For the most part—the tug-of-war, a very popular event, was
an exception—the girls and boys raced and jumped alternately, the girls competing in a skirtless kit. The climax was six relay races of fifty yards a lap for the nine-year-olds, of seventy-five yards for the eleven-year-olds, and of one hundred yards for the foarteen-year-olds. Marchings and processions preceded and ended the sports. The children, picturesquely grouped, were collected under a line of elms and organized there so that they came forward to each event as summoned without delay or confusion. Spectacularly, the scene might have been from an historical pageant. The children's zeal and cheering for their Houses, though they were only a month or two old, was genuine, and was infectious ; and among the spectators were people who said they had never enjoyed sports before. The physical instructor for the county--a most useful official with a great store of know- ledge about playing-fields--congratulated the village on the best sports he had ever seen.
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