it had been to hope that
the late John Brown's eleven could possibly prove a match for
Delmar--cream of the country's football teams. There were some who
even callously began to remark, as Delmar launched her second
ground-gaining onslaught against Elliott, that Providence had been kind
to John Brown in calling him home, thus saving the great coach from the
ignominy of seeing his last efforts crowned by a crushing and
devastating defeat.

But passing such quick judgment upon Elliott was hardly fair in the
light of the terrific strain under which the eleven was playing.
Temporarily shot to pieces by the disheartening fumble, it was not
until Delmar had swept into Elliott territory again that John Brown's
team found itself enough to brace and rock the stadium with the thrill
of stopping Delmar's smashing advance by taking the ball on downs!
Even this sudden flare-up of spirited defense was lightly regarded by
the stands who saw in Elliott's improved play but the last spent effort
of a dying ember whose light is always brightest before it fades into
oblivion. And Tim Mooney's fifty yard punt, putting Elliott out of
danger for the time being, was the ember at full glow. Delmar would
soon get going once more and Elliott would be beaten back until the
team, burning itself out against a mightier foe, became as so many
ashes underfoot.

But oh, how that ember clung to the light ... and life! All through
the first half it persisted, shining brightest when fanned most by the
tempest, and standing out as a bulwark which Delmar, with all her
relentless battering, could not surmount. Time upon time Delmar
pounded dangerously near Elliott's goal yet each time the Elliott spark
of resistance was somehow equal to the occasion with Tim Mooney's toe
doing Herculean work toward driving the invaders well back into their
own territory from whence they were forced to begin all over again.

Gradually there stole upon the eighty thousand humans the throbbing
realization that they were witnessing a sample of raw-handed courage
such as men display only when under some great, compelling
influence--an influence inspired by a necessity equalling a Marne or an
Argonne to them--an influence which cried out above the bruising tide
of battle, "They shall not pass! They shall not pass!"

Between halves the stands arose and stood two minutes, with heads
uncovered and bowed, as a tribute to Coach John Brown's memory. The
tribute was of involu