Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-21

see a soul. And ne longed for things
he couldn't have. Finally he was
| rescued and almost the first words ne
said to the one he saw first were
| these know them by heart ] have
read the book so often-he said:
Mate, my heart Is sore for Christian
diet. You mlghtn't happen 20 have a
! piece Of cheese about you now NoF
Wen. manys the long night I've
dreamed Of cheese-toasted. mostly
and woke up again, and here !
were
Mildred laughed at this
Whats the connection between
this man wanting cheese and your
ball playing In Atlanta2' she asked.
Don't you see? I had been ma
rooned up here In the mountains all
my life. ! shouldn't use the word
maroon, as l had everything until
my sorrows came. But anyway /
became crazy about baseball. II be-
came my hobby. We had all the New
York papers every day and de-
voured every line Of baseball there
was printed in them. I sent for all
the books and literature on base
ball; ! came to know the great play
ers through reading about them, as
II I had met them personally.
knew their batting averages and their
and weakness. From the time ] was
old enough to wear short pants !
was tossing a ball around, and when
/ was fifteen years old my father
built this field for me. ! spent hour
after hour on the field and / learned
to do everything that ball can do
| I'll tell you how | did Il in a minute.
] found l could make the most diff
| cult kind OF catches; / found that !
/ no h..
| could ever reach II, and against
| specdier pitching than they have IN
! the big leagues ! knew from timing
! myself that there was no ball player
! living that could run as fast as ]
| could, and | made up my mind that
| none OF the great players had any
thing on me- as the saying goes, eX-
| cept experience"
Was Crazy to Play.
All this was said in an easy ana
matter of fact way, not boastfully
/ Gordon continued:
And when I became convinced Of
| this. / was just crazy to join some
team and travel around. and play ball
and hear the cheers of the crowds
! and be mixed up in the excitement
I dreamed about baseball, Mildred,
and I craved for It, just as poor Ben
Gum dreamed about the cheese he
/ craved for, When my fatheH died, Of
course IL made a great change with
me. The restraint, II 1t can be called
such was off and I was free to do as
/ pleased In fact, It was my fathers
I wish that | get out in the world when
III Ia
all out during the winter and early
i'm the spring / went to Atlanta to
satisfy my craving for baseball
Il think / understand now said MIL
dred 81 know hardly anything about
/ baseball. but Elmer says you are real
ly the best player in the world Is
that SOP"
Gordon laughed.
"That is far from being proven,
Mildred % he replied Il did have phe-
nomenal success at Atlanta, but / was
| about 10 join a supposedly higher
/ class league and I don't know how l
I would have succeeded there. They
say II is much harder TO make good
in the big leagues than 1t is in a minor
| league The newspapers were very
| kind TO me- but they played me up
far more than l deserve, in my opin-
/ len"
Mildred was silent for moment.
! Then she said:
| so much for baseball But I have
] been thinking a great deal about what
/ you told me yesterday, Gordon, and
/ there are several things not quite
/ clear to me"
| What are they, Mildred? ?" asked
/ Gordon. Elmer was amusing himself
in the gymnasium and they We're
/ alone.
We'll, for one thing, how was it
! that no one around here, even your
/ servants knew that your name is
/ Gordon Kelly How was il they had
never heard the name Of Kelly?"
A Changed Madness,
When my father and mother left
| New York II was with the idea Of
/ losing themselves to the world, as It
1 were. The name Of Kelly was left in
! New York This whole property was
bought in The name OF the Prescott
I Trust Company An account was
8opened with the banking firm owned
by my father and his brothers and
al bills We're paid In New York by
imy uncle on the Prescott Trust Com
/ pany's account My parents We're
I known here and 90 the servants as
| Mr. and Mrs. Prescott My father
! and mother called me Bud and the
servants called me Mr.. Bud. What's
! the next question o."
| Don't think I'm curious. but
/ would just ike 20 understand that's
! all Gordon. How We're you educat-
! ed2"
Tutors came from the North. but
/ my mother taught me more than all
: the tutors I had"