A Ball Player's Career Part 18

Accompanied by the United States Charge d'Affaires the next morning we drove to the Parliament Buildings, where we were admitted and shown through by the Secretary to the Chairman of the House of Commons, an honor rarely accorded to visitors and one that we greatly appreciated.

From the great hall where Charles the First and Warren Hastings were tried and which had been badly wrecked by the explosion of a dynamite bomb two years before, we pa.s.sed into the Crypt and Committee rooms, and thence through the magnificent corridors decorated with paintings, each of which cost thousands of pounds. The House of Lords was next visited, the Woolsack and Queen's Seat, and the seats of the various members being pointed out to us by the Secretary. From the House of Lords we pa.s.sed into the House of Commons, where Sir William Harcourt was speaking upon "The Treatment of Political Prisoners in Ireland," and where several famous personages were pointed out to us, though much to our regret we missed seeing Mr. Gladstone, who was expected to enter every moment, but who did not appear up to the time of our leaving for Westminster Abbey, where we had just time to glance about us before driving to Lord's Cricket Grounds, where we were to play that afternoon, and where we were greeted by a crowd of 7,000 people. These grounds, which are particularly fine, we found that afternoon in excellent condition and as a result we played a great game and one that evidently pleased the spectators, the batting being heavy, the fielding sharp and quick and the base running fast and brilliant. Errors at the' last moment by Baldwin and myself gave the All-Americas this game, they winning by a single run, the score standing 7 to 6.

That evening, at the invitation of Henry Irving, now Sir Henry, and Miss Ellen Terry, we occupied boxes at the Lyceum Theater, being invited back of the scenes between the acts to enjoy a gla.s.s of wine and to receive the well wishes of our host and hostess, who still stand at the head of their profession.

The day following, which was March 14th, we played upon the Crystal Palace Grounds, which are located at Sydenham, one of the most popular residence districts of the great city and within plain sight of the magnificent Palace of Crystal, that is one of the many famous places of interest with which London abounds. Here another large and enthusiastic crowd of 6,000 people greeted us, and there was more cheering and excitement than we had yet heard since our arrival in England. It was another pretty and close game, in which the All-Americas carried off the honors by a score of 5 to 2, the batting, fielding and base running of both teams being again above the average.

At seven o'clock the next morning we left London for Bristol, the home of the famous cricketers, Dr. W. G. and Mr. E. M. Grace, whose exploits in the batting line have made them celebrated in the annals of the English National Game. Our journey to Bristol was a delightful one and when we arrived there at noon we were met by a committee composed of the Duke of Beaufort, Dr. Grace and the officials of the Gloucester County Cricket Club, and driven to the Grand Hotel, where introductions were in order. The Duke of Beaufort was certainly:

"A fine old English gentleman,"

and one who, in spite of his sixty years, was greatly interested in athletic sports. After a good dinner, over which His Grace presided and, after the usual toasts had been proposed and drank, we were driven to the Gloucester Cricket Grounds, which had but just been completed, at a cost of some twelve thousand pounds, and which were as pretty and well-equipped as any grounds in England. The day was a beautiful one and the grounds in splendid condition, but for all that the game lacked the snap and go that had characterized the games in London, the Chicagos winning by a score of 10 to 3. After the game the Chicago team took the field and Ryan and Crane pitched while the Grace brothers and other cricketers tried their hand at batting, but were unable to do anything with the swift delivery of the Americans, and it was not until they had slowed down that they managed to land on the ball, Dr. Grace making the only safe hit of the day.

That night found us back in London, where the next afternoon we played our farewell game in the great metropolis on the grounds of the Ess.e.x County Club at Layton, before a crowd that numbered 8,000 people, Crane and Earle and Baldwin and Daly being the batteries. This game was full of herd hitting and, though the score, 12 to 6 in favor of Chicago, would not have pleased an American crowd, it tickled the English people immensely, the London press of the next morning declaring it to be the best game that we had yet played in England. A throwing contest had been arranged to take place after the game between Crane and Conner, an Australian cricketer, but the latter backed out at the last moment and Crane merely gave an exhibition, throwing a cricket ball Ito yards and a base ball 120 yards and 5 inches. That evening we were banqueted by stockholders of the Niagara Panorama Company, and among the guests was the Duke of Beaufort, who "dropped in," as he put it, "to spend the evening with this fine lot of fellows from America."

