Those Times and TheseCobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
General
Those Times and These
Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
Short stories, American; United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
After this there isn't so very much to be told. Midsylvania kicked for
a goal, but failed, as Sangamon had done. The ball struck the crossbar
between the white goal posts and flopped back; and during the few
remaining minutes of play neither side tallied a point, though
both tried hard enough and Sangamon came very near it once, but
failed--thanks to the same inspired counterforces that had balked her in
similar ambitions all through this half.
So, at the end, with the winter sun going down red in the west, and
the grand stand all red with dancing flags to match it, the score stood
even--four to four.
Officially a tie, yes; but not otherwise--not by the reckoning of the
populace. That Midsylvania, outmanned and outweighted as she was, should
have played those Middle West champions to a standstill was, in effect,
a victory--so the crowd figured--and fitting to be celebrated on that
basis, which promptly it was.
Out from the upstanding ranks of the multitude, down from the stand,
across the track and into the field came the Varsity students,
clamouring their joy, and their band came with them, and others,
unattached, came trailing after them. Some were dancing dervishes
and some were human steam whistles, and all the rest were just plain
lunatics. They fell into an irregular weaving formation, four or six
abreast, behind the team, with Morehead up ahead, riding upon the
shoulders of two of his fellows; and round the gridiron they started,
going first between one pair of goal posts and then between the
other pair. Doubtlessly the band played; but what tune they elected to
play nobody knew, because nobody could hear it--not even the musicians
themselves.
As the top of the column, completing its first circuit, swung down the
gridiron toward the judges' stand, Morehead pointed toward where we sat
and, from his perch on their shoulders, called down something to those
who bore him. At that, a deputation of about half a dozen broke out of
the mass and charged straight for us. For a moment it must have seemed
to the crowd that this detachment contemplated a physical assault upon
some obnoxious newspaper man behind our bench, for they dived right
in among us, laying hands upon one of our number, heaving him bodily
upward, and bearing him away a prisoner.
Half a minute later Major Putnam Stone, somewhat dishevelled as to his
attire, was also mounted on a double pair of shoulders and was bobbing
along at the front of the procession, side by side with young Morehead.
Judging by his expression, I should say the Major was enjoying the
ride. Without knowing the whys and the wherefores of it, the spectators
derived that in some fashion this little, old, white-haired man was
esteemed by Midsylvania's representatives to have had a share in the
achieved result.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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