Evening star., 1903-08-01
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least one must feel when he suddenly finds
his reputation gone observed the man
who, a rule. prefers to listen When coh-
versation begins to be general.
Quite a different sensation. L shouia
Judge" interposed another, who was evil
IDENTIFY wanting to get back to the 1aSeHat-
ing subject of money. The loss or reputa-
ton Is a gradual experience
That depends your point OF view
was the rejoinder. There are those VINO
hold that whatever a mans life ana prac-
tices are he Is reputable citizen until ne
Is found out Such disclosure may come
suddenly as decline in the STOCK mar
ket."
After ALL" hastened to interpose the first
sneaker before the conversation got out or
his control the loss of money even in
large sums does not make the same appear
to human sympathes as other calamiti
What l have In mind especially Is the loss
by another of a manuScr1pt. over ~hch
he has toiled and given his best thought
The tragedy Of such a cata strophe Is well
described by Carlyle, when his manuscript
OF the French revolution was USED py a
thoughtless housemaid to start Hre. II
is not generally known that McMaStef. the
American historian. met with a similar
loss
Why I never heard OF that" exclaimed
the group Of listeners In a chorus
Perhaps not replied the speaker. but
It is fact related to me by person who
was In a position to know Several years
ago Mr.. McMaster was at work among the
files of the early American newspapers In
the library of the Antiquarian Society In
Worcester. Mass. One day he was ON his
way to the library. carrying in green
cloth bag part OF the manuscript OF one
of his volumes. He stopped in bank to
attend to some business and laid the bag
down. When he was ready to leave he
found the bag had disappeared
oh. but he found 1t again, cried one of
the listeners.
He has never laid eyes on the bag or It's
contents from that day to this" was the
reply. The mystery has never been solved
and it Is not likely to be-
That equals the Car1yf, episode, said
one Of the group.
THE difference between the cases." said
the narrator. rs that Carlyle Iamested his
loss In such vigorous language that he has
made the incident OF widespread reputation.
McMaster has always refused to talk about
his experience. and even declined to make
any effort to get on the track of his stolen
property
He was a srizzled soldier of the United
States army ard he had had many amusing
experiences during his long service in the
army. Indian fights and bloody battles he
had participated IN. One thing made him
mad every time he thought about 1t, how
ever. That how one of his former
commandantS at a western frontier post
/ ad treated him and his comrades in the
matter Of playing base ball. This Is the
base ball season." said the soldier "and
just naturally 1t brings to my mind the
uueerest method Of practicing for a game
and the crankiest colonel of a regiment 1
ever knew. That colonel certainly did have
some queer ways about him. The officers
didn't know how to take him. let alone the
men. One day we received challenge for
a game of ball from another post not far
away. OF course we could not lay down on
a proposition of that kind The other post
must not be allowed to crow over us. We
didn't know much about base ball. but we
wanted to accept that challenge. The oiii-
GERS agreed with us and agreed to go with
us to present the matter to the colonel.
Why, certainly. he thought we could not
afford to let the challenge go unnoticed. 1t
would not be in keeping with the traditions
of the regiment to leave any challenge un-
accepted. Then we talked to him some
about the grounds on which we should
practice and suggested to him that If he
was willing such and such a place would
make splendid grounds. He thought So
too, he did. and he agreed with us right
along. He wrote little note and sent 1t
out by his orderly We didn't know then
where it was going. but we found out after
ward all right. He would go with us out
to the grounds, he said. and assist In ar
ranging the diamond. He talked along in
an amiable manner, the incest ever
heard, and then led out to the grounds
we had selected. We measured off the dis
tance from home plate to first and so on all
the way around back to home again. We
We're feeling bully, and the colonel was
helping US right along. About the time we
had made all the measurements a large
wagon from the cOmmiSsary drove up filled
with picks. shovels. &c. What do you sup
pcss happened? The colonel directed TO
dig the base lines six feet deep. There was
getting around that order. We looked
at each other like fools and the young
officers felt silly. but the old man said
nothing. and we turned in to work. Well.
there was never a diamond like that before.
be tsman jumped into the slxfoot ditch anu
made for first base. not knowing anything
about where the ball would come to next or
what would happen. The basemen stood in
the bottom OF the trench. The colonel IN
sisted on seeing few practice games and
|, greatly enjoyed the sport. but the whole
thing crazy that the men didn't do
any more practicing after the colonel ceased
to take further interest in the matter. l
know IL sounds like the yarn of a lunatic.
but upon my word it is so. What caused
the colonel to do it / don't know, but he
must have been out of his head. You can
just bet that we did not play that match
e.. me- The officers Of our regiment man
aged somehow or other to smooth the mat
ter over and have the challenge withdra wn
80 that the facts would not be noised
around.