Life — August 26, 1886 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- LIFE - [et has always been a mystery to me why the New York Base Ball Nine should be termed the Giants, I can only account for it upon the old fairy tale basis, that the Ogre is made to bite the dust by any insignificant little Pigmy that chooses to hanker after such glory as pertains to the humilia- ting of a Giant. If this is the derivation of the appellation, it is certainly deserved, as recent events in the base-ball world will show. After running the Wolverines clear out of sight in ignominious defeat, the Giants are downed by the Boston Midgets, and the Washington Tailenders, as my sporting con- temporary, the Zrzbune, dubs the gray-legged batters from the Capitol, while the Detroits and Chicagos glide quietly back to their former fat places by gathering in, in fine style, such small fry as dare to stand up before them. I don’t know that New Yorkers care very much whether their ball team wins the pennant or not, but I am inclined to believe, that if by some error on the part of Mutrie’s men the bunting should be unfurled from our local liberty-pole, New York would feel so big that Brooklyn, Jersey City, and West- chester County would have to be annexed to hold us all, and I have it on good authority that Mayor Grace thinks as I do in the matter. It is to be hoped that our worthy chief officer will take the necessary steps to secure room for this possible overflow of exuberance. * * * LEARN from a friend of mine who is at present the vice- mascot on the New York team, that Mutrie has given Connor a two days’ rest, on account of his lameness. Why not give the whole team a rest on the same ground ? * * * R. J. BEAVOR WEBB has got himself in hot water with the reporters because he refused to allow some ten or fifteen hundred of them, who were desirous of testing the hospitality of the vessel, to do so. It was very reprehen- sible in Mr. Webb to refuse admittance to these gentlemen, but, as he informed me afterwards in confidence, the wine cellar of the Galatea had been very badly strained up at Larchmont, and he didn’t want the reporters on board until that portion of the vessel had been caulked up. Under the circumstances, I think Mr. Webb’s conduct was judicious, and entre nous, | am pretty certain that the chief cause of trouble with Mr. J. Beavor Webb and the reporters is that his modeling his name after that of Mr. J. Frederick Tams and Mr. J. Malcolm Forbes is unpopular with the reportorial pro- fession. * * * “=WAS much pleased with Mr. Cyrus W. Field's able de- fence of croquet, in a recent number of the Maz? and { Express. “Lawn tennis can never become as popular as croquet once was, and in some respects croquet is the better game, even from an expert point of view,” says Mr. Field. I have never ventured to advance this theory myself, although in my inner consciousness I have frequently observed the germ of some such thought, but backed by a gentleman of Mr. Field’s Means, I am prepared now to indorse croquet as a better game than tennis. There is a sort of subdued excitement in playing ball with a hammer which the tennis enthusiast misses, and the barking of one’s shins in an attempt to make a rococo-ricochet, as \ believe the play is termed, is nothing as compared with the danger of straining one’s muscles and losing one’s temper, to say nothing of the cost of white-wash which are apt to mar the tennis player's pleasure. I am so thoroughly in accord with Mr. Field in this matter that I feel deeply hurt by the suggestion of a rival editor, that the Mad! and Express in puffing croquet is trying to work up a market for a corner on old telegraph wires in Mr. Fields possession. * * * HE subjoined bit of attic wit has been sent me from staid old Salem : ; ON THE DEPARTURE OF THE GALATEA FROM MARBLE- HEAD. First MEMBER OF Dory BRIGADE: “ Three cheers for Lieutenant Henn.” SECOND M. D. B.: “Three cheers for Mrs. Henn.” SMALL Boy (on dock): “ Three cheers for de coop.” Carlyle Smith, * * Ww Irish gentlemen beaten by local players at lacrosse, Canadians thrashing us at the same game and also at cricket, English canoeists and yachtsmen coming over to compete for prizes on this side of the water, and Mexicans out gunning for Texas editors, international relations may be con- sidered as slightly strained. * * * R. JAMIESON, who owns the English cutter /rex, now owns also the Brenton’s Reef Lightship cup, having beaten the Genesfa about as badly in a race for it as Sir Richard Sutton’s beautiful yacht beat the Dauntless. Next, Mr. Jamieson will capture the Commodore's and Cape May cups. It will then be in order for Gen. Paine to take the Mayflower across the seas, show the Englishmen what a Yankee sloop can do in a channel breeze, and get. those cups out of pawn. : * * * LAYING “tag” with a snail, or “I spy” with an ele- phant, eating soup with a knitting needle, running a sprint race with a horse-shoe crab, or playing cricket any- where and at any time —all these are as full of sport as play- ing lawn tennis with a girl who will not dress for the game. * * * EWPORT ‘is subscribing money to buy prizes for a yacht race. The citizens of .Newport probably imagine that yachting is a game played by lean young gentle- men, wearing eye-glasses ‘and striped jerseys, and mounted on small’ponies. : Tricotrin. comicbooks.com