Speaker 1: He made his first appearance one afternoon a week or
Speaker 1: so before the fall handicap, meeting Moscher, Fosgill, Alien, Rhonemus,
Speaker 1: and several more of us were down at the end
Speaker 1: of the field putting the shot. Fosgill, who was scratch
Speaker 1: man that year, had just done an even forty feet
Speaker 1: and the shot had trickled away toward the cinder path,
Speaker 1: whereupon a small bit of humanity appeared from somewhere, picked
Speaker 1: up the sixteen pounds of lead with much difficulty, and
Speaker 1: staggered back to the circle with it. Hello, kid, said Fosgill.
Speaker 1: That's pretty heavy for you, isn't it? Nah? Was the
Speaker 1: superb reply. That ain't nothin. We laughed, and the youngster
Speaker 1: grinned around at us in a companionable way that won
Speaker 1: us on the spot. What's your name, asked Rhonomus. Patsy, Patsy,
Speaker 1: what burns? How old are you? Lavin? You're a Frenchman,
Speaker 1: aren't you? Nah? You're not? Rhonemus pretended intense surprise. He's
Speaker 1: a Dutchman, aren't you, Patsy, said Mosher, Nah, what are you?
Speaker 1: Then Mucker answered Patsy with a grin. For the rest
Speaker 1: of that day, and from many days afterwards, Patsy honored
Speaker 1: us with his presence. After each put he ambled forth,
Speaker 1: lifted the metal ball from the ground with two dirty
Speaker 1: little hands, snuggled it against the front of his dirty
Speaker 1: little shirt, and labored back with it. At the end
Speaker 1: of the week, Patsy had become official helper. He was
Speaker 1: a diminutive wisp of humanity, a starved, slender elf with
Speaker 1: a freckled face whizzened and peaked, which at times looked
Speaker 1: a thousand years old. It reminded you of the face
Speaker 1: of one of those preternaturally aged monkeys that sit motionless
Speaker 1: in a dark corner of the cage, oppressed with the
Speaker 1: sins and sorrows of a hundred centuries. And yet it
Speaker 1: mustn't be supposed that Patsy was either a pessimist or
Speaker 1: a misanthrope. Patsy's gray irish eye could sparkle merrily, and
Speaker 1: his thin, little irish mouth usually wore a whimsical smile.
Speaker 1: It was as though he realized that life was but
Speaker 1: a hollow mockery, and yet had bravely resolved to pretend otherwise,
Speaker 1: that we young and innocent might still preserve our cherished illusions.
Speaker 1: We made a good deal of Patsy. We pretended that
Speaker 1: he was very, very old and sophisticated, not a difficult task,
Speaker 1: and deferred to his judgment on all occasions. But in
Speaker 1: spite of this, Patsy never became fresh. To be sure,
Speaker 1: he speedily began calling Fosgill Bull, but I don't think
Speaker 1: he meant the slightest disrespect. Everyone called the big fellow bull,
Speaker 1: and it is quite possible that Patsy believed it to
Speaker 1: be a title of honor. He was attentive to all
Speaker 1: of us, but his heart was fos Gill's. He used
Speaker 1: to wait outside the locker building until we came out
Speaker 1: after dressing, and then walked beside Fosgill until he reached
Speaker 1: the square. Then Patsy would say good night, Bull, and
Speaker 1: Fosgill would answer gravely, good night Patsy, and Patsy would disappear.
Speaker 1: But the evening of the Handicaps we took him back
Speaker 1: to the boarding house with us, and he sat beside
Speaker 1: Fosgill and eat ravenously of everything placed before him. We
Speaker 1: learned Patsy's life story. That evening he went to school.
Speaker 1: Generally he lived with Brian. Brian was his brother, eighteen
Speaker 1: years old and a man of business. Brian drove for Connors,
Speaker 1: the teamster. Patsy wasn't sure that he had ever had
Speaker 1: a mother, but he was absolutely certain about his father.
Speaker 1: He still had vivid recollections of the night they broke
Speaker 1: down the door and put handcuffs on father after father
Speaker 1: had laid out the lieutenant with a chair. Patsy didn't
Speaker 1: know just what father had done, but he had an idea.
