The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1917-12-24
BOOM
AFTER THE WAR
Tremendous Revival Of Ath-
letics Is Sure After End Of
Trouble Over There"
CHRISTMAS EVE I'M CAMP.

CHRISTMAS EVE IN CAMP.
There is no dream that could be half
so sweet
On Christmas eve-st twilight-just
TO drift
To far-off lands through winters star
less beat.
Where. in a dream. one sees Times
curtains lift
And show the old remembered hearth
of home.
And as the dream drifts BY, dim
wrath on wrath,
To anchor there-a straggIer from the
foam
or stormy seas that almost wreck
ones faith.
There is no dream like this when dusk
swings low
On Christmas eve-when from the
wintry gloom
Dim voices come and speak from long
ago.
Soft hands reach out-and from the
barrack room.
Borne far BY tender memories We
leave
Across the night. as some lost soul
Until we reach once more the Christi
mas eve
We knew before the Keeling world
turned red.
For now We know Just what the old
life meant.
Before the flags OF battle were un-
furled,
The peace Of home. the ease. the quiet
That must have been within another
world;
And none will ever know the broodinx
pain
Until his time has come. through
waning light,
At Christmas eve. for arms that reach
in vain.
Or vanished voices blown across the
night.
The Revival Again.
II is impossible to appreciate now
the tremendous sporting revival tha,
is coming when this war ends.
This revival Will come from TWO i'm
portsnt factors
1.-The fact that several hundred
young men, through camp life, and
the different games attached, have
found out what the outdoor game
means.
2-The fact-and the more important
one-that when the tension from The
war has relaxed there will ne a fever
ism rush TO competition that doesn't
mean death and destruction. blood
and horror. pain and sacrifice.
Some one has said. for example,
mo hal
trenches a game such IS golf would
seem duh and tame. on the contrary,
We figure that. 1t would carry an in
creased thrill, the thrill OF a pleasure
and competition that isn't to be
suddenly checked by big shell or a
gas wave or a machine gun sweep.
Chase Vs. Tenney.
several readers have commended that.
in their opinion, Hal Chase was a
greater first baseman than Fred Ten
ney.
Chase is very likely the most bril-
liant first baseman that ever played
II Hal had displayed his best genius :
through his entire career he would
undoubtedly have stood alone.
But there were several seasons
where Chase was not at his best an. 1
where his work was well below rsr.
whereas Tenney was a great 'rsr
haseman and a fine hitter for over
ten consecutive years.
The man who should earn this mich.
in time is George Sisler. OF the ,
Browns. He is now the leading can
didate for an all-star array.
The statement was recently mad.
that almost every British and French l
athlete Of note had been killed.
II isn't quite as bad as this. Georges
Carpenter is still living. after three ,
and half years OF war. So is Larry
jenkins, British golf champion. So Is
Tom Longboat. the great runner. And I
the list shows many others who ar.
still on deck.
The situation Is bad enough without
piling on the indigo.
The perennial yarn. which started
half a dozen years ago. lie rampant
sgain.
50 old Honus Wagner has retiredr
Well-as Tom Roberts. the eminent
guide OF Great South Bay would say
'Mebbe It's; and then agen mebb.,
faint"
personally We prefer TO await next !
Maytime's gentle zephyrs from the
South. Why didn't the old codcer q1it 3
year ago? And where was he when
dogdays rolled around? Right OUT
where he has gloried in all his grace
full awkwardness for twenty years or
more and hitting a clip that would
have added a couple Of inches TO the
hatbsnd Of any recruit
Wagner is entitled TO hang I'd the
mitt ana lay aside the mighty willow.
He is - years young and has enough
laid by TO foil every rainy day be-
tween now and the time he must taks
the last strike from Umpire Grim.
But Wagner is the youngest man OF
his age between the confines of the
Atlantic and Pacific. There is nothing
the matter with the hinge in his whip.
His UNDERMINING may be a bit more
brittle than in DAYS OF yore; he is
more easily hurt these days. But he
Is night there yet with a mighty fair
turn OF speed, and. though his batting
eye has dimmed, he clouts far above
the average.
A man who could be lured out Of an
nounced retirement, as was wagnsR
last summer. will have TO stay put q
long time before We believe him gone
forever. II would be next to a tragedy
In the National League. this proposed
retirement OF John Henry Wagner. For I
he is quite as much an institution as
the National League itself
He must go some time. II IS true I
But why Just now? His is not the ,
case OF a mere shadow Of former T!
greatness. Wagner is still a grand /
player. And in these piping tisnes OF 4
war. when the going away OF the
flower and youth OF the national game 4
must of necessity leave baseball hard 4