the end.
[THE WAR IN CUBA.]
BY T. R. DAWLEY, JUN.
We all know how Columbus thought the world was round, and that by sailing west he could reach Cipango or India, from whence the Europeans formerly received their spices, silks, and other luxuries.
Fired by dreams of stately cities, gold-roofed temples, and spice-laden groves, with kings and princes surrounded by Oriental splendor, Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. After many days he came to land, which was one of the Bahama Islands, and then he sailed south, and came to another island, so beautiful with birds and flowers and trees and rivers that he said one could live there forever, as "it is the most beautiful island eyes ever beheld." In the fragrance of the woods and sweet-smelling flowers he thought he had reached the spice-perfumed groves of the East India islands, but its strangely painted people of cinnamon hue puzzled him greatly.
This beautiful land was the island of Cuba. After its discovery by Columbus the Spaniards came and took possession of it. They found the people of a simple nature, with strange notions about God and the creation of the universe. As they knew nothing about Christ, they were not Christians, and consequently the Spaniards soon began to look upon them as little better than wild animals. Then we must remember that the Spaniards who came flocking to the islands discovered by Columbus were not only adventurers seeking their fortunes, but were often the criminals from overcrowded jails, and others who could not make an honest living at home. As these people had no idea of working themselves, they made the simple inhabitants work for them. And as there were many of these inhabitants, the Spaniards counted their lives of no value, and not only overworked them, treating them with great cruelty, but killed them out of pure wantonness, just as some boys delight in stoning dogs and killing birds.
There was one good Spaniard, however, who became convinced that it was wrong to make slaves of these poor people and to treat them so cruelly. Becoming a priest, he began by giving his own slaves their freedom, and then he went into the pulpit and preached against the wrong-doings of his countrymen. This man was the good Father Las Casas, who has been called the protector of the Indians. But the good work of this one good man could go but a little way against so many wicked ones. The native inhabitants rapidly disappeared under the cruel treatment of their harsh task-masters, and then negro slaves, a hardier race than the red men, were brought from Africa to take the place of the Indian, in spite of Father Las Casas and his sermons.
So it happens that in the island of Cuba to-day there are none of the Indians left. They have long since disappeared. In their place remain the negroes, who are the descendants of the slaves from Africa, and the white Cubans, who are descended from the Spanish settlers. But owing to the climate, the fertility of the soil and other conditions which surround them, they have grown up to be different men from their Spanish grandfathers.
Now Spain is a land ruled over by a King, and its lands are in the hands of a few fortunate men called counts and marquises, so that the poor people have no land of their own which they may cultivate, and thus earn their living as our country farmers do. Then Spain requires all of her boys to become soldiers, and serve the King, who is now only a boy himself. As the Spanish boys grow up without much education, and never learn of the liberty enjoyed by the people of other countries, they think this is all right. But then the King finds that he has more of these boy soldiers than he can feed, so his ministers say, "Well, there's that rich island across the sea; if our boys want to go there and till the soil, they need not serve as soldiers." So many of the Spanish boys go to Cuba, and often they forget Spain, take a Cuban girl for a wife, and never go home again. And then their children are Cubans with Cuban mothers. Cuba is so near to the United States, these Cuban children often come here, where they learn something about our system of government, and the education and freedom enjoyed by our people. Then they go back and tell their brothers and sisters all about it. This has gone on for a great many years, till these Cubans have become filled with ideas of liberty and self-government. They do not see why they should be ruled by a King who lives so far away, and then they do not see why they should have a King at all. Besides, they say they are taxed a great deal to support this King and his ministers in Spain, and every year more Spaniards come to Cuba, and as these are poor and anxious to work, they occupy all the places which would otherwise be held by the Cubans. Thus there is a jealousy between the Cubans and the new arrivals, who soon begin to regard their cousins born in the island very much as their ancestors regarded the native Indians.
