CHAPTER SEVEN.
ATHLETIC SPORTS AT PARKHURST.
The last Saturday before the summer holidays was invariably a great day at Parkhurst.

The outdoor exercises of the previous ten months culminated then in the annual athletic sports, which made a regular field-day for the whole school.

Boys who had "people" living within a reasonable distance always did their best to get them over for the day; the doctor--an old athlete himself--generally invited his own party of friends; and a large number of spectators from Parkhurst village and the neighbourhood were sure to put in an appearance, and help to give importance to the occasion.

Athletic sports without spectators (at least, so we boys thought) would be a tame affair, and we were sure to get through our day's performances all the better for a large muster of outsiders on the ground.
The occasion I am about to recall was specially interesting to me, as it was the first athletic meeting in which I, a small boy just entering my teens, ever figured.

I was only down to run in one of the races, and that was the three-legged race; and yet I believe there was not a boy in the school so excited at the prospect of these sports as I was.