Part 5

"Certainly. The one was the stimulant of the other. We all grew up together. The days spent in my room when I was ill helped me. I think I studied flowers then, so that their forms and colors were indelibly impressed on my mind. When I was older I made a small bunch of flowers in wax. Not a detail escaped me. I made moulds of all kinds of leaves. Once I put together a rose, some sprigs of mignonette and heliotrope in wax, and gave them to my dear old friend, Henry Ward Beecher. He was delighted with my flowers, and put them on his study table. Presently Mrs. Beecher came in. She ran to the flowers and broke the rose all to pieces.

"How could she have done that?" I asked.

"It must have been with her nose. She wanted to smell the rose."

Then Mr Hamilton Gibson showed me some monster drawings of flowers--Brobdingnagian ones. The flowers opened and closed when you pulled a string, showing their interior structure. Here were bees or other insects, and they flew into the flowers, collected the honey, and, above all, the pollen, and buzzed out again. He explained to me how plant life would perish were it not for certain insects, which bring a new existence to flowers; for without these winged helpers there would be no longer any varieties of flowers or seeds.

You will see, then, that in tracing the beginning of Mr. Hamilton Gibson's career what I mean by harking backwards.

I am certain, too, that in every boy and girl there is something good and excellent. Like the flower visited by the bee, all it wants is impulse. Then, as Mr. Hamilton Gibson explained it to me, will come the blossoming, and lastly perfect fruitage.

The choice of officials at the National Games is another subject which will bear discussion, and although I have reserved it until the last, it must not be considered that this is because I have considered it of any less importance than the various subjects connected with these games that have been discussed within the past few weeks in this Department. All who regularly attend interscholastic track and field games, especially graduates of the New York schools, and those who watch their young brothers and cousins in their indulgence in sport, were much surprised when they looked over the programme of the National Games and saw the list of men who had been invited to act as officials.

There is a certain number of gentlemen in this city who have become so thoroughly identified with school-boy sports that their names are always to be found on the list of officials at interscholastic games. At the National Games, however, it was different, and there are many who resented the change.

In the first place, school sports--and college sports, for that matter--are supposed to be somewhat different in tone from other sports, even from those of amateur athletic associations. We try to conduct them on a higher plane, and we try to give to them a purer spirit of amateurism and comradeship than can be obtained by other organizations. And in carrying out this idea it has always been the custom to have school or college graduates act as officials.

At the National Games this unwritten law or custom was not carried out, and many of the New York school-boys felt that the visiting athletes were receiving a wrong impression of the way in which we do things down here. Many questioned me concerning the change that they noticed on the first page of the programme, but being no wiser than they at the time, I was unable to enlighten them. Since then, however, I have learned that the change was due to ignorance on the part of the managers of the day rather than to any desire for reform.

INTERSCHOLASTIC RECORDS OF THE UNITED STATES.

Event. Record. Maker. 100-yard dash 10-1/5 sec. F. H. Bigelow. 220-yard run 22-2/5 " F. H. Bigelow. 440-yard run 50-3/5 " T. E. Burke. Half-mile run 2 m. 1-1/5 " R. H. Hanson. Mile run 4 " 32-2/5 " W. T. Laing. Mile walk 7 " 11-3/5 " J. S. Eells. 120-yard hurdle (3 ft. 6 in.) 17 " E. C. Perkins. 220-yard hurdle (2 ft. 6 in.) 26-1/2 " E. D. Field. Mile bicycle 2 " 34-1/5 " I. A. Powell. Two-mile bicycle 5 " 18-2/5 " G. F. Baker, Jun. Running high jump 5 ft. 11 in. S. A. W. Baltazzi. Running broad jump 21 " 7 " A. Cheek. Pole vault 10 " 9 " B. Johnson. Throwing 12-lb. hammer 125 " R. T. Johnson. Throwing 16-lb. hammer 118 " 2-3/4 " F. C. Ingalls. Putting 12-lb. shot 42 " 5-1/2 " Patterson. Putting 16-lb. shot 39 " 3 " M. C. O'Brien.