About twenty-eight years ago many of the Cubans got together in the eastern part of the island, and thinking they could throw off the Spanish rule, they armed themselves and went into the mountains, where they fought against the Spanish rule for ten years. At that time the negroes of Cuba were still slaves, their masters buying and selling them as though they were cattle instead of human beings. As these black men were all strong and hardy fellows, the Cubans told them that if they would help them fight they would give them their liberty. Of course they were anxious to become free men, and great many of them joined the white Cubans and fought with them very well. Spain tried hard to put down this insurrection, but found it very expensive to send her soldiers to fight a people among the mountains in their own country. At last, after she had spent a great deal of money and lost a great many of her boy soldiers, she sent her greatest General, Martinez Campos, with full power to treat with the rebellious Cubans. He succeeded in communicating with the revolutionists, and promised them certain reforms in the administration of their affairs. The Cubans wanted self-government, and, among other things, they stipulated that the negroes who had fought with them should be recognized as free men. This did not seem reasonable, because the negroes who had remained faithful to Spain were still slaves, while those who had rebelled were to be rewarded. General Campos agreed, however, and the Cubans laid down their arms. Thus the first successful blow for freedom was struck, and Spain soon passed laws which eventually gave the rest of the negroes their liberty.
There followed some sixteen years of comparative peace, although the Cubans claim that Spain never fulfilled the promises made to them by Martinez Campos. There were several attempts to make war again, but the Cubans appear to have been afraid. They are not a fighting people, like our ancestors, who fought against a tax of threepence on a pound of tea because they considered it unjust. The Cubans wanted to be let alone, and often paid their taxes without complaint. But as Spain still sent her boys as colonists to Cuba, the Cubans found it very hard to compete with these boys, pay their taxes, and make a living. A great many of them left the island and came to this country, where they have made their homes, but always looking across the water, hoping that some day their island would be free from Spanish rule. Some of the Cubans, instead of leaving the island took to the woods and became bandits. Thus things went from bad to worse, until some of the old leaders of the last war thought the time had arrived to strike another blow for the freedom of Cuba.
THE INSURGENT GENERAL GOMEZ AND HIS STAFF.
About one year and a half ago, Maximo Gomez, a soldier who had fought in the ranks and had risen to be a general in the ten years' war, landed on the east end of Cuba. He was shortly followed by Antonio Maceo, a mulatto, who had also a command in the last war. They proclaimed a rebellion against Spain, and called upon all Cubans to join them. It was not long before they had an army. Spain was slow to understand the seriousness of the situation, and declared that it was only a negro uprising which she could easily put down. Of course there were a great many negroes who flocked to the standard raised by Gomez and Maceo, for they knew that it was through the Cubans they had gained their liberty. But the uprising became general throughout the island. Gomez marched his army from the eastern end of the island to the centre, and then invaded Matauzas and Havana provinces. On the way he met the Spaniards several times, but they were unable to check his movements. The old general, Martinez Campos, who had treated with him seventeen years before, tried to stop him in his westward march, and finally failed at Coliseo, in Matauzas province. Then the Spaniards became dissatisfied with their greatest General, for Martinez Campos spoke the truth, and told Spain many things which she did not like to hear, and he refused to kill his prisoners, for he said the Cubans did not kill his soldiers when they caught them. But the Spaniards thought the Cubans should be killed for fighting against Spain, so they sent General Weyler with full power to do as he liked in the island of Cuba. Under the rule of this General matters have grown very much worse for Spain, and to one who has studied the situation carefully in the island it looks very much as though the Cubans were going to gain their independence. The Spaniards hold the towns, while the Cubans remain in the country. There are no great battles fought, and while the Spaniards claim that they cannot find the rebels, the Cubans destroy and lay waste the country, believing that the Spaniards will eventually get tired and give up trying to rule them, for Cuba's wealth, they say, is the cause of the yoke she bears, and all must be destroyed rather than submit again to Spanish rule.
