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THE SUNDAY OREGOJTtAX, POKTLAU,' SJKFTKJrBlSK 2, 1906.
ON.
Jo
I n i
Told br
.mmie.
ddeh
DCAR IAD: Today school opened,
and the very prettiest girl in all
the world was there. When I saw
her I knew that after all there were
some girls at least, one who had a
right to be around where boys were.
She didn't seem to be a bit cheeky
and want to boss things like most
girls. But I have something else to
tell you before I tell you about the
first school day. only I happened to re
. member how pretty she was and put
that down first.
Eggy and I went out to Grandpa's
one day last week to see if the chest
nuts trees were ripe yet, and Grandpa
said they were not ripe until after a
frost came. But he said that it was a
curious thing that Grandma had hap
pened to make some fresh doughnuts
which Mafy told me how to spell
and that we could play around until
we were hungry, and then have some
doughnuts. Eggy said a boy could
play around any time, but that a big
crock of doughnuts were not around
every day, so we'd best pretend that
we were hungry right then, and eat
some of the doughnuts to see if we
would like them when we really were
hungry. Grandpa said that boys were
the same now as they were when Mam
ma was little, and even when he was
a boy, because he always used to think
it best to eat when he had a chance,
especially doughnuts, and take his
chance for a time to play afterward.
We played Indians. No shooting ar
rows or throwing tommyhawks above
the belt on account of the eyes. Grand
ma said, or no doughnuts.
The little girl's name is ElolseWent
worth, but she is called Pussy, which I
think is a pretty name, and I saw her
first while we were doing arithmetic
on the blackboard, and 1 never was
more surprised in all my life. But
girls are strange humans, because she
pretended not to see me, though I was
looking at her as hard as I could.
Miss Mary said that that was a fact
about girls' eyes, that they couldn't
see boys who stared at them, especially
girls as nice as Pussy, and that if I
didn't stare at her so hard she would
be more likely to see me. I guess she
will, for her eyes are so bright I think
she could see anything she wanted to.
At Indians I was Bear Fighter and
Eggy was Panther Skin, and we played
down by the pond, where there are cat
tails, water lilies, frogs and blood
suckers, and a lot of corking things
which country boys have to enjoy and
which they know about as well as city
boys know which vaudeville show has
. the best acrobats. But ponds are more
fun than theaters, because at the ponds
, you do your own stunts Instead of sit
ting still watching other men doing
them. It doesn't take long to get tired
of playing Indians when the other In
dian can throw a tommyhawk as
straight and hard as Eggy can, even
If you do take all the death wounds on
your shins; so we took the canoe and
played voyagers. We went after water
lilies and frogs, because Eggy knows
how to skin and cook them over a fire.
Water lilies were easy, but frogs are
not where they were when you get
there, so we paddled toward the end
of the pond around the turn, where
Eggy said it looked good and froggy,
and not to disturb them we paddled as
quietly as we could. The rushes are
high Just before you get to the turn,
and we heard voices before we could
see around the point. J whispered "In
dians!" but Eggy whispered "Tramps!"
and stopped the boat to listen.
They were talking a lingo I couldn't
understand, but Eggy's eyes got big
as could be, and he motioned me to lie
low while he worked the canoe deep
' into the rushes. Pretty soon we could
see through, and there, over a fire,
were two tramps cooking a chicken.
They seemed to be awfully interested
in what they were saying and didn't
i hear us, though I thought they might
have heard my heart beat, for it was
thumping so loud it made me deaf.
, But Eggy listened close, and after a
while he motioned to back, and we
got to the far end of the pond before
he said a word, and then he only whis
pered, "We must see your grandpa
right away."
I could see that there was something
up. but I didn't ask what 1t was, for I
was afraid that If I opened my lips at all
I'd scream. We ran back to the house
as fast as we could, and as soon as Eggy
got Grandpa away from the house he
said: "Mr. Hamilton, did you sell your
hay yesterday and get cash for it and
not put the money in bank yet?"
Grandpa took off his spectacles and
wiped them round and round before he
said: "Yes, Eggy. why do you ask?"
