Part 5

"Yep. Ye see, the Jamaiky people is so werry Henglish that they prefers misfit clothes to any others, so them kind is allus sent there by the mother country, an' so the colony are kep' in a contented state o' mind. Waal, fur two weeks the _Ham Bone_ didn't git along much faster'n that there yaller bark out yonder. The wind blowed mos'ly up an' down the mast, an' we wuz a-wallerin' along with all our light canvas set, an' not makin' more'n fifty to sixty mile a day. Howsumever, that were better'n wot were a-cookin' fur us. One mornin' it were jess like it are now, an' Cap'n Peleg Mahoney, w'ich the same he were a Frenchman, sez he to me, sez he, 'Eet vill be some sqvalls soon, yes, eh?' An' I sez to he, sez I, 'Oui, mownseer; you're dead right.' So he orders us to clew up an' furl the royals, an' ginerally to git ready for misbehavior o' the elements. Waal, sure 'nuff, 'bout six bells in the forenoon watch it got blacker'n a coal-bunker in the nor'west, an' afore seven bells down it came a-squealin' like ten thousand guinea-pigs struck by lightnin'. We wuz under nothin' but torps'ls, but we heeled over till the water were waist-deep along the lee rail. Then we righted, an' commenced fur to go ahead at a tearin' speed, an' off to leeward like a horseshoe crab. Waal, it jess blowed one squall arter another till four o'clock in the arternoon, an' then it fell flat calm, with a great big greasy swell a-runnin' out o' the no'theast, an' the byrometer indulgin' in disgraceful low conduck. Sez Cap'n Peleg Mahoney to Willum Smitzer, sez he, 'Eet vill be a bad gale, yes, eh?' An' Willum Smitzer, sez he to he, sez he, me a-hearin' of him, 'Ja woll,' w'ich are good Dutch fur 'Betcher life.' An' both on 'em was a-tellin' the truth.

"At six o'clock there were a white streak along the horizon in the no'theast, an' then the wind come, fust in little snorts, then in big puffs, an' last in a straight, howlin' gale. Cap'n Peleg Mahoney he hove the _Ham Bone_ to on the starb'rd tack, an' then the bloomin' old hooker commenced slidin' off to leeward like a tissue-paper kite, only there weren't no string to keep her from goin' furder an' furder. Cap'n Peleg Mahoney he were on deck most o' the night, an' he talked a great deal o' French, w'ich the same I are not goin' to repeat. An' Willum Smitzer, the fust mate, he talked Dutch, an' there were a reg'lar Franco-Prussian war o' words. Howsumever, it didn't kill the wind, fur that bloomin' gale blowed right on end fur putty nigh a week. An' at the end o' that time there were sich a sea runnin' as I don't perpose fur to tell ye about; cos w'y, I ain't goin' to say nothin' wot might dammidge my repitation as a puffickly truthful pusson. All I kin say are that w'en the _Ham Bone_ riz to one o' them seas we could hear the bottles o' soda fallin' over one another down in the hold, an' we had to lay flat down on the deck to keep from tumblin' off over the starn. That ain't no respectable weather fur to be out-doors in, but w'en the nearest port are more'n a capful o' degrees away, w'y, there ye are, an' there ye got to be, leastways till ye get blowed to s'm'otherwheres, an' that are wot.

"O' course the _Ham Bone_ were hove to, but, bless ye! she made seven p'ints o' leeway, an' her drift were somethin' no human bein' could carkerlate. Waal, to git som'ers near to the crest o' this 'ere yarn wot I'm a-tellin' ye, at the end o' a week o' drivin' to leeward the lookout forrad sings out,

"'Land ho!'

"'Land! Pah!' sez Cap'n Peleg Mahoney, sez he. 'There ees not some land for one t'ousan' mile. Pouf!'

"'Aber ja!' yells the fust mate, Willum Smitzer, him bein' a bloomin' Dutchman; 'das ist land, nicht war?'

"The Cap'n he jumps to the lee bow, me a-follerin'. Waal, my son, ye 'ain't never seed nothin' like 't. The sea were full o' wegetables."

