Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1928-03-01
LITTLE JOURNEYS
HERE AND THERE
Continued from Page Al
Their MainStay.


Corn, cotton, hogs, milk, and gar
den truck, these are the mainstays OF
those farmers who do well around
here. The land products are the
chief support of our civilization. all
the other things we see exchanged in
business are these products exhibited
in changed and sometimes refined ar
ticles of commerce. The farmer
brings into. being something that be-
fore was not. His is not a business of
refining but of creating. His is the
genesis of all our activities. There
is difference between being a farm
er such as this farmer is, and
that of calling yourself farm
er, and using a piece of land as
stepping stone, as you imagine,
to something higher often result
ing in your undoing and failure.
Many farmers here are of the latter
class. They don't understand farm
ing, they don't try to, and they don't
want to, for they are looking for some
way to get off the farm and into some
thing else. Like Sherbourne county,
Minnesota, this land will produce
abundantly but it takes men and wo-
men of more than ordinary character
istics to make it do so. That is why
Sherbourne county blossoms.
The Giants.
The Giants are here, that is their
pitchers and catchers, all of them
excepting four, three of whom are
still in college and the other at Au-
gusta, Georgia, where the team will
rendezvous next week for real prac-
tice. MIR. John j. McGraw, the man
ager and vice-president of this New
York baseball club is here also and
it was my privilege to shake his
hand and greet him.
Since baseball is our greatest ma
tional sport and our dailies devote so
many pages of space to it, one may be
game, seeing some of the outstand-
ing men of great team and coming
in close contact with them on their
chosen field for practice in the South.
A Cold Day for Baseball.
This is a cold, raw day. The Their
mometer stood at 25 degrees F. above
at seven o'clock this morning. That
was cold enough to freeze hard. 1t
did not warm up much during the
day, but despite this inclement wealth
err, twenty of the Giants pitchers and
catchers were on the field this after
noon to exercise and warm up by run
ming entirely around the field which
they did as soon as they had changed
their shoes after arrival.
This is the first time this team has
ever been at Hot Springs for initial
practice and l suspect that the rain
and cold weather, which has handi-
capped their work so far, will be
against their again trying the quality
of this February climate.
Began Practice at Once.
AS soon as the boys reached the
grounds they changed their shoes and
in groups made an entire circle of
the field. There was no hesitation
about their beginning. Their activi-
ties were characterized by prompt
ness. After the initial run around
the field, they grouped themselves in
twos, not far apart and began throw
ing to each other. There was very
little or no real pitching attempted.
A few used the bat. The batsman
would stand facing a group of four
or five stationed in row only a
short distance in front of him. One
of the group would throw the ball to
the batsman to strike, who with un-
failing accuracy would strike a
grounder for them to pick up. The
one catching it would at once throw
for the batsman to strike and so on
with scarcely a let-up they continued.
ChirOpractOr and Trainer.
Doctor Leonard Knowles was the
attendant trainer who remains with
the boys eight months in the year.
He is a chiropractor, born in Iowa.
Watch McGraw watch the players
the Doctor turned to me and said.
And Mr.. McGraw did watch them
keenly for he was interested. Twelve
of these boys are new with the Giants
this year. One of the boys looks very
youthful for he is but nineteen but
has been following the game since
he was thirteen. Soon Mr.. McGraw
placed one man in the box and had
him do a little real pitching, but as
the weather was so disagreeable he
cut the practice all too short as it
was all over in less than half an
hour. Tomorrow promises to be
warmer and l was invited to come
again and see them under more ia
vorable conditions.
Their Appearance.
These boys looked to me as they
appeared on the diamond in their
suits of Jerseys as clean-cut, clear
headed, manly, clean country youths.
They are required to be in bed by
eleven O'Clock each night They