He told grandpa about the tramps, and
id they were talking about it in their
slang, but he understood enough of it
to make him think they were going to try
to pet the money that night. The only
thing grandpa said was: "Don't let
urandma know a thing of this. You boys
ran come with me if you want to." We
went down to the barn, where he got
Towser and a hired man, who took a
pitchfork along, and we all walked to the
pone and came upon the tramps before
they knew there was anybody about. I
was proud of grandpa, for he spoke as
ouletly as if he were at home talking to
grandma. He said: "You rascals can
have Just 20 minutes to get over the town
ship line. That will make you move
lively, but if you are not across the line
by that time I'll have you both in the
lockup. If you pay me a visit tonight I
promise you a warm reception. Now
get!"
The men were wicked-looking and
scowled at grandpa, but he only looked
at them pleasantly, took out his watch,
looked at it and said: "Keep your eye on
them. Towser." The men started off,
with grandpa and the hired man follow
ing after them In the buckboard, and
Towser sitting on the seat between them,
looking as if he were as much a part of
the business as anyone else. I guess he
was. ,
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grandma hung out on a line for us until
grandpa came back and told us that the
men slackened their gait at the last until
he thought it was time for Towser to
stretch his legs, and then the men made
a record run for the township line, and
were running yet, he guessed. . He gave
us a ride back to the village when he
went to deposit some money in the bank,
and patted me on the head and said:
"We don't want those yeggmen taking
any of your inheritance, do we. Ham?"
But he took a $5 bill off the roll and
gave it to Eggy, saying, "You're a pretty
cute little chap, son." I was glad he
staked Eggy, even If the money was to
be my "Inheritance." I wonder what
he meant by that! I know a good little
boy who is short of funds and could use
any part of 95 but no more of that at
present.
The first day in school is jolly fun.
There were a lot of boys and girls I had
never seen. They are farmers' kids, who
live four and five miles out of the vil
lage and drive in and out every day,
bringing their lunches with them. We
all take our lunches and sit about under
the trees eating, and trading, too, for
the farm children have the bull lest things
to eat I ever saw. The little girl I
spoke of had gingerbread, and It was
smelly of fresh butter, fresh eggs, fresh
spices, brown sugar and fresh baking.
I wanted some so much it made my
mouth water, but when I discovered it I
couldnM. trade, for my lunch basket was
as empty as my purse but no more of
that at present though the money mar.
ket with ma is as .tight as a kite suing
LWl
in a gale of wind. After school I was
walking along with a fellow and he be
gan to look at his pail as If it might have
a rat In it, and then he said: "This isn't
my pail." He opened it and I saw it
was Pussy's, for there was a lot of that
gingerbread in it. He had taken hers
from the hat hooks by mistake. He was
for chucking it out on the road, for he
said his mother would see that he had
brought home the wrong pail If he
left the gingerbread in it. but if the pail
was empty she might not discover, and
he wouldn't have to go out and cut a
birch switch for being such a fool. I
said I'd get his pail, and took the one he
had to Pussy, and she was just wonder
ing what had happened, for the pail she
had was half filled with cold roast pork.
That was the way I got acquainted with
her, and she is ripping,- with no cheek or
nonsense. I am going to study hard now.
for she is at one end of the class and I
am at the other. Her end Is called the
head. She gave me some gingerbread,
and It was like eating a perfume.
Cousin Bob was hanging about school
when it let out to see if Miss Mary had
lived through the day. He said he hadn't,
being stone dead from loneliness. He said
that if Mary or I didn't play hookey with
him he would enlist in the army for com
panionship. But when I wane companion
ship I will look for the gingerbread girl.
In school we have gramuiar, geography
and arithmetic, but no poetry. So I told
Miss Mary she would have to give me
private lessons in poetry. She asked me
why, and I said that being short of funds
I bad nothing to offer the gingerbread girl
Ml FIRST
except poetry, and I would like to offer
her some. Mary said an apple would
probably do more good for the cause, and
I could get an apple just by sliding down
the cellar door and pinching one from
the barrel, which would be no more
trouble than learning to write poetry.
Cousin Bob said he had tried both poetry
and apples, but hadn't made a hit with
either.
