explain, to back away, to cover I'D.
and do all other compromising and
safety-sseking things. 1t was in vain.
She was after him like a terrier after
frankfurter, and safety for him lay
In night, 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
held she broke out weeping. and half
OF the crowd would have been willing
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 a dozen challenges.
, and after school received two lickings
and gave two. For the next three
days his hands were full, and It was
only by desperate aggressiveness that
ne managed to keep from becoming
the mark and butt of the whole school.
The lighting hardened him and trained
him, and when the other boys found
that he would tight on any provoca-
ton, and on almost none. they
stopped picking" on him. In a
couple OF days more the matter was
forgotten, and Ollie has even been
seen walking home with Georges sis
Ter and carrying her books.