Larry Dexter, Reporter; Or, Strange Adventures in a Great CityGaris, Howard Roger
General
Larry Dexter, Reporter; Or, Strange Adventures in a Great City
Garis, Howard Roger
New York (N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction; Reporters and reporting -- Juvenile fiction
He fell upon his knees, and then toppled over on his side on the green
grass over which the course was laid. There was a general laugh, most
persons thinking the man had fallen, and was out of the race. But not so
with the fleshy one. He began rolling over and over, his rotundity and
the soft sod preventing him from being hurt. He kept his head away from
the ground, and, so rapidly did he revolve that, inside of two minutes
he had passed the thin man. The latter in his efforts to come in first
took too long steps, his feet got tangled up inside the sack, and he
went sprawling on his face.
“I vins!” exclaimed the German, as he rolled over for the last time, and
bumped into the goal post.
“You didn’t win fair!” cried the thin man, trying to talk with his mouth
filled with grass.
“Shure I dit!” the fleshy one exclaimed. “Vat’s der rules?”
“That’s right, he wins under the rules,” announced the man in charge of
the games. “Contestants could walk, run, or roll. Fatty wins and gets
the prize.”
“Vot iss dot prize?” asked the German, while some of his friends took
him out of the bag.
“This beautiful medal,” replied the man in charge, and he handed the
winner a large one made of leather, on which was burned a picture of a
donkey. There was a burst of laughter, in which the butt of the joke had
to join.
After this came a potato race, in which each contestant had to carry the
tubers one at a time, in a spoon, and the one who brought the most to
the goal received five dollars. Following there was a wheelbarrow
contest, in which the smallest members of the club were obliged to wheel
the largest and fattest ones. It was hard on the thin men, but the
others appeared to enjoy it.
A swimming race to see who could catch a greased duck caused lots of
fun. The men put on bathing suits, and scores of them went into the
water.
“Don’t some of you reporters want to join the sport?” asked one of the
entertainment committee. Some of the newspaper men did, and said so.
Larry resolved to enter, for he was a good swimmer. Soon he had borrowed
a suit, and was splashing around with the others. All was in readiness
for the contest. The duck was released at the far side of a small cove,
the swimmers starting from the opposite shore.
Such shouting, laughing, splashing, and sport as there was! Half the men
had no intention of catching the duck, but, instead, took the
opportunity of ducking some of their companions under water. Larry had
no idea of catching the fowl, since he saw several men try, and lose
their grip because of the oil on the duck’s feathers.
“Five dollars to whoever catches the bird!” shouted a man on shore,
watching the struggle. At this there was a general rush for the
unfortunate fowl. She was caught once or twice, but managed to slip
away, leaving a few feathers behind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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