The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-03

years, says the New York Times, and
throughout that time it has had its ve,s
taries and devotees who have cherished
ands made sacrifices for it.
Of course cricket is an English games
That is to say, it is so described and rec-z
ognizd in this country. Why it is thus
singled out is probably because in many
places it is played only by English resi-.
dents, and because the quiet and ORDERLY
manner Of it's procedure suggests the
saying. of the Frenchman that certainly
the EnglishInan does take his pleasures
seriously.
And yet cricket was played in this
country long before even the crude forms
of early baseball. --ifred H. Wright, OF.
this city, an enthusiastic collector of
cricket literature, preserves an accounts
of game which was played in New.
York, where Fulton Market now standsy
: in 1751 and it is known that cricket was
played in this country even several years
before that. The st. George Cricket club
wass organized in 1888, and occupied.
grounds in the vicinity of Broadway and
Thirtieth street. 1t moved to Hoboken
in 1851 where it still maintains an ex~s
istence and ground, although its meme
bersshave long since scattered.
There are many old ericketers in New
York today who recall the famous dim.
ners at the club house in Hoboken, where
roast beef and ale formed the chief res
past The cricketer who partook of one.
of these dinners never fails to- draw conn.,
PARSONS when he sits down to the eiabor-
ate course luncheon with which the pres
ent-day cricketer is RECALLED.
In Philadelphia also the early clubs were.
composed almost entirely of Englishmen,
but it was not long before the young
American recognized the merits of the
game, and contests between eleven Amer
leans on one side and eleven Englishmen
on the other were fought out with all,
the: fervor of international battles. The
Germantown and Philadelphia clubs weres
organized in the fiftieS and the Young:
America club, which many years after.
ward amalgamated with Germantown,
was also organized at about the same.
time.
Richard L. AsfhurSt, a veteran of Phil
adelphia, recounted some interesting
memories of the game when asked for
some of his old experiences. Mr.. Ash
{ hurst was a member of the old Philadel-
phia club in the f1fties 'Our ground at
that time he said, was a square field
containing about three acres encompass.
ed by an ordinary post-and-rail fence,
which answered the purpose of bench.
and grand stand during the matches.
This ground was about three squares
south of Federal street, and was separ,5
ated from the river by a road, and on
the western side of the road by a row
of frame houses, whose yards backed
on the Delaware.
1.-THE Philadelphia club at that time:
was principally made up of two elements:
-of certain number of Engiishmen
resident in and around Philadelphia, who
lyr, o,,iol bot fa16 mr. t,.xr
and were beginning to advance in years,
and body of much younger Philadel-
phians, principally lawyers, who were en-.
thusiastic lovers of the game.
THE American players were quite a re-
markable aggregation, comprising. many
men distinguished in professional and
business life Richard G.. McMurtrie, Nor
ton P. Henry, James B. England, J. Dick
inson Sergeant, William Roteh, John Wis
ter, Hartman Kuhn, Col Charles H.,
Banes, Benjamin w. Richards, j. War
ner Johnson and Thomas M. Hai., are
among the names I recall as actiye
playersan those old Camden days. Jones
and Frank Wister played with German
town, so there were two WiSters on
each side when we played our frequent
matches.
.sI,liat is. we tried to have it So but
could not always get John Wister down
from Duncannon He was the best
round-arm bowler on our American eleN-
en-, and when we had to play without
him, disaster was likely to ensue. Our
only other round arm bowler was war
ner Johnson, who bowled a very high
slow ball, and kept wicket when he was
not bowling. Our long stop was Howe,
one of our Camden members, although
Col. Banes also offfefated sometimes III
. that capacity. Perhaps the nearest to a
scientific cricketer on our American elev-
s enswas Tom Hail. who was particular
-ly good off-hitter., rather rare thing
& in those DAYS. Un1iappily, he did not
survive the exposures and hardshipseso OF
the war, where he did admirable service
as adjutant of the One Hundred and
Twenty-first Pennsylvania, SO that we
were without. him when, the war ending,
we went back to green pastures and the
cricket ball.
The club houses. of those ea-ly days GER
tairiv bore little resemblance to those OF.
tle present. The Germantown club had a
room in a stone house to the north of
their old grounds. The Young America
elu, had a. room in the stone cottage to-
theSwest of the railroad bridge crossing
Main. street, at Wayne Junction The
! Merton. which thirty years. ago played
the second elevens- of the larger clubs,
had a. chest in the loft OF the school.
house, which stands near their old
grounds at Wynnewood they had no;
facilities whatever for getting meals.
None of the cricket grounds was in,
closed by other than ordinary post and
rail fences until the Germantown put up.
a high board fence. It was done to.
make gate on the occasion of visit
from some English professionals.
The grounds were badly kept and
Wretchedly poor and the scoring conse-
auently very low Shooters were very
common and were responsible for the
downfall Of many a good wicket. About.
eighty was a respectable score for ali
eleven to make and often enough side
was out for less than half that many
runs. Any player was satisfied if he
Sgot double figures, and centuries were
unknown The conditions of that time
and the present are so different that
no comparison of merit between the play-
ers of the differtn periods can be made.
Previous to the breaking out of the Civil
, war cricket fourisfled famously in Phila-
delphia The hero of the cricket field was
the sportsman of the hours, and if the
games attracted fewer spectators, at least
they were better understood than they
have been ever since.
~ With the Civil war which robbed cricket
OF It's foremost eAponenlS, the game was
practically suspended throughout the
West; in New York no one had the heart
to arrange match, and although in Phil
adelphia a desultory existence was pre-
served, still most of the players were at
the front, and it was only those too young
to bear arms who were left to carry on
the game It has been said that of the
thirty-three men constituting the first
elevens OF the Philadelphia, Germantown
and Young America clubs at the break
ing out of the war, twenty-six went Into
the army, many distinguishing them
selves on the field of battle, as they had
on the field Of cricket.
Among these was Walter S NeMhau or