When we left London the next morning it was in a special train provided by the London and Northwestern Railway Company, consisting of nine cars, two of which were dining saloons, two smoking and reception cars, and the balance sleepers, each of the latter being made to accommodate from six to eight persons comfortably. The exterior of the train was exceedingly handsome, the body-color being white enamel with tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of gold and seal brown and the Royal Arms in gold and scarlet on the carriage doors, while upon each side of the coaches was the inscription in brown letters, "The American Base-Ball Clubs." The interior of the train was equally as handsome, and even royalty itself could not been better provided. Some 500 people were on hand to see us off and we pulled out of London with the cheers of our friends ringing in our ears.

The run to Birmingham occupied but three hours, and arriving there we were escorted to the Colonnade Hotel by a delegation from the Warwickshire County Cricket Club, where the usual reception was accorded us. Then, after going to the Queen's Hotel for luncheon, we were driven to the handsomely located and prettily equipped grounds of the club, where, in spite of the threatening weather, 3,000 people had a.s.sembled.

This game was one that would have delighted an American crowd, game being called at the end of the tenth inning on account of darkness with the score a tie, each team having four runs to its credit, Baldwin and Healy both pitching in fine style. That evening we were the guests of honor at the Prince of Wales Theater, returning after the play was over to our sleeping apartments on the train.

At nine o'clock the next morning we left for Sheffield, the great cutlery manufacturing town of England, our route leading through the beautiful hills of Yorkshire. Here we were the guests of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and after luncheon at the Royal Victoria were driven to the Bramhall Lane grounds, one of the oldest and most famous of England's many athletic parks, where we were greeted by a crowd that was even larger than' the one before which we had played at Birmingham.

It was raining hard when we began play but we kept on for four innings, after which the rain came down so fast and the ground became so muddy that we were compelled to quit. We waited about for an hour in hopes that the rain might cease, but as it did not we finally went back to our quarters. At the invitation of Miss Kate Vaughan we spent the evening at the Royal Theater, where, as usual, we attracted fully as much attention as the play.

Snow was falling in great feathery flakes when we left Sheffield the next morning and, started for Bradford, and though we discovered an improvement in the weather when we reached our destination we found the grounds of the Bradford Foot-ball and Cricket Club in a condition that was utterly unfit for base-ball playing purposes. To make matters worse it began to rain while we were getting into our uniforms and a chilly wind swept across the enclosure. Four thousand people braved the inclement weather to see us play, however, and the members' stand presented a funny appearance crowded with ladies in waterproofs and mackintoshes, while the rows of black umbrellas that surrounded the field made it look like a forest of toadstools. It looked like sheer folly to attempt to play under such circ.u.mstances, but at the entreaties of the Cricket Club's Secretary, who said that a game of three innings would satisfy the crowd, we started in and we gave a good exhibition, too, but the state of our uniforms after it was over can be better imagined than described.

We arrived at Glasgow the next morning in time for breakfast, having been whirled across the borders of Scotland in the night, and when we awoke we found the train surrounded by a crowd of curious sightseers.

After luncheon we started for the West of Scotland Cricket Club grounds, wearing overcoats over our uniforms, the air being decidedly chilly. It was fairly good playing weather after we once got warmed up, and the 3,000 spectators saw a good game, lasting seven innings, and also saw the All-Americas win by a score of 8 to 4. Mr. and Mrs. Osmond Tearle were that night playing "King Lear" at the Grand Theater, and entertained us very handsomely. On this trip thus far we had had but little opportunity for sight-seeing save the pa.s.sing glimpses of scenery that we could obtain from the flying train and in the carriage rides to and from the grounds upon which we played.

The next morning found us in Manchester, we having left Glasgow at midnight, and at Manchester, the day being a pleasant one, we had some little opportunity of looking about. What we saw of the town impressed us most favorably, the streets being wide and clean, and the buildings being of a good character. The Old Trafford grounds on which we played that afternoon were beautifully situated and, in point of natural surroundings and equipments, held their own with the best in England.

Through the gates 3,500 people pa.s.sed, and they were treated to a rattling exhibition of "base-ball as she is played," the score being twice tied, and finally won by the All-Americas by a score of 7 to 6, Tener and Healy doing the twirling. That evening we were banqueted at the rooms of the Anglo-French Club by Mr. Raymond Eddy, who was then acting as the European representative of the Chicago house of John V, Farwell & Co., he being a.s.sisted in entertaining us by Major Hale, United States Consul at Manchester. This proved to be a most pleasant occasion, and the kindness shown us by both Mr. Eddy and Major Hale still remains a pleasant memory.

