Harper's Round Table, June 4, 1895 Part 7

Jack and Mollie had joined the Order of the Knights and Ladies of the Round Table, and had become Sir Jack and Lady Mollie in consequence.

They were proud of it, too, not so much because of the t.i.tles they were thereby permitted to use, but because they knew that it was a great thing to be knightly enough to become members of a society which had high aims and lofty purposes in view. They were both st.u.r.dy little Americans, and to be known as _Sir_ Jack and _Lady_ Mollie did not add at all to the good opinions they had of themselves, except in so far as these honorable prefixes to their names showed that they were members in good standing of a flouris.h.i.+ng organization.

Who the original Knights of the Round Table were and what they had done they did not know, but they set about finding out as soon as they received their members.h.i.+p cards, for, as Jack said, "What's the use of going into a thing without finding out all about it?" And Mollie, as usual, agreed that that was the thing to do.

So they asked their father about it, and it turned out that he knew very little more about the Knights of the original Round Table than they did.

He did know that at the head of the table had sat a certain King of England, Arthur by name, who was a Knight of great prowess, but beyond this he was quite ignorant on the subject. He said, however, that he would look the matter up when he had time, and let them know whatever he might discover. And he did so, and whenever he discovered anything which he thought would interest the children, he would tell them about it.

"Arthur's father, according to the legends," said their father, "was King of England, and his name was Uther Pendragon."

"What a terrible name," said Mollie.

"It was indeed," said the story-teller. "It was meant to be, for the t.i.tle Pendragon signified in those days that he who bore it was the chief leader in war, which is a terrible thing. Uther Pendragon, the King, married Ingraine, who was beautiful and good, and Arthur was their son, but for some reason or other it was thought well that the boy should be brought up in ignorance of who his parents were, and on the advice of Merlin he was sent away to a certain lord of Uther's land, one of the n.o.blest and most faithful of his day, who would look carefully after the bringing up of the child, and see to it that he should become well fitted in every way for the position he was some day to occupy.

Merlin had looked into the future, and had seen that Arthur would grow to be a better man if he were kept away from his father's court, where in all probability every one would have flattered and spoiled him, and lead him to believe that he was a much finer fellow than he really was.

So Arthur was sent to Sir Ector, who brought him up as his own son, and no one but the King and Queen and Merlin really knew that he was a Prince, and would some day become King of England."

"I'm glad they don't do things that way nowadays. I'd hate to be brought up by one of the neighbors without knowing that you were my papa."

"Must have been worse than going to boarding-school," said Mollie.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOURNEYING TOWARDS LONDON.]

"Well, however that may be," said the story-teller, "it was a good thing for Arthur, for he was well brought up, and he made a good friend in Sir Ector's son Kaye, with whom he spent most of his time, and whom he believed to be his brother, and when Uther died and it became necessary to put some one in his place, he made his claims to the office of King much greater by having to prove that he was fitted for it, not so much because of the fact that he was Uther's son, which some ill-natured, jealous Princes who wanted to be King said he was not, but because of his wonderful prowess, which he showed when the time came. It was but two years after Arthur was born that King Uther was taken sick, and all the rebellious lords in his kingdom thought that the time had come for them to rise up against him, but Merlin went to the King and told him that even though he was ill it was necessary for him to go out and fight the enemy, and Uther, sick as he was, went into the battle carried on a litter and took command of his forces. Aided by two splendid knights, who were among his closest friends, Sir Ulfius and Sir Brastias, Uther fought a great battle at St. Albans with the forces from the North, in which he was victorious, and after which he returned to London. Here within a short while he died, first having gathered his Barons about him, and at the suggestion of Merlin proclaimed his son Arthur his successor. Then, as the chronicles tell, the kingdom was in great danger for a long time. Years pa.s.sed, and all the lords who were strong and possessed of small armies of their own wished to make themselves King, and doubtless one of them would have succeeded had it not been for Merlin, who, when Arthur had become old enough to make his plans possible, went to the Archbishop of Canterbury and persuaded him to summon all the lords and gentlemen at arms to appear in London on Christmas eve. Now these men all stood in great fear of the Archbishop, because the Archbishop stood for the Church, and not one of them dared disobey. So Christmas eve found them, one and all, gathered in London as Merlin had wished, for Merlin hoped, in the words of the legend, that, gathered on Christmas eve, the lords of the kingdom might by some miracle from Heaven be shown who should become the rightful King of England, in which hope he was not disappointed, as you will shortly see."

