"Tilly, can you ever forgive me?" said Patty, struggling with a tendency to cry. "I know all about it—how you knitted the mitten to keep Ruby from being found out, and how you bore it all and didn't tell."

"You hain't been telling her?" said Tilly, anxiously. "I don't think she knows she lost the spoons. I saw that she came down this road that night, and I've been hunting for them. I ain't going to have a mite of trouble come on her. She's been different to me from what anybody ever was before, not looking down on me as if I was the dirt under her feet. And her father, too, he's come and come to see mother when he knew there wa'n't a cent to pay him with. I have bore a sight"—Tilly's strained voice threatened to break—"but I can bear more. I won't have trouble come to her if I can help it. You hain't been telling her all about it?"

Ruby came up to them before there was time for an answer.

"Hunting for something, Tilly?" she asked, easily. "I'm afraid you won't find it in all this mud."

"No—-no, I hain't found them," stammered Tilly, uncertain whether Ruby knew about the spoons. "But"—and her face lighted with sudden eagerness—"I've found something queer; you see if it isn't queer." Tilly turned back, running before them up to the door of the miser's little house. "No, it isn't the tracks," she added, as Ruby hurriedly explained about the dog. "It's the door-stone; it looks as if it had been moved lately. If you are looking along on the ground, as I was, you notice it."

"Well, what if it has?" asked Ruby, wondering, and a little impatient.

"Somebody might have hidden something there," said Tilly, whose longing to find the spoons was evidently desperate.

"Some of the miser's treasures or his clothes-line booty," cried Ruby, gayly, for miser Jensen was suspected of petty thieving, and Butternut Corner breathed more freely when his summer sojourn was over. "Girls, let's pry the stone up!"

"I tried to, alone, but I couldn't," said Tilly, eagerly bringing a long stake from the tumble-down fence.

The three girls tried for a long time with their united strength. The stone was flat and not very heavy, but was unwieldy, while Tramp, let out of the house, barked and capered with excitement in spite of his injured leg.

When at last the stone was overturned, there was indeed something snugly tucked into a hole dug beneath it—a bundle tied up in a bandana handkerchief. Miser Jensen always wore old-fashioned bandana handkerchiefs. When the girls opened it they found it filled, not with spoils of the Butternut Corner clothes-lines, but with watches and jewelry, most of it marked with the name of Burton, the Bymport jeweller, whom Dave Perley and Alf Coombs were suspected of having robbed.

Patty burst into tears of joy.

"It was miser Jensen who robbed the store! Tilly, don't you see what it means? No one can ever say it was the boys again!"

Tilly trembled in all her thin little frame, but her face was alight with joy. "I know where they are! I can tell now," she said, proudly, "Alf wrote to me. They are both in my cousin's store in L——; it's a jewelry store. It was because Alf liked to see watches and things fixed that he was always at Burton's, and so they suspected him. Dave didn't want to be a minister or a farmer; that was why he ran away, but he wants to come home; he says it doesn't pay to run away; and now he can!"

All the cloud lifted from Butternut Hill. Patty could go home and tell Uncle Reuben and Aunt Eunice; it seemed to her too good to be true.

They forgot all about the spoons; even Tilly forgot them. And when Aunt Eunice heard the good news, she said she didn't care anything about the spoons, but she would do everything she could to make amends to Tilly Coombs for the unjust suspicions.

The spoons were found the very next day. Jake Nesmith, the blacksmith, saw the corner of the napkin in which they were wrapped sticking out of a mud-puddle. Ruby had pulled them out of the basket with the chickens, and dropped them in the snow.

Wheels had gone over them, and they had to be sent down to Burton's to be bent into shape—that was all.

Alf Coombs is still in his cousin's store, where he does well, but Dave has come home to Butternut Hill. He says he isn't sure that he shall ever be a minister or a farmer, but he is sure he shall never be wild again. The awful suspicion that fell upon him cured him of that. Miser Jensen was found and arrested, and confessed the theft; he escaped from prison, but there is no fear that he will ever return to Butternut Corner. Dr. Nutting wished to send Tilly to the Academy with Ruby—the whole story of the ravelled mitten was told after the spoons were found; no one could expect a human girl like Patty to keep it—but Tilly thought she had a knack for millinery, and she liked to be independent, and Miss Farnham wanted her; she says she is a good business woman, although she is only fifteen.

