ot allow a football man to remain idle.

[Illustration: REPAIRS]

I knew a man in college, who, on his way to the football field, said:

"Oh, how I hate to drag my body down to the Varsity field to-day to have
it battered and bruised!"

One does not always enthuse over the hard drudgery of practice. Those
that witness only the final games of the year, little realize the
gruesome task of preparedness. Every football player will acknowledge
that some day he has had these thoughts himself.

But suddenly the day comes when this discouraged player sees a light.
Perhaps he has developed a hidden power, or it may be that he has broken
through and made a clean tackle behind the line; perhaps he has made a
good run and received a compliment from the coach. It may be that his
side partner has given him a word of encouragement, which may have
instilled into him a new spirit, and, as a result, he has turned out to
be a real football player. He then forgets all the bruises and all the
hard knocks.

How true it is that in one play, or in a practice game, or in a contest
against an opposing college, a player has found himself. Do you players
of football remember the day you made the team, the day your chance came
and you took advantage of it? At such a time a player shows great
possibilities. He is told by the captain to report at the training house
for the Varsity signals. Who that has experienced the thrill of that
moment can ever forget it?

He earns his seat at the Varsity table. He is now on the Varsity squad.
He goes on, determined to play a better game, and realizes he must hold
his place at the training table by hard, conscientious work.

One is not unmindful of the traditions that are centered about the board
where so many heroes of the past have sat. You have a keen realization
of the fact that you are filling the seat of men who have gone before
you, and that you must make good, as they made good. Their spirit lives.

The training table is a great school for team spirit. To have a
successful team, any coach will tell you, there must be a brotherly
feeling among the members of the team. The men must chum together on and
off the field. Team work on the field is made much easier if there is
team work off the field.

I never hear the expression "team mates" used but I recall a certain
Princeton team, the captain of which was endowed with a wonderful power
of leadership. There was nothing the men would not do for him.