Pedro Muñoz de Sepulveda, Civil Governor of Havana.
General Weyler.
Navarro Fernandez, Commander of the Navy, and his Adjutant.
Señor Pintas, General Weyler's Secretary.
GENERAL WEYLER AS HE LANDED IN CUBA.
[THE PIPER.]
BY M. L. VAN VORST.
There's a strange gaunt piper in doublet brown
Comes over the heather and over the sea;
His dwelling is neither in city nor town,
And he pipes for the wee little folk and me.
His hat is high and pointed and green,
With a sprig in the hand from the holly-tree,
And his smile is the merriest ever seen
In the eyes of the wee little folk and me.
He comes at the close of the winter days,
As we sit in the firelight after tea;
He steals from the corner, and smiles and plays
For the tired wee little folk and me.
And what are the tunes that the piper sings
As the strange pipe trembles with melody?—
I'd like to tell you the beautiful things
He tells to the wee little folk and me.
But they fade as soon as the piper goes
To take his journey o'er heather and sea.
Will he come again to us? Nobody knows.
Will you wait with the wee little folk and me?
[WHAT THE BEE TOLD ME.]
BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.
The other night, after my children had been tucked away safely in bed, I was seated in my library reading. The house was very warm, and I opened the huge window on the south side of the room to let in a little air, and as I did so a little bee came buzzing in through the slats of the shutters. I paid no attention to him at first, but after I had taken my arm-chair again, and had settled back in comfort to resume my story, the little creature began to buzz about my ears in a fashion which did not altogether please me.
"Shoo!" I cried, waving my hand gently at him. "Why don't you shoo?"
Now you may believe me or not, as you please, but the little bee giggled, and said:
"What shall I shoe? Bees can do lots of things, but they can't shoe. They are not blacksmiths."
The reply amused and interested me, and I put down my book and gazed at him without saying a word, waiting for his next remark.
"In fact," the bee continued, "I could tell you a story about that very point, if you'd listen."
"Go ahead," said I. "I'll be delighted."
And the little bee told me the following story.
Once upon a time, a great many years ago, the Queen of the bees sent to the Lord High Treasurer of her kingdom for his annual report, and when it came she was very much surprised to find that the treasury contained about half as much treasure as she had supposed.
"Where is the rest of the money?" she demanded in severe tones.
"We haven't had it, your Majesty," said the Lord High Treasurer.
"Haven't we earned it?" she asked.
"Yes," replied the Lord High Treasurer. "But we haven't been able to sell all the honey we've made. We've been too industrious."
"It is impossible to be too industrious," said the Queen. "Send the Trade Secretary here."
The Trade Secretary came at once, and bore out all that the Lord High Treasurer had said. The bees had made more honey than they could sell.
"Then we must have a mass-meeting and tell all the beeple," she observed.
"The what?" I asked, interrupting the bee's story.
"The beeple. You folks are people. We bees are beeple," explained my little visitor.
I laughed, and he continued:
"Tell the beeple," said the Queen, "and at once, because when they read your report and see how little profit we have gained for our labors this year they may become suspicious. If we tell them at once, as soon as we have discovered it ourselves, they cannot complain."
And so the mass-meeting was called, and ten thousand bees gathered before the royal hives.
The Queen undertook to tell the beeple herself.
"Most beloved subjects," said she, as she emerged from the royal hive amid the enthusiastic buzzing of the beepulace, "I have been going over the report of my Trade Secretary during the past week, and I regret to say that the showing is not satisfactory."
A murmur of disappointment greeted the announcement.
"We have not been idle, your Majesty!" cried one of the workers. "I myself have flown from flower to flower for five hours a day every day during the season, and I can testify that all my friends and neighbors have kept themselves equally busy."
"I have nothing to complain about on that score," returned her Majesty, graciously. "Indeed, you have all been most industrious. Even the drones have droned to my satisfaction."
"Have we then worked too hard?" queried another.
