Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-26
The Boys Of Ellen Street.
A Base Ball Story.
CHAPTER II.
The Base Ball Nine.
BIZ MARGARET L. wALLAu

The Base Ball Nine.
Johnny proved an excellent captain BY
l the end OF May he had them working to-
| gether finely and had scheduled games with
| several school clubs.
| Mr.. Nelson, to whom the coveted field be-
| ionged. gave them permission to use It, and
the boys laid out the diamond themselves
according to league rules
The father Of the Mccormick boys. who
| was a carpenter, persuaded a couple of fell
| low-workmen to help him, and constructed
| backstop. Mr.. Lewis furnishing the lum-
| Der The boys themselves painted the fence
ana Jean Brown, who was clever at letter.
ing made them sign. ELLEN Field"
which they nailed up near the corner.
They practiced with ardor, and every aft
| ernoon an admiring and envious audience,
Jean and Mary with them. watched the
practice play, or cheered the EIlens on to
victory over some rival team. or, 1t might
be. against scratch nine composed of the
| on the regular team.
Elton Parker, finding what good material
| was left after the nine was selected from
the twenty eligible, suggested a rival nine.
but the public spirit of the Ellens both on
| and of the nine, was against this.
I'VE all belong to the club. IL we can't
DO on the nine" argued Horace Brown.
read about in school said United we stand.
divided we fall"
You bet! agreed Phil English. Wen
keep you and Denny Mccormick and the
Loomises to substitute. Somethin' might
happen"
So Elton's scheme fell through. much to
his disgust.
Say. fellows" called Johnny Lewis one
afternoon as he entered Ellen Field, i've
got letter to show you"
He flung himself down under the trees,
and the club crowded around him.
TITS a letter from the manager Of the
High School base ball nine in Essex" an
nounced Johnny. He says they have heard
that we beat the Red Orioles here 40"
I'VE did; we did chuckled Denny Nc
Cormick, while small Charlie Brown turned
a somersault on the grass. shrieking gee-
fully. as memories of that great day pre-
scented themselves.
Johnny went on. grinning. "also that we
beat Second Grammar School here. a2-"
There was another shout, and when
Johnny finished, also that we tied those
fellows from down tOwn-the Murphys."
There was such yell that mothers UP and
down the block stuck their heads out Of
the windows to see if any one was killed.
'Oh. say" howled Pinky Trennam. how
those big fellows did hammer us. The
pitcher ran into me and knocked me clean
over, so my arms lame YETI
my leg is. too" said Johnny. "Well.
the end Of 1t Is, they want to play the
Ellens. What shall we DOR
would they come here?" asked Bert
Brown.
mo. They want to come to Essex"
Bet we could whip EN-" declared Ned
Loomls. Failure to get place as right
fielder had not dampened his enthusiasm.
he practfced eagerly and told Jim Brown
before every match game that he hoped ne
(Jim) would break his leg. Jim took 1t
good naturally. realizing that Ned meant
no personal unkindness; 1t was only am
bition.
Their average age is fourteen, that's a
year older than ours, and their average
we could whip en- said Johnny. thought
fully. I've been trying to find out some
thing about their games The HE'D orioles
beat them two out of five.
I'VE play zem,' declared Jose Alverez
his black eyes flaming. I'VE will tie zee
score II zey are twice as big as we. 1t will
The excitable Cuban's confused slang was
one OF the boys greatest delights Amid
general laugh. Johnny patted Jose on the
back saying:
Lets hope we don't prove 'sninch' for
them What / want to propose" he went
On, is that we get our suits before wa play
them. Wed look good deal better. even
II we were beaten, in uniform. What do
Every one had something to say. me
question Of uniform costume for the club
had come up before and had been voted
down. Now that they were to play a CLUB
80 well known as the Essex boys, it was a
different matter.
Seeing the boys In earnest discussion,
Jean and Mary came over from the Browns
to discover what it was all about, and en-
tered into the question OF club uniform
with zest.
I'VE want to do 1t as cheaply as we can.
OF course said Johnny at last. Suppose
1 ma out where and how we can do 1t and
let you know before we decide"
IF you get white sweaters-most OF Won
have them already-Jean and could make
red Els on them; couldn't we7'' proposed
Mary. timidly.
of course. you could assented Johnny.
beaming on his sister. So it was decided
that Johnny should get the suits on al IA
Vorabie terms as possible and the girls do
the decorating.
leot the money for fares. too.' said Bert
Brown. Wouldn't 1t be good plan to
have treasurer
1T would help me a lot,' said Johnny,
ing how could do 1t ALL have some spe-
cial work in school just now and practice
takes such a lot of time"
You seem to think you are the whole
ciuD. said Elton Parker suddenly, in q
sneering way. There are a few other
members. you know. and one or two Of
their feeble inteilects might possibly be able
to do some of the work If you didn't insist
on being the whole thing"
Crowds and protests interrupted him but
Johnny waited until he stopped speaking,
then he said:
III any more of you fellows feel the way
Elton does I'll resign right now"
It didn't take them very long to persuade
him that no one else did. He was his
ness again.
well. how about that treasurer
Jean whispered to Jim. who sat beside
her. He looked surprised for moment
then nodded to her. and before any one else
could speak he said:
VI propose Len Nelson for treasurer"
There was a minutes silence. Many, per-
force left out Of the nine had hoped for
this honor. But each looked at the eager
face. usually so pale, but now flushed with
excitement. of poor little crippled Leonard
at the thin hand that grasped his crutch
as each remembered how he watched their
games with longing eyes; how ready was
his sympathy in all their interests, the
feeling that had prompted jeans kind
thought was plain, and to their honor
Leonard was elected with hearty cheer.
III