Life — May 19, 1887 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

~ LIFE - has been said of the New York Baseball Nine that they are of nce, and they are. It is chiefly in the matter of uniform that they excel, It may be doubted if any other team look as pretty as the Giants do when they stand at their various stations in the field, but when it comes to ball, the Giants are not there. They play a game in which there are bases, bats and balls, but in that game on which the fate of the pennant rests, they are-not proficient. It is quite an interesting question whether beauty interferes with one’s proficiency in sport or other professional walks in life. If the New Yorks claim that because they are things of beauty and a joy forever, there is no reason why they should try to win the champion- ship, we cannot see why they do not move in a higher society as professional beauties. If they attend at the ball-grounds for the sole purpose of being looked at, they waste a great deal of valuable time ; not their own, unfortunately, but that of those gifted mortals who know ball when they see it, and are disposed to grow clamorous when they pay to see it and don’t. These remarks are chiefly brought out by the generous way in which the Giants handed over countless bases to the Nine from Wash- ington, last week. These latter gentlemen have modestly hugged the rear end of the race up to date, feeling, perhaps, that a club composed of men, no one of whom was worth more than two thousand a year, had no right to trouble other clubs in which there abounded millionaire pitchers, ten thousand dollar batters, and seventy-five dollar mascottes. It may be that New York wished to reward this modesty ; if so, we sincerely trust the Giants will quickly learn that Virtue is its own reward, and that until Virtue officially joins the league the members of the league had best stick to ball. * * E recommend the New Yorks to cast their eyes toward Philadelphia if they wish to see to what heights baseball can rise when it is played by artists. Nines representing Mr. Nat Goodwin and Mr. Augustin Daly recently met in the Quaker City, and Little Jack Shepard laid out the Tamers of the Shrew, 18to 5. Up tothe hour of going to press, the full details of the match and the make-up of the nines had not reached We have no doubt, however, that Mr. Drew proved nself as heavy a batter as he is clever an actor, and if Mr. Skinner slid to his bases as gracefully as he treads the boards, it is doubtful if the Goodwin nine stole the hearts of the spectators as easily as they stole runs, We have it from an eye-witness, that however well the Goodwin people play ball, the Daly nine are still the champion exponents of Shakespeare and German comedy. uniform excell us, * * * CORRESPONDENT sends me a companion game to that of Pro- gressive Lincoln, recently described in these columns. Itiscalled | “Chinkopins.” It is not played on a bowling alley, as its name would DRIVING THE DROMEDARIES IN AFRICA, seem to suggest, but is of a much higher and, we might say, literary order. An English almanac, of a date not later than 1850, is laid on the table, and the players, who may be of an unlimited number, seat themselves around, with pad and pencil in hand, With these tools they copy the witticisms found in the almanac, until each player has a dozen different jokes on his pad. These are mailed by their respective copyists to the editor of Harper's Drawer, who retains and publishes such as strike his fancy, returning the others, provided a stamped and directed envelope is enclosed with the jokes when sent. Whoever gets the greatest number of old jokes in the one volume of the maga- zine takes the prize. ‘The popularity of this game in certain circles probably accounts for the reappearance of one or two old friends in a recent issue of our Franklin Square contemporary. * * * THERE was a cattle show in progress at the Madison Square Gar- den last week, at which several fine specimens of lowing kine were to be inspected. A visit to the exhibition was saddening, because there was no per- ceptible increase in the accomplishments of the cow over those last year’s specimens, The breeds of dogs, horses, and even hens are im- proved every year, and it seems strange that the inventive genius which is supposed to be rife in this country is so backward respecting the cow. The Jersey cattle give good enough milk, but what man wants is a milk- punch cow for Sunday use. The cow that will stand on its rights and refuse to supply the market with cream that is nine-tenths chalk and one-tenth milk, is still to be invented. The cow that will keep a mem- orandum as to how many small boys have milked her in the pasture during the day is still a cow of the future, and the heifer that will dance better than Dixey has yet to grow its hind legs. Why this should be, we cannot tell; but we can shake our hea sadly and weep that this melancholy state of affairs should exist. Carlyle Smith. LITERARY NOTES. RS. J. ELLIOT CABOL’S authorized ** Life of Emerson” is said to successfully refute the charge that the Concord Philosopher ate pie for breakfast. * 8 # NEW novel by Anna Katharine Green is entitled "7 to 12." It is a brief resume of the recent New York-Washington Baseball game. * * * ARK TWAIN'S article on * English as She is Taught” was so successful that he may write a few more answers for the Century. * * * POSTAL card received from M. Jean de Peiffer, publisher of that excellent periodical, Le Francais, gives notice that e Francais ne parraissant pas pendant les mois de Juin, Juillet, et Aout, le numero de Mai ne sera envoyé que de 15 courant.” We congratulate M. Jean. It is not often that a strange journal in a foreign land succeeds in avoiding this business of parraissanting during the mois de Juin, Juillet and Aout, and we wish M. le Redac- teur a most happy vacance. DRIVING THE TURKEYS IN AMERICA. comicbooks.com