"It would seem so," returned her Majesty. "Either that or after a fashion which might be termed unprofitable. We have manufactured seventeen million pounds of honey in the last year, and after all the demands of the honey-eaters have been fulfilled we find ourselves with ten million pounds on hand."
"It proves how useful we do-nothing bees are," said one of the drones. "Had we worked, the supply would have been twice as great, and instead of having ten million pounds of honey more than we need, we should have twenty-seven million pounds of it upon our antennæ."
"We've got no business with antennæ, anyhow," growled another drone. "Why can't we have beetennæ, and be done with it?"
"All of this!" cried the Queen, impatiently, "is apart from the question. Whether we have antennæ, beetennæ, or flytennæ, we have made too much honey."
"Then let us rest for a year," sighed one of the drones. "It's mathematics that if one does enough work in one year to last for two years, he's done two years' work in one, wherefore let him take a year off and travel for his health."
"Not so!" cried the Queen. "The Lord High Commissioner of the Police will arrest the drone who has spoken so unreasonably, and suggested such an unbeely practice as idleness. Put him in the darkest dungeon of the Bee-stile, and feed him upon iced water and cold biscuit crumbs for twenty-four hours."
"Mercy!" cried the drone. "Mercy, your Majesty! I was only thoughtless."
"You do well," quoth the Queen, "to appeal to my mercy, and I will be merciful. I will remit half of the sentence. Lock him up for twenty-four hours, but do not feed him at all."
The thoughtless drone was arrested and taken away, and the Queen resumed.
"It's not that we work too hard," she said. "It is that we make too much of one kind of thing. If the honey consumers only want ten million pounds of honey, it is foolish for us to make twenty million pounds of it, and I think we should turn our attention to other fields."
"I did," said one. "I brought a country doctor five dollars by stinging a small boy."
"How often have I told you not to sting small boys?" frowned the Queen.
"I couldn't help it, your Majesty," returned the bee, humbly. "I was flying along a garden path, and the small boy came running up; he ran so fast he collided with me, and ere I knew it my stinger had penetrated his flesh."
"You had no business to have your stinger out," said the Queen.
"Oh yes, your Majesty," explained the bee, "I had to have it out, for I had come to that garden to sharpen it upon the grindstone of the boy's father. Had the boy been looking where he was going, it would not have happened."
"Ah!" said the Queen, smiling with pleasure; "that is different. If you taught the small boy a lesson you worked to some purpose, and you are forgiven. I don't see, however, how you still live if you really stung the child. Pray explain."
"He was a tender little chap—that is all," said the bee. "And I had no trouble in pulling my sting out of his soft little cheek. It was like a peach."
Again the Queen smiled. "I am pleased with you," she said, and then turning again to the assembled multitude, she resumed her speech.
"Now that we know what our trouble is, shall we not act accordingly? Shall we continue year in and year out wasting our valuable time in the making of honey that nobody wants, or shall we look about for something new to do which, after we have made all the honey that is needed, shall still keep us busy, so that people seeing us shall be able to call us 'the busy bees' as of yore? What is the will of my subjects?"
"Let us branch out! Let us do other things," buzzed the beepulace.
"I knew my confidence in your judgment was not misplaced," cried the Queen, joyously. "It now remains for us to decide what, and I here to-day in the presence of you all as witnesses proclaim my intention to give the hand of my eldest daughter to that one of you who shall suggest the scheme that shall seem best for our new line of action."
"Suppose it's won by a lady bee?" cried a woman's-rights bee in the throng. "She won't want your daughter's hand."
"She shall have the hand of my eldest son," replied the Queen bee, with a smile.
The reply seemed to satisfy the woman's-right's bee, and the Queen having retired to her royal cell, the crowd broke up, and the various members of it betook their way to their respective hives to cogitate upon the problem presented by the Queen.
