The Washington herald., 1921-08-07
ENGLISH YOUTH
BECOMES ADEPT
:. WITH BASEBALL
Young Sidney Is Made
Mascot of American
;, Armies in Britain.

Before the war Little Sidney was
q. poor little boy. the son Of an Eng
lish janitress. but during the war
he was rich Not In money. for his
poor mother still had to provide for
him, but he was rich because the
Americans had commandeered the
house his mother worked in and 1t
was now called headquarters
All day long officers and soldiers
passed In and out Of the big house
and sid" was allowed to sit On the
steps for the first time he could re-
member. When an officer spoke to
him he was always quick to answer
studying the soldiers that IL was
military to stand up when address,
ing a superior. Sidney was learn
ing fast and although he did not
know II the officers had noticed the
polite little fellow and ono day he
was told that he was to become
messenger and wear a uniform.
Sidney was too overcome with
-hsppiness to thank the oficer this
time and merely stood at attention
.Shd saluted until finally he was
able to say thank you" But sue
cess did not spoil little Sidney. The
ONCE grew and other buildings were
added to headquarters until it took
The entire block Many other
came also but no one
lost sight of the CHEEKY little fell
low who was always so anxious to
please and so polite.
Then the summer came and with
lit the great American game OF base
ball the other headquarters and
camps had teams and 1t was natural
that the greatest team should be-
long to the great admiral who had
his offices in Sidney's house. The
6 game was new to the little English
boys who marveled at he way, the
Yanks could throw and catch, but
Sidney quickly took to the new
sport and his willingness to carry
! the bats and gloves soon made him
sas popular with the baseball
players as he was with the officers.
One day in June II was learned
that . great game had been ar
ranged between the American army
and navy to be played before the
King and Queen on the Fourth of
July for the benefit OF the Red
Cross, Now every little boy knows
=, that there Is great rivalry between
the army and the navy burt in a
game of base ball played between
teams Of the two services the men
almost seem to go wild with excite
ment, and even before the game the
Preparations made for the contest
fake weeks All this time little
Sidney could hardly contain him
self. All during the day he would
be thinking about the great game
and when the players went off to
practice he was miserable until he
could get out to the playing field.
Finally the day arrived and gloom
had settled upon sid" How was
he going to see the game. For once
his cheerfulness left him but only
for a minute he was soon smiling
again and was going to make the
best Of q.
The buses were all ready to go
and the players were filing out in
their new uniforms when Sidney
suddenly found himself lifted up by
big hurley player and handed him
into the other boys saying Gee
We almost forgot our mascot and
We couldn't win without little Sid"
At the park Sidney had another
surprise. There was uniform
there for him just like the ones the
regular players wore, and as the
King of his country came down to
shake hands with the players little
Sidney stood in line with the team
to meet him, and perhaps today Sid
+ney realizes that by saying Thank
you" and by always being cheerful
and willing, he received an honor
that many Of his wealthy country
rar1IA rAf h,v