1278 
THli KUKAL 
N fcCW-YOR K KI< 
NovoiiiIm ,• 2 ,), 
Hope Farm Notes 
Thanksgiving is a time for physical 
feasting and mental fasting. By the lat¬ 
ter I mean trying to think out some of 
the problems of life which come as a sort 
of shade when we remember all our mer¬ 
cies. A bunch of these problems came up 
to me through struggle and bruise as I 
sat with my feet on (he concrete and my 
collar turned up. 
It was a gray, raw, miserable day— 
good Indian weather as it turned out. 
It. seemed as if tin; sun had covered 
its face with a blanket in one of those 
lits of depression when the impulse is 
to hide the face from human eyes. 
Some 12,000 people were grouped—piled 
up tier above tier—around a great field 
marked out with long white stripes. It 
was a cold crowd, for all had their feet 
on a concrete floor. At one side a devoted 
little band of college boys screamed and 
sang their songs, but for the most part 
this great crowd sat cold-eyed and im¬ 
partial. At one side of the field there 
was a dash of bright color where a group 
of stolid Indians sal wrapped in big red 
blankets. Just across from these was 
another group with green blankets. Be¬ 
tween them in the center of the field was 
a tangled mass of 22 husky boys in red 
or green, all fighting for the possession of 
a football. 
Ah, a football game! What is this so- 
called farmer doing, wasting part of the 
price of a barrel of apples when he ought 
to be at work? Of course it is my priv¬ 
ilege to say, “That's my business if I 
want to,” but J will answer by saying 
that I was renewing my youth and study¬ 
ing human nature. You can’t improve on 
either operation for a man of ray age. 
Up some 250 miles nearer the Canadian 
line the boy lmd been one of the 1,000 
yelling young maniacs who sent these 
green-dad boys down to meet the In¬ 
dians. lie could not come, but lie wrote 
me, “Be sure to see the game; it will he 
a pinch.” As a peacli grower, f am in¬ 
terested in all new varieties, and this 
certainly turned out to be one. It must 
be said that these green-clad hoys came 
down out of their Bills with a haughty 
spirit and wearing pride as conspicuously 
as they will wear their first high hat. 
They had not lost a game, but had tram¬ 
pled over two of the greatest, colleges in 
the Country. They represented the sec¬ 
tion where the purest-bred white Ameri¬ 
cans are to Is* found. One more victory 
and no one could deny their boast that 
they could stand any other football team 
on its head. So they came marching out 
on the field, very airy, very confident, and 
fully convinced of the great superiority of 
the white man ! 
I 1 now very little about football. When 
I played it was more like a game of tag 
than a human battering ram. Here, how¬ 
ever, was a round of the great human 
game which would make anyone thought¬ 
ful. Here were representatives of two 
races about to grapple. The great major¬ 
ity of the white thousands who watched 
them were uncoueernod—for a New York 
audience is composed of so many races 
and tongues that it has little sentiment. 
All around me, however, there seemed 
standing up hundreds of swarthy, dark 
men whose eyes glittered as they watched 
the game. You could not realize how 
many there were with Indian and Negro 
blood until such a lest of the white and 
red races was presented. Then you begin 
to realize what a race ipieslioii really 
means when the so-called inferior race 
gets a chance to test its real manhood on 
terms of equality. I have had a football 
expert tell me that bo could select and 
train a football eleven of colored students 
at Hampton or Tnskegee who could hold 
their own with any college eleven in the 
country. I know I have seen some gigan¬ 
tic men there. A great lawyer says lie 
can select and drill four colored men from 
these negro schools who could hold their 
own in debating popular questions with 
students from Yah 1 , Harvard or Prince¬ 
ton. Before you dismiss this as “bosh” 
remember that these would not he blink 
men of necessity, but those who carry in 
their veins, through no sin of their own, 
an inheritance from the ablest white fam¬ 
ilies of the South. The “burning drop” 
of colored blood would drive this inherit¬ 
ance on to give expression to the dreams 
of an “inferior” race. 