On the day following the royal proclamation was found posted all over Beeland, in which it was announced that a committee, consisting of the Queen, the Trade Secretary, and the Lord High Treasurer of the country would receive the various plans presented, go over them carefully, and on Christmas day following make known whatever decision they might have reached. This method was satisfactory to all hands, and the bees busied themselves for ten and fifteen hours a day thinking up schemes. It was a long time to think, but bees have very small heads, and they had to think quite as much as that daily to reach any conclusion at all. Some of them got very sick with brain-fever from trying to think too much, and one little worker went crazy because he was so foolish as to cogitate for forty-nine hours without rest. Many of the lighter-headed bees soon gave it up, but the wiser ones, thinking moderately and not too deeply all at once, soon had their schemes mapped out and placed in the committee's hands, or antennæ.
The autumn went rapidly. Christmas came, and the committee examined the plans that were presented.
"I must say," the Queen said, with a sigh, after reading a large number of foolish schemes, "it doesn't seem to me that my subjects are as bright as they might be. The idea of this fellow suggesting that we go into the 'horse-bothering business'!"
The Trade Secretary laughed. "What on earth is the 'horse-bothering business'?" he asked.
"He wants individual bees to hire themselves out to farmers with slow horses," said the Queen. "Their duty is to bother the horses until they get skittish and try to run."
"Hoh!" laughed the Lord High Treasurer; "what a donkey that bee must be!"
"Here's another," observed the Trade Secretary, opening a sealed envelope. "He wants us to go into the carrier-pigeon business. He says there is nothing can strike a bee-line so accurately as a bee, and adds that he thinks a whole swarm ought to be able to earn from fifteen to twenty dollars a month at it."
"How very foolish," said the Queen, impatiently. "It would take a whole swarm a month to carry a single message a mile. I do hope that isn't going to turn out to be the best suggestion of all, for I should be most unhappy if I had to give the hand of my eldest daughter to a bee like that."
"You may relieve your mind on that score," said the Trade Secretary. "I have just found another which is much better. This bee suggests that when we are not gathering honey and making honey-combs, it wouldn't be a bad thing to fly about barber-shops and gather hair and make hair-combs."
"I think that is very foolish," said the Queen. "Why do you think it is better than the horse-bothering and the carrier-pigeon plans?"
"It's no more foolish, and twice as funny," explained the Trade Secretary.
"That is very true," said the Queen.
"Here's another that's funnier yet," said the Lord High Treasurer. "This one says that we might gather curry and make curry-combs."
The Queen laughed outright. "I think they'd better start a comic paper," she said.
"That's the best idea yet," cried the Trade Secretary, enthusiastically, for he was a great flatterer. "Let us decide on that, and then your Majesty can keep your eldest daughter's hand as a reward for some future competition."
"No," said the Queen, shaking her head; "that would never do. I shall not enter into this competition at all. The others would say, and very properly too, that I was partial to my own plan, and couldn't be a good judge of its merit. No; you must leave my plans out altogether."
And so they went on examining the plans, none of which seemed any better or funnier than the ones I have mentioned, until they came to what appeared to be a grand scheme.
"I suggest," wrote one little bee, "that we keep on making honey just the same, only instead of putting it together in one great lot, all tasting alike, let us keep different kinds in different combs. For instance, let one swarm gather from roses and make rose honey; another can sip the nectar from the violet and make violet honey; another can get the essence of the mint and mix it with pepper and make peppermint honey, and so on. Let us have honey of all flavors—vanilla, sarsaparilla, and so on—and then we shall never make too much. There never was too much soda-water in the world, because if you get tired of one kind you can drink another kind. I heard a little girl who was a soda-water expert say so, and it was from her remark that I got the idea. If I've won, please let me know, and I'll come up to the palace and get the hand of the Queen's eldest daughter; and if you'll send me word early enough in the day, with the size of her hand, I'll bring a nice little glove to put on it. P. S.—Do we get only one hand, or does the whole daughter go with it?"