Event. School. 100-yard dash Worcester H.-S. 220-yard run Worcester H.-S. 440-yard run Boston English H.-S. Half-mile run Boston English H.-S. Mile run Phillips Academy, Andover. Mile walk Hotchkiss, Lakeville, Conn. 120-yard hurdle (3 ft. 6 in.) Hartford H.-S. 220-yard hurdle (2 ft. 6 in.) Hartford H.-S. Mile bicycle Cutler, N.Y. Two-mile bicycle Hotchkiss, Lakeville, Conn. Running high jump Harvard, N.Y. Running broad jump Oakland, Cal., H.-S. Pole vault Worcester Academy. Throwing 12-lb. hammer Brookline H.-S. Throwing 16-lb. hammer Hartford H.-S. Putting 12-lb. shot Evansville. Putting 16-lb. shot Boston English H.-S.

Event. Time and Place. 100-yard dash N.E.I.S.A.A. games, June 9, 1894. 220-yard run N.E.I.S.A.A. games, June 9, 1894. 440-yard run N.E.I.S.A.A. games, June 9, 1894. Half-mile run N.Y.I.S.A.A. games, June 5, 1896. Mile run N.E.I.S.A.A. games, June 9, 1894. Mile walk Conn. H.-S.A.A. games, June 6, 1896. 120-yard hurdle (3 ft. 6 in.) Conn. H.-S.A.A. games, 1894. 220-yard hurdle (2 ft. 6 in.) Conn. H.-S.A.A. games, June 8, 1895. Mile bicycle N.Y.I.S.A.A. games, May 11, 1895. Two-mile bicycle Conn. H.-S.A.A. games, June 8, 1895. Running high jump N.Y.I.S.A.A. games, May 11, 1895. Running broad jump A.A.L. field day, Oct. 16, 1894. Pole vault N.E.I.S.A.A. games, June 5, 1896. Throwing 12-lb. hammer N.E.I.S.A.A. games, June 9, 1894. Throwing 16-lb. hammer Conn. H.-S.A.A. games, June 6, 1896. Putting 12-lb. shot Wis. I.S.A.A. games, May 30, 1896. Putting 16-lb. shot N.E.I.S.A.A. games, 1894.

The Knickerbocker Athletic Club is a newcomer in athletics, and its officials do not know yet, or did not know at the time of the National Games, that there are, as I have stated, half a dozen gentlemen in this city who almost always hold certain official positions on interscholastic occasions. Of course such ignorance is pardonable, but I do not think that the Knickerbocker managers should be so readily pardoned for inviting certain gentlemen to act as officials without consulting the officers of the National Association. So far as I am able to find out, the Knickerbocker Club did not submit the names of those whom they had chosen to act as officials to any officer of the National Association, and the latter, so I am told, did not know who were to act as referee and judges until shortly before they reached the Columbia Oval on the afternoon of June 20.

It was too late then to make any changes, of course, and all the officers of the National Association could do was to blame themselves for their own carelessness and thoughtlessness in not asking to see a list of the officials a week before the games. There was no fault to be found with the manner in which the gentlemen chosen by the Knickerbocker Club performed their duties, yet there was an indescribable something lacking on the field that day which we have always felt and appreciated at other interscholastic functions.

There was not exactly an air of professionalism about the proceedings, and yet the officials went about their work in such a "professional" way that the gentle, amateur, leisurely atmosphere of other times and seasons was not there. Furthermore, there was a slight inclination toward bossism in some quarters; and young men who are taking part in amateur sports do not care to be bossed, and if they have reason to suspect that they are going to be bossed, it may be put down as a certainty that they will not again compete under similar conditions. I haven't any doubt that next year, no matter under what conditions the National Games are held, the officers of the Association will choose their own officials, and there will be found among them the same gentlemen who for years have helped to make school-boy field days the pleasant affairs they always are.

But it is only just to say to any organization, whether it be in New York or in any other city, which hopes to succeed in the management of school-boy sports, that it must carry out the school-boy idea of the proprieties of things; and school-boys have very distinct ideas of what they want; and if school-boys are pleased to have certain gentlemen, school and college graduates, to act as officials at their sports, these same gentlemen must be asked to hold these same positions, or the organization will very soon lose favor in scholastic eyes. Nevertheless, the schools must remember that the Knickerbocker Athletic Club is the first that ever did anything for interscholastic sport, and for this reason they should be willing to overlook a great deal.

