Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-11-28
A FOOTBALL
MYSTERY
Story Of the CridirOn
By r. A. mitchell


II shall not be married, Ethel, dear.
II | were to have husband I would
have had one a dozen years ago"
"A romance! Why. aunty, never
knew you had one. You are such
precise. prim little body. Was he as
gentle man as you are womanT'
Not mt ALL Persons OF opposite
makeup are more apt to mate than
those who are similar. My lover was
a young giant In strength. He once
carried me over n stream Of water
deep enough to cover him to his waist
and with current 80 swift that few
men could have kept their feet in 1t
unburdened. | repaid him by coaching
him for an examination.
"You coached him. Why, aunty.
didn't know you went to college
II didn't take the college course. but
lived here In this college town and
followed Arthur through his studies"
"On purpose to help himW
"Yes. but | enjoyed It,"
"Tel me all about your romance
Did he jilt you"
mo: he died. But | wouldn't like to
tell you about 1t. because there was
mystery concerning his death some
thing uncanny. Though II was twelve
years ago | can't to this day talk
about 1t without being appalled, as
was then"
There was brief silence. after
which the lady continued;
"Neverthelcss there Is one person,
md only one. for whom ! shall make
the effort | shall give you, my dearest
niece. the story or all know OF II,
and when | have told It to you | shall
never speak of 1t again"
"Oh. aunty" The girl put her arm
about the speaker.
ARTHUR and ! attended the high
school together" the lady began. "and
II was the opposlteness OF our makeup
that drew us together Arthur was not
a dull scholar. but was born with n spe,
cial leaning to athletic sports. He knew
all the ways OF making baseball do
what he wished II to do, was II splendid
tennis player and had won cham.
pionship at golf.
But Il was on the football field that
he won his most brilliant trlumphs.
He so distinguished himself ut this
while In the high school TINT repre-
sentntivcs from different colleges came
TO see him play. and the year before
he went to the university athletic man
ayers from Harvard, Yale. Princeton
aNh naII a. 4 tt,tS,
another to get him for their respective
colleges that he might become n mem.
Der Of the university team. some of
them offering to pay his way through
college II he would Join them.
"These big. strong fellows are apt to
have some weakness Arthur's weak
point was an inability to decide small
things. In this he relied upon me. He
asked me which. If any, of the prop
ositions he should accept, and |. wish
ing to keep him near me, told him
thought he'd better enter our own col
lege here. Besides. my father was
professor here, aud | was interested In
the college didn't wish him to ne
cept any pecuniary assistance for play
ing athletic games. and our univer
sity. being one of the smaller ones
could pay nothing.
$50 Arthur stayed with us. and II
was well he did. for | was enabled to
help him through He had the great
est admiration for my ability to solve
some mathematical problem or compre-
bend n logical sequence. while | loved
and admired him for his manly
strength. What drew me to him most
was his Inconsistencies OF the value
of that strength which priced SO high.
ly. But II IL natural for weak woman
to admire physical strength In man.
Having Arthur here, we took nm In.
interest In athletics that we had never
taken before. and. since he was devoted
to football and would add greatly to
the chances OF any team he played
with, our boys became Interested In
entering the field In the annual game
with the big colleges. While Arthur
was in college John Spangler was here
and was made captain of the football
team. Having tower OF strength In
Arthur, Spangler succeeded In making
up fine team. especially the one that
entered for the annual game against
the other colleges. for the autumn pre-.
vious to Arthur's graduation,
"Arthur ordinarily was lazy 1t re.
quired something very exciting to
cause him to use his strength hut
when thoroughly aroused he was like
charging elephant. Captain Spangler
was constantly coming to me bewail
ing the fact that he couldn't get his
main man to be regular Mt practice
and when he did practice II seemed i'm.
possible to wake him up to his work
Many time | was Obliged to get sew
eral girls together and go out on to the
practice field In order that by my pres
ence might inspire Arthur to do good
work.
zone thing of great Importance was
kept from me. Spangler knew II and
should have told me. but he felt sure
that n he did tell me the team would
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