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]

The date of the dual games between Andover and Worcester Academies has been definitely set for next Sat.u.r.day, and the arrangements have been put in charge of Colonel Sam Winslow, who was Captain of the champion Harvard nine of 1885. These games, which were spoken of in greater detail in this Department last week, will take place in Worcester on the same day the Western Ma.s.sachusetts I.S.A.A. will hold its annual track and field meeting on Pratt Field, Amherst. From the interest already manifest the latter should be the most interesting and profitable sports ever held in that section. Monson Academy has won the champions.h.i.+p for the past three years, but the other schools of the League have now determined to make a desperate effort to change the established order of things. My opinion is that they will succeed, and that the pennant will go either to Chicopee or to Springfield. It will be no walk over in any case, for the Amherst, Westfield, and Holyoke High-schools have strong men, and will make a good showing both on the track and in the field.

The 100-yard dash has always been a hard-fought race, and this year it will be closer than ever. E. J. Murphy, of Springfield H.-S., will probably win, however, with Schute of Westfield second, and Phillips of Monson third. The same men will dispute the places in the 220. Kennedy of Springfield H.-S. ought to take the quarter, although he will not, by any means, have an easy victory, for Schute, in spite of his many previous heats in the dashes, will run hard. Thayer of Holyoke is a pretty sure winner in the half-mile. In practice he has covered the distance in 2.07, and I feel confident that he can do better in public.

Christy of Monson is the best man for the mile. Last year he ran in 4 min. 38 sec. on time, but injured his ankle just previous to the I.S.A.A. meeting, and then covered the distance in 4 min. 55 sec. Shea of Chicopee H.-S. has covered 19 feet in broad jumping, and ought to win that event Sat.u.r.day. Scott of Westfield H.-S. will take the high jump, and ought to clear at a good figure, as he did 5 ft. 7-1/2 in. in-doors last winter. The pole vault will furnish a hot struggle between Smith of Springfield H.-S., Bryant of Chicopee H.-S., Austin of Monson Academy, and Scott. The winner will have to go 10 feet, and I should not wonder if the best performance even exceeded that mark.

The Western Ma.s.sachusetts a.s.sociation, in addition to a one-mile bicycle race, has a half-mile event for the wheelmen, and Elmer of Chicopee H.-S. is expected to finish first in both of these. Sullivan of Holyoke H.-S. and Pike of Springfield H.-S. will get places. In the hurdles, Phillips of Monson and Baker of Amherst are about even, and their race will be as exciting a contest as the day will afford. They will be closely pushed by Barry of Chicopee H.-S. and Stiler of Westfield H.-S., both of whom are strong runners and clever at clearing the sticks. In the weight events the Monson men will try to maintain the record they established by winning first place in both for the past five years.

Austin has put the shot nearly 35 ft., and may do better, but he will have formidable rivals in O'Connor of Holyoke H.-S., Spence of Chicopee H.-S., and Winslow of Amherst H.-S., all of whom can do better than 30 ft. But Chisem will, beyond a doubt, take the hammer event, with O'Connor second, and Bush of Westfield H.-S. third.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GERMANTOWN ACADEMY BASEBALL NINE.]

