It must have been at that time that Reginald knocked upon my door. When he was admitted he sat on the side of my bed, and told me all about the Slambangaree, the Capecodger, and the Cariftywhifty, at the same time saying that if he ever ate plum-pudding again he only hoped that he would have his nightmare while asleep, and not when lying wide awake. I have written his story down just as he told it to me, in the hope that it may be a warning to other boys to always eat just plum-pudding enough, and never too much, lest they meet with a midnight adventure similar to that of little Reginald's.
Down through the fields, by the poplars and birches, Into the towns past the houses and churches, On through the night while the curfew is tolling The river goes bubbling and foaming and rolling Under the bridges and over the stones, Winding through swampland that nobody owns, Spraying, and splashing, and murmuring free-- Onward it speeds from the hills to the sea!
[Illustration: Lynch. Hoffman. Cooley. Cheek. Bell. Jenks.
Whitman. Edwards. Dawson, (Capt.). Smith.
Interscholastic Champions of the Pacific Coast.]
[Illustration: Striebinger. Raby. Hord. Deming. McBride. Perkins.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL (CLEVELAND, OHIO) TRACK-ATHLETIC TEAM.]
The superior value of team-work over individual brilliancy was effectively demonstrated at the New York State Interscholastic games at Tonawanda, New York, June 6. The honors of the occasion were carried off by the Buffalo High-School team with 38 points, Syracuse H.-S. coming second with 36, and Ithaca H.-S third with 27.
Ithaca boasted the most brilliant performer of the day--A. B. Miller--who took four firsts, thereby earning twenty out of the twenty-seven points to Ithaca's credit. Miller is a sprinter, and a sprinter of the first class. He took the 100 in 10-3/5 sec., the 220 in 25-4/5 sec., the quarter in 52-2/5 sec., and the half in 2 min. 13 sec.--and all this in one afternoon against lively competition. The other seven points for Ithaca were earned by F. E. Gibbons, who threw the hammer 97 ft. 7 in., winning first place, and took third in the shot with a put of 36 ft. 7 in., and third in the broad jump with 18 ft. 9-1/2 in.
Miller and Gibbons were the stars, and no other member of the Ithaca team scored a single point. But these two giants, single-handed, could not overcome the work of the little seconds and thirds that Buffalo and Syracuse kept piling up against them. Buffalo took only three firsts; Syracuse got four; but the Buffalo team grabbed almost every second and third there was in sight, and thus, by general efficiency, easily overcame the brilliant individual work of Ithaca's two star athletes. Brilliant performers are much to be desired if they can be backed up by other athletes of average capability; but they are almost useless, so far as a victory is concerned, when all the work falls upon them, for their achievements then practically count for nothing.