Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-03-26

a half minute rubbing the ball and grin
ming at the captain.
cav, git move on We, there, kid.
snarled the batter. Harwood grinned.
Il Needn't be 'fraid I'll bust the durn-
ed thing, Gimme er crack at Ter, an
I'll show We trick with hole in it.
Ye amt pitchin' to no blind man this
trip" the captain went on.
The parson kept on grinning.
The batter got explosively red. Har-
wood, watching him narrowly, gave
the ball little tlirt and pitched wab-
bling "dewdrop" toward the hot cap.
tain. Centerport's man was too dis
gusted and too mad to see 1t. The ball
went over the plata strike was
promptly called. Then Harwood repeat
ed the pitch. 1t seemed an easy ball.
Really it was hard one. The Cen
terporter lunged at it like wild bull
before it came within six feet of him.
Ali he did was to tear big, ragged
hole in the air. His eyes glared as
Reed came close behind and crouched
in his shadow. HARDWOOD drew back
his arm as If to deliver another dew
drop" The captain fumed. Suddenly
Brent shot his arm across his body
and the ball sped over the plate like a
bullet.
"out-t!" yelled the umpire. Batter
up!
Gallia City went suddenly insane.
1t stood up in mass, yelling, bowling,
cheering. The umpire, shrieking for
silence, was like cricket piping in
face Of a storm. But when, in the
midst of the din, third man walked
tc the plate, whacked the rubber with
his bat and squared himself, the noise
hushed as suddenly as it had begun.
HARDWOOD deliberated. Should he give
this new man a chance or clinch
things with the game thus young?
he did not quite know how it would
be with the Gallias at the bat, so de-
cided upon the latter course. Three
wide outshoots, sent as fast as he
could deliver them, yet give Bill time
to come, bewildered the new batter
and put Centerport out.
1t was while the players were
changing and pandemonium reignea
that the ''phenoms" identity was made
known to the crowd. At first all Gal
liza City gasped, as from cold plunge.
A parson in knee breaches and red
stockings pitching in a game of ball!
For a quarter of n minute Gallia City
was stricken silent. Then down in the
bleachers whisper began and swelled
and grew, Until bold man leaped on
the rail and called:
"Three cheers for the little parsonr
| The cheers came with will From
end to end the fair grounds rang with:
HARDWOOD! Harwood! What's the
matter with Ha-ar-woo-od? He's all
right!
Faith in their unparalleled pitcher
made the Gallias all superbly confident.
Bill Reed, the first man up, went to the
bat like Trojan going to battle. Cen
terports pitcher had tremendous speed
and no curves. His third ball met
Bills ashen stick with noise like the
splitting of a mast. When the fielder
recovered it, Bill sat at second, flaming
himself with his cap. The next man
made sacrifice hit and advanced Bill
to third. Colonel leaned against the
ball for single, and Bill came home
amid the shrieks of the ''fans'
"One run! One man Quit! said the
scorer.
Hollis reached first on balls.
Jones to bat and Harwood on deck"
called the scorer.
Jones walked to the plate. Brent Sc
lected his stick. A bad tumble gave
Jones his life and advanced each man
q bag. The bases We're full-Colonel
on third, Hollis on second, Jones on
first. HARDWOOD stepped to the plate.
BE was safe batter, but never hard
hitter-he was too light. Besides. phe-
nomenal pitchers do not, as rule, bat
well. But this was Harwood's lucky
day. The first ball pitched came at him
like q rifle bullet exactly where he
wanted it, and the parson raped with
all his might. 1t started on low in
cline, rising as it sailed; passed over
the heads of the fielders, who had edg-
ed in; struck the ground far back of
them and rolled and rolled as though it
couldn't stop.
/ iASh 44ll WOOu LIS uESI, luSC
and only home run. To this good day
he does not know how he did it. When
he came, putting and painting, across
the plate, the Gallias became a cyclone,
which filled the air with hats coats,
canes and umbrellas. A locomotive
whistle would have been drowned in
the hubbub. The grand stand and the
bleachers Joined hands and carried
Harwood on their shoulders. And
HARDWOOD grinned.
As chronicle of sport the game aft
erward was quite too one sided to be
interesting. But Gallia City sat watch
ing it, gorged. almost drunken with
joy. No game could be too one sided
for the Gallians. They owed Center
port much, you see. What did they
care for close scores and fine points?
Every one Of the forty-four runs piled
up by the red legged sons of Gallia was
to them an increment of unalloyed
bliss and as such hailed with tumult
and shouting.
The Centerports! They played like
old women and were trampled into the
earth. Their two poor runs were earn
ed by the rankest errors and gave no
sort of comfort. Their glory had de-
parted along with their nerve Their
name was "Ichabod' or worse. And
they laid it all ON that dashed little
parson," as the captain said senten-
tiously that night Gallias-nothin'!
The Cente-ports can wallop them easy.
What we've been up against is Gallias
and Gawd."
Thcnceforth Parson Harwood was
Gallia City's idol He had won the
mass of citizens and could do what he
pleased and have whatever he would
take that lay within their gift. The
church no longer lacked a congrega-
ton.
I'VE went TO see the little preacher
PITCH" said the people: now we must
80 to hear the little pitcher preach"
Everybody Went. All sorts and con-
ditions Of men ana creeds squeezed in
tn, f1,fN,