“Just think! they’ve got a good court, and we haven’t such a thing,” commented Josephine Morse to her chum. “I think it is too bad. We need some philanthropist to come here and give us a big prize for our field. When are you going to tackle Colonel Swayne again, Laura?” and she laughed.
“Ah! you don’t believe a way to his heart can be opened?” asked her friend, smiling.
“It’s a way to his pocket-book I’m speaking about.”
“Have patience. I feel that he will be a great help to us——?”
“You’ve got a ‘hunch,’ then, as Chet says?”
“I expect that is what they call it. But have patience.”
Jess was a member of the basket-ball team, as was Laura. And on the team Hester Grimes played. Hester was a strong girl and could play well if she chose; but her temper was so uncertain that Mrs. Case considered it necessary to watch the butcher’s daughter very closely.
“And I wish you all to remember,” said the physical instructor, the day before the match at East High, “that we must play fair. Play the game for the game’s sake—not so much to win. If one desires, above all things, to win, he or she may forget to be perfectly fair. No foul playing. We are going to an opponent’s field. Let us win a name for playing clean basket-ball, whether we win the game or not.”
“What’s the use of playing if we don’t play just as hard as we know how?” demanded Jess.
“Play for all there is in you,” agreed Mrs. Case. “I will see that you do not overexert yourselves. But do not lose your tempers. And do not forget to cheer for the opposing team after the game, whether it wins or loses. Be fair, and let the sport be clean.”