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Homer has told us of the expedition against Troy, Xenophon has given us the tale of the Ten Thousand, and Caesar has recounted his Gallic conquests. All these worthy narratives have had their interest to Harvard students, even though this interest was centered somewhat more on what the writer's words meant than on what they were talking about. The latest contribution to literature which will find its place in the historical archives is the story of the invasion of the West by the Harvard University Football Team of 1919, written by one who followed the team to the Golden Gate not as one of the besieging host, but as the chronicler par excellence, William C. Spargo. The witty style will at once appear familiar to any who read the sporting page of one of the large Boston evening papers and who enjoy the "Speaking of Sport" Column. As the foreword explains, the booklet was written as a readable memento of the seventeen days journey in which the Crimson cohort with its field marshals invaded the unknown region to the west and for the first time reduced "barbarian" challengers to submission.
And readable it surely is, written in the style of an experienced raconteur, whose general appreciation and knowledge of American sporting life is seasoned with a personal acquaintance with all of his characters. The booklet is amply interspersed with characteristic snapshots which all bear appropriately familiar captions, and the insertion of some of the remarks of the celebrated wits of which the 1919 University team boasted livens the narrative throughout and gives one an idea of the type of man of which this fighting aggregation was composed.
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