"Lovely," said Jimmieboy, smacking his lips as he ate the soft creamy sweet. "I could eat a thousand of them."
"I rather doubt it," said the Imp. "But you needn't try to prove it. I don't want to wear out the stove on custard when it has my dinner still to prepare. What do you say to listening to my library a little while? I've got a splendid library in the next room. It has everything in it that has ever been written, and a great many things that haven't. That's a great thing about this electric-button business. Nothing is impossible for it to do, and if you want to hear a story some man is going to tell next year or next century you can get it just as well as you can something that was written last year or last century. Come along."
[to be continued.]
By defeating St. Paul's at Garden City a week ago Saturday, Pratt Institute won the Long Island interscholastic football championship for 1895. If the players and the students of the Institute are satisfied with the methods by which this victory was obtained they should be welcome to the empty honor. The Pratt eleven is a good one, and might very probably have won the game by fair and square football; but to send one of their players to Garden City as the guest of that school a number of times during the early fall, and to allow him to make note of the signals and the plays in use by his hosts, and then to play against St. Paul's, armed with this ill-gotten knowledge, is an act beneath contempt, and one for which any sportsman must turn away in disgust. The man who did this can offer no excuse for his sneaking and dishonorable conduct. When caught in the act of taking the St. Paul's signals he was driven like a malefactor from the field, but he returned brazenly with his companions, and put his ill-gotten knowledge to disgraceful use in a contest with gentlemen. The guilt of all the Pratt Institute football players is second only to that of their informant, for by using the information he obtained by such dishonorable means they showed approbation of his course, and placed themselves upon a level with him who violated the confidence of a host.
The St. Paul's team this year is a very good one. The men have not had the advantage of as many games as the other teams of the Long Island League, but there is a strong school spirit at Garden City and an excellent system of training, both of which tend to the development of good athletes. I have seen several of the league teams play this fall, and have carefully noted the game put up by each eleven. St. Paul's plays a harder, faster, and more scientific game than any other team on Long Island. Their play is more like that of a college Freshman team. This is well illustrated by the way they line up, the quick work of the quarter in giving signals, and the knack which all the men have of getting into every play. The offensive play is much stronger and better than the defensive, the latter being rather weak. I noticed little fumbling by the St. Paul's players, and that is the hardest of any fault to overcome.
In the game with Pratt Institute, the play on both sides was sharp and snappy throughout, in spite of the fact that the Garden City team was badly crippled. Glenny, the right guard, broke a rib while skylarking just before the game, and played against the advice of his physician. E. Starr was also laid up with an injury to his knee, and could not play. The line was therefore considerably weakened, and the team did not put up the game it is capable of. Only eight points were scored in the first half—one touch-down and goal, and a safety. During the first three minutes of play in the second half, St. Paul's carried the ball to Pratt's five-yard line, but lost it on a fumble. This seemed to dishearten the team, and after that Pratt forced the centre for long and steady gains. The halves were of twenty-five and thirty minutes' duration, and the final score was 26-0. St. Paul's took their defeat manfully, and do not intend, as has been reported, to enter any protest against the Pratt team. There is another and a better course for them to pursue.