The doctor always takes off his hat to Tilly Coombs, while he gives only a careless nod to the other fifteen-year-old girls. The minister, who is his great friend, and hears a good deal about Butternut Corner people through him, does so too, and just now the young people of the Corner are making preparations for another birthday surprise party. They have hired the new Town-hall, because the little house at the foot of the hill wouldn't begin to hold Tilly's troops of friends, and everything is to be in the very best style that is known to Butternut Corner, because they want Tilly to feel that she is "just like other folks."

The trio of backs I would select are Whittemore of English High, Maguire of Boston Latin, and Watson of Cambridge High. On offence, it would not matter much just who took the middle position; but on defence Whittemore and Maguire should play rush-line half-backs, and Watson full-back, for he is the surest man to tackle and handle punts. All three of these men can kick well; but the brunt of this work would fall to Maguire, as he gets the ball away much more quickly than the others. Whittemore and Watson could both buck the centre, and all three are exceptionally good 'round-the-end men. For substitute half we have Aechtler of Brookline, who is just a trifle behind the others. It is his weak defence that deprives him of a regular place.

Maguire should be Captain of this team. After his work with the Boston Latin team there can be little doubt of his capability. To be sure, Calahan was Captain of the winning team, and did all manner of fine work in that capacity. But his team was much better supported by the school, and had the services of a thoroughly competent coach, while Maguire did all the work of getting his team together. Moreover, Maguire has the advantage of position and of experience, having been Captain part of last season. And Calahan has never been really put to the test, as his men have always been victorious, and never even in danger of losing a game. In Maguire the team would have a courteous, energetic, brainy Captain, and, above all, a Captain for whom they would always instinctively do their best work.

The standing of the teams in the Senior League is as follows:

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED.

* Protested; ordered to be played over; forfeited by Cambridge.

The standing in the Junior League is:

The results of the New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut Interscholastic League schedules are here given for the purpose of record:

NEW YORK I.S.F.B.A.

FIRST SECTION.

Colombia Grammar forfeited to Cutler.

SECOND SECTION.

Barnard forfeited to De La Salle.

FINAL GAME.

PHILADELPHIA I.S.F.B.A.

CONNECTICUT I.S.F.B.A.

NORTHERN DIVISION.

SOUTHERN DIVISION.

FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

If we may judge from the number of protests continually cropping up in the New York League, there must be something radically wrong with school sport in this town. The unhealthy desire to win seems to characterize the young athletes of New York to a far greater extent than the healthy spirit of indulging in sport for sport's sake. The greed for medals and pennants seems to overshadow the true object of all these contests, and this develops a spirit of professionalism, which, if not smothered at once, will, in a very short while, put an end to every kind of inter-school contests that are now known.

When I speak of the greed for medals I am not talking at random. I am telling of what I know. Last spring, at some games on the Berkeley Oval, two young men who were tied for second place in a certain event sat on the turf near where I stood, talking over the commercial aspect of their prowess. They were trying to arrange a deal. One proposed to the other to surrender second place if his rival would allow him to keep the medal. The second mercenary, however, would not agree to this. He, too, wanted the medal, and was perfectly willing that the first "sport" should take the "empty honor" of second place. Both athletes being therefore so morally corrupt, no deal could be arranged as to who should have the medal, and they were thus forced by their very spirit of unsportsmanship to decide the tie by actual contest. This is a true story, in spite of its apparent enormity, and I know the names of both young men.

When such a spirit exists among individuals, it is easy to see how entire teams may be led into a misconception of the ethics of sport. I have no doubt, too, that a good many young men look upon it as clever work to evade the rules and to compass an end in some unfair way, provided they can do it without entailing punishment. A great deal of this sort of thing doubtless started from ignorance, but nowadays it is done because former breaches of honesty have been allowed to pass unpunished. This sort of thing could not happen if the principals of the schools were unanimous in their determination to keep sport clean and absolutely honest. There are two or three head-masters, I know, who feel this way, but the others wink at a great many small infractions, and by so doing encourage greater ones which they know nothing of.

Now that athletics have become such an important feature in the life of American boys and men, I believe that it is just as important for school athletes to be instructed and advised in these matters as it is in any other branch of endeavor where morals and honesty and similar qualities are involved. The trouble is that young men hitherto have been left entirely too much to shift for themselves in athletics. It is not to be expected that they should always do the right thing, and so those who are responsible for these young men are to blame if they have not counselled them as they should.

