The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-09-09
From the Saturday Review
lsase IsaiI.

From the Saturday Review
Isasc Isail.
As mans nature ia most readily de
tectcd in his unguardel moments, so the
characteristics of Il nation appear most
clearly in its games. The GOODNESS, per-
sistency. aud careful skill of the English
find M APP field for their exercise in click
ct. The nervous fiery temperament of the
fnesse. his possession of The esprit GanioS.
in the quick yet we'll damned combat OF
the toni The same tendency to let off
snpclluouS energy nv tie means of person.
al conflict which br"Iugs to the fencing
schools OF Paris assumes a form which has
more serious and a more grOtesque side
among the students of Germany. With
them the harmless encounter of buttoned
flis is replaced by the duel with the
whit&1er. blade pee iliar to the German
universities. which from its combined ten
uity, ilexlblitv, and sharpness. may be
said to resemble a hallequin's wand with
razor's edge. 70 mitigate the sayagery Of
the contests which might be entered into
with such dangerous weapons us these, the
practical good scnse which pertains to the
German character stepped in and mullled
the student duelists to the chin in impene-
trable paddings, while it protected their
eyes with iron-rimmed spectacles. SO
thick is the leathern armOr provided for
the warriors that many OF the cuts deliv-
cred with their keen blade are parted by
the wadded right arm. In this curious AZ
rangoment of apparent danger and actual
safety, the German mind perCelves, ms
rule, nothing ridiculous: On the contrary,
the institution of duelling is regarded by
,In ~ at,,1 na,1, t. .I,a -
cricket by the English public schoolboy OF
undergraduate. 1t is his physical religion.
We remember conversation between two
undergraduates, one of an English, the
other of German university. The Ger
man inquired what were the sports in favor
among the youth of English university lite.
There was cricket he was told, and ating
and various other athletic amusnments.
"But there is no duelling?" "No.' 'Ah,
then it cannot really be university" Pre-
conceived ideas of dueling do not quite ac-
cord with its Interpretation at a German
university.
In the world at large duel used to i'm
ply an individual quarrel between two
members of the community. Among Ger
man students it signifies merely trial of
skill between the members of two corps
Side is opposed to side exactly as in crck
ct but each side offers only one rerresen-
tatiye at a time. Whatever shred of like
ness there may be between the nose-slt
ting amusement of Bonn and Heidelberg
and the cricket of our universities or of our
public schools, there is this wide difference
that Englishmen who have in their young
days been devoted to cricket never loose
their interest in it in after life, while the
most renowned swordsman of a German
corps will in the course of few years re-
gard his proves as vain thing fondly i'm
agned. But, indeed, it would be as alb
surd seriously to compare cricket with this
student duellng as with the cruel bull fight
of Spain or the lazy but harmless, if child
ish mora of the Italians. 1t may be said
that there is another game of some impor-
lance in Italy, which, resembling tennis in
some points. may be called variety OF the
genus cricket in that its component parts
are a ball ana striking power. But this
game Is not sufficiently widespread or pop
ular to deserve the title of national.
1t would be surprising if America cher
ishing mny institutions of the old country,
should pass over one so venerated as crick-
ct 1t is also in accordance with the spirit
OF independence which is the boast OF
Americans that, While they look kindly on
the English national game, they should
strike out new game to be more especially
their own. The friendly rivalry existing
between England and America led some
while ago to a contest between the 'wet
hobs, to use an Elton phrase, of either
country, and it was only fair that the
''dry hobs" should show what they coulc
do. Cricket matches between Americans
and Englishmcn are not without precedent
for in 1859 American challenged England
at cricket, and the challenge, was accepted
by the best English eleven of the time, whC
went out to America and returned having
reaped success. 1t is possible that the SUI
premacy of base ball over cricket was no
then so firmly established as il is now OF
the other side of the Atlantic; now tn,
older is clearly held inferior TO the younge
game. 1t may be the love of invention, Of
creating something new, which belongs I,
new people, has led to the upraising o
base ball above all other games. Yet il
the essence of base ball there is nothln
new \ letter in the Times has pointe
out that in 174S game called base ball wa
played by the family of Frederick price O
Yates. 1t is possible that the resemblance
between this and the American game of tC
day extends further than the name. TIL
origin of base ball may be traced bac
without difficulty to the club ball of III
fourteenth century. In Straits 'Sp0rt
and Pastimes" there is a representation O
two men engaged in this amusement, or i
one very closely akin to it. One is deliy
ering a ball to the other, who stands wit
the depreciating aspect which seems nsep
arabic from medieval figures, ready to re
ceiye it with rude kind of club. In th
delivery of ball and its reception with
bat, the germ both of cricket and base ba
is easily recognized. 1t is curisus that III
attitude OF the two figures is more nearl
approached in base ball than in cricket
This may be taken as an indication eitht
that the American game is an intermediat
step between club ball and cricket, or thi
the base ball players have employed a col
sentative wisdom in rejecting the brancht
TO get to the root of the tree The formt
Interpretation is likely to find general az
ceptance, lnasmuch as all men who hay
been schoolboys will recognize in base ba
the development of game which was con
mon in their school days, and, being hel
inferior to cricket, was regarded rather /
a trivial amusement wherewith to viii
away an odd half-hOur than as a serioi
sport to which much time and practi'
were to be devoted Base ball is, in fact,
kind of glorified grounds.
The method in which the runs are o.
tanned is precisely the same as at rounder
The rough humor which put man out !
hitting him with the ball as he ran has di
appeared, and seems to have been replace
by the throwing of the ball into one of Il
goals or bases before the runner reaches