The champions.h.i.+p of the Pennsylvania Inter-academic Baseball League was decided on Friday, May 24th, when Germantown Academy defeated the Cheltenham Military Academy nine at Stenton. This is the second consecutive time that the Germantown team has taken the pennant with a clean record of victories, and this last victory of theirs is all the more creditable because of the strength of the opposing team. The feature of the players' work the past season has been the pitching and batting of McCarty, the fielding of Captain Sharpe at short-stop, and the strong batting of the entire nine. All their victories have been won by heavy hitting at opportune moments. On Friday especially McCarty distinguished himself. In addition to making three hits that were factors in the victory, he struck out fifteen of the Cheltenham batters.

Lamberton, who was in the box for the soldiers, also pitched a good game, but he was so poorly supported at times that his work did not count for much.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic champions.h.i.+p having been settled, there now remains the New England champions.h.i.+p, the decisive game of which will be played in Boston on Friday, and the Inter-City champions.h.i.+p of the N.Y. and Long Island I.S.B.B. a.s.sociations, which will be decided at Eastern Park on Sat.u.r.day.

Another important and decisive baseball game will be the Andover-Lawrenceville match at Andover a week from to-morrow. This will be the third annual contest between these two big schools, and I am glad to record that neither nine just now is burdened with over-confidence.

Andover won the first two matches of the series, by the scores of 5-4, in 1893, and 5-2, in 1894. This year, however, the teams are so nearly matched that it is hardly possible to forecast the result of next week's game. Of last year's Andover players only three have returned to school, the rest of the nine being new players, with whom Captain Drew has labored hard and conscientiously to develop a winning team. But with Drew behind the bat, and Greenway or Sedgwick in the box, P.A. has a battery that it will be hard to find the equal of on any school baseball team. The infield, however, is weak. Barton, at first, plays well, but should cover more territory, and have more confidence in himself. For a man of his small stature Harker covers second in pretty good style, but both he and Elliott, at third, are erratic and somewhat unreliable at critical moments. Edwards has taken Davis's place at short for the past week or two, and has proved equal to Captain Drew's most sanguine expectations. Lawrenceville need not count on any base hits through his territory, as his fielding is clean and his throwing sure. The outfield is much stronger than the infield. Dayton at centre, and Greenway or Sedgwick at left, are sure catchers and strong throwers. Waddell, at right, is the best man in the position that P.A. has had for years, covering all his own territory and part of his neighbors', and throwing with the precision of a veteran. Several times this year he has thrown men out at the plate who were running home from third after a fly caught in deep right field. As for batting, the Andover players have only fair ability, Greenway, Sedgwick, Barton, and Drew being the heaviest hitters. The team work I consider poor, but this will doubtless be greatly improved before the day of the game.

At Lawrenceville the natural opportunities for practice and for the perfection of team-work are no greater than at Andover, but the school system is such that fine ball players are a necessary result of its enforcement. Every scholar at the Lawrenceville School, unless physically disabled, must play ball for at least an hour every day in the spring-time. In the autumn everybody has to play football. In this manner no man goes without exercise, and the best material at hand is discovered and developed. When I was at Lawrenceville last week, nine diamonds were in full operation at one and the same time. In the fall there are eleven football fields in use daily. No wonder Lawrenceville sends good material to the colleges.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mattis, l. f. Cadwalader, 3rd b. Hastie, r. f. Righter.

2d b.

Slidell, c. f. Ross, 1st b.

M. Gibbon, s. s. Kafer, c. (Capt.) Arrott, p.

LAWRENCEVILLE BASEBALL NINE.]