A number of years ago it was a very common thing for college men and other amateurs to devote a large part of their summer to the playing of baseball. So popular did this playing on "summer nines" become that a number of hotels offered inducements to clever amateur players to come and spend a few weeks at their resort in order that the locality might have a good baseball nine as a sort of summer attraction. The custom went from bad to worse, until summer resorts actually began to bid one against the other for the most capable players.

Many amateurs who would not for a moment have considered any other kind of proposition found that they had easy consciences when it was merely a question of taking a reduction in board and lodging. They seemed to fail to recognize the fact that by accepting such a reduction they were practically accepting the sum of money which the hotel-keeper subtracted from their bills at the end of their stay. In some cases, too, no bills at all were submitted to the baseball boarders. Thus amateurs were rapidly sliding into the path of professionalism, and the colleges found that they must take some steps to interfere with summer baseball playing.

All of the colleges now, I think, with the possible exception of Brown, have rules forbidding the playing of baseball on "summer nines," the penalty being that any member of the college who does this becomes ineligible to any university team. And thus summer playing for college men has been effectively put a stop to.

The colleges, however, cannot legislate against players who are not members of their institutions, and they have found it difficult to prevent sub-Freshmen or school-boy players from accepting the favors of hotel-keepers or others in return for belonging to the hotel's nine. Princeton, however, has seized the bull by the horns, and has issued a decree, which was sent around to all the preparatory schools last spring, stating that no one will be considered eligible to any of the university teams who has at any time played for any sort of compensation.

This is an excellent rule, and will effectively put a stop to summer ball-playing by young men who are preparing for Princeton, and who hope to achieve the honor of playing on the university nine. It is to be hoped that every other university and college in this country will adopt similar rules.

But aside from the penalties that are to be incurred for playing on "summer nines," there must be a number of other reasons that will prevent school-boys from running the risk of being looked upon as semi-professionals. I say "semi-professionals," although there is really no half-way house between amateurism and professionalism. If a young man accepts reduced board at any time, or a uniform, or a pair of shoes or stockings, or in fact anything that has any commercial value whatever, as a reward for any kind of services rendered in athletics, he is a professional.

NATIONAL INTERSCHOLASTIC RECORDS.

Event. Record. 100-yard dash 10-1/5 sec. 220-yard dash 22-2/5 " Quarter-mile run 51-2/5 " Half-mile run 1 m. 59-3/5 " One-mile run 5 " 10-1/5 " 120-yard hurdles (3 ft. 6 in.) 16-4/5 " 220-yard hurdles (2 ft. 6 in.) 26-2/5 " One-mile walk 7 " 53-2/5 " One-mile bicycle 2 " 36 " Running high jump 5 ft. 8 in. Running broad jump 21 " 1 " Pole vault 10 " 5 " Throwing 12-lb. hammer 129 " 10 " Putting 12-lb. shot 43 " 4 "

Event. Holder. 100-yard dash W. H. Jones, New England I.S.A.A. 220-yard dash W. H. Jones, New England I.S.A.A. Quarter-mile run H. L. Washburn, New York I.S.A.A. Half-mile run W. S. Hipple, New York I.S.A.A. One-mile run D. T. Sullivan, New England I.S.A.A. 120-yard hurdles (3 ft. 6 in.) A. F. Beers, New York I.S.A.A. 220-yard hurdles (2 ft. 6 in.) J. H. Converse, New England I.S.A.A. One-mile walk A. L. O'Toole, New England I.S.A.A. One-mile bicycle O. C. Roehr, Long Island I.S.A.A. Running high jump { F. R. Sturtevant, Connecticut H.-S.A.A. { T. Flourney, Iowa State H.-S.A.A. Running broad jump H. Brown, Connecticut H.-S.A.A. Pole vault R. G. Clapp, New England I.S.A.A. Throwing 12-lb. hammer F. C. Ingalls, Connecticut H.-S.A.A. Putting 12-lb. shot F. C. Ingalls, Connecticut H.-S.A.A.

The word "professional" means an individual who performs in athletics for the sake of the reward that he is to receive. It does not make any difference whether this reward comes to him in cash, clothing, or pie. And he cannot evade being classed among professionals if he once accepts any kind of remuneration. Of course it seems different to those young men who do not think seriously about the ethics of sport. They think that they are not accepting any remuneration if they allow a hotel-keeper or an athletic club to furnish them with a suit of clothes--a baseball uniform--and pay their expenses.