"Magnificent!" cried the Queen, in ecstasy, clapping her antennæ together. "We must award the prize to him."
"I think so myself," said the Trade Secretary, "he is certainly the most original."
"And a good business bee, too," said the Lord High Treasurer. "What he asks about the whole daughter proves that."
"And a good husband he'll make," said the Queen, with a pleased expression. "His thinking about her gloves proves that. Are there any others?"
"Only one," said the Trade Secretary. "From a bee who signs himself 'A Poet.'"
"Oh, he can't win!" said the Queen, impatiently, for she had the idea which many wiser people have that poets are lazy.
"Not likely," said the Lord High Treasurer. "I still think, your Majesty, that we ought to read what he suggests."
"Very well; no doubt you are right. What is it he says?" said the Queen, with a look of resignation on her face.
So they read the suggestion of the little poet bee, and this is the way it went:
"We have made too much plain honey
For the people's ready money;
And the only way to keep our daily toil from being waste
Is to give them something neater,
Something purer, something sweeter,
Something quite the like of which they never yet have had a taste.
"Shall we then spend all our hours
Sipping up the sweets of flowers,
Sipping sweets of which they tell us that they don't want any more?
Or shall we set our forces
Seeking out some other sources
Which will yield a store of honey of a kind not known before?
"Oh, I know where there is nectar
Fit for Jupiter or Hector;
'Tis a sweet no bee has ever tried to put into his comb.
'Tis a sweet I say of which, sir,
In the mansions of the rich, sir,
Or the poorest is the sweetest of the sweets of any home.
"Tis the nectar of the kisses
Of the babies—learn what bliss is!—
Gather that and put it into all the honey that you can,
And you'll find e'en the Immortals
Thronging daily at your portals
With rich jewels for the product that will follow from my plan."
There was a long silence when the Trade Secretary had finished reading the poet's suggestion. The Queen wiped her eyes. She was manifestly touched by the sentiment of the poet's little verse. Finally the Lord High Treasurer spoke.
"I'm not much of a judge of poetry," he said, "so I won't say much about the verse, except that I don't think he ought to have lugged Hector in just for the sake of a rhyme; but I do think it is a beautiful idea. I kissed a baby once in a country garden, and it was so fearfully sweet that all the flowers tasted like lemons for months afterwards."
"I have had the same experience," said the Queen, softly.
"Me too!" said the Trade Secretary. "The plan is a fine one."
"But is it finer than the other one?" asked the Queen. "I, as a mother, think it is."
"I, as a business bee, think not," said the Lord High Treasurer.
"Well, I, as a business bee and a father, can't make up my mind," sighed the Trade Secretary. "It's very unfortunate. One ought to be better than the other, but I can't decide which is the one."
"They can't both have my eldest daughter's hand," sighed the Queen.
"No," said the Lord High Treasurer, with a dubious shake of his head.
"True," ejaculated the Trade Secretary; and then he gave a loud buzz of triumph. "Why didn't we think of it before?" he cried.
"Of what?" asked the Queen, eagerly.
"Your eldest daughter is twins," cried the Trade Secretary. "One can have one twin and the other the other."
"So they are!" said the Queen, joyously. "I had forgotten that. Their hands shall be awarded as you suggest."
And so it was decided; and on Christmas morning the announcement was made. To one bee one daughter was affianced, and to the other the other, and all were satisfied; and on New-Year's day, a week later, they were all four married, and lived happily ever after.
The little bee stopped here and looked at me.
"That's a very nice little tale," said I, smiling upon my friend the bee.
"Thank you," said he. "If you like it you can have it all for your own."
"It is very good of you," I replied. "But can't you use it?"
"No," he said. "None of the magazines would print a story sent in by a bee; but even if they would you could have it, because we owe you some return."
"What for, pray?" I cried.
"Your baby's kisses," he said, simply. "We've made eight dollars out of him this year."
I looked at him for a moment, and then, as he buzzed back to the window, I called out,
"Don't be in a hurry."