As for the team this year, it is about up to the average of former seasons. Kafer, who has been catching for three years, is Captain, and is doing very satisfactory work. His batting is sometimes erratic, but in a recent game with Pennington he lined out a home run with the bases full in the ninth inning, thus saving the day, as the score then stood 4 to 1 against Lawrenceville. Arrott, the pitcher, is doing well for his second year in baseball. He has not very full control of the ball, but his curves are good, and he possesses more than the average speed. In addition to this, he keeps cool and plays a steadier game as the innings go by. Ross, Righter, and Cadwalader cover the bases, and so far this season Ross has maintained the highest average, scarcely making an error. Righter is a poor thrower, but his batting is very strong. With a little longer experience Cadwalader will develop into one of the best men on the team, and if he can get off some of his 200 pounds of flesh his running would be vastly bettered. McGibbon, at short, is a clean fielder and an accurate thrower; in addition, he bats well. He and Edwards of Andover will no doubt furnish some grand-stand plays for the delectation of their followers. The fielders are only of average ability. As a whole, the nine seems to fall out of harmony in almost every game, and on several occasions this weakness has almost proved disastrous. But most of the players are new men this year, and will be better seasoned a week from now.

In spite of the heavy rain-storm of May 18th the Princeton Interscholastic Tennis Tournament was held at Princeton, resulting in the champions.h.i.+p remaining at Lawrenceville. Several of the contestants failed to appear on account of the bad weather, but the playing was nevertheless spirited and exciting. In the finals, Beaman of Lawrenceville met his schoolmate Richards, who had won by default from Robb, and defeated him only after five hard sets, 6-2, 3-6, 9-11, 6-2, and 6-0. By virtue of Beaman's victory the champions.h.i.+p silver cup now becomes the permanent property of Lawrenceville.

Scholastic track and field meetings are being held in so many different places just at this season that it is difficult to keep account of them.

On May 25th the New York State I.S.A.A. met on the Syracuse University Field under the auspices of the Syracuse High-School and the Cornell A.C., and the Ithaca High-School won by making 31 points. Her nearest rivals were Rochester High with 21, and Buffalo High with 18-1/2 points.

Seven schools were represented. At the first spring meet of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, there were some good records made. Dyer won the 100 in 10-3/5 sec., and the 220 in 23 sec.; Sanford covered the mile in 5 m. 22-4/5 sec.; Hixon cleared 5 ft. 4-1/2 in. in the high jump; and Conner covered 20 ft. 10 in. in the broad jump. The Hotchkiss athletes will no doubt be heard from at the Connecticut I.S.A.A. games on Sat.u.r.day.

As has been the case with a number of Eastern field days, rain interfered with the success of the California Academic Athletic League's meeting on May 4th, and few of the athletes were able to do good work.

Dawson ran the quarter in one minute flat on a heavy track. McConnell cleared 18 ft. 6 in. in the broad jump, and got a bad scare from Cooley, a new man, untrained, who came dangerously close to him. Cooley will show up well next year, and would, no doubt, have done better if the conditions had been more favorable. The Oakland High-School and San Jose High-School held a fifty-mile bicycle road race relay, last week, of which I hope to be able to speak more in detail as soon as s.p.a.ce is available. It was an exciting event, and is a good thing for Eastern bicycle-riders to think of, for there are many places in the neighborhood of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, and other cities where similar races might be arranged.

Although baseball seemed to languish in the early part of the season, the A.A.L. completed a successful schedule on May 18th, when the Oakland High-School defeated the Alameda University Academy 9 to 1. The O.H.-S.

team started out strongly, and had the reputation of the '94 nine clinging to it, '94's players having been the strongest amateur team of California that year. Hall at first, Lanyon in the box, and McCabe behind the bat, were the steadiest players this season. Lanyon caught last year, and is cool, strategic, and quick. He has good speed and good curves, and safe control of the ball. McCabe is a very calm player, bats well, but is weak in throwing to bases. The team work of the nine was good, and in several cases won them games against stronger teams.

