The times., 1897-04-23
King Baseball,

| An unwonted air of excitement was TO be
noticed among the citizens of Washington
| yesterday, It was a pleasant excitement,
! for faces smiled, tones were ioyial and "a
| peculiar frisGineSS crept into the gait Of
| many people who are not ordinarily frisky.
| A scientifi man would have said that some
| electric quality had been added To the at
niosphere. A revivalist might have said
that there had been an awakening and
general gathering in. Eager patriots
might very possibly have surmised that
this country had declared war against
Spain or Turkey. or something. Other pa
triots might infer that general prosperity
had struck the town with a soft and gentle
thud, and that its happy influence was
percolating through the adult male popu-
latien. But all Of these people would have
been wrong.
1t was not the sweet spring air which
caused this joy; nor was it war news, or
the performance which went on in the great
white building at the southeast corner of
the business quarter of the city. There
wasnocircus away up in the northwest, but
the electric cars and cable cars carried
crowds OF passengers who looked just as
happy as if there was. Some OF them wore
badges, some of them wore strange cos
TUNES, and all of them worealert and eager
faces. When they came in sight of their
destination there were reunions. They
were meeting to celebrate the 70 rmal OPEN
ing of the baseball season.
The Senators have been practicing for
some time and are in good trim and ready
for any sort Of victory that may happen to
come their way. A baseball club is never
backward in that respect The Senators
will play any old town in the United
States this season and enjoy 1t. And their
friends viii follow their fortunes with tile
same steadfast fidelity. the same wild
enthusiasm, the same intelligent roofing
rs in former years. The real baseball ell
thusiast is unassailable on his pet hobby
He pins his faith to his team and doesn't
uuIhU IL 81 fOUS dS SUtTt is lditl duu itdtu
enough left to hold the pin. And when, as
has often happened, his faith is Justified,
and his team goes on from glory to glory,
who so happy as the baseball man? Who
SO gay and prosperous-Iooking even if he
hasn't single specimen OF the sinews OF
war in his pocket? Who SO fluent OF speech
an1 ,.r,,a,,ap
That Is the genuine baseball enthusiast,
and that is why, when the baseball season
opened yesterday, all Washington felt that
there was "a tonic in the air not due 10
the calendar or to patent medicines. Il
was the rising tide of baseball enthusa SIN
that was the matter, and it is not inn
in Congress. AT any rate, several states
men, who are generally known as in
dustrious men, were not in their seats
or anywhere about their business head
quarters during the afternoon; and it was
the same way with the brokers' offices,
and with some OF the other business es-
among relatives, too-relatives OF office |
boys and other humble retainers of business |
houses. To Judge by the number of |
funerals that persons got leave to attend, |
the streets should have been obstructed |
with hearses and hacks but nothing Of |
the kind was apparent. Baseball, how
ever, should not be held subversive |
OF public morality on this account 1t |
might very well be that, If the services |
could be made Interesting enough, boys |
would tell lies In order to get permission |
to 20 to sunday school.