The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-19

oil. tho baseball seasons with US
again" said the fat ex-rhascot rub
on -. hands with evident satisfaction.
. C'~s how II makes US old fellers feel
young AGAIN .,,. % lrox the
80 thoroughly there's nothing on earth
gm max. him lose his interest in Il. Why.
,n.ms,nber guy We had on the Iightfoot
Ijli.s years ago: he went stone blind ana
Iii ne wouldn't give up baseball.
.you mean he had the accounts OF all
IN. games read to him. l suppose, sug-
s.std one OF the fat mans friends.
y mean nothing Of the kind. I mean
/. xent right on playing left field for the
I,,b,foot Lilies. And I'll have you under
.,snd sir, that there wasn't a finer out
s.lder in the business, until But
rou've heard Of Lampless Lewis. haven't
you' No. ......
well, anyhow, some jealous woman
xbod mistaken him for another guy gave
him the carbolic sling one day. and he lost
the Use OF both peppers. Now, you'd
,.turally think that that would mean his
finish as a ball player, but It didn't.
Have YOU ever noticed how when a
man loses the use OF a leg or something,
the strength that was in that leg always
goes to some other part OF his body3 Why.
lake some Of these skinny little armless
GUYS YOU see: they have underpinnings
on EN- that Samson needn't have been
ashamed Of before he had his hair cut.
well. that's the way 1t was with Lewis.
When he lost his eyesight 1t went to his
II. . - hat
would have brought tears Of envy to the
ewes OF the finest bloodhound that ever
nihed scent.
We discovered this at practice one day.
Lewis was standing close by listening to
the batting when q wild pitch made straight
for him .,-,.,
But Lewis. to our amazement, instead OF
lodging. threw up his dukes and gobbled
the ball in as easy as you please.
Il thought smelled er coming he
explained 'violets, isn't itT he added with
q snif
until Bull Thompson. shame faced and
blushing, admitted that he had washed his
hands with scented soap that morning
slight perfume had chung to the ball and
Lewis had smelled out it's course.
By the great Dan BrCuth ins,, eHSS,msd
no reason why you should give up base
iall, Lewis. Report for practice In your
old place in left Tomorrow
Lewis did report; and, say. would you
believe it, he was as good q fielder ~ he
ever had been before his accident. A
single drop OF heliotrope placed on the ball
in the first inning was enough to make him
follow II around like a hound all the rest
AT the bat he was oven better than he d
a. -
abled him to tell which way the ball was
twisting the minute II left the pitchers
hand, and he always knew exactly what
THE ons thing that troubled Us about
Lewis for . time was his base running
We first tried spraying heliotrope along
the base line. That would work all right
for few innings, but after the ball had been
batted around the diamond some he was
likely 10 run afoul OF grounder trails.
When he he did he w:s ss .It ar not To
TO centreHeld on some false scent.
the problem. While We still stuck 70 hell
trope for the ball perfume. We substituted
powerful essence Of white rose a. base:
save for a few days when he had . slight
cold in his head there wasn't better base
runner on the team than Lampless Lewis.
But, like most great men. Lewis had his
downfall, And as luck would have 1t, 1t
came lust when il would be most felt.
Twas In the last inning OF tho great
contest with the Ringtail Roarers for the
championship Of Jones county. The Lilies
we're leading. PHO, and although the
Roarers had the bases full two men were
out.
'On the third ball pitched the batter drove
long low fy to left. We started to reach
for our hats. Lewis nose had never failed
us yet
But this time the unexpected happened
Just as Lewis was stretching forth his
hands to receive the ball, some well-mean-
ing admrer in the bleachers threw a bou-
quet at him.
An agonized expression Of indecision
came over Lewis's face. He hesitated.
The pungent perfume OF the freshly picked
flowers was too much for him. He dived
wildly at the flying bouquet, the men on
bases cantered home. and the game was
lost
'Rut tina. wasn't ALL The ball struck
Lewis on the nose and broke It. His stock
In trade as baseball player was ruined
for ever afterward.
If then bed only had the acute sense Of
hearing that he developed a. soon a. his
nose was broken, sighed the fat ex-mascot,
he'd undoubtedly have detected the diff
ference in sound and would Be playing
the game to-day