THE SU3TDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND. AUGUST 16, 19Q8.
to
3 . "
mwwm mm .he mmi . .
THERE was a long piece ll the
paper about the meteoric rie of
a famous cotton speculator who
had come to the city without a cent
and after a few yeara had been able to
fall In auch a manners to owe nearly
everybody he knew large iiimi of
money. The Hotel Clerk read the ac
count through carefully..
"Say. Larry." he remarked at length
to the House Detective of the St. Reck
less, "d'ye remember that nursery yarn
they used to hand us In chlldhood'a
happy hour about the Town Mouse and
the Country Mouse?
"Come to think of It. I believe I do."
said the House Detective, "that Is. if
It's the one about the Town Mouse
goln' to see the Country Mouse and
knockin' the place on account of it be
In so dull and quiet, but -when the
Country Mouse went to visit the other
one In the city he seen so many traps
and plain clothes cats and things like
that layin' "round waltin' for him that
be was blamed glad to beat It back to
the squash Jungle."
"The same pleasing ' selection." af
firmed the Hotel Clerk. "And It Just
goes to show what I was saying the
other day. The late Aesop and the
other literary parties who wrote the
fables may have had the correct for
mula at the time, but they are cer
tainly singing off the key for present
use."
"As to how?" asked the House De
tective. "Well. take this Town Mouse and
Country Mouse classic for example,"
said the Hotel Clerk. "Larry, since I
came Into this large burg I've met more
than eleven million of these Town Mice,
and I feel that I'm In position to give
you the correct facts in regards to the
raee. We'll assume that our particular
Town .Mouse was born here because
then the symptoms of the disease are
apt to be more typical than if he moved
In and caught It. From his Knicker
bocker ancestry he Inherits a middle
name 'like a down-town street and
enough cash reserve to enable him to
live without prolonged mental strain.
So he goes to Harvard, graduating
eighty-fourth In the class of 85, and
after that nothing in particular hap-
pens until his' death, when the Sun
gives htm qne of its native New Yorker
two-lly obituaries, stating that de
ceased was born In 1S62. .joined the
Union League Club and will be burled
.tomorrow afternoon at half past two
from the family residence on Fifth ave
nue. Palm Beach and Newport papers
please copy.
"As long as he stays at home and
takes on age and flesh In the regular
way. which is largely done by sitting
In a club window of afternoons in a
row along with a troupe of other
BY JIM NASIUM.
I ELL. it's a mystery to me why
that team of ours can't win
games, said the sporting ed
itor of the Evening Star to the Old
Sport. "They're good hitters, they're
good fielders, and individually it's the
best bunch of ballplayers In the league.
But they don't get results, and here
they are trailing along in the cellar,
taking the dust of a lot of teams that
they ought to be putting it all over. It's
certainly hard luck, but why should
hard luck hang on to one team like
Spring fever?" ;
"Well," replied the Old Sport, "lfs
nothing new. You often see. the same
thing in this old dump of a world, not
only In baseball, but in business. And
It may be all right for you sporting
writers to hand out the slush that lhe
breaks of the game are against the
home team, and that there's nothing to
' It but hard luck, and that wheu the
team gets out of its slump they'll climb
up where . they belong, and you can
Jolly the funs along this way for a
while, tout 'hope deferred roakelh the
heart sick,' and the public soon begins,
to suspect that there s something more
to It than hard luck.
"You know, a guy cua plug along
and keep scratching hia back on the
door Jamb for a few days and blame It
on buckwheat cakes and get away with
It. But if he keeps it up for a couple
of months, he loses the confidence of
hia friends, and the public begins to
suspect something. It's the same way
In baseball. Hard luck, like a buck
wheat cake rash, doesn't hang on long.
It's migratory, and after giving you a
1'w slams in the slats will pull 1U
freight for other quarters.
