San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-08-02

Service, Incl
Lord Byron sang:
"a man must serve his time to every
trade
Save censure-critics all are ready
made.
Take hackney'd jokes from Miller,
got by rote,
With just enough of learning to
misquote:
A mind well turned to find or forge
"A fault,
A turn for punning, call it Attic
salt;
To Jeffrey go, be silent and dis
Greet,
His pay is just ten pounds sterling
per sheet;
Fear not to lie, twill seem lucky
hit; .N.
Shrink not from blasphemy, twill
pass for wit;
Care not for feeling-pass your
proper jest, .-.
And stand critic-hated yet car
esd"
This was Lord Byron. the poet,
not "Lord" Byron, the singing UNI
pire of other big league days, you
understand, though Lord Byron, the
singing umpire, has no doubt felt
the same way about his critics.
Lord Byron. the poet, was very
mad at the literary boys at the
moment he sang as above. Evil
IDENTIFY some of them had said his
poesy was punk. Lord Byron, the
singing umpire, used to reply to
criticism far less verboscly. He
would merely lift his tuneful voice
and chant:
"It may be so, but don't know.
1t looks like a jolly old day."
The writer has often thought that
sports criticism, especially that of
those sevcrest of critics, the fans.
is sometimes the cruelest Of all
criticism.
Sports writers. too. occasionally
seem cruel in their criticism far be-
yond the merits of the case, and the
author of these lines isn't absolying
himself.
As a gallus young baseball re-
porter, he took the game very much
to heart, especially in the interests
of the home town team. If n player
made a costly dumb play, as play
ers will do, the writer generally
found himself intensely indignant
about the matter.
He didn't stop to reason that the
thing was wholly unintentional. or
that the player was young fellow,
like himself, trying to get along in
the world. He often berated the
luckless ball tosser like a pick
pocket.
In a way, as he afterward reflect,
ed. it was taking a rather mean
advantage of the player, who
couldn't sit down and write n piece
for the paper explaining his error
Of judgment, or reply in any way
to the writer's structures except
maybe by pressing his features up
against the chicken wire in front
OF the press section the next day
and muttering: "Yuh big bum,
yuh!'
The writer probably wouldn't
have liked it had the player had
his little column Of critical com
ment in the paper every day de-
voted to criticising the efforts OF
this reporter in the following man
ncr:
"RunyOn's story Of the ball game
yesterday was rotten. He split nine
infinitiyes, and had eighteen mis-
statements Of fact. He ought to be
back on the Pueblo Chieftain, COW
ering nothing more important than
hotel arrivals"
And yet the writer, in haste, has
doubtless been quite as unklnd
to erring ball players, and probably
far less accurate, repenting the I'M
kindness at leisure.
The repentance is like Harry
Wills famous Apology Punch.
Harry snags an opponent with his
left tentacle and, while holding
spears hin. in the body with
nice. solid, right-hand chug.
This holding and hitting is deem
cd a pugilistic faux pas, and Harry
Immediately apologies. But the
punch is IN.
The critic has n great racket, as
VIC say at the club.
TrI,a ,,.,;..,. b,sg .pp,r nppu him