"Full of vegetables?" exclaimed Henry.

"Them's it. Onions an' beets an' pertaters an' queer fruits an' plants like cabbidges, only with leaves ten times as big, was a-floatin' on top o' the water. W'y, bless ye! a sea bruk over the starboard bow, bringin' one o' them there cabbidges with 't, an' it hit Willum Smitzer, an' knocked him down mos' beautiful fur to see. But that weren't the wust o' 't. Furder down to leeward we could see the waves a-breakin' in big hills o' spray on to some sort o' a beach that were dead flat. There weren't no hills nor nothin' behind it, but it looked jess like a perairie growed right out in the middle o' the sea.

"'Wot 'n 'arth are it?' sez I to the Cap'n, sez I.

"'Ze Saragossa Sea,' sez he to me, sez he.

"'An' ef we gets in, how does we get out?' sez I.

"'How I tell that?' sez he.

"An' that bein' so, there weren't no more to say. Waal, the _Ham Bone_ druv down to leeward, an' the wegetables kep' a-gettin' thicker an' thicker, an' all kinds o' sea-weeds an' other sea-garden truck were mixed up with 'em. Ef the storm hadn' bin so heavy we'd 'a' stuck fast then. But seein' as how 'twere such a powerful gale, one smashin' big sea, about sixty feet high, picks up the old _Ham Bone_, an' carries her clean away over the edge o' the aforesaid beach, an' sets her down ca-plump about half a mile inland, w'ere she bruk through the crust, an' were wedged in jess like she mought 'a' bin in the ice up north. An' then we all seed that this 'ere perairie were nothin' but a bloomin' jam o' sea-weed, land plants, dead trees, wegetables, an' truck--all worked in so tight that they made a ginuwine solid crust on top o' the sea.

"'Sacré bleau!' sez the Cap'n, w'ich are French for 'I'm giggered'; an' Willum Smitzer he jess remarked, 'Warum und wohin?' w'ich are low Dutch for 'W'ere are I at?' An' me, I didn't say nothin'; cos w'y, there weren't no use. The nex' mornin' the gale were all over, an' there we was. I went to the mast-head fur to have a look, an' away down three miles furder into the bloomin' stuff than we was I seed another ship with her upper masts gone, w'ich the same I reported to Cap'n Peleg Mahoney. With that he sez he b'lieves we could walk on the bloomin' crust, an' he sends a hand over the side to try. Walk! W'y, blow me fur pickles ef ye couldn't 'a' built a house onto it. So the Cap'n he allows as how it were our dooty fur to l'arn wot we could about that there other ship. Accordin'ly him an' me an' Willum Smitzer started off together. We got about half-way w'en we seed men comin' from the other ship to meet us. That were mos' supprisin', cos she looked so fur in we thort she must 'a' bin there fur years. W'en the men come up one on 'em sings out,

"'Wot ship are that?'

"Cap'n Mahoney told him, an' then sez he, 'You're not bound fur nowhere now.' But Cap'n Mahoney sez he to he, sez he, 'We wuz comin' to see you.' An' sez I to he, sez I, 'How d'ye git hove so fur in?'

"'Oh, that are easy explained,' sez he to me, sez he; 'we got in four year ago, an' the bloomin' stuff are growed furder out since then.'

"'You bin here four years?' sez I.

"'Them's it,' sez he. 'Come along over an' see our farm.'

"'Your farm!'

"'Yep. We're farmers now, an' we raises crops as 'd make an Ohio farmer's eyes fall out o' his head. Come along.'

"Cap'n Peleg Mahoney he looks at me an' I looks at he, an' then we starts ahead fur to see this 'ere farm on top o' a crust o' wegetables with two thousan' fathom o' water underneath.

"'Wot started ye to farmin'?' sez I.

"'Want o' grub,' sez he. 'I are the Cap'n o' the farm; cos w'y, I used to be Cap'n o' the ship. W'en the grub commenced fur to run low, sez I, we'd better see how we kin raise some more. Werry good. An' so I plants a few seeds, an' there you are.'

"'An' they come up all right on this 'ere floatin' perairie?'

