Lads

They were not Tilden and Johnston. They were not Borotra and Brugnon. They were much younger than that-- slim high school lads in their teens. But to them the match was infinitely more important than any that was ever played at Forest Hills or Wimbledon. And they played ably-- serving swiftly, slamming hard-- there in a Manhattan armory, for the national junior indoor tennis championship. The larger of the two, Henry C. Johnson Jr., of Newton Academy (Waban, Mass.), was behind but wearing well, pulling up. The frail one, Horace G. Orser, of George Washington High School (Manhattan), had fatigued himself cracking over an impregnable service for two hard sets. The third set drew out to deuce, to 6-all, to 7-all. Frail Horace bit his lip, clung to his nerve, made it 8-7, became champion. Score: 6-3, 6-4, 9-7. In the doubles, played afterwards, Henry found solace. He and Malcolm T. Hill, a schoolmate, defended their national junior indoor doubles championship against Horace and his partner, Kenneth Appel.

Last week on a covered court in Paris, two other young men strove. They too were not Tilden and Johnston. They were Rene LaCoste and Jean Borotra. Rene had no trouble in covering himself with la glorie. He beat Jean, the French Davis Cup captain, 114 points to 88 (8--6, 6--0, 6--3) and captured the Christmas Cup. Then, said Rene: "With another visit to the United States, I may do better!"