But it would have made a theme for a 
great historian ns these young men lined 
up for the game. The whites trotted out 
confident and proud. Why not? The 
“betting” favored them, their record was 
superior, as their race was supposed to 
be. The Indians slouched to their places 
and shambled through their motions, 
silent and without great show of confi¬ 
dence. It came to me as not at all un¬ 
likely that a few centuries before the 
ancestors of these; boys had faced each 
other under very different circumstances. 
Francis Parkman, the historian, tells of 
a famous battle in the upper Connecticut 
Valley. The white settlers had built a 
stockade as protection against roving 
bands of French and Indians. One day this 
fort was attacked by such a band, which 
had come down the valley capturing pris¬ 
oners and booty. It was a savage tight, 
but the white men held their own, and 
finally a Frenchman came forward with 
a white flag for a parley. He actually 
offered to buy a supply or corn, as they 
were out of food, and then to retreat. In 
that gray mist, with my feet on the con¬ 
crete, I could shut, my eyes and see the 
ancestors of these football players. Stern 
white men. gun in hand, peering over the 
stockade, and silent red men creeping 
noiselessly out of the forest to pile up 
their booty in sight as price for the 
corn. These white men would not touch 
it. The frost on the leaves told them that 
Winter with all its cold and peril was ap¬ 
proaching. Here were the necessities of 
life a tremendous bargain. Yet back in 
the shadow of the woods were the captives 
—men, women and children-—and the 
white settlers held out for them. For at 
that time, if not now. New England knew 
the mine of n mint to the nation. He 
was far above the dollar, even though the 
women and children would be a care and 
a danger. 
In a way, something of the spirit of 
those grim old fighters lay in the hearts 
of these green-clad boys who had come 
down from these historic old hills. At 
that instant, at least, they, loo, knew the 
value of a man. It was expressed by their 
little baud of singers and eheerers led by 
the writhing “cheer leaders”—the glory 
and fame of the good old college on the 
hill. You could not have bought one of 
these hoys for $1,000,000. 
On the other hand, these shambling 
and big-boned Indians seemed to have 
something of the same spirit in their 
hearts. Silent and impassive, they 
seemed for the moment to have east off 
their college training and gone back to 
the free wild life, only carrying with them 
the discipline which authority and college 
training had given them. I wonder if 
any of these red men thought as they 
lined up on that field that it was the 
lack of just this stern discipline which 
lost them this country and nearly wiped 
out their race? Men fitted to play this 
game of football never would have given 
away Manhattan Island, or permitted a 
handful of white men to drive them from 
the const. Over 1,000 men, each with the 
burning drop of Indian or Negro blood 
in his veins, were hoping and praying 
that in this modern battle the red men 
would humble tlie pride of Manhattan, 
ns their ancestors had lost the island. 
Out of the gray mist there seemed to 
Stride ghosts of stout Dutchmen and thin 
Yankees ami silent, noiseless Indians to 
watch this fairer comlmt. 
At the signal the ball was kicked far 
down the field by a white man whose an¬ 
cestors may have came with Hendrik 
Hudson. It was caught by a red man, 
whose ancestors may have been kings or 
chiefs while the white man’s were Euro¬ 
pean peasants. Buck he came running 
with the ball to form the basement, of n 
pile of 10 struggling fighters, and the 
game was on. You must get some one 
else to describe the game. I do not under¬ 
stand it well enough. The two groups of 
players lined up against each other, and 
one side tried to butter the oilier down, 
or send a man through with the ball. 
Again and again came this fierce shock, 
and a si range and unexpected thing was 
happening. The Indians had no hand of 
singers or cheer lenders; no pretty girls 
were urging them on, no pride of superior 
dominating race, hut silently and resolute¬ 
ly they were smashing the white men 
hack. It was hard. These boys in green 
died well. There was one light man who 
look the hall and ran through the In¬ 
dians ns his ancestors may have run the 
gauntlet, hut they pulled him down. Inch 
by inch they were battered back over the 
line. The air seemed full of red blankets, 
for those substitutes at the side lines 
were hack into the centuries coming home 
from a season on the warpath. Yet the 
green singers yelled on and shouted their 
defiance. Then the white men made a 
great rally and forced the Indians hack, 
grimly battling over the other line. At 
the end of the first half the score stood 
10 to 7, in favor of the white men. 