In other words, the time has now come when every school that recognizes athletics must recognize that there is a moral as well as a muscular development to be looked to, and those pedagogues are unfaithful to their trusts who do not give a greater amount of attention to the former than they do to the latter.

To bring a general discussion to a point with specific examples, let me cite St. Paul's School, Concord, and Lawrenceville. At both of these institutions the professors give personal attention to sport, and there are especial and particular men—men of position, education, integrity—in charge of the moral side of the scholars' athletic development. Because of the clamlike attitude of the authorities of St. Paul's, I know less of the particular methods in vogue up there. But with the conditions at Lawrenceville I am familiar.

Several years of experience there have shown the authorities that the sports of the students can be kept in better condition if expert players are detailed to manage the coaching and the games, but yet they do not believe in hiring a man for the football season regardless of his character and career in college. Since 1889 the policy of Lawrenceville has been to have men as instructors who were not only the best all-'round athletes of their college, but also the best scholars, and held in high esteem for character. In 1889, for instance, George, Princeton's centre-rush, went to Lawrenceville to teach mathematics. After school hours he coached the football team, following up the players day after day throughout the season. This is done in the just conviction that boys should be taught how to play as well as how to study. Two years ago Mr. George retired from active work in football, and is now only an adviser, holding his position in the mathematical department.

In 1893 Lawrenceville secured Street, who played with Garfield on the Williams team for three seasons, and received the cup given to the man who made the best record in athletics during his college course. Street was engaged to teach Latin and English, and incidentally he has taken up the control of athletics. To him has been intrusted the responsibility of allowing certain men to engage in football and baseball; he gets up all the plays the boys use; he also follows up the team every day in its practice, being practically Captain at all times, except when a match-game is in progress. Street is a man of most excellent character, and will not allow boys on the various teams to use profane language for a moment.

Evert unfair dodge and trick which a boy exhibits is instantly stopped, and the men are urged to play perfectly straight, honest ball. Such a thing as slugging, therefore, is unknown. The same thing is done in the baseball season. This year Ward, the Princeton player, went to the school to teach mathematics. He was the Latin salutatorian of his class last year, and won the Fellowship in Mathematics, besides being considered the brightest man Princeton has graduated in fifteen years. He is to help the Lawrenceville students in football and baseball just as Street is doing.

Now the point of this recital is to show that Lawrenceville has at present on its pedagogic staff representatives of five large college teams, each one of whom is known as well for the honesty as for the quality of the game he played on the field. I believe that the future of our college athletics rests with the schools that are this year, and next year, and so on, sending out to the larger institutions men who will control the athletic organizations. Boys who learn bad tricks in schools will play them in a more outlandish and stronger way when they reach college teams. I believe, therefore, that it is the duty of schoolmasters to see to it that their wards are instructed in the ethics of sport as well as in the rule of three; for boys who have been left to themselves to learn, and have learned to win by unfair means, will turn out badly, as far as their future in athletics is concerned, and they may then justly look back to their school days, and blame those whose duty it was to teach them the truth of sport. Beneath the surface of these words are a wanting and a suggestion which I sincerely trust may be heeded and accepted.

It is pleasant to learn that all the world is not hunting after medals, and that the spirit of true sportsmanship is still alive in the land—even if it is in the minority! As a consequence of my sermons of the last few weeks I have received a number of letters. One correspondent says: "I won a swimming match once, and got a ribbon for it, and I prize that just as highly as though it were a gold medal. I think the old Grecian and Roman method of awarding wreaths a striking lesson for this age, and I hope they will play a prominent part in the forth-coming Olympian games."

The poor showing made by the Cambridge Manual-Training School team this fall was largely due to poor management. They had for manager and coach a graduate who knew nothing of football nor of training a team. As a consequence, they went into the games a pitifully overworked and spiritless set, depending upon fantastic tricks to win victories. The futility of it caused the appointment of a coach who had played football and understood the game. It was too late, however, to do any better than tie the demoralized Cambridge High team in the Thanksgiving-day game.

Owing to a delay in the receipt of the photographs, the announcement of the All-New-York interscholastic football team has been necessarily postponed until next week.

The Graduate.

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