"Take it from me. whenever you see
a guy plugging along through the
worid on his uppers and blaming his
reverses on hard luck, if you dig down
Into his system, you'll find something
that he's covering up and la ashamed
to let you take a peep at. The guy
who makes the crack that the world
ewes him a living usually has no other
asset worth mentioning, and if he over
took an inventory of himself, he'd find
hia stock in trade consisted mainly of
liabilities. v4
"And let me tell you that It's the
same way with baseball teams. Take
It from nie, the breaks of the game and
this thing we call luck will always be
found plugging for the guys who are
playing the game. A team slams out
ten hits in a game and loses out to a
bunch that only rops four, and then you
pen pushers point to this fact to prove
that the breaks of the game are against
them. But let me tell you that this
slush doesn't go down the throat that
Is operated from the think tank. There
is nothing in the whole blamed busl-,
ness but ball playing. It is nothing
but good ball playing and steadiness
In the pinches that gets hits when they
produce runs, and it Is the same asset
that keeps their foozles from being
costly and keeps the other guys' hits
scattered llkf facts In a political
speech. Luck hasn't a blamed bit more
to do with winning pennants than it
has to making nations or getting into
paradise
"I don't say that there isn't an cle
ment of chance in baseball. Just the
same a there is an element of chance
In success In any business, but take It
from me. this element of chance is al
ways on the side of the guy who is
there with the goods. Chance, luck or
whatever you want to call this evan
escent thing, can only supply the op
portunities and you've got to have the
goods to take advantage of these yop
portunlties. "Now. you may call it luck In base
ball when a team takes all kinds of
seemingly reckless chances on the
base and gets away with them on ac
rour.t of the errors of the opposing
KX V 4 A 1 Mm V k IV i J 7hi 111 IV VI 7
trained Pomeranian club men, all with
the little tufts under their ears neatly
trimmed and their paws up, he doesn't
attract any considerable attention. It's
when he invades the bosky dells of the
interior United States that he begins to
sort of fluff out aid get weighty below
the Plimsolls. The woods are full of
these human snowballs from 'ew York
that get bigger the further "they roll
away from "the place, where they
started. .
"The town where he goes to give tha
peasantry a taste of pleasure la gen
erally one of those places that got
shoved up a siding- in Its early youth
and never found Its way back to the
main line. But even at that It's doing
pretty well, considering the climate
and the difficulty which the suburbs
have In trying to keep from looking
like farming land. It has In Its midst
at least one leading citizen who once
went to a banquet at Fort Wayne,
where they served watermelon with
real champagne wine at IS a bottle
poured In through the plug and then
had the coffee after they ,got through
Instead of along with. There are sev
eral others of social prominence who
are wise to the fact that a correct din
ner coat Is not one that can be taken
off easily just before sitting down to
the table. Wealthier citizens are often
seen to smoke a noble 10-cent - cigar
called the Andy Jackson brand, on ac
count of it being full of old hickory,
with a gilt band around it, Just the
same as if It came from Havana, Cuba.
There has been a debut party where a
regular city caterer furnished brick ice
cream and fully 18 worth of Imported
mustard greens was wrapped around
the chandelier.
"To be sure the annual engagement
of the Bessie Hopkins Stock Company
with a change of bill every night and
a set of plush furniture and a silver
card receiver given away on Saturday
evening to the lady and gentleman
holding the winning coupons, is still
reckoned as a gay week, and one re
plete with box parties and theater sup
pers. Also boiled custard and choco
late layer cake have more or less of a
lead on Camembert and yellow Char
trouse for finishing off the heavy meal
of the day, but. as I say. they still
manage to do quite well In their simple
urban way.
"But not for a holy second would It do
for the Town Mouse to seem to be pleased
with anything. If he was ever caught
looking satisfied the By-Hecks might not
know he was a regular New Yorker. So
he calls the snuff-colored waiter at the
Palace Hotel XJarcon' end then wears a
look of real pain on his' face when in
formed that the latter answera only to
the name of Roscoe. After eating his
way through a line of food that would
keep a poor family two days he pushes
his chair back and regrets in an audible
tone of voice that outside of Sherry's and
Rertor's a man. can't get a decent meal
In this country. He occasionally lets fall
remarks reeardinc a little hreakfast he
rrr(T M tVER SAW. .-THINK o'- tC&VkP l ) ,tf
team. But let me tell you that it's the
guys who take long chanees who put
the .other guys up In the air and make
them foozle, and that's good, baseball
and not uck. ' '
"You fellows who write the sporting
slush may call it hard luck when the
home team slams out a few hits and
gets the bases populated, and then the
heaviest hitters on the team, who have
been banging the ball all day. come up
to the plate and whiff and there's
nothing doing in the run getting line.
But you lose sight of the fact that
there's a pitcher out there on the rub
ber who is drawing a salary on ac
count of his ability to pull off this very
whiffing stunt in the pinches, and you
?an take my tip that there's a blamed
sight more good pitching by the op
posing pitcher and punk pelting by the
home sluggers in this painful occur
rence than there Is hard luck.