Speaker 1: It was something regarding the disappearance of numerous suits of
Speaker 1: clothes from a tailor's shop. Patsy was going into business himself,
Speaker 1: just as soon as they let him stop school. He
Speaker 1: was going to sell papers. He had tried several times
Speaker 1: to wean himself from education, but each time they hailed
Speaker 1: him back to the schoolhouse. Patsy thought the thing was
Speaker 1: terribly wrong. When the snow covered the field, we saw
Speaker 1: Patsy only occasionally in the spring. We got to work early.
Speaker 1: We believed we had a good show to win the
Speaker 1: duel that year, and a fighting chance at the intercollegiate.
Speaker 1: We were strong on the sprints and distances, fair at
Speaker 1: the jumps and hurdles, and rather weak at the waits.
Speaker 1: We had a good man in Fossgill at the shot put,
Speaker 1: but that's about all. Along in May, we had it
Speaker 1: doped out that if we could get first in the
Speaker 1: shot put, we could win out by a point or two.
Speaker 1: But there wasn't anything certain about it, for our opponent
Speaker 1: was strong on second, near second and third place men.
Speaker 1: Patsy appeared with the first warm day, looking thinner and
Speaker 1: littler and older than ever. That first day, the assistant
Speaker 1: manager was holding the tape for us, and it occurred
Speaker 1: to him to pick up the shot and toss it back,
Speaker 1: but he did it only once. The next time, Patsy
Speaker 1: was astraddle that sixteen pound lump and was looking the
Speaker 1: assistant manager sternly in the eye. I'm doing this, said Patsy.
Speaker 1: After that he did it, and no one disputed his right.
Speaker 1: When the gates were closed and the fellows had to
Speaker 1: show their h A A tickets to get in, Patsy
Speaker 1: was admitted without question. When all the other youngsters for
Speaker 1: miles around were gluing their faces to the iron fence
Speaker 1: watching the baseball games, Patsy's allegiance never faltered. He was
Speaker 1: somewhere around Fosgille, regarding that hero with worshiping gaze. It
Speaker 1: was in May I think that Patsy made his great resolution.
Speaker 1: He confided it to us on the steps of the
Speaker 1: locker building when we were waiting for one of the crowd.
Speaker 1: I've decided not to go into business, said Patsy. What
Speaker 1: are you going to do, asked Billy Allen. I'm going
Speaker 1: to college, replied Patsy easily. I'm going to be a
Speaker 1: shot putter. Good for you, kid, said Billy. What college
Speaker 1: you're going to? Billy winked at us, and we watched
Speaker 1: eagerly while Patsy's countenance took on its expression of lofty contempt. Huh,
Speaker 1: said Patsy. That was all, but that eloquent, monosyllable consigned
Speaker 1: all other colleges than ours to the nethermost regions. But
Speaker 1: you'll have to go to school a long time, Patsy said,
Speaker 1: I if you expect to get into college, yep. I
Speaker 1: know it's tough, but I guess I can do it. Buzz,
Speaker 1: was it hard for you? I was forced to acknowledge
Speaker 1: that it had been. And you ain't much of a
Speaker 1: shot putter either, said Patsy reflectively. Fosskill had done forty
Speaker 1: two eight and a half that afternoon, and we were
Speaker 1: feeling pretty hopeful and good natured. After dinner, someone mentioned Patsy,
Speaker 1: and Mosher spoke up. Say, fellows, let's see that little
Speaker 1: cuss does get into college. What do you say I'll go, you,
Speaker 1: cried Foskill. He's an all right kid, is Patsy, and
Speaker 1: he deserves something better than spending his life on the streets.
Speaker 1: We'll adopt him, sure thing, said Alan, But we'll have
Speaker 1: our hands full. And what's to happen when we leave college.
Speaker 1: We'll get someone to look after him. We'll have a
Speaker 1: talk with Brother Bryan about it. But say, bull, imagine
Speaker 1: Patsy putting the shot. We laughed at that, which we
Speaker 1: wouldn't have done if Patsy had been there. Well, I
Speaker 1: guess he won't make much of a show at athletics,
Speaker 1: said I. But if we keep him off the streets,
Speaker 1: we'll be doing a whole lot. And I like Patsy.
