The Foot Ball Contest

The following report of the opening game of football, played last Saturday bctween the sophomores and freshmen, id taken trom tlie Detroit Evening Journal, :iml is undoubtedly as good a report as was eyT written of the 'noble" game: It omiiTcd on Saturday last. Kvervbody bad bees waittng tor itand aeemed tofeel beltor when the date arrived. No eollege can reasonably expeet to hold up its liead in theworld or aunount to anythlng in particular until it finds out whethcr its aiinual inrlux of brand new Itudenta ciin play football. It sometimes happens that the recruitg brinjf more newneas tlian kicking ability, a state of affatn wliich eannot do otherwisc tlian bow the iiead of a classical institution of learniiijt in abjeet shame. What jrottng man can reasonably be expected to derive any practical benefit trom a classical aducation if hedoesn't know how lo kick tlie wimlv colicoutofa football and dislócate sonieliody's arm according to the oíd masten while lie is accomplishing it? Frct-linien are largely rated in modern college annals by the lenjrth and business ability of their kick Much of their future encoeas depend upon the skill dispiayed in throwiug the ground end of thi niselves into the air on the animal iootball day at the heginDlng of the year. The student who is alile to par se and aiialye a gaine of football in the mother tonque is certain of adujission to the best college society. Saturday's great game was advertised to begin at 2 o'clock in theafternoon and conaUt of fiye innings, the victors to win three out of the number. As is custoniary, the freshmeii were to be backed by the juniors and the sophomores by the aristocratie aud patronizing seniors. The seniors, however, were too busily ocoupied wilh thelr usual oceupation of admirin theniselves and eaoh other to reinier much asslstance to anybody and the poor sophs were compelled to fiht their own battles, wlillc tlie juniors tendered vuluable aid to the freshinen at every turn. Tliis rendered the disparity iu numbers In favor oí the fresbmen rather Oiscouraing. The sophomores nuinbered just !'Ü, while their adversarles did uot fall very far short of 150 vigorous kicken. Many of the freshmen, too, were new enough froui the plow und other pastoral lyrics to kick the ambition out of mytliiug withiu range and not miss i he amtniinition. The costumes at the bezinning of the trouble were excecdingly varied and pictureaque. As the su'.i sank bchind the western hills with the sanie oíd sink that it had llged in tlie transaction of its busi1 1 1 ¦ - tor ages, and thcstilly twlltght shadovs creptstealthily across the campus and peeped down into the'Mead hole" in search of the nüaslng friends of other years, the costumes were varieder aud pictureaquer tlmu tiiey were previous to the primal kick. Some of the contestants were arrayed in flaunel shirts wilh shoestritifi Ruy-ropes and knee breeches and some of them were not. Some wore linsey woolsey amuses and tlowing jeans pantaloona, with the way back tag still doing business at the old stand. Some of the contestante went proiidiy into the heat of the battle attired in the regulation b'iled shirt of civiliation and came out of it arrayed in a mantle of unavailing regret and a strikinr chorus of fioating mus] in streamers. The Scotch turban and Turkish fez rubbed insiuuatingly usfainst the gay bordered haudkerchief in which some student who was too new to know just whatsortof attirc toget nis kick measured tor bad skillfully bound up his seatofambition. Still' feit hats crept about on the grata among the twinklióg less and feet - also among those which didn't twinklp - for a brief space, and then came forth in thi llght of day carrying the wreek of thelr usefulness lo a brimless crown with the bottom klcked out. Badges of cardinal ribbon bedecked the physical lovelinesa of the freshmen at the beginning of the game. These were designed as dis tinguishlug marks of valor aud to prevent ombanussingaccidents. Ne light-mimled student cares to recover from a deeu kieked the happiness out of hls best frieirj ander the impreaslon that he is a uiorial enemj'. Before the game was very far advanecd iu the awful method of its madness, however, the sophomore badges were also of a cardinal turn of inind and chances of drawlng a valuablehromo in the great comedy of errors again sold at the usual premium. The kicking didu't begin at 2 o'clock. It waant (juite ripe. The captains, umpirea, referee and other interested participa i its struck a snag. It