The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-05-14
The Clarksville Nine.

There Is a not unfounded suspicion that the
funny man of the New York Times was refer
ring, in the following article to the approach.
ing nomination Of presidents "There Is an
unusual degree OF excitement in the GAINESVILLE
grammar school. The baseball season is at
hand, and the school nine is about to elect a
new captain. Hitherto the Clarksvile nine
has been very successful, and 1t is naturally
anxious to maintain its reputation. Its old an
tagonist-the Greystone nine lis full OF con-
fdence, and the GAINESVILLE boys are fully alive
to the necessity of elecSng the best possible
captain and OF neglecting no means Of strength
ening their nine. Naturally, there are several
boys who are candidates for the captaincy, but
as yet no one can be said to be sure Of an cleo
ton. Young Dodge, who Is one of the most
popular boys In school, IL very anxious to Sc
cure the prize, and as he is what is called "a
thoroughly good fellow he has number of
devoted adherents. It is urged by his oppo-
nents. however, that the captain of baseball
nine ought to be good player, whereas young
Dodge, during the last match in which he took
part, got into quarrel with the other side,
and was in such state OF excitement that, II he
had been given another inning at the bat, he
would doubtless have thrown his bat at the
pitcher and brought about a general scrimmage,
with the result of losing the game. II Is Justly
urged that skill in baseball, and not readiness
to knock fellows over the head, is an important
characteristic Of good player; and this char
acteristlc young Dodge is believed to lack.
Moreover, his enemies intimate that he has not
always played marbles on the square an ac-
cusation which it is only fair to say that he en-
SPECIFICALLY denies, in which denial he Is sup
ported by William, the professional kalsominer
"a coored man of excellent character--who
says that Massa Jim never did muffin wrong,
and there's others that amt no better The
present captain, young Arthur Allen, has his
personal supporters, who urge that he is very
gentlemanly, wel-behaved boy and very fair
player. Unfortunately for him. however he is
opposed by some on the ground that he was
formerly much more fond of marbles than
baseball, while the inveterate marble-players
denounce him, alleging that he now thinks
himself too good to play marbles with them.
1t is conceded that he has made fairly good
captain and he naturally claims that If he gave
satisfaction he ought to be reelected, and that
it is rather hard that he should be abused both
for having played marbles and for having
ceased to play marbles There are however, a
number Of boys who say that they will not
vote for him under any circumstances, and this
fact renders his election extremely doubtful
Then there is young Jack He is not q good
baseball player, and he is at the foot of the
grammar class but he is the best fighter in the
school, and he claims that he should be elected
captain because, As he says, everybody knows
what done the time me and some other fell
lows licked the whole lot OF the Davis academy
boys The Clarksville boys, however much
they admire Jacks prowess, want baseball
player and not rough-and-tumble fighter
and poor Jack has not the ghost of chance of
an election. The best baseball player in school
is unquestionaby young Edmund George, but
as he does not distribute peanuts among the
boys and declines to electioneer for his own
benefit he has fewer supporters than the other
leading candidates When the election takes
place it is thought that his eminent qualifica-
| tons will lead many of the supporters of the
other candidates to vote for him, but he does
not care a straw for an election and would not
| lift his finger to secure it, The Saturday after
noon when the boys meet to elect their base
ball captain will furnish an exciting scene.
| Bets are freely laid on the various candidates
| by their respective friends and they all pretend
| to feel the utmost confidence. What is very
| odd however, is the fact that the mathemati-
| cal teacher, who knows more about the boys
| than any other person, is known to have offered
| to bet the Rev. Mr.. Smithers, the Greek tutor,
that he could write on the blackboard the name
of the next captain of the nine,' and when the
| money was put up he wrote not the name of
any one of the prominent candidates, but that
of the youngest member of the nine, a quiet,
studious and well-behaved boy commonly
known in the school as Little Bob"