Berwick High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Berwick, PA)

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Page 94 THE MIRROR the presence of girls. Williams comprehended that he was not to correct Miss Kitty's blunder. They could laugh about it later. The fair cousin walked ahead with the bogus West- more hero, and Bob whispered to Varney as they followed: She is the busiest little tease you ever saw in your life. The way she used to guy me was cruel. This is my first chance to put one over on her. Sure it's all right? was the anxious query. You will confess the joke before we leave town? What about your folks? Leave it to me, was Bob's answer. I'll tip them off, and they will play it along at luncheon, especially Dad. Somewhat mollified, the football captain consented to the hoax. Miss Kitty catalogued him as a highbrow. She chatted gaily with the supposed Varney. Football was their topic. Williams was full of information that was modestly impersonal. Varney scowled at the glib flow of information. Please tell me, Mr. Varney, said Kitty, do you honestly believe that your eleven could have beaten one of our crack Western Universities-Seamore, for instance? It would have been a great contest in my opinion, replied the unabashed pretender. Seamore might have outclassed us in end rushes and made winning gains in that way. Our left end was weak this year. This being Fred Varney's position-best end-rusher in the count1'y for two years-he was a listener who nearly lost his temper. They turned in at a gate and crossed a lawn, and Bob ran straight into his waiting Mother's arms. During the glad confusion the word was passed that the program included having fun with Kitty. The parents joined the conspiracy with ready compliance. After supper Williams managed to get Bob alone for a few minutes and confided to him: About that dance tonight, old man, your cousin wants to know why I can't stay over for it. I could just as well as not, you know, and beat it to Denver tomorrow. There is a hotel in town, I presume, and- Nonsense! There is plenty of room in this house even for you-er-Captain Varney. Mother will be de- lighted. And I'll try to persuade Fred-I mean Sleepy Williams-to stick with us, although he is none too strong on the society game.

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me MIRROR Page Q5 My cousin, shouted' Sedgwick, waving his hat. Stop the machine! Hello, Kitty! Here, fellows, we'll get out and walk. It's only another block. I wish it were another mile, for walking looks good to me, observed the admiring freshman. They tumbled out forthwith and sur1'ounded the fas- cinating cousin, who seemed not in the least dismayed. Bob presented his friends, indicating them with a careless sweep of the hand so that it was puzzling to guess which one was which. Miss Lombard, this is none other than Mr. Fred Varney, captain of the Westmore varsity eleven, and here is a meek and lowly freshman officially designated as John Clarence Williams. They are sojourning in our midst for only a few hoursg therefore we must hasten to give them a good time. Miss Kitty surveyed the brace of strangers and in- stantly concluded that the rosy giant must, of course, be the famous athlete. She was a thorough-going western girl to whom the colleges of the Atlantic seaboard were re- mote and uninteresting, barring the fact that Bob Sedg- wick and his elder brother Joe had chosen to go to West- more. Her own home was in Iowa, and she visited the Sedgwicks once or twice a year. Newspaper portraits of Fred Varney had failed to engage her memory. Her mis- take was not an unreasonable one. Approvingly she eyed the magnificent proportions of John Clarence Williams and swiftly pictured him to her- self as sweeping through the Keatsville .and Pierceton teams. No more than a casual glance did she bestow on Bob's other friends, the thin stooping young man with the pale face and melancholy expression. She knew the type, the intellectual student who habitually studied too hard, and despised athletics and aspired to be a valedictorian even if it wrecked his health. You are to be here only a few hours, Mr. Varney? I am so sorry. That doesn't sound as if Bob were very hos- pitable. He really must persuade you to stay for the dance tonight and- Williams was about to profess his identity, but Sedgwick trod on his toe and Varney glowered at him. making pantomimic gestures unseen by the girl. The same inspiration-to let Miss Kitty think Williams the captain- occurred to both these young men, the one moved by the suggestion of a lark, the other intiuenced by his timidity in

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THE MIRROR Page Q5 Please don't call me Varney again. I can't go to this dance under false colors and meet a lot of people, ex- claimed the perturbed freshman. Supposing Fred Varney objects to giving the joke away. Here he comes. Ask him. Varney had been talking to Miss Kitty who sug- gested that he stay over for the dance. This he had agreed to do. He refused to drop the disguise and Sleepy Wil- liams, alias Fred Varney, was forced to go to the dance as captain of the Westmore eleven. Suddenly the comedy assumed a serious aspect for the mighty freshman. He was introduced to a muscular, enthusiastic young man, named McGregor, who exclaimed: I am the captain of the Wentworth eleven, and we play our annual game tomorrow with Statesville. Bob has agreed to play guard for you if you can be persuaded to stay over and play with us. I wish I could, but-but I have to leave town, stam- mered the helpless freshman. At this moment Bob and Fred sauntered up. Thfv uttered no threats but their stern faces expressed a direful purpose. Sleepy consented to plav after they had made it more impossible than ever to declare himself an imposter. In comparison with these, the Westmore-Keatsville games are as mild as sewing, said Varney, after he and Sleepy were left alone, and Sleepy had begged for mercy. ' It was an informal holiday in Wentmore. Most of the stores were closed at noon, and hundreds of people mot- ored in from the surrounding country. The tidings that the Westmore captain had been induced to play for the love of the game aroused iealous indignation among the States- ville partisans, and they loudly urged their champions to send him back East on a stretcher. Fred Varney was with Kittv Lombard, and she found him slihtlv distraught, a mood which she mistook for lack of interest. He was really reflecting that the joke had takrn rather rn unfair turn to McGregor and his eleven. He felt uncomfortable and hoped that Wentworth might win. To Varney's amazement. the impossible freshman sailed in to show the crowd that he was indeed a formidable right guard from Westmore. Bob Sedgwick. playing his own position as left guard with alert efficiency, tried to