wasn't a very formidable snag, perhaps, but seemed to measure enough around the business end to knock sonsiderabe of a hole in the huil of time. There was a good deal of animaieil, solo, duet and chorus singings, in which "Hugby rules" "goals" and otber more or les-, eloquent and elegant phrases could beat times distinjiuished. Whether Rugby rules governed the fiste which wildly beat the air in accompaniment and the (Jomanche yells of derision which were played with a crescendo luovciiieut diil not appear. An hour and a quarter elapaed before the kicking rules were successfully vf hipped back into line. Durinsr all this time the immense concouie of pro8pective and acquired classic il knowledge were anything but idle. The students had marshalled their forcea upon the Latiu campus to have considerable of a time, and they proponed to have it. The jnniors had to be turiied over a caue - this was the day set down for that 8'jit of thinjf - and the brarest was already banging yellowing to the slckle. The junior was Uirnecl. Not a man of him escaped. Sometlraes he stood up to the trough and took his oats without a murmui- and other sometlmes hedidn't. When lie dkln't, tlicre was a inad race across the campus, a brief strnjrgle, a fleeting view ofapalrof palpitatlng heels, a moment of palnful laish and then the wild, proloiifjed yell of victory whieh follows every college success as a dog follows a link of bologua sausage. After the stndent recovered his earthly possessions fiom the cold clay which received them at the moment of his greatest inverted distress, he was duly loaded for enjoylng himself at the next victim's expense. " Eighty-eight I h I ha ! ha-a-a II" " Ha I h;i I ha-a-a 1 1 Eighty-nine I" The battle cry of the opposing forcea rang out upon the glorious auturan atmosphere. Two lont? line of clnssical ability were drawn sharply across the liistdiical campus and two long Unes oí studentiul toes glared deiiance atonepoor little leuther upholstered football, lylng snpincly upon the le.iding greensward. Th iiwful iiionient was at hand and the '89ers had already won the kirk-ott'. After anotlier animated conference betwien captains, umpires and referee, an '89 toot as drawn backward and upwacd, the toe of au '89 boot carne downward and ontward, the football becume sudilenly instinct with motion and shot out into the sleepy atmosphere to a point s.irnc :() feet nearer the eighty-eigutere, wlicre it agaio puused to await further deretopenenta. Theydeveloped. A coml)ined yell of defiance and (Irrisión from two (idea of the game, and the sreat animal scholastic kick was endowed with all the majerty of a present hereness. Tlit-re is really very little kick in a game of collegiale football. It is prlnciimlly a inass of strulin); humanity, with wüdlv protradhig eyeballs, brulsêd and wieiiclieil limbs, and rent, streaming apparol. It'sjust too funuy for anything, thoufrh- nu iniatiike should be made about tliat l'act. Ko man has a more forcible remiader of the hilarious hutnor of the sitimtion tlian the one who is sprawling on tlie {fiiiund with the remainder of the college Hing around on his noble manbood and struícgliníf to draw a prize In the graat football lottery. The point of the joke seems to be sticking rijrht into liim, as it were. In order to force the bali in the direction of the goal, every'¦ 'i' who would rather go in the other dnection has to be torced with it. This II wliere ttie trouble comes in. If there was only one jroal to a gam of football It would be all plain mailing; bilt there seems to be two, neiiher of which is on speakIng terms with the other. The goalness of the sitimtiofl is wliat complicates mattere. All throughthe afternoon and into Uu; inystic solemnity of the early twlllgbt that classical game of football JufTed and struggled. It didu'tpet there. Kvery time a goiil was neared It bly turned out to be the wrong goal and everything and everybody had to be kicked over again. The air was full ol seotional we&ring apparel and demoniac yells. Bones cruncbed and contestant writlied and wrififrled without gaining the coveted eb romo. When the stars ciime out in the heavensaml winked tranquil vvinks down upon the turbulent scène, the exliausted toilere reverently raised the tan-colored seat of trouble froni its last position, sadly drove a stake where it had lain, and resigned the first inning of the game to its fute and probable completion other Saturday. The end of the tifth innings will possibly be reached early in the next century.