Mary laughed, and said Bob's poetry
Learning to
TO FIND a way to play baseball at
home has long been the ambition
of every patriotic American 'boy.
Any boy who can shoot a marble can
play indoor.- baseball. The "field"
should be a bed or large table, with
pillows -or a pile of books or boxes for
a "backstop." An old sheet with a dia
gram of the diamond in chalk or Ink
should be spread upon bed or table,
the diamond at one end and the outfield
at the other, as on real grounds. The
bases should be two feet apart, marked
by round spots the size of a silver
quarter, and the pitcher's box should
be a foot from the home plate, the lat
ter .belug a postage stamp. " jiie 'pitch.
and his apples were alike; both lacked
tang, both were well rounded but some
what seedy, and when you got down to
the core of each you had nothing more to
do but throw it away. I thought that was
nearly as good as a riddle, but Bob said
he saw nothing funny about it. He said
if I was truly in earnest about the ginger
bread girl not to waste time over such
silly things as verses, but to hitch up a
fast horse, run away with her, marry her
before she got breath enough to say.
Play Baseball
er's and batsmen's boxes should be
marked as well as the foul lines.
The players are spools just ordinary
sewing silk or thread spools and they
are all selected for their ability to roll
straight. The name of each player is
written on a slip of paper pasted on "nis
heaej. The nines secured, the ball and
bat are all that remain to be found.
The latter is a round leadpencil not
sharpened. The team In the field are
all placed in their accustomed positions
as in the actual game, except that the
three basemen remain on the bases in
stead of "playing off." The operator or
"manager" of the field team stands be
side the table nearest first base and.
reaching his arm over that position,
places hia right hand beside his spool
pitcher Uia siaxbla ia th hfttli. .The
1
"This is so sudden," and live happily
ever afterward. -
But I'm going to try the poetry game
first, and I've already made up love .and
dove and true and blue, but "ginger
bread" is awful hard ,to rhyme with un
less a fellow has long hair. Mine Is grow
ing, because football needs long hair or
small stones get Into your scalp, and then
Aunt Jane puts on a salve which would
blister the hide of an elephant. Affection
atelv. your son, HAMILTON.
in the Home
manager of the team at bat, putting
one of his men in the batsman's box at
home plate, 3tands on the other side of
the field from his opponent and places
his right hand, grasping the bat. in
front of his player.
Then the game begins and the actual
rules are followed closely. A third boy
may act as umpire, or the two man
agers can agree easily enough on de
cisions, for few will be found uncom
fortably close or uncertain. The bats
man cannot judge the ball well, be
cause the pitchxr is so near, therefore,
he is allowed to strike at each delivery.
A cigar box Is laid on its bottom di
rectly behind the catcher. If the mar
ble hits the broad side of this box when
pitched, a. "strike" is called; if it shoots
over sx beside the box, li ia a "ba.IV
Hush-aired
by IlCory
lllvert 9
0
Four "balls," as in the real game, en
title the batsman to his base.
There are no "foul strikes" in spool
baseball, but when a hall touches the bat
and rolls foul the fielder nearest the point
where it stops is rolled from his position
toward it, and if he touches it the bats
man is "out." A fair hit that knocks over
a fielder is an "out" if the fielder rolls
further from the plate then does the ball
and it scores as a "fly caught." When a
fair hit is met by no fielder, or when It
strikes one and goes beyond him. the one
nearest where it stops is rolled toward it.
and If he touches It it Is an out. Should
he miss, however, the batsman Is rolled
from home plate toward first base and.
hitting the baseman there. Is declared
"safe"1 and may roll for second, third and
home In order.
The field team waits to move until
the runner has tried, and if he fails at
any base the ball is thrown from where
It stopped toward the baseman missed.
Should the ball then hit the latter the
runner is out. Should it not hit, the run
ner has again to roll from where he
stopped toward the baseman, and tf he
fail again the ball is thrown from its
place, and so on until the man is either
safe or out. Once safe on first base the
runner remains there until the next ball
other than a foul has been delivered.
