, 1892-05-11
BASEBALL CRANKS.
Statesmen Who Are Always on
Hand at the Game.
President Harrison and Uncle Jerry
Rusk rEunchtmg Peanuts as They
Watch the Rums--senator Hill
and others Always Around.

Watch the Hums~-Senator HILL
and Others Always Around.
WASHINGTON, D. O., May 1.-THE great
American game of baseball is fully as
popular among the statesman Of the ma
tional capital as it is with the clerks and
office boys of Wall street or Boston. Dur
ing these warm spring days laziness is
prevalent in the two houses Of congress.
1t is becoming joke in Washington
of those jokes which twit on facts-that
quorum Of the house can be found any
afternoon at the baseball park.
President Harrison is fond Of only two
sorts Of sport. One is shooting and the
other baseball. He doesn't often go to the
games, but occasionally tears himself away
from the library, IN which. he works as
hard as amy other man in America, and
drives out to the ball park. He enjoys the
game as much as the humblest occupant of
the bleaching boards, though he doesn't
make as much noise about it, have
watched General Harrison while the play
was critical and exciting, and his face
never changes. He is imperturbable. Men
who know him well say this is and always
has been one of his characteristics.
In the excitement and danger of battle,
in the heat of political campaigns, in the
nervous tension of conventions and public
meetings he is always. as calm, as cold, as
| inlpassive as he is at the ball games, when
other people are jumping to their feet or
shouting. 1t isn't that the president fails
| to appreciate the good points of the play,
| for he is a baseball expert. But he is built
1 upon those lines which embrace no display
of feeling or excitement, no matter what
1 the occasion.
Not so with Jerry Rusk. The tall, patrr-
archal secretary OF agriculture is an invet-
crate attendant on the bali games, and he
becomes so much interested that it is with
difficulty that he represses a desire to
whoop in good w estern STYLE Uncle Jerry
rarely misses a game, and is plebeian
| enough to indulge in the double enjoy
ment of baseball and peanuts. The secre.
/ tary of agriculture eating peanuts by the
4 peck and keeping score of the ball game
! with self-satistied smile upon his face is
a sight worth travelling miles to see Fol
4 that matter, | have seen the president oi
the United States munching peanuts iT
4 public, and the thought has often occurred
| TO me that even the rulers of the mightiest
nations of the earth are very, very human
after all.
Secretary Foster is another lover of base
| DALI Nearly every Ooy iL6 bdh6S Ills pIlYdJS
secretary and couple of treasury officials
in his big surrey, and, after buyinga dozeI
4 cigars for 80, drives at rapid pace to thu
park, leaving a streak of smoke behinC
him. Mr. Foster is one of the creates
smokers we have in Washington, and b,
n says the 'tno-smoking'' edict of the docto
j during his recent convaleseence was th
greatest trial of his life.
4 Attorney General Miller, who is likel,
n soon to settle down to the even thougl
somewhat laborous career Of a justice 0
4, the supreme court, is as fond of the bal
Il games as his chief and former partner, an,
N a much more frequent attendant thereon
Il He is nearly always accompanied b
the members Of his family.
number of senators are afflicte
with the baseball craze. Conspicuou
{ among them is Senator Hill, who is usual
absent from his seat about O'Clock in th
afternoon, and seated in an open carriag
! on his way to the park. Itis not general,
| known that the senator used to play bal
, himself, but he did, being the left fielder q
} q pretty good nine up at Elmira. The frs
: time the senator visited the city of Ne'
York it was for the purpose Of witnessin
professional game of ball. One of th
neighbors in Elmira is the great Damn
Richardson, second baseman, and a
3 Danny is now a member Of the Washing
: ton nine, the senator has additional incen
> i've to attend the games. AS is well know
Senator German, of Maryland, used to be
!, member of the famous National Baseba
!. Club, and he is still very fond of the gam