“It’s all over.” said a man who sal next 
me. “They will come back and trample 
all over tliem, for white men always have 
the endurance.” A man nearby with a 
touch of bronze in his skin glared at us 
with n look in his eyes that was not quite 
good to see. Back came the players and 
ill it again. There iratt great trampling, 
but of the unexpected kind. Those slouch¬ 
ing and shambling Indians suddenly 
turned into human tigers, and the plain 
truth is that they both outwitted and 
walked right over the green-elml whites. 
There was no stopping them. All the 
cheering and singing and sentiment and 
“race superiority” went for nothing. For 
here was where pride and a haughty 
spirit ran up against destruction, and 
great was the fall thereof. Yet I was 
proud of the way these white hoys met 
their fate. They had been too confident, 
and had lost what is called 1 he "psycho¬ 
logical drop” on (lie enemy. The Indians 
lmd them at the stake with a hot lire 
burning, for no one knows what a victory 
right there would have meant for the 
good old college far away among the hills. 
Yet, face to face with fate, cruel, silent 
and relent less, those hoys never faltered, 
but fought, on. I liked them better in 
defeat Ilian in their airy confidence before 
the game. When it was all over they got 
up out of the mud of defeat and gave 
their college war cry. There may have 
been a few eraeked and corner-clipped 
notes in it. but it was fine spirit am! good 
losing Nearby the Indians waved their 
red blankets and gave another college 
yell. And the 1.000 or more men with 
that burning drop of blood in their veins 
went borne with shining faces and gleam¬ 
ing eyes, with better <3reams for the future 
of their race. For they bad made the 
white man’s burden of superiority a bard 
burden to entry. 
My football days are over. No use for 
me to tell what great things I did .’!<) 
years ago. This age demands a "show 
me,” and l cannot give it. If I had my 
way I would introduce football, baseball, 
basketball, pushball and all other clean 
and organized games into every country 
town. I would organize leagues and con¬ 
tests and get country children to play. 
Do you ever stop to think that work, long 
and continuous, for ourselves and our 
children, lias not tnuglil ns bow to or¬ 
ganize or use our forces together as we 
should? It is true. Ori/(itii~e<J play will 
do more to bring our children together for 
cooperative work than anything I can 
think of. It will give discipline, which is 
whilt we need Two of those greenclad 
hoys stood an Indian on his head and 
whirled him around liken top. It was part 
of the game. IIe got up good naturedly and 
took his place in the line. Imagine what, 
his grandfather would have done! One 
white boy was running with the bail and 
two Indians butted liim, while another 
got him by the leg. The hoy simply held 
on to the ball. It was discipline and 
training in self-control. Step on a city 
man’s foot in a crowded ear and lie would 
want to tight. Our country people need 
such discipline and spirit before they 
cun compete with organized business. If 
I could have m.v way 1 would have our 
count, y children drilled in just Bitch 
loyally to the home town or district as 
these college boys displayed on the field. 
Tell me, if you will, how it can be gained 
now in any way except through organized 
and loyal play for out* children. You 
know very well wlmt I mean. Work is 
an essential of life, am! it must be made 
tlie foundation of character. Organized 
mid clean play is another essential, as 1 
see it now, and I think its development 
and firm direction is to be one <>f the 
greatest forces in building tip life in the 
country. h. w. o. 
Tnr: two women were discussing the 
fashions. "Did you say that your hus¬ 
band was fond of those clinging gowns?’ 
"Yes, indeed ; he likes one to cling to me 
for about live years." -Cincinnati En¬ 
quirer. 
Into n strong Sunk fnhrlo j 
Mill hllVO tops (if llOHt j 
crude oauhmeretto, and I 
linings of lino, warm 
wool. 
Look for tlin Red Ilntl 
<n tho footwear. Writ® 
im if your dealer cannot 
supply you. 
Write anyway fnr Free 
Illustrated Booklet 
Woolen Mfg. Oo. 
833 Water Street 
Mi.iwnku, Indiana 
*>Tbo That J’ajri Million* 
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