It
was rather a long wait--nearly two hours--during which I had ample
leisure to philosophize to the top of my bent. We had to console us
Sam's assurance that it was necessary to take time by the forelock to
this radical extent in order to secure satisfactory places. For the
next two hours a steady stream of people poured along the two sides of
the field until they became great walls of crimson and blue humanity.
Flags waved, badges fluttered, the human voice worked itself hoarse in
every form of encouraging outcry from the full-chested song to the
indiscriminate cat-call. In front of each section of seats stood a
separate youth, who at very short intervals, and at the slightest
provocation, invoked cheers upon cheers for everything and everybody,
from the captain of the team to the college coster-monger. An hour
before the game began the benches were crowded, and I seemed to have
recognized in the passing throng every person of consideration among my
acquaintance. Mrs. Willoughby Walton and her party were among the last
to arrive. I was curious to see where they would bestow themselves,
seeing that we were all packed tight as herrings, and there was only
here and there an occasional chance for another mortal to squeeze in,
and that generally at the cost of clambering over the heads of two or
three hundred people.
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