The president of the road! Phin turned and looked with severe suspicion at Mary Jane, and Mary Jane turned so pale that the freckles stood out like little mud spatters on her face.
"I only told him how anxious Sam was," she faltered, "and what you did to keep awake—all about the zinc and poker and things, and how your wrist was cut."
"You've told the president of the road that I'm a sleepy-head! Now I hope you're satisfied!"
That was, I fear, an unhappy day for Mary Jane; but the next night, when Phin went down to help Sam, who would go, although he was not much better, Tom Woolley reported that he had received a message from that Cowaree fellow, the same one who was so uncomplimentary, that orders had been received from headquarters that a place was to be found, the very first desirable vacancy, for "a plucky, wide-awake fellow" who had substituted the night before in the Orinoco office. And a free pass had been ordered for Miss Mary Jane Dusenberry, with the compliments of her friend the president of the road.
As there has been occasion more or less of late to deprecate the holding of so-called "junior" events in track-athletic meetings, it is perhaps an appropriate time to devote some space to the subject of athletics for younger sportsmen, and to try to impress them, if possible, with the fact that any kind of training for boys under sixteen years of age is not only inadvisable but absolutely injurious. If boys of that age wish to take regular exercise—and they all should—there are better things for them to do than to train for contests of speed and endurance. They will do better for themselves if they will restrict their endeavors to a milder form of athletics, to simple body motions or calisthenics. This, of course, is not so interesting, and I know these words will fall upon many deaf ears, but their truth will be recognized none the less by those who have the slightest experience in such matters.
It is perhaps natural that young boys who see their older companions constantly at some kind of preparation, or training, for some branch of sport, should wish to imitate their elders, and go in to some similar kind of regular work. The older athletes, and those who look after their development, ought to use all their power to prevent the youngsters from trying to train, instead of encouraging them, as they do, by offering medals as prizes in "junior" events.