Speaker 1: We all did, and before we left the table that night,
Speaker 1: we had the thing mapped out. Patsy was to be
Speaker 1: cared for and looked after. He was to finish grammar school,
Speaker 1: go to Latin school and then to Harvard, and there
Speaker 1: were to be funds where they'd do good. Yes, we
Speaker 1: had it all fixed up for Patsy, and we'd have
Speaker 1: done it just as planned if Patsy hadn't gone and
Speaker 1: spoiled it all. And it happened like this. When the
Speaker 1: duel meet came along in June, we were all to
Speaker 1: the good. We couldn't see how we were going to
Speaker 1: lose first in anything except the quarter, the high hurdles,
Speaker 1: the hammer throw, and the broad jump, and we had
Speaker 1: enough seconds and thirds in sight to make good. If
Speaker 1: bull Fosgill could beat Tanner with the shot, we were it.
Speaker 1: That's the way we had the situation sized up. But
Speaker 1: of course things don't happen just as expected. They seldom
Speaker 1: doing athletics. Some of the firsts we had claimed went glimmering,
Speaker 1: and we took in seconds and thirds where we hadn't
Speaker 1: expected them. But the final result was just about what
Speaker 1: we had figured it. And along toward five o'clock the
Speaker 1: meat depended on the outcome of one event, and that
Speaker 1: event was the shot put. To be sure, they were
Speaker 1: still fussing with a pole vault, but we were certain
Speaker 1: of first and third places and so could discount that,
Speaker 1: by some freak of fortune, I had managed to qualify
Speaker 1: with a put thirty eight one and a half. There
Speaker 1: were four of us in the finals, Foskill, Tanner and
Speaker 1: Bert of the enemy and I. Of course. Patsy was there,
Speaker 1: and he worked like a trojan. You could see though
Speaker 1: that it went against the grain with him to fetch
Speaker 1: for our opponents. Patsy had a good deal of that
Speaker 1: primeual left in him, and it's safe to say that
Speaker 1: no one there was more interested. I don't think he
Speaker 1: doubted for a moment that Foskill would win, and I
Speaker 1: fancy he thought me pretty cheeky for aspiring. So far
Speaker 1: as the final round, Foskill was ahead with forty one
Speaker 1: ten and a half, Tanner had done three inches under that,
Speaker 1: and Bert and I were fighting along for third place,
Speaker 1: doing around thirty eight six. It was pretty close work,
Speaker 1: and even the officials were excited. We had finished one
Speaker 1: round when the accident occurred. Tanner was in the circle,
Speaker 1: Foskill was down near the end of the tape, and
Speaker 1: Patsy was close behind him. Tanner hopped across the circle, overstepped,
Speaker 1: falling the put, and sent the shot away at a tangent.
Speaker 1: Fosgill had turned his head to speak to the measurer
Speaker 1: and never saw his danger. Tanner let out a shout
Speaker 1: of warning, and the others echoed it, but it was
Speaker 1: Patsy who acted. He threw himself like a little catapult
Speaker 1: at Fosgill and sent him staggering across the turf. Then
Speaker 1: Patsy and the shot went down together. It was all beastly,
Speaker 1: sudden and nasty. When we bent over that poor little kid,
Speaker 1: he was sort of greenish white, and I'll never forget
Speaker 1: the way his freckles stood out. The shot had struck
Speaker 1: him on the breast, and Patsy's weak little bones had
Speaker 1: just crushed in. Well, we did all we could, put
Speaker 1: him in a carriage at the gate and rushed him
Speaker 1: to the hospital. He was still breathing, but the doctor
Speaker 1: said he never knew anything after the shot struck him,
Speaker 1: not until evening. Well, we were all frightfully cut up,
Speaker 1: and Tanner sat down on the ground and nearly Faintedsgill
Speaker 1: kept saying, poor little Patsy, poor little kid, half alowed
Speaker 1: and walking around in circles. He wanted to go to
Speaker 1: the hospital with him, but we told him he could
Speaker 1: do no good, and we each still had two puts.
