There _was_ a difference between the sort of football played by Brimfield and the kind played by the Tannersville High School team, and Steve now recognised the fact.
Perhaps he secretly still thought himself deserving of a place on the 'varsity--frankly, I think he did--but whereas a month ago he would not have hesitated to make the fact known, he had since learned that at Brimfield it was not considered good form to blow your own horn, as the saying is.
But if he was disappointed at falling short of the final goal of his ambition, he was nevertheless having a very good time on the second.
There was a lot of fine fellows there and the spirit of camaraderie was strong, and grew stronger as the season progressed.

The second was perhaps almost as proud of their organisation as was the 'varsity of theirs, and when, the week after the Benton game, they once defeated and twice tied the other team, you might have thought they had vanquished Claflin, so haughty and stuck-up did they become! Steve played under a severe handicap that week, for once more he and "Uncle Sim" were at outs.

With Mr.Daley's assistance and encouragement, and by a really earnest period of application on his own part, he had successfully weathered the previous storm and had even been taken into Mr.Simkins' good graces.

But football is a severe taskmaster, if one allows it to become such, and what with a strong desire to distinguish himself on the second--animated to some extent by the wish to show Mr.
Robey what he had missed for the 'varsity--and a commendable effort to profit by Marvin's teaching, he had soon begun to ease up on his Greek and Latin, which were for him the most difficult of his courses.

And now "Uncle Sim" was down on him again, as Steve put it, and on the eve of the Cherry Valley contest he was in a fair way to have trouble with the Office.