Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1866-10-17

eestacy which the BythOness continually
! lived in. All of the leading players
have had their fingers broken, and some
have had every finger broken twice. The
loss of tooth or an eye is received with
such slight interest that we might sup
pose that the member had offended, and
been /" pIucked out" The members OF
these reckless devotees is legion. Every
bov who has obtained the mature age OF
six feels qualified to belong to " club,
and all the adieetives in the language are
applied as titles to the organization. The
% invulnerables, or the Inwhatables,
as Toodles has it, are all composed Of
young Americans whose lives have not
witnessed adecade Then, also, is mythol-
ogy laid under contradiction, and
'.Olvmpic brought down to level ofa
plain. The venerable gentleman who
rushed out Of his ba;h without making
a toilet. has delicate compliment paid
to his memory, and the Eureka ap-
pears on the base ball board. The
youth who bore mid snow and ice is
not forgotten, and " Excelsior - is inscrib-
ed on the banner of another. As to all
the American statesmen, the patriotism
Of the players compels some recognition
Of their merits. and Washington,
'' Franklin" " Hamilton aud all the
Presidents are remembered. The fact
/ is, the organizers Of new clubs are driven
to desperation to secure names, and if
the fever continues much longer, they
must resort to the eZpedient OF the un-
fortunate fathers who, having exhausted
their vocabulary, devised the scheme Of
Duplicating names. We will have the
" Washington Washington " and the
" Eureka Eureka" But We are in hopes
that before this dreadful pass Is reached,
the fever will have commenced to abate,
and that ere long it will be reduced to
control.
In 1854 the excitement over cricket
first began to assume formidable dimen-
sons, and in 1887 it was at It's hight
We all remember the way in which it
took off small boys from school, and en-
listed even men in It's ranks as victims
It overdid the game The excitement
rose in an hour, and utterly subsided ;
and instead of being rational amount
Of healthy exercise, it was either mania
or none at all. Within two years after
the visit of the English eleven, there was
not found dozen cricket clubs III the
whole country.
Two years ago, base ball commenced,
and the course of the epidemic IS the
same as that Of its predecessor. Its to-
day being carried to such an excess, that
unless there IS something like reason IN
the exercise, The whole game will com
pletely Disappear What was originally
healthy sport has grown to he positive
dissipation. We hear complaints from
all our business men, because Of the con
tiaual absence Of young men In order
that they may engage in the Eame. II
it were once week, it would bc an eE-
cellent thing. 1t would give yigor to
the frame, buoyancy to the spirits, and
make the time lost to them compensated
for by the additional activity. But when
il is four times a week, and sometimes
more, it becomes a decided nuisance. We
admire the game of base ball. We ad-
mire the result, if indulged in moderate
"; and it is because we want to see
Young Americans have such a game al
ways as recreation, that we oppose the
present excess. Unless it is remedied
and the over-iudulgcnce abated, We see
that 1t will disappear, as didcrjcket. Our
business men will lose patience, and re-
fuse continual absence from duty. At
present it is positively losing money to
both the employees and their employers.
This state Of affairs cannot continues and
a lovers Of the sport VIC call upon those
WHO actively engage in it Ito draw it d
little moremili, as the meek philosopher
says, and not run the thing into the
ground" D."