At seven o'clock the next morning we were at Liverpool, where I met many of the friends that I had made on my previous visit, and where we were to play our last game on English soil. We were driven to the Colice Athletic Grounds that afternoon in a coach with seats for twenty-eight persons, and arriving at the grounds we found a big crowd already inside and a perfect jam at the gates, the big carriage entrance finally giving way and letting in some five hundred or more people before the rush could be stopped by the police. As the paid admissions after the game showed an attendance of 6,500, it is fair to a.s.sume that there were at least 7,000 people on the grounds. Five innings of base-ball were played and the score was a tie, each team scoring but three, only one hit being made off Baldwin and four off Crane.

A game of "rounders" between a team from the Rounders' a.s.sociation of Liverpool and an American eleven with Baldwin and Earl as the battery, and with Tener, Wood, Fogarty, Brown, Hanlon, Pfeffer, Manning, Sullivan and myself in the field was played. The bases in this game instead of being bags are iron stakes about three feet high, the ball the size of a tennis ball, and the batting is done with one hand and with a bat that resembles a b.u.t.ter-paddle in shape and size. A base-runner has to be retired by being struck with the ball, and not touched with it, and the batter must run the first time he strikes at the ball, whether he hits it or not. Of course the Rounders' a.s.sociation team beat us, the score being 16 to 14, but when they came to play us two innings at our game afterwards the score stood at 18 to o in our favor, the crowd standing in a drenching rain to witness the fun.

At nine o'clock that night we took the train for Fleetwood, on the sh.o.r.es of the Irish Channel, and at eleven we were on board of the little steamer "Princess of Wales" and bound for Ireland. Unlike our experience in the English Channel, this trip proved to be most delightful and we arrived in Belfast in the pink of condition for anything that might turn up. It was Sunday morning and as we drove up to the Imperial Hotel on Royal Avenue the streets were as quiet as a country church yard. Towards evening, however, Royal Avenue began to take on a gala appearance, conspicuous among the promenaders being the Scotch Highland Troops, whose bright costumes lent color to the scene.

About nine o'clock it began to rain again and it was still raining when we retired for the night. The next morning was full of sunshine and showers, but towards noon it cleared up and after luncheon we were off in drags for the North of Ireland Cricket Club Grounds, where we put up another great game and one where a crowd of 3,000 people, among which pretty Irish girls without number were to be seen, were the spectators.

At the end of the eighth inning the score stood 8 to 7 in our favor, but in the ninth singles by Wood and Healy and a corking three-bagger to left field by Earle sent two men across the place and gave the victory to All-America by a score of 9 to 8. A banquet at the Club House that evening, over which the Mayor of Belfast presided, kept us out till a late hour, and at an early hour the next morning we were off for Dublin City,

"Where the boys are all so gay And the girls are all so pretty,"

according to the words of an old song. The porter who woke us up that morning must have been a relative of Mr. Dooley, of the Archer road, if one might judge from the rich brogue with which he announced the hour of "'Arf pawst foive, wud he be gittin' oop, sur? It's 'arf pawst foive."

Between Belfast and Dublin we pa.s.sed through a beautiful section of the country, catching now and then among the trees glimpses of old ivy-grown castles and whirling by farms in a high state of cultivation. At Dublin, where we arrived at eleven o'clock, we were met by United States Consul McCaskill and others and driven to Morrison's Hotel. This was a day off and many of the boys who had relatives in Ireland within reaching distance took advantage of the fact to pay them a visit. Mrs. Anson and I spent the day in driving about the city visiting Phoenix Park and other places of interest, and that evening we attended the "Gaiety Theater," where a laughable comedy called "Arabian Nights" was being played.

The next day we played our last game in a foreign land, the weather being all that could be desired for the purpose. Prior to the game, however, we called at the Mansion House and were received by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, who gave us a genuine Irish welcome.

Our drive to the Landsdown Road Grounds took us through many of the best parts of the city, which is beautiful, and can boast of as many handsome women as any place of its size in the world.