As soon as the regular Interscholastic League season of baseball, tennis, track athletics, and cricket closes there will be more time to devote to other branches of sport. During the summer months tennis, rowing, swimming, and sailing will receive their share of attention in this Department, and from the looks of things just now there is every promise that yachting and small-boat racing will be more popular this year than ever before. Many of the large clubs have introduced special cla.s.ses on their racing programmes. In addition to the Larchmont 21-footers and 34-raters, the Seawanhaka's half-raters, and the Douglaston dingies, the Indian Harbor Yacht Club are now trying to promote a 20-foot racing length, or one-rater cla.s.s. The imported boats _Wave_ and _Shrimp_ will form a good nucleus to start with, and I understand that several members of the club have promised to build racers of this cla.s.s.

Probably the most interesting and exciting contests in the small-boat cla.s.s will be the sharpie races of the Shelter Island Sharpie Club. This club was organized two years ago with about twenty members, and has grown rapidly in size and popularity. A regular race is sailed every week over a club course of five miles, and three races are sailed around Shelter Island during the season, a distance of twenty-five miles. These races are always most exciting, for the boats are limited to 16 ft. on the water-line, with no limit to the sail area. Consequently some of them get over-rigged, and an occasional upset adds zest to the sport. In addition to these races the Sharpie Club holds athletic games, including, among other events, swimming, rowing, weight-throwing, etc., and at the end of the season medals are awarded to the best all-round athletes. Last year the sharpie _Frolic_, owned by S. M. and G. H.

Milliken, won the highest number of points, with the _Chip-Chip_, owned by H. V. Whitney, and the _Mary Jane_, owned by A. E. Whitney, tied for second place. In the athletic events H. V. Whitney took first, with W. B. Cowperthwait second.

The New England Interscholastic baseball season has thus far proved most interesting. A number of the games have already required more than nine innings play to determine the winner, and so far the Cambridge High and Latin nine has escaped defeat. At the present date of writing the standing of the clubs in the N.E.I.S.B. League is:

Per Clubs. Won. Lost. cent.

Cambridge High and Latin 2 0 1.000 Hopkinson 3 1 .750 Boston Latin 1 1 .500 English High 1 1 .500 Roxbury Latin 1 1 .500 Somerville High 0 3 .000

The Hopkinson players received their first defeat on Friday, the 17th, but they played a good game, and showed the results of Joe Upton's coaching. The batting especially has improved. Hopkinson and C.H.&L.

will have a hot fight for the pennant. Dakin of the English High-school is pitching up to his old form again, and held Somerville High down to a single hit in their recent game, which E.H.-S. won by the score of 14 to 1. But S.H.-S is one of the weakest teams in the League. The Roxbury Latin nine show want of practice, and their only redeeming virtues just now are the pitching of Morse and their general batting strength. But the New England school teams are all well provided with good pitchers this season, so that Morse's proficiency counts for little when it comes to a decisive contest. Team-work, after all, should be the mainstay of every nine.

In the tabulated record of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. games printed on p. 538 of Harper's Round Table of May 21st, a typographical error shows Hackett's time in the mile walk as 7 min. 4-2/5 sec. instead of 7 min. 46-2/5 sec., which it should be.

THE GRADUATE.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

EDITOR OF THE ROUND TABLE:

SIR,--I noticed in the first number of HARPER'S ROUND TABLE a reference to the "timid people" who object to football. There have been many other remarks of this kind, at various times, made in the Round Table. If you can grant me a little s.p.a.ce, I should like to point out the injustice of sneers of this kind.

In the first place, in order that it may not be said (as it generally is said when any one lifts up his voice against the game) that I am ignorant of the subject, I may say that I am a football player myself in a small way, and until recently was heartily in favor of the game. My position is thus rather inconsistent, but it is that of many other sincere well-wishers of the game. The objection to the game that seems to me most important is its roughness, both necessary and unnecessary. First as to the latter. It is all very well to say that if players would behave like gentlemen, this would be done away with. This may be so, but it is not in the nature of boys or men, in the midst of an exciting struggle on the gridiron, to keep calm, and control their strength and their temper. In their excitement they will do things that they are sorry for afterwards, and I have never seen anything proposed that would prevent such things.