"'Come up! Wait till you see our farm.'

"So we walked on an' on, an' putty soon we see some stuff like grass a-growin', only it were about six feet high, an' each blade as thick as a six-inch hawser.

"'Wot are that?' sez I.

"'That are wheat,' sez the Cap'n o' the farm.

"'Fender Saint Grease!' sez Cap'n Peleg Mahoney, jess like that, the same bein' French fur 'I sart'nly are supprised.'

"'How'd ye like to pluck some o' 't an' see the grain?' axes the other Cap'n.

"'Goot!' sez Willum Smitzer, sez he.

"So the other Cap'n he pulls off a stalk an' han's it to Cap'n Peleg Mahoney, w'ich the same he husks out a grain, an' we all stood a-starin' at it as ef we see a ghost."

"Why?" demanded George.

"W'y, cos it weren't nothin' more or less nor a hard clam."

"A hard clam in wheat!" exclaimed both boys.

"That are wot," replied the Old Sailor, solemnly. "Every grain o' that 'ere wheat were a hard clam. The other Cap'n sez he to Cap'n Peleg Mahoney, sez he, 'That are the way wheat comes up out here. We grinds them grains up into flour an' makes reg'lar ginuwine sea-biscuit out o' them. They tastes o' the sea fur sure. Come over this way an' I'll show you our rye.' He tuk us along to a field o' rye, an w'en we opened one o' them stalks wot d'ye s'pose were in 'em?"

"Oysters?" inquired George.

"Not so werry good," answered the Old Sailor; "sardines--bloomin' little oily sardines. It were the ryest rye I ever see. Then the other Cap'n he tuk us over to his orchard. He sez, sez he, 'I set out here some young peach-tree slips wot I had aboard, an' the trees growed right up sixty feet high in two days. The third day they was in blossom, an' in two weeks they commenced fur to bear, an' they bin bearin' ever since. Have a peach?' An' with that he reached up an' picked--wot d'ye s'pose?"

"What?" asked the boys, eagerly.

"A bluefish--a big fat six-pound bluefish. 'Name of grace!' sez Cap'n Peleg Mahoney, sez he; an' Willum Smitzer he sez, sez he, 'Donner und blitzen,' w'ich the same it are Dutch fur, 'Squalls to leeward.' Waal, them sailor-farmers they tuk us all over the farm an' showed us the mos' picooliar crops wot any one ever seed in this 'ere world, an' ye can see a good many queer things 'ere ef ye jess keep your weather eye a-liftin'. They had strawberry bushes wot gave boiled red snapper, an' potato beds w'ere they dug up mussels. The tomatter vines riz young lobsters, an' the cucumbers was eels. The cherry-trees gave shrimps, an' scollops growed onto gooseberry bushes. Then the other Cap'n axed us fur to go an' eat dinner with 'em aboard their ship farm-house. O' course we accepted. But afore we got half-way through the dinner we was all sick; cos w'y, everythin' tasted so all-fired fishy. Then the farmer Cap'n he got mad, an' sez he to we, sez he,

"'Ef ye don't like our grub ye can go back to yer own ship.'

"'Three beans,' sez Cap'n Peleg Mahoney, that bein' French fur 'Werry good.'

"'An' don't ye ever come here again,' sez the other Cap'n.

"'Nicht an sein leben,' sez Willum Smitzer, that bein' Dutch fur 'Not ef we knows ourselves.' An' with that we went over the side an' started fur home. An' them fellers throwed overripe strawberries an' termatters at us till we looked like cod-fishermen. We went back to our ship an' told our men about it, an' they sez that nex' day they was a-goin' over an' break up that farm. But 'twarn't so to be. In the night it came on to blow from the opposite quarter, an' the anchor watch called all han's, sayin', the ice--the land--the wotever ye call 't are a-breakin' up.' We all turned out an' found the ship in the water an' drivin' clear o' the stuff. We got sail on her an' hove her to, but she jess blowed away to leeward. In the mornin' we could make out the Saragossa Sea away up to windward, an' could see the tops o' them bluefish-trees a-wavin' in the gale; but we couldn't never git back there. An', my sons," added the Old Sailor, very solemnly, "I don't b'lieve that no other ships 'ceptin' the _Ham Bone_ an' that farm-house ship are ever bin there."