The game that we played that afternoon was one of the best of the entire trip, from an American base-ball critic's point of view, though the score was too small to suit a people educated up to the big scores that are generally reached in cricket matches. Baldwin and Crane were both on their mettle and the fielding being of the sharpest kind safe hits were few and far between. Up to the ninth inning Chicago led by two runs, but here Earle's three-bagger, Hanlon's base on b.a.l.l.s, Burns' fumble of Brown's. .h.i.t and Carroll's double settled our chances, the All-Americas winning by a score of 4 to 3.

This game made a total of twenty-eight that we had played since leaving San Francisco, of which the All-Americas had won fourteen and the Chicagos eleven, three being a tie, and had it not been for the accident in Paris that deprived us of Williamson's services, I am pretty certain that a majority of the games would have been placed to Chicago's credit.

In the evening we left for Cork over the Southern Railway in three handsomely-appointed coaches decorated with American flags and bearing the inscription "Reserved for the American Base-Ball Party." We arrived at two o'clock the next morning, being at once driven to the Victoria Hotel. The same day we visited Blarney Castle, driving out and back in the jaunting cars for which Ireland is famous, and, though I kissed the blarney stone, I found after my return home that I could not argue my beliefs into an umpire any better than before. That night we left the quaint city of Cork behind and, after a beautiful ride of eleven miles by train, found ourselves standing on the docks at Queenstown, where a tender was in waiting to convey us to the White Star steamer that awaited us in the offing.

CHAPTER x.x.xI. "HOME, SWEET HOME."

Our voyage back to "G.o.d's country," by which term of endearment the American traveling abroad often refers to the United States, was by no means a pleasant one, as we encountered heavy weather from the start, the "Adriatic" running into a storm immediately after leaving Queenstown that lasted for two days and two nights, during which time we made but slow progress, and as a result there were a good many vacant seats at the table when mealtimes came. A storm at sea is always an inspiring sight, and it was a pleasure to those of us who were lucky enough to have our sealegs on to watch the big ship bury her nose in the mountainous waves, scattering the spray in great clouds and then rising again as buoyantly as the proverbial cork. The decks were not a pleasant point of vantage, however, even for the most enthusiastic admirer of nature, as a big wave would now and then break over the forward part of the vessel, drenching everything and everybody within reach and making the decks as slippery as a well-waxed ballroom.

I had quit smoking some time before starting on this trip and was therefore deprived of blowing a cloud with which to drive dull care away during the tedious days that followed. Like the rest of the party, too, once started I was impatient to reach home again, and for that reason the slow progress that we made the first few days was not greatly to my liking. The weather moderated at the end of forty-eight hours, and though the waves still wore their night-caps and were too playful to go to bed, they occasioned us but little annoyance and we bowled along over the Atlantic in merry fashion, killing time by spinning yarns, playing poker and taking a turn at the roulette wheel which Fred Carroll had purchased at Nice to remind him of his experience at Monte Carlo.

At a very early hour on Sat.u.r.day morning, April 6, we were off Fire Island, and sunrise found us opposite quarantine.

Our base-ball friends in New York, who had been looking for us for three days, had been early apprised that the "Adriatic" had arrived off Sandy Hook, and, boarding the little steamer "Starin" and the tug "George Wood," they came down the bay, two hundred strong, to meet us. With the aid of "a leedle Sherman pand," steam whistles and l.u.s.ty throats they made noise enough to bring us all on deck in a hurry. As the distance between the vessels grew shorter we could distinguish among others the faces of Marcus Meyer, W. W. Kelly, John W. Russel, Digby Bell, DeWolf Hopper, Col. W. T. Coleman and many others, not least among them being my old father, who had come on from Marshalltown to be among the first to welcome myself and my wife back to America, and who, as soon as the "Starin" was made fast, climbed on deck and gave us both a hug that would have done credit to the muscular energy of a grizzly bear, but who was no happier to see us than we were to see him and to learn that all was well with our dear ones. I'm not sure but the next thing that he did was to propose a game of poker to some of the boys, but if he did not it was simply because there was too much excitement going on. That evening we were the guests of Col. McCaull at Palmer's Theater, where De-Wolf Hopper, Digby Bell and other prominent comic opera stars were playing in "The May Queen." The boxes that we occupied that night were handsomely decorated with flags and bunting, while from the proscenium arch hung an emblem of all nations, a gilt eagle and shield, with crossed bats and a pair of catcher's gloves and a catcher's mask.