Speaker 1: After a while, we got our nerve back after a
Speaker 1: fashion and went on, but thunder not one of us
Speaker 1: was worth a hang. I did thirty six and thirty
Speaker 1: seven eleven and one third place. At that neither Fosgill
Speaker 1: nor Tanner equalled his first records, and the event went
Speaker 1: to Bull at the ridiculous figures of forty one ten
Speaker 1: and a half. We got the meet by four and
Speaker 1: a half points. It was almost six o'clock by that time,
Speaker 1: and Fosgill and I and three others piled into Alien's
Speaker 1: auto and raced up to the hospital. They had just
Speaker 1: taken Patsy off the operating table and put him to bed.
Speaker 1: The doctor told us that the examination showed that there
Speaker 1: was nothing to be done. The heart had been injured
Speaker 1: and was liable to stop work any moment. Fosgill got
Speaker 1: the doctor to promise to call him up on the
Speaker 1: if Patsy showed any signs of consciousness, and he left
Speaker 1: orders that everything possible was to be done. Tanner had
Speaker 1: begged us to look after the kid and let him
Speaker 1: pay everything, but though we promised, we hadn't any idea
Speaker 1: of doing it. Patsy was our kid. We went back
Speaker 1: to training table, but we were a low spirited lot,
Speaker 1: and just when we were finishing dinner, the call came
Speaker 1: from the hospital. We made a record trip in Billie's machine,
Speaker 1: and when we tiptoed into the accident ward, the nurse
Speaker 1: smiled at us, and so did Patsy. He was a
Speaker 1: pathetic looking little wisp as he lay there with the
Speaker 1: bedclothes lifted away from his body, but he smiled and
Speaker 1: moved his head a bit on the pillow. Fosgill sat
Speaker 1: down at the head of the cot and leaned over
Speaker 1: his mouth all a tremble. Hello bull, whispered Patsy. Hello,
Speaker 1: Patsy answered Fosgill, trying to smile. Did you beat him? Yes, Patsy,
Speaker 1: I knew you would, I told him so. He glanced
Speaker 1: at me. Did you beat that other trap? I nodded,
Speaker 1: and Patsy looked at me with a new respect. Good
Speaker 1: for you, he whispered, Are you does it hurt much?
Speaker 1: Patsy asked Fosgill, No, not much. That's good. We'll have
Speaker 1: you all before long. Patsy grinned, shut up. He whispered,
Speaker 1: you can't fool me. Bull, I'm a corner. Fosgill muttered something,
Speaker 1: and Patsy's eyes brightened. Bull He whispered, do you think
Speaker 1: I had a mother like other kids? I know he did, Patsy.
Speaker 1: That's good, sighed the kid happily. I guess maybe i'll
Speaker 1: see her where I'm going. You saved my life, Patsy
Speaker 1: muttered Fosgill. And there is nothing I can do for you.
Speaker 1: I wish. Oh, it's a shame, kid. Huh. I'm glad, Bull,
Speaker 1: I'd have done most anything for you. Bull, You've been
Speaker 1: good to me, so's the others. And he closed his
Speaker 1: eyes wearily for a moment. Then do you think, he asked, slowly,
Speaker 1: I could have learned to put the shot? Bull some day, Yes,
Speaker 1: answered Foscolle surdily, you had the making of a great
Speaker 1: shot put or Patsy, you'd have made a record for yourself.
Speaker 1: I'll bet are you kidding me? Bull? No, Patsy, I'll
Speaker 1: leave it to the others, isn't it so? Fellows? We
Speaker 1: nodded vehemently, and Patsy closed his eyes with a smile
Speaker 1: of ineffable content on his little face. Presently, the eyes
Speaker 1: flickered open again. Anyhow, he said, quite strongly, and with
Speaker 1: an approach to his old air of self importance. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: I guess I won for Harvard to day. Huh, Yes
Speaker 1: you did, Patsy answered Fosgill. We got you to thank
Speaker 1: for it, dear little kid. Patsy smiled. Then goodbye, Bo,
Speaker 1: he said, very softly, his eyes half closed. We waited
Speaker 1: in silence while the moments crept by, but Patsy didn't
Speaker 1: speak again. End of Patsy by Ralph Henry Barbour