Our discussion of National I.S.A.A.A.A. affairs last week was closed over the question of suitable grounds. As I said at the time, there are so many factors which enter into this that we should be careful about coming to a hasty conclusion, and whatever is said here on the subject should be understood as coming without prejudice. The grounds of the Columbia Oval do not seem to be so good, either from the point of view of the athlete or from that of the spectator, as those of the Berkeley Oval or Manhattan Field. I think that if the National games had been held at either of the latter places the crowd would have been three or four times as large. New-Yorkers are familiar with, and know how to reach, both Manhattan Field and the Berkeley Oval; but there are very few occasions that call them to the Columbia Oval. Many persons who are more or less interested in athletics might have gone to the Columbia Oval if they had known just where it was and just how to get there; but they did not go because so few athletic events are conducted at Williams Bridge that this class of spectators did not take the trouble to find out where the Columbia Oval is.

It is important to have as large a crowd as possible at a National Interscholastic meeting, and every effort should be made, therefore, to secure such a crowd. If we believe that a larger crowd would go to Manhattan Field or to the Berkeley Oval than to the Columbia Oval, we ought to have the National games at one of these two places, unless the expense of hiring the grounds puts them out of the question. It has become a sort of tradition in and around New York that the Berkeley Oval is the place to hold school and college sports. School and college sports have been held on the Oval almost exclusively for the past ten years, until this last spring, when the Intercollegiates went to Manhattan Field. The latter place, however, would not be the best one for interscholastic matches of any kind, for many reasons. No crowd that an interscholastic event could draw would ever fill those stands, and the expense of hiring Manhattan Field would doubtless be much greater than any interscholastic association could afford.

The Berkeley Oval, however, can be secured for less money for school games, because Dr. White is usually willing to meet school-boys half-way. Furthermore, the Berkeley Oval, although within the limits of New York city, is more or less in the country, and the atmosphere of the place savors less of professional baseball and horse-fairs. There is more of a lawn-party air about the Berkeley Oval than could be obtained under any conditions beneath the elevated railroad station at 155th Street, and there are lots of green trees and plenty of grass, and many other advantages which one associates with field days and similar events.

It may justly be said that for rural advantages the Columbia Oval can hardly be placed second to the Berkeley Oval; but there is a line to be drawn somewhere, even in rural advantages, and I think it is well to draw that line at climbing over stone walls in Williams Bridge. But this question of choice of grounds is so much entangled with the other question--that of having the games conducted by a club--that it is difficult, when discussing one, not to take the other into account. The school-boys ought not to criticise the convenience of the Columbia Oval when they consider that they were there by the courtesy of the Knickerbocker Athletic Club (which, by-the-way, is the name by which the New Manhattan Athletic Club is henceforth to be known).

It may be well to state, therefore, that whatever has been said in this Department about grounds for next year's National meeting has been said without any intention of reflecting in any way whatever upon the Knickerbocker Athletic Club's position at this year's meeting, and without any consideration whatever for what either Dr. White or Mr. Freedman may think of the advisability of leasing their grounds next season to the N.I.S.A.A. The question of advertising or of personal interest does not come into this discussion at all.

As to whether it is a good plan for the National games to be again conducted by a club, or by any organization other than the National Association itself, is a question that cannot be decided without the most careful thought and serious discussion. It was undoubtedly well to have the first meeting of the N.I.S.A.A.A.A. managed by a club, for if this had not been done, it is very probable that there would have been no field day at all, or, at best, an unsuccessful one.

There was considerable opposition among the school-boys of New York against having the Knickerbocker Athletic Club take charge of the event, and I know that there is considerable dissatisfaction now over the way the meet was conducted. The complaints, however, all come from those who took no part whatever in the contests, and who had no further interest in the games beyond being spectators; and their complaints, therefore, deserve but little attention. The question is not so much to find where the club fell short in its efforts, as to point out where matters may be mended on future occasions. If the Knickerbocker A.C. did not carry out the school-boys' ideas in the way the school-boys think this should have been done, or if they believe that they themselves can do better, they should attempt the entire management of the games next year.

