Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-09-14
Our Washington Letter.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 1879

the Nation, reading the returns
from the Pine Tree State, exclaims :
i" We would initiate, but we do con-
tract" The praise of Blaine is on
the lips of every man in the Repub-
lican party. He has given the
fines; example of wha. thorough
work in a political campaign will
accomplish, that has ever been seen
in the country. Now let all
the close campaigns be fought in
the same manner, and the Govern
ment will undoubtedly be placed
in the hands of the Republicans
again. The First District of Ten
nessee, and many other close dis
tricts in the country may well pom
der over the example Of Blaine.
First, he took census of the Re-
publican voters and knew at the be-
ginning of the struggle just how
each man stood. He knew the
names of all the workers, the Dem
ocratic communities, the 1ndepend-
ent voters, and the Greenbackers.
He had Republican clubs or
ganized at every point. He
caused meetings to be held
at every school house, and
the eloquence of his orators
was heard in every nook and
corner. Blaine arranged for every
thing. disappointed every meeting,
made arrangements for every
speaker; provided for a torchlight
procession here, and q barbecue
there; brass bands and glee clubs
struck up their strains of patriotic
music at his beck and call. It is
not best to leave such arrangements
to the various towns, counties and
districts themselves, then there is no
uniformity Of action. Let the
country study this lesson we'll.
To-day we see that General
Grant has virtually agreed to ac-
cept the Presidency of the Ni>
caragua Intereceanlc Canal Com
pany, which proposes the building
of canal across the lsthmus of
Panama. This, it would seem, indi-
Gates that Grant meant just what
he said when he indicated to the
Viceroy of China that he would not
bea candidate for the Presidency. If
this be true the chances will again
divide between Blaine, Sherman,
Conkling, and, perhaps, a half
dozen others. We have plenty of
material, and can elect any man we
choose. But variety is the spice of
life, and [ will change off for a diff
ferent class of items.
On Saturday last 1 witnessed a
match game of base ball between
the Nationals and Worcesters. An
account mey interest your readers.
A level, four>acre, lot surrounded
by high board fence, constitutes
the ball grounds of the National
Club. One side is long shed,
under which are arranged seats
rising tier over tier, for the aecom>
mediation of the crowd Twenty
five cents buys ticket of admis~
slon. About three thousand people
were present on Saturday. The
playing was much the same as we
see among good clubs at home. The
umpire stood near the batter and
leaned forward, cycling every move
and decided promptly. Whilelnomen-
were running the bases the catch>5
ers stood far back behind the bat
but when a man got started around.
the catcher would stand about six
feet behind the bat, and take
the balls unerringly, unless batted
into the field or knocked high foul.
Taking foul six feet from the bat
is fine work, yet it was done several
times in this game. The best play
ing was done by he, pitchers. The
Worcester club was represented by
q left-hand pitcher, and it was a
desperate task to hit his balls. "A
fly ball never reached the ground, so
perfect was the fielding. A mum
Der of double plays were made. The
Worcester frst-baseman took
ball as it came high over his bead
by jumping up and catching it in
the left hand, and by putting it into
second base he put out two men.
One of the National men batted a.
ball entrel y across the ground and
made home rum bringing in
another man with him. Gamblers
thronged the grounds call
Ing out, to one on the
Nationals T. Heres your chance
to bet on the sgame !p8and similar
expressions Many persons OUT
side the grounds witnessed the
game from housetops. One enter
prising chap climbed on top a tele,
graph pole and sat there through
out the game.
. The most interesting thing / have
lately Witnessed was a dissecting
room in a medical college. I was
shown through it by a student. A
number of tables stood around the
room. On each table law tho hoav