They argue that it is only just, if they are playing baseball, that their expenses to and from neighboring resorts should be paid, and they do not see why the hotel or the club, if it chooses to, should not present uniforms to the young men who are playing ball. But it seems to me that this very argument is strongest when looked at from the other side. The young men who accept uniforms or expenses do so because they feel that it is worth while for the hotel man or the club to spend that money to have them play baseball.

Therefore, if it is worth anything to the hotel man to pay them this money, their services acquire a commercial value. As soon as services are recognized to have a commercial value, and are paid for, either directly or indirectly, the one who accepts the reward or remuneration, either directly in cash or clothing, or indirectly in railroad fare and hotel bills, becomes a professional, for he has made use of his ability as an athlete to obtain railroad transportation or board at no expense to himself beyond his skill as an athlete.

There is a difference in playing at summer resorts for the sport of the thing and in playing for the advantage of it. Young men who like to play baseball, and who can get up a nine wherever they happen to be this summer, should do so by all means, for there is nothing healthier than sport of this kind. But they should not allow any one to let them derive any kind of financial advantage from the fact that they know how to play baseball, and they should not allow any of their friends or admirers to induce them to go to any certain resort because they know how to play baseball.

Young men usually want to do what they consider the right thing, and what their older brothers and their friends among older men consider the right thing. College men have come to the conclusion that playing on summer nines is a bad thing for amateur sport, and if there are a number of young men, readers of this Department, not yet in college, who have not given sufficient thought to the matter, and who very possibly cannot see the serious side of the question just now, let them, for the present, rest upon the judgment of the college men, and abide by their decision, and when they get to be college men themselves they will appreciate the situation as they cannot now, and they will be very glad that they left playing on "summer nines" to others who were not such thorough sportsmen as they, and who by so doing lose much that they can never regain in after years.

This Department prints again this week a table of the Interscholastic records of the United States, and also a table of the National Interscholastic records, in order that many who have not made a distinction between these two classes of figures may see what this difference is. As was stated last week, a National Interscholastic record is one made at the National Games, whereas an Interscholastic record is one made at any interscholastic field-meeting. We may feel perfectly sure that the figures as printed in the National table are absolutely correct, for there has been only one National Interscholastic meeting, that of June 20 of this year.

The Berkeley School nine, which won the Interscholastic Championship this year, is undoubtedly one of the strongest baseball teams ever developed at any of the New York city schools. This team earned the championship of the Association by 167-10. The team was an unusually hard-hitting one, and in one game alone the Berkeley players pounded out eight home runs. The best individual work of the team was done by Wiley, Pell, and Huntington. Wiley will undoubtedly be known in a few years as one of the best amateur catchers, and if he goes to college he should make a record for himself on the diamond.

"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."--ILLUSTRATED.--8VO, CLOTH, ORNAMENTAL, $1.25.

THE GRADUATE.

HARPER'S NEW CATALOGUE,

Thoroughly revised, classified, and indexed, will be sent by mail to any address on receipt of ten cents.

This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelman. Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L.A.W., the Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership blanks and information so far as possible.

This week we give a map of the city of Chicago. It will be observed that all the streets of the city are not put down on the map, it being impossible, on a small scale, to include them. A sufficient number of the principal streets and avenues are given, however, to make it a simple matter for a wheelman to place himself anywhere in the city, and find the nearest route to asphalt, macadam, or wood-block pavement. The roads which are suitable for wheeling are so arranged in the city, as will be seen from the map, that it is possible to get to any part of it without having much disagreeable riding.

Starting from the Court-house and going north, the rider should cross the Chicago River and run out Dearborn Street, turning into Lincoln Park, and following the Lake Drive out through Evanston. This is not only the most picturesque ride in the city of Chicago, but it is the best method of getting out of the north of the city if you are on a trip by the Lake shore. By turning to the left off the Lake Drive a little more than half-way through Lincoln Park, crossing the park, and entering Fullerton Avenue, you will find good wood-block pavement. Running out to Milwaukee Avenue, and turning right into the latter, which is also block pavement, you are on the northwest exit from the city. To leave the city on the westward, cross the branch of the Chicago River, and run from the Court-house out Washington Boulevard--which is partly asphalt and partly macadam--pass through Garfield Park, and thence out of the city.