The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1913-06-07
LATEST ne VS.
FROM LONDON

i awakening to a deep interest In out
door sports with the holding OF the
J next Olympiad at Berlin: baseball has
won Cuba. and is making rapid strides
In Central America. and it has been
introduced with marked success
among the savages of northern Luzon
as vent for their energies that in
the past have been expended in head
hunting and looting. In England the
question is becoming daily more In
teresting and the situation here today
gives rise to the question whether
Il baseball is not to become a world
game instead of an American spastime,
with the logical outcome of lnterna-
tional contests at the end of the sea-
son. 5t
Englands national game, cricket, is
racing a crisis. The people are com
planning that it is too slow, and 1t is
being compared, greatly to its disad-
vantage, to the snap, speed and sus-
tanned interest of baseball. Gate re-
ceipts for the county championship
matches have fallen SO fast that the
cricket fans are worried over the fu-
want exactly what the baseball nublic
occasionally clamors for, more hard
hitting. The great complaint is that
the players of the present day are
given too much to safe play, instead of
taking chances by hitting the ball
hard. ss
III A game which requires two days and
seldom furnishes any exciting finishes
seems at best very slow to Americans,
but one of the complaints against
cricket today is that the players loaf
at their work They stroll onto the
field; take long rests for tea, and gem
orally waste time Some newspapers
are discussing changes in the rules
and among other suggestions are.
harder grounds and a "liver" ball to
make play swifter. a
But more radical note is being
heard with considerable insistence.
Cricket not meeting the need of the
day in England, baseball is being Sc
riously considered as national sub
stitute, and the question whether the
great American game will not become
the summer pastime of the British Isles
is by lA means idle gossip. Proposals
have been made seriously by a number
Of English sporting writer's that the
American game be given a trial. These
men are disgusted with the state of
cricket, and declare any hope of re-,
forming that game is exceedingly re-
mote, with the present authorities in
control.
Baseball has already reached some
degree of popularity in Ireland, and a.
number of teams are playing ball in
the Midlands. Several teams are
planning to play this summer in Lon
don. Among these is a nine composed
exclusively of the employees of a Lon
don branch of an American firm and
the Columbia Park Boys. club of San
Francisco, now visiting England, will
endeavor to introduce the game
among the school boys here.
: n i -. @ 4
or the many auctions of art treas
ures and personal mementoes which
are frequent feature of London life
no recent sale has created so much in
terest as the forthcoming disposal of
the treasures left by Sir Lawrence
Alma Tadema.
Tadema was not only painter, he
also designed furniture and decorated
houses His own house In st Johns
Wood was one of the most remarkable
In London, not alone for Its store of
valuable art objects, ancient and mod
ern, but for the personal souvenirs
from brother artists which enrich 1t.
The foFty-five panels in the hall, all
done b yeminent artists, are world fa-
nous. These panels, together with
all the other art works, are being sold
by the artists daughter. Sargents
Javanese Dancer Leightons Bath of
Psyche, and valuable works by Whis-
tier, Sir Alfred East, Sir Edward J. h
Poynter, and many other academicians
are included In the remarkable group
Sir Alma Tadema had magnificent
piano forte which he designed himself.
1t was partly ornamented with silver.
and on parchment panels bore the au-
togFaphs of the most celebrated pian-
lists of recent time, all of whom had
played upon it. Much valuable old
Oriental and European furniture with
furniture of his own designs, paint
ings. tapestries, porcelains and other
works Of art will be dispersed
The fate Of the studio itself is a
problem. Few artists could afford it
and those would prefer workshops OF
their own design and with less Of the
personality Of another artist attached
to them.
A good deal of talk has been acca-
stoned by the recent resignation Of
Sir Gerald LoWther, the British ambas-
sador to Gonstantinople, whose wife
was Miss Alice Blight OF Philadel-
pfia.
1T is a very unusual thing for
British ambassador to resign. for the
position lis a high one. and greatly COW
eted Ill-health was given as the
cause of the retirement, in the case
of Sir Gerald, but this was not accept
ed, and many surmises and sugges-
tions have been voiced. Is
One government paper, The Man
chester Guardian. usually very well IN
formed, has corue out candidly to saw
that Sir Gerald's retirement can be
traced to the fact that "tle certainly
was not such a success at his Com
stantinople postSas his previous actiy-
ity in the field had led one to expect.
He arrived in Constantinople IN the
very thick Of the young Turkish hon
eymoon when our prestige. one month
after the revolution, stood perhaps
even higher than at the time of Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe. Within n si5r
months the prestige was gone, and,
strange to say, we even findSthe Brit
ish. embassy's name involved In that
obscure and somewhat unsavory Incl
dent which Is known as the counter
revolution of April, 1909. And that
prestige was never restored till the
outbreak Of the present war (of which
by the way, we had no previous IN.
formation, ], when the magnificent di-
plomacy of Sir Edward Grey himself
revealed to the Turks that England
could still be relied upon In the hour
OF their nnisfortune l
Considerates
81 Life: Father Really, L am afraid
to associate with my own children for
fear my morals will be hurt. S.{
Daughter But, papa! Don't YOU
suppose we realize that, and are care
.r.,f 1tr1n rfL III.