Every allusion to the trip and to the members of the teams brought out the applause, and by and by the crowd began to call for speeches from Ward and myself, but Ward wouldn't, and I couldn't, and so the comedians on the stage were left to do all of the entertaining.

The next day, Sunday, was spent quietly in visiting among our friends, and Monday we played the first game after our return on the Brooklyn grounds. The day was damp and cold and for that reason the crowd was comparatively a small one, there being only 4,000 people on hand to give us a welcome, but these made up in noise what they lacked in numbers and yelled themselves hoa.r.s.e as we marched onto the grounds. Once again, after a hard-fought contest, we were beaten by a single run, All-America 7, Chicago 6 being the score.

At night we were given a banquet at Delmonico's by the New York admirers of the game, and it was a notable gathering of distinguished men that a.s.sembled there to do us honor, among them being A. G. Mills, ex-President of the National League, who acted as Chairman, Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, Hon. Daniel Dougherty, Henry E. Howland, W. H. McElroy, U. S.

Consul; G. W. Griffin, who was representing the United States at Sydney when we were there; Mayor Chapin, of Brooklyn; Mayor Cleveland, of Jersey City; Erastus Wyman, Samuel L. Clemens ("Mark Twain"), and the Rev. Joseph Twitch.e.l.l, of Hartford, Conn.; while scattered about the hall at various tables were seated representatives of different college cla.s.ses, members of the New York Stock Exchange, the president and prominent members of the New York Athletic Club, and other crack athletic organizations of New York and vicinity, while in the gallery the ladies had been seated presumably for the purpose of seeing that we neither ate nor drank too much during the festivities.

Mr. Mills in his address reminded his hearers of the occasion that had brought them together and p.r.o.nounced a glowing eulogy upon the game and its beauties and upon the players that had journeyed around the world to introduce it in foreign climes, and then called upon Mayor Cleveland of New Jersey, whose witty remarks excited constant laughter, and who wound up by welcoming us home in the name of the 20,000 residents of the little city across the river. Mayor Alfred Chapin of Brooklyn followed in a brief and laughter-provoking address, after which Chauncey M. Depew arose amid enthusiastic cheering and spoke as follows:

"Representing, as I do, probably more than any other human being, the whole of the American people who were deprived, by a convention that did not understand its duty, of putting me where I belong; and representing, as I do, by birth and opportunity, all the nationalities on the globe, I feel that I have been properly selected to give you the welcome of the world. I am just now arranging and preparing a Centennial oration which I hope may, and fear may not, meet all the possibilities of the 30th of April in presenting the majesty of that which created the government which we boast of and the land and country of which we are proud, but I feel that that oration is of no importance compared with the event of this evening. Washington never saw a base-ball game; Madison wrote the Const.i.tution of the United States, and died without seeing one; Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence, and yet his monument has no tribute of this kind upon it. Hamilton, the most marvelous and creative genius, made const.i.tutions, built up systems and created inst.i.tutions, and yet never witnessed a base-ball game. I feel as I stand here that all the men that have ever lived and achieved success in this world have died in vain. I am competent to pay that tribute, because I never played a game in my life, and I never saw it but once, and then did not understand it. A philosopher whom I always read with interest, because his abstractions sometimes approach the truth, wrote an article of some ac.u.men several years ago, in which he said that you could mark the march of civilization and rise of liberty and its decadence by the interest which the nations took in pugilism.

The nations of the earth which submit to the most grinding of despotisms have no pugilists. The nations of Europe which have never risen in their boasted establishments to a full comprehension of republicanism, have no pugilists. While Ireland and the Irish people, who can never be crushed, who have poetry, song and eloquence that belong to genius, have the most remarkable pugilists. England, which has a literature which is the only cla.s.sic of to-day, which has an aristocracy and a form of government which is nearly democratic, has remarkable pugilists, and when you reach the seal of culture in America--Boston--you find the prince of pugilists.

Now, that philosopher was right in the general principle, but wrong in the game. Civilization is marked, and has been in all ages, by an interest in the manly arts."

In conclusion Mr. Depew eulogized the returning tourists and-ended with a brilliant panegyric in favor of the National Game.