Then he may try to steal the next base
under the same rules as applied to his
reaching first, but he may take but one
base, of course, on such a run. Should
a hit be made when a runner is on first
base the ball may be fielded to second
base Immediately to force him out. as in
the real game, and this may often develop
a true double play if the batter fails to
get to first.
For a throw to home base the catcher
fs brought up from behind the bat and
placed upon the plate. In the case of
a hit off the field (that is. the bed or
table) the bail is brought back to the
point over which it passed in going off
and the nearest fielder has his chance to
run for it as if it were a real "hit to
the fence."
A Fool and His Money
A Well Known New York Sonh
rette Comments on Youth of the
Harry Thaw Type.
BY CARRIE DE MAR.
APPARENTLY the public was amazed
at the facility with which many of
Mr. Thaw's footllght friends (?) who had
enjoyed his lavish hospitalities turned
against him and rallied to the flag of
Mr. Jerome. To the player-folk this was
the expected thing the inevitable. How
ever much the chorus maiden may enjoy
so-called bohemlanism at some one else's
expense, the foolish spender becomes the
laughing stock of the very young women
upon whom he is lavishing the hard
earned wealth of his fathers. From ridi
cule to disloyalty there Is but a step.
The reputable actor regards the college
lad spendthrift with pity not unmixed
with contempt. The colleges patronized
by the newly made multi-millionaires
might well Include In their text-books
"A Life of Harry K. Thaw." It would
be more effective than tomes of ordi
nary ethics.
We have heard and read a lot of mor
alizing, clerical and lay, of late concern
ing the sort of thing that led Kipling to
pen "The Vampire." and Bume-Jones to
paint it. I do not know how much of It
has been absorbed by the persons at
whom it was directed or seemed to be
directed; perhaps they were doing some
moralizing for themselves: However this
may be. It Is not going to do much good
this moralizing, I mean. Moralizing, as
I look at it, is a subjective, intangible
thing the weapon of the casuist and the
policy of aggression pursued by the soph
ist. Were Is not better at times like this to
be objective that is, to say or write, or
at least think, something- that Is meas
urable and applicable in the same way
that a coat of whitewash or a gob of
soapsuds is applicable? What Is the use.
for instance, in welling on the folly of
the brainy, brawny Ironmaster or ship
ping merchant or banker or what not who
rears his son in Idleness, luxury, ease and
that sort of "independence" that is the
most slavish form of downright depend
ence? Fathers will go on making money
and leaving it to sons as long as the
worlds goes round. There's nothing in
blamfrrg dead fathers or in talking the
Lecalogue to living, -11 ve-wire sons. Point
out to the latter, when the chance comes,
how others see them; that sort of ridi
cule will tell.
Thus, what must be the feelings of that
prodigal who. having proved himself a
fat-headed calf, gets Into trouble, to find
that those on whom he had lavished his
attentions and professed his utter lack of
Intentions are the ones who regard him
with the most contempt? What Bort of
myopia Is It that blinds an educated cul
tured young American or Englishman of
today, when newspapers are served with
the breakfast and other forms of the
world's thought and experience . with
luncheon and dinner, to the fact that he
is the antithesis of a hero in the eyes of
the will-o'-the-wisps of the show-girl line
and the chorus?
I think the very best thing that could
happen to the jeunesse doree of today
who haunt the stage doors of the town
would be to organize themselves into a
composite sort of eavesdropper and de
vote their collective energies to gather
ing one scrap of good report about them
selves from all that Is said of thorn by
their divinities of the footlights.
But, I fear, all this has been said In
another and a better way:
"There was a man -and he made his
prayer"
Other Rewards Than Money.
The Pilgrim.
York a man who has won eminent suc
cess, . and yet he died In poverty. Brigadier-General
E. S. Sherrell was a military,
engineer. He it was who first surveyed
the interoceanic canal routes across the
Isthmus of Panama. He built the Hoosaic
Tunnel and planned the constrution of
the Niagara suspension bridge. He was a
Fellow of the American Academy of Sci
ences, was" three times thanked by Com
gress, received nine medals and decora
tions, and lived to be 80 years of age.
There are other compensations than
money. -