"No, take it from me, there Is a thun
dering" lot of . little assets that go to
make up a good ballplayer that isn't
generally recognized or thought of by the
public. Pennants have got to be won by
something more than hitting the ball and
fielding it. It Is possible for a guy to
lead the league in hitting and yet be the
least valuable member of his team In pro
ducing runs, and it's runs that win pen
nants. "The mentality and temperament of a
ballplayer has a thundering lot to do
with his success, just the same as if has
with the guy In the business world. A
guy may be there with the physical
ability all right, and he may be the great
est hitter in the business and the most
sensational fielder that ever wore spikes
under ordinary conditions, but if he isn't
a quitfk thinker and cool in the pinches he
comes a long way from being a valuable
player to his team.
"Naw, Old Man, speaking of local con
ditions, look over our" team and pipe oft
the list and see If we haven't got a few
SITTING CEUE
i
had the day before he 'left town with
dear old Clyde, meaning Fitch, and may.
also be heard casually referring to Otis
Skinner as Ote. Should the wealthiest
citizen take him out for a spin in his
new machine he will remark on getting
back tat it's really astonishing how
well one of these inexpensive American
cars can go sometimes. '
IN WHICH HE TALKS
LIVING.
f ttv t TTrlTf ntTWtf TTV tTT
of these kind of stars in town. Dig up
the facts In the case and see If this hard
luck that you spout about isn't simply
failing to do the right thing at the right
time. See if we haven't got speedy run
I 1 I J
' V 7 -
;"When hs reaches the point where he
simply cannot stand It to stay away from
Broadway another hour, he gives the
side-tra?ked metropolis a farewell . treat
by repairing to the depot in the regular
hired conveyance, with his flossy travel
ing clothes on, consisting in large part
of a ahirfwith a .stripe like the awning
over a grocery store, a wescut with a
ABOUT THE MAN WHO BLAMES IT ON HARD LUCK
;xvLUr Ur-1 vU'UU id'HAi' CALL-I f-LUClv W ntN-A-TEAM-TAKES
-ALL- KINDS-OJT-CHANCEc) -AND
.GETS ON-ACCOUNT OF
EKBOReX CUT-LET-nKm-YOlI-THAT
, "ir3:G00D.BALL-PLAm(3.M
HYocmou i
ttlTLE OUT AND
COLLECT IT?
0"W 1TT7 Uryt, 'AT
ners who are always getting nailed on
the bases because they are trying io run
bases with their feet instead of. with their
head. See if we haven't got a whole
team of good hitters who get over-anxious
diagonal pattern, the same as a cross
town carline, and a pair of English tweed
trousers turned up so far at the bottom
that he can scarcely be said to be wear
ing them at all.
"And then in due season when the crops
are laid by the Country Mouse from the
Junction cornea to the city to see him.
For awhile the Country Mouse endures it
and let their nerve jump the governor
belt In the pinches, and a bunch of star
fielders whose think tanks run dry when
they need them.
"Yes, we've got the best team in the
league on physical and mechanical ability,
but the worst at the thinking game. And
when brawn stacks up against brain In
my old game of life, my money goes on
:ie latter. Take It from me, there's a
Hindering lot of weak teams who put
all over stronger teams simply because
ley are to blamed shy on physical abil
.y that they have to rely on their mental
aehlnery. while the stronger team is so
lamed long on physical ability that they
,et it into their knot that they can win
in this alone. There are some ball teams
A'ho are so blamed strong that they forget
o use their heads. ,
"Then there are other things that enter
nto the successs of a ball team. The fans
lo not generally realize how much a man
ager has to do with the success or fail
ure of his team.- In order to play the
;ame he is capable of putting up a player
has to be kept in the proper mental condi
tion, and his peculiar temperament nursed
along. Take it from me, a star player
may be trying his hardest to deliver the
goods and yet falling down fiit simply
because his manager or the directors of
the club don't know how to keep him In
the proper frame of mind to do his best
work.
"The money stabber in the bank, the
prune clerk in a grocery store, or a kid
in any other business can have It in for
his boss and grouch It out, and the ma
chinery In his conning tower may be
jumping the governor belt and running
amuck to beat the band, but he can plug
along and pull off his daily work in a
pretty decent sort of a way. But let
me tell you that the ball player's
peculiarity of temperament has to be
nursed along and catered to or it's all off.