In responding to the toast, "The Influence of the Manly Sports," the Hon. Daniel Dougherty made a brilliant address in favor of outdoor games, after which President Spalding paid a compliment to the excellent conduct and ball-playing abilities of the two teams, and Captain Ward and myself made the briefest of remarks. Chairman Mills then introduced "Mark Twain," speaking of him as a native of the Sandwich Islands, which brought out the following address:

"Though not a native, as intimated by the chairman, I have visited the Sandwich Islands, that peaceful land, that beautiful land, that far-off home of profound repose and soft indolence, and dreamy solitude, where life is one long slumberous Sabbath, the climate one long, delicious summer day, and the good that die experience no change, for they but fall asleep in one heaven and wake up in another. And these boys have played base-ball there; baseball, which is the very symbol, the outward and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth century. One cannot realize it, the place and the fact are so incongruous; it is like interrupting a funeral with a circus. Why, there's no legitimate point of contact, no possible kinship between base-ball" and the Sandwich Islands; base-ball is all fact, the Islands are all sentiment. In base-ball you've got to do everything just right, or you don't get there; in the Islands you've got to do everything all wrong, or you can't stay there. You do it wrong to get it right, for if you do it right you get it wrong; there isn't any way to get it right but to do it wrong, and the wronger you do it the righter it is.

"The natives ill.u.s.trate this every day. They never mount a horse from the larboard side, they always mount him from the starboard; on the other hand, they never milk a cow on the starboard side, they always milk her on the larboard; it's why you see so many short people there, they've got their heads kicked off. When they meet on the road they don't turn to the right, they turn to the left. And so, from always doing everything wrong end first, it makes them left-handed and cross-eyed; they are all so. In those Islands, the cats haven't any tails and the snakes haven't any teeth; and, what is still more irregular, the man that loses a game gets the pot. As to dress, the women all wear a single garment, but the men don't. No, the men don't wear anything at all; they hate display; when they wear a smile they think they are overdressed. Speaking of birds, the only bird there that has ornamental feathers has only two, just only enough to squeeze through with, and they are under its wings instead of on top of its head, where, of course, they ought to be to do any good.

"The natives' language is soft and liquid and flexible, and in every way efficient and satisfactory till you get mad; then, there you are; there isn't anything in it to swear with. Good judges all say it is the best Sunday language there is; but then all the other six days of the week it just hangs idle on your hands; it isn't any good for business, and you can't work a telephone with it. Many a time the attention of the missionaries has been called to this defect, and they are always promising they are going to fix it; but no, they go fooling along and fooling along, and nothing is done. Speaking of education, everybody there is educated, from the highest to the lowest; in fact, it is the only country in the world where education is actually universal. And yet every now and then you run across instances of ignorance that are simply revolting, simply revolting to the human race. Think of it, there the ten takes the ace. But let us not dwell on such things. They make a person ashamed. Well, the missionaries are always going to fix that, but they put it off, and put it off, and put it off, and so that nation is going to keep on going down, and down, until some day you will see a pair of jacks beat a straight flush.

"Well, it is refreshment to the jaded, water to the thirsty, to look upon men who have so lately breathed the soft air of these Isles of the Blest, and had before their eyes the inextinguishable vision of their beauty. No alien land in all the world has any deep, strong charm for me but that one; no other land could so longingly and beseechingly tempt me, sleeping and waking, through half a life-time, as that one has done.

Other things leave me, but that abides; other things change, but that remains the same. For me, its balmy airs are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in the sun, the pulsing of its surfbeat is in my ears. I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the sh.o.r.e, its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud rack. I can hear the spirits of its woodland solitudes, I can hear the splash of its brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of the flowers that perished twenty years ago. And these world wanderers that sit before me here have lately looked upon these things, and with eyes of the flesh, not the unsatisfying vision of the spirit. I envy them that."

"Mark Twain" may have been better than he was that night, but if so I should like some one to mention the time and place. To be sure he make a mistake in taking it for granted that we had played ball there, but then it was not our fault that we had not: It was all the fault of the horrid blue laws that prevented us from making an honest dollar.

Digby Bell and DeWolf Hopper gave recitations in response to the loud demand made for them, and it was not until long after midnight that an adjournment was finally made.

The next day we played our second game in Brooklyn before a crowd of 3,500, and gave a rather uninteresting exhibition, the Chicagos taking the lead at the start and holding it to the finish, the All-Americas supporting Crane in a very slipshod manner. That same evening we left for Baltimore, where 6,000 people gave us a hearty welcome when we appeared the next afternoon on the a.s.sociation grounds. Here we put up a good game, the Chicagos winning by a score of 5 to 2.