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"Frank Merriwell's Lacrosse Team" In this classic Dime
Novel, Tip Top Weekly features the great athlete Frank Merriwell in
a lacrosse adventure, or The Great Hustle with Johns Hopkins. It begins
with the Hopkins lacrosse team in a grueling match with the boys from
Harvard, and in it the captain Fred Fillmore, a central character in
the novel, is injured by the Harvard captain Herbert Onslaw. This injury
forces Fillmore to leave the game only to watch his Hopkins men be defeated
by Onslaw and the rest of the Crimson team. After this game, Fillmore
foreshadows what is to come in the novel when he vows for redemption
and plans that someday he will get back at Onslaw. |
Before the match is scheduled; however, Fillmore and his friend Tom Hackett attempt to disgrace Frank in front of his girlfriend and get him intoxicated. They bring him to a bar and begin ordering him drinks only to be outsmarted by Frank. Instead of drinking the gin, Frank is drinking the water chaser and sending back the gin, staying completely sober while the others are getting heavily inebriated. Frank then “drunkenly” agrees to a boxing match with the boxing legend Husker Galway, another plan of Fillmore’s to disgrace Frank even more. Little do they know that Frank is completely sober and he easily handles the pro in the ring to the amazement of the drunk bystanders. At this point Frank realizes that Fillmore and Hackett are trying to make him look bad; however, he keeps this realization to himself. Instead of making Frank look terrible, Fillmore and Hackett are the ones who show up and embarrass themselves in front of the ladies with whom they have taken likings to. By the time of the game, both Fillmore and Hackett are irate because of their failed plan, yet Fillmore is confident he will find his chance to get back at Onslaw and show up Frank on the field. Hopkins scores two early goals and the crowd is expecting a blowout; however, Frank’s girl, Inza, has great confidence in Frank to field a strong team. During the game, Fillmore exacts his revenge by clubbing both men, Frank and Herbert, on the head with his stick, and in turn showing everyone his malicious intentions. Frank’s team goes on to score the last goals of the game and Hopkins is then defeated by Frank’s amateurs. Fillmore is shown up by the two men yet again and he boards a train for NY to skip town and avoid any more embarrassment. A tale of deception and cheating ends with the great and honorable Frank Merriwell defeating the coward, Fred Fillmore. |