"It takes a better judge of human na
ture and more knowledge of how to han
patiently while the City Mouse, wearing
a smile that begins at wisdom and ends
at pity and has bored-to-d?ath written
all the way across, takes him around and
shows him the Aquarium and the Bdcn
Musee and Dead Main's Curve and the
Flatiron building and feasts him betimes
at those downtown lunchrooms where
they ladle in the soup with the Australian
crawl stroke and beat the eggs at the
fame time they eat '&m. Finally the
worm turns. The Country Mouse takes
the City Mousekindly but firmly by the
faultlessly-cut lapel of his morning coat
and, as they say in the latest popular
song hit, these words to him he then
does speak as follows:
" 'You need not show me any more
wax works. After the second' visit, the
sight of John W. Kern as he looks In
parafine, with glass eyes and Iceland
moss whiskers, on a hot day, begins to
pall. Likewise, I am carrying a full line
of Aquarium products and would not care
to look at any more samples Just at
present. I- know all there is to know
about fish anyhow. The Mayor of my
town is the original boneless sardine and
the meanest man-eating shark in cap
tivity Is the president of our local build
ing and loan association. I- may also
add that I am somewhat a-weary ot the
sort of fodder-shops that you have so
kindly steered me into. There may have
been a time when I drew the napkin
well up over the chest like a carriage
robe before starting in, but I assure you
that I can now eat gravy without having
to be undressed with a spoon, afterwards.
I would ask, is or is not Delmonico's 'still
open? If so,, lead me to it.
" 'While it is true that I have not yet
been to a manicure I am In training for
that event; In fact I have often had the
back of my neck shaved- and hay rum
dle the untutored human being In cap
tivity to successfully manage a ball team
than it does to 'run a steel trust or be
a ward heeler. Some players have to
have the life bullied out of them to keep
them shewing the best -they've got, while
others have to be Jollied along and get
the salve handed 'out to them every day
to keep them Just right, and the manager
who knows his job studies his players'
temperament and treats them individ
ually In the way that gets the best re
sults. "The gams is splattered full of a bunch
of cast-iron proofs of this peculiarity in
ballplayers in a lot of guys who were
dubs under one manager, but have butted
lntd the galaxy of stars under another.
Some guys you've got to drive and others
Diving a Fine
DIVING is a sporf which is taking up
much of the time of American swim
mers nowadays and in which they have
made great advances during the last three
or four years. Three years ago the New
York Athletic Club endeavored to foster
Interest in the sport by adding a diving
contest to its monthly programme of
swimming events held at Travers Island.
At this time there were not more titan
half a dozen good divers in the whole
country.
The graceful and spectacular work of
the few metropolitan divers upon this oc
casion, chief among whom were Thomas.
O'Callaghau!, Walter Lee and Fred
Wenck, caught the fancy of the specta
tors, and diving was an established fea
ture upon each programme of swimming
events thereafter. A little later the In
terest created oy the sport coming to
the notice of the officials of the Amateur
Athletic Union the latter added a Na
tional cliampionship at the sport, which
has been one of the most interesting fea
tures of the National swimming cham
pionships. Later still the colleges took up diving
and made It one of the principal features
of the programmes of their dual swim
ming meets when the intercollegiate
swimming association , was organized.
Then they created an intercollegiate
diving championship.
Rules were then adopted by the A. A.
U. to govern diving contests, defining the
standard dives, and now this branch of
sport is as firmly established as if it
had been followed for years.
The regulation dives altogether number
five the plain front, the plain back, the
front Jackknife, the back Jackknlfe and
the one and a half dive. The takeoffs,
which are from a solid platform, number
three in all 10, 20 and 30 feet and the
diver gets credit for a greater number of
points as the height of the takeoff in
creases. In the plain front dive the diver, with
feet close together and hands held over
head, must describe a long or short semi
circle before entering the water, that de
tail being left optional. This is the easiest
of all the dives and the first one mastered
by the beginner.
The front Jackknife is executed by
jumping a few feet in the air, turning
sharply and descending so that the head
shall enter the water not more than six
feet beyond the edge of the platform
from which the diver has Jumped. This
is quite a difficult dive, as the contest
ant is very apt to make it a plain front
dive instead of embodying the features of
the Jackknife, and thus leaves open a trap
into which many good divers have fallen
on the day of a diving contest.
In accomplishing the third regulation
dive, the back jackknife, the contestant
stands, feet close together, on the edge of
the takeoff with his bacrf to the water.
Jumping upward his body turns quickly
toward the point of takeoff and he de
scends with his face outward. As In the
UN
TO HOTEL
CLERK
used on the hair, even when f was not
going out In society, but merely for the
luxury of the thing. I realize that the
suit which I -am now wearing looks like
the kind you could get from the Great
Pneumatic & Specific Tea Company for
300 of the green cpupons, but after you
have led me to a tailor who's expensive
enough to call himself a draper, and have
suitably adorned me with a few of the
proper gauds, baubees' and trappings, I
have a feellrg that I will be more of a,
blithesome treat for the Jaded eye than
I am now. After that I desire to be
Introduced into the haunts and homes of .
the rich, where the butlers have their
faces enclosed in brackets and the foot
men wear short pants. I wish to see
personally if these wealthy parties can
really call the hired help by their last
names the same as they do In Robert
Chambers' books, and get away with it.
