The Football Season at Yale.

Early in September, some ten men who played on the Yale team last year began the football season by ten days of practice on Travers Island. The whole squad was not assembled until September 25, a week later than Harvard began. About thirty candidates presented themselves. All of last year's players were on hand except Murphy, Beard and Armstrong. Butterworth did not play for a while owing to trouble with his eyes. Murphy and Beard returned to college a week or two later and immediately went to work. Armstrong was busy in his capacity as captain of the crew, and was not needed on the field.

As soon as the work began to be settled, prospects were encouraging, with all the old players back, and several new men of promise, among them Mills, DeWitt, Jerrems, Louis Hinkey, Brown, and Chadwick. But within a few weeks the team played wretchedly slow and listless football. The veterans were the poorest. At the same time came the accidents that always occur during the middle of the season. Butterworth, Beard, Adee, and several of the new candidates developed physical troubles, rather more being in the nature of sickness, than sprains or bruises. This state of affairs grew worse until at least half the old players were considered unfit to play in the big games. By the last of October, the Yale team was not in any better circumstances, in spite of the list of veteran players, than the Harvard team. On the day that Harvard won from Cornell by the score of 22 to 12, Yale defeated West Point 12 to 5. A week later Yale scored but twelve points against Brown. There were two reasons for this poor showing. The veterans, feeling sure of their positions, saw no particular reason for playing hard; but the chief reason was that coaches had been rather scarce all the fall. Mr. Camp was especially missed. Hinkey was obliged to bear two burdens: that of captain, and that of coach.

The Brown game was no sooner announced, however, than all Yale - graduates and undergraduates - was aroused. The first sign of awakening was the appearance of Armstrong among the candidates, first for quarterback, then for halfback. Coaches, old players, began flocking to Yale. During the last ten days there has been a coach for almost every individual on the field. Mr. Camp unfortunately was obliged to disappoint them.

Since November 1, the Yale team as well as the Harvard has greatly improved. Yale went into secret practice a few days later than Harvard. It is fair to suppose that the Yale veterans have improved to a greater extent than the Harvard team, which is composed so largely of inexperienced men. Yale has suffered somewhat by the loss, on account of illness, of DeWitt, a promising halfback. Before he was taken sick he was playing better than Armstrong ever has played, and far better then Armstrong's short season would allow this year. But Jerrems, who captained the freshman eleven last year, has developed strongly during the last two weeks and will undoubtedly play halfback. The only other veteran who is not sure of playing is Greenway. He has been ill, and is by no means strong as yet. His place is likely to be filled by Louis Hinkey, a brother of Captain Hinkey.