“We met informally.  That I know.  I will never forget that.  He weighed only 195 pounds, but I am sure he had another couple of hundred tucked away somewhere.  When I had finished counting a great variety and number of stars, it occurred to me that I had been in a ghastly railroad wreck, and that the engine and cars following had picked out my right knee as a nice soft place to pile up on.  There was a feeling of great relief when I looked around and saw that the engineer of that train, Mr. E. H. Coy, had stopped with the train, and I held the greatest hopes that neither the engine nor any one of the ten cars following would ever reach the terminal.

“Mother, who had seen the whole performance, was little concerned with other than the fact that E. H. had been delayed.  His mission had been more than delayed—­as it turned out, it had been postponed.  In the meantime Dr. Nichols of the Harvard staff of first aid was working with my knee, and from the stands it looked as though I might have broken my leg.

“At this point some one who sat almost directly back of my mother called out loud, ’That’s young Kennard.  It looks as though he’d broken his leg.’  My brother, feeling that mother had not heard the remark, and not knowing what he might say, turned and informed him that Mrs. Kennard was sitting almost directly in front of him, requesting that he be careful what he said.  Mother, however, heard the whole thing, and turning in her seat said, ’That’s all right, I don’t care if his leg is broken, if we only win this game.’

“My mother, who is a great football fan, after following the game for three or four years, learned all the slang expressions typical of football.  She tried to work out new plays, criticised the generalship occasionally, and fairly ‘ate and slept’ football during the months of October and November.  While the season was in progress I usually slept at home in Boston where I could rest more comfortably.  I occupied the adjoining room to my mother’s, and when I was ready for bed always opened the door between the rooms.

“One night I woke up suddenly and heard my mother talking.  Wondering whether something was the matter, I got out of bed and went into her room, appearing just in time to see my mothers arms outstretched.  She was calling ‘Fair catch.’  I spoke to her to see just what the trouble was, and she, in a sleepy way, mumbled, ‘We won.’  She had been dreaming of the Harvard-Dartmouth game.

“Early in the fall of 1908 Haughton heard rumors that the Indians were equipping their backfield in a very peculiar fashion.  Warner had had a piece of leather the color and shape of a football sewed on the jerseys of his backfield men, in such a position that when the arm was folded as if carrying the ball, it would appear as if each of the backfield players might have possession of the ball, and therefore disorganize somewhat the defense against the man who was actually carrying the ball.  Instead of one runner each time, there appeared to be four.