The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-10-05
The Rase RaII EpIdemIe.

TIE following editorial article, from
the Philadelphia ERepis0 Telegraph, is
both timely and appropriate: gWe all
know that at irregular. intervals dan
gerous epidemics sweep over countries,
affecting more or less all the people.
The East tells us of thousands injected,
and it requires no, historical knowledge
to see it in our own land. AS with
physical .maladies, so also with moral
contagious. Philosophers say that
crime is infectious, and that one example
of 2 mighty ohense against law causes
others. And it is moral epidemic
Whtch'ts now raging in our land. Good,
quiet people may smile, but there is q
fever which is in the brains and affect
ing the minds of thousands of Ameri-
can citizens. Strange'tO say, this dis
ease Is principally limited to the male
sex, and seldom attacks those who have
attained the age of thirty. m
-. The prevailing mania is known as
base ball, "'and never was there Jug
gernaut with more devoted followers
than this god of physical sport There
seems to be a reckless abandon exhibit,
ed by its devotees, which savors of the
mad ecstacy which the Bythoness con-
adnuallya liVetl fnso All of the leading
players have had their fingers broken,
and some have had every finger brok=
en-twice. The loss OF tooth or an eve
Is received with such slight interest
that we might suppose that the MEM
Der had offended. and been "plucked
out, The members OF these reckless
iievoteeS islegfon, Every lboy Who l5as
attained the mature age offsixh feels
qualified TO belong to 8 ssclub, %
and all the adjectfves in the Ian
'gnage are applied as titles TO
the organization. The "InVulnera-
bles, = or the 'Inwhatables," !" as Toodles
has It, are all composed OF young Amer
leans whose lives have not witnessed a
decade. Then, also, is mythology laid
under. contribution, and "Olympio''
brought down to level of a plain.
The venerable gentleman who rushed
out of his bath without making toilet
has a delicate compliment paid to his
me- memory sy and the IS S9Eeka'2 appears on
bore mid snow and icen is not forgotten,
and sSEXcelSfo Is inscribed on the ban.
ner of another. AS to all the American
statesmen, the patriotism of the players
compels some recognition of their mer-
its. and "Washfn9ton,n ssFranklin,' p
MHamilton, and all the signers and all
the Presidents are remembered. The
fact is, the organizers or new clubs, are
driven to desperation to secure names,
and II the fever continues much longer,
they must resort to the expedient OF
unfortunate fathers who, having ex-
hausted their vocabulary, devised the
scheme of duplicating names. Wewill
have the Washington Washington
and the Eureka Eufeka.'' But we are
in hopes that before this dreadful pass
Is reached, the fever will have COM
menced to abate, and that ere long II
wtll5be reduced to control. u1
In 1854 the excitement over cricket
first began to assume formidable di-
mensions, and in 1857 it was at Its
night. We all remember the way in
which, itsltook of small bows from
school, and enlisted even men in lis
ranks as victims. 1t overdid the game,
The excitement rose in an hour, and
utterly subsided; and instead of being
aprational, amount of healthy exercise,
1ttWaS either a mania or none at all,
Within two years after the visit of the
English eleven, there was not found a
dozen cricket clubs in the whole
country. is 20 77e3f4
Two years ago, base ball commenced
and the course of the epidemic is the
Same as that of its predecessor. It is
to-day being carried to such an excess,
that unless there is something like rea.
son in the exercise, the whole game will
completely disappear. What was orig
tnally healthy sport has grown to be
positive dissipation. We hear com.
plants from all our business men, be.
cause of the continual absence of younp
men in order that they may engage iT
the game. If 1t were once week, Il
wouldebe an excellent thing. It would
give Yigor to the1frame, buoSaney tc
the spirits, and make the time lost tc
them compensated for by the additional
activity. But'when it Is four times 4
week, and sometimes more, it becomes
a decided nuisance. We admire the
game of base ball. We admire the re,
suits, If INDUCED In moderately, and Il
Is because we want tosee young Ameri.
cans have such game always as a re.
creation, that e.oppose the present ex.
cess. Unless 1t Is remedied and the
over indulgence abated, we see that II
will disappear, as did cricket: Our
businessmen VIII lose patience, and re.
fuse continual absence from duty. Al
present it is positively losing money to
both the employees and their employ.
ers. This state of affairs cannot con.
ti1ue, and as;lovers of the sport we call
upon those who actively engage in IL
"to draw it alittle more mild, y as The
meek philosopher says, and ttnot run
the thing into the ground.n