It would be very much better, of course, not to have the games managed by a club, if the officers of the National Association could spare the time to look after the preliminary details of the meet. But there are so many other things that must take up the attention of school-boys in the spring months that it is difficult for them to spare the time necessary for the successful management of so great an undertaking as a National meet. We all of us recognize the fact that studies should come first. But after the studies there is always plenty of time, and there always should be plenty of time, for young men to indulge in other enterprises. It is good that they should have divers interests. It is excellent that they should go into the management of athletic organizations, and that they should indulge in sports of all kinds, for in both these pastimes they are gaining valuable experience,--experience which some people rank equal in importance with book knowledge.

It is usually the case, however, that the young men who are officers of the National Association are also officers of their own local athletic associations. This gives them double work. They have plenty of time to manage their own meets and field days, without being overburdened and without taking time from necessary work. But when they add to these responsibilities the management of a National Association, they are taking on considerable extra responsibility, and unless the particular young men have strong business capability, they are undertaking more than they can accomplish. It might be well, for this reason, that the officers of the National Association be chosen from men who hold no offices in their own associations. From a practical standpoint, however, this might not be a good plan, because the best workers and the men with the greatest executive ability are chosen as officials of the local associations, and it is most important that these men with the greatest executive ability should also be at the head of the National Association.

But there is another plan by which the National games might be managed without the assistance of a club, and if this plan could be successfully carried out, it would undoubtedly be better than any that I have as yet heard mentioned. It is the old idea of graduate assistance. In every city there are a number of college and school graduates who take a lively interest in the sports of the schools and the colleges, and who are always willing to give more or less of their time to the management of athletics. Up to the present time, in school athletics, this interest and assistance has largely been shown by the graduates acting as officials, because the management of the games has not been complicated enough to require their aid in the preliminary work. But in National matters it is different.

If the schools of New York, and the schools of Boston and Hartford and Philadelphia could get one or two graduates who would be willing to assist the Executive Committee of the National Association in the organization of the annual spring games, it is more than probable that the event could be made a greater athletic and social success than in any other manner. The graduates would have more experience in business affairs than the school-boys, and business men would probably be more willing to enter into contracts with the graduates than with the school committee--and I am sure, from my own experience when I was at school, that every scholar would much prefer to have the contracts undertaken by others who would be willing to assume all responsibilities.

By dividing the preliminary executive work between the Executive Committee from the schools and the graduate committee, no one would be overworked, and everything necessary to the success of the day would be done. This would be an ideal plan. The only trouble is to get the graduates. This is an obstacle that can be easily overcome if the search is begun at once. Mr. Evert Wendell, of this city, is a very good man to go to first. He has had wide experience in interscholastic matters, and there is no one who has better judgment than he in these affairs; and we all know that no graduate has given more time and more valuable assistance to school athletes than he has. He would undoubtedly be able to suggest the names of other gentlemen in other cities who would be willing to undertake to aid the Executive Committee of the National Association.

If it should be found that this plan could not be carried out, then it will be time to discuss the questions of club management and purely school-boy management, but until the other scheme has been found impossible, I think it would be well to keep it in mind. There is one more subject that this Department wishes to touch upon in connection with the National games, and that is the officials. But so much space has already been taken up this week with N.I.S.A.A.A.A. matters that the discussion of this question of officials will have to be postponed until next time.

The athletes of the Berkeley School may justly feel proud of the record they have made this year. They have taken every championship in the New York I.S.A.A.--football, track athletics, tennis, and baseball. In baseball the Berkeley nine was not defeated in any of the championship games; and in addition to this, the team secured a number of important victories over strong teams not in the League.

The result of the championship series is as follows:

First Section. Games Won. Games Lost. De La Salle 3 0 Barnard 2 1 Cutler 1 2 Condon 0 3

Second Section.

Berkeley 3 0 Columbia Grammar 2 1 Trinity 1 2 Hamilton 0 3

The championship game between Berkeley School and De La Salle was won by the former.