And then we'll look around for a business
opening in the vicinity of Wall Street.'
" 'But are you aware of the perils ami
footfalls of a commercial career here?'
says the Town Mouse. 'I was born here
and even I hesitate to risk my capital in
repkless Investment in this great ruth
less 'city.'
" "Have no fear.' says -the Country
Mouse. 'Among he goggle-eyed perch :
who appear . to frequent these waters'
most numerously a genuine Jack salmon--fin
from the headwaters of Bitter Creek!
with real teeth and a dorsal fin In good;
working order, ought to be able to pick ft'
living. In about two years from now I
exjfect to be probably the most active!
little clown dog ip the whole animal
show.'
"And nearly always, Larry, ft turns out:
just that way. I'm told that 'statistics!
will show there's a constantly Increasing!
number of pale grey little Town Mice!
with pink eyes and nervous noses, run-j
nlng errands for husky ex-Country Mice,
who go around swinging large business,
deals and reorganizing the social registpri
with the same aplomb and skill that they I
used to show in milking a cow."
; "Is It as bad as that?" asked the House
Detective.
"It's worse than?that." said the Hotel,
Clerk. "They say there's hardly a. great
captain of-industry In town that wouldn't!
know a good deal about putting away I
clover hay In a barn if you pressed Mm "
j you have to nurse, and the wise manager
gets hep to this, and as a result has the
whole team going just right. And you
can take it from me that there's a thun
dering lot of ballplayers in the business
who have never set the circuit on fire
who would be pulling off a blamed sight
more In the incendiary line If they were
treated differently.
"And now. Old Man, if you. want to
get hep to .why this great ball team of
ours can't win games from some of these
false alarms they stack up against, just
let this dope I've handed you filter
through the chinks in your garret and
then turn your searchlight on the team
and look it over and get wise. And take
it from me, there's a thundering lot of
parallel cases in the business today."
Athletic Art
front jackknife, the regulations require
that the diver's head shall not enter the
water more than six feet beyond a line
drawn from the edge of the takeoff.
The last of the regulation dives, the one
and a half, is the most difficult, and few
even of the most expert divers often suc
ceed in performing It perfectly. This dive
as a matter of fact is literally a somer
sault and a, half. The body must describe
a complete somersault In the air and then
continue half way around again, so that
the entrance to the water is head first.
It is on this point that arises the dif
ference between the diving experts of
America and those of the Continental
countries. Americans hold that the very
essence of thp dive rests upon a clean en
trance, head first, with the least possible
disturbance of the water. It was on this
part of t.he dive that so much discussion
was created at the St Louis World's Fair.
Germany was represented by a team ' of
splendid divers from the Continental
point of view. In Germany points count
for the diver's manner of approaching
the takeoff, his form in preparing himself
for the dive, his movements in the air,'
and then criticism of his actions ceases'.
Magnificent work was shown by the
Germans at the World's Fair contest In
all these particulars in fact they com
pletely outclassed the efforts of the
American contestants. But the Germans
did not care how they entered or struck
the water. Walking down the plank of
the springboard with head erect, eyes
front, chest thrown' out, feet close to
gether, legs working like those of an
automaton, hands rigidly held to the
sides, the German diver with a spring of
marvellous ease would describe a beau
tiful evolution through the air and then
hit the water broadside with a resound
ing smack that would send showers of
spray over every one near by.
The American performers followed with
a great deal less fuss and even grace,
Jumped far out into the air and entered
the water head first, at times with such
skill as scarcely to cause a ripple. When
the contest was decided the Judges had no
other alternative than to award the event
to the American contestants.
Every young swimmer now knows the
regulation American dives sanctioned by
the A. A. U., and these youngsters are
becoming very efficient. While hut five
regulation dives are scheduled, still the
rules in this country permit three special
divas, so there need be no check upon
originality.
However, it is the object to confine even
these specialties to evolutions which shall
Invariably end with the entrance head
flrs.t to the water, although no attempt
Is made to hamper or restrict the move
ments of the diver in the air.
Diving Tarely has bad results If a per
son will exercise Just ordinary caution.
Persons should make.it a practice never
to dive into unknown' waters. Investiga
tion of the nature and depth of the water
should always be made before a dive Is
undertaken.