"I must," he said. "It's getting late."
"Well, come again," I said, "and tell me some more."
"Oh, you can count on that," he answered, as he flew out of the window with a joyous buzz. "I'll be back before you know it."
And with that he was gone; and when next morning I told his story to my children, they all liked it so much that I have put it down to tell you, for possibly the bees made eight or ten dollars out of you when you were a baby, and you are as much entitled to the return as I am.
The next important interscholastic event of the year will be the tennis tournament at Newport, August 13th. It is not possible at the date of writing to state exactly what players will participate, the entries not having all been received as yet; but if the winners of the various interscholastic tournaments of this spring all gather at Newport this week, the 1896 tournament should prove the most interesting and important of any held heretofore.
The most promising of the interscholastic players seems to be Reginald Fincke, of the Hotchkiss School, who won the Yale interscholastic tournament. Fincke out-classed all the other players in this tournament, and made the very creditable record of winning first place without dropping a set. He has been keeping in good practice all summer, and did some good work at the recent Wentworth tournament. He is a cool-headed player, and has excellent control of his racket. He is particularly strong on cross-drives and in placing.
His strongest opponent at Newport will probably be C. W. Beggs, Jun., the winner of the Princeton interscholastic tournament, and a student at the Lawrenceville School. Beggs won the Chicago interscholastic tournament last year, and developed his game considerably this spring. He won handily over all the other men in his local contest, and is undoubtedly the best tennis-player Lawrenceville ever had.
The Boston schools will be represented by Y. M. Edwards, of the English High-School, who won the Harvard interscholastic tournament in May. Edwards, however, is not so strong a player as the two men already mentioned. In fact, this year the Boston schools did not develop any high-class man on the courts, which perhaps might have been expected, they having turned out such men as Ware and Whitman last year. The Inter-Academic League's tennis tournament in Philadelphia was won by J. K. Willing, of Delancey School, who did some pretty good work on the Belmont Cricket Club courts, but from whom little can be expected if he appears at Newport. Pell of Berkeley, the winner of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. tournament, is not entitled to compete in the National event; and if the New York schools are represented at all it will be by Walton, the winner of the Columbia interscholastic tournament. The Maine tourney resulted in a victory for Dana of Portland, but it is uncertain if he will appear at Newport.
The interscholastic matches at the National event have been held yearly since 1891. The record of the winners since then is as follows:
| Year. | Played at. | Winner. | School. |
| 1891. | Cambridge. | R. D. Wrenn. | Cambridge Latin. |
| 1892. | Cambridge. | M. G. Chace. | Univ. Grammar, Prov. |
| 1893. | Newport. | C. R. Budlong. | High, Providence. |
| 1894. | Newport. | W. G. Parker. | Tutor, New York. |
| 1895. | Newport. | L. E. Ware. | Roxbury Latin. |
A glance at this list will show that the winners of the interscholastic matches have all, with the possible exception of Parker, become players of ability; and although Ware cannot yet be ranked with Chace or Wrenn, he certainly will achieve that distinction before long. It is pleasing to see that the schools are developing such good men in this line of sport, the winners of the tournaments of '91, '92, '93, and '95 being graduates of large schools, whereas the winner of '94, who has not achieved any particular prominence since, was not a graduate of any institution. Perhaps this shows the advantage of attending a large school, for this surely affords a greater opportunity for good practice, and a player gets the chance to brush up against many different styles.
This question of practice is a very important one, and no player who hopes to become proficient in tennis can ever hope to do so unless he keeps himself in shape by working daily on the court during the open season. In tennis, as in everything else, there is no high-road to success, and while it is possible that some men may have a greater facility for making strokes and covering the court than others, there is no such thing as a born tennis-player, and all who have succeeded in the game have earned their laurels by hard and persistent work.
It has sometimes been asked if a tennis-player should maintain any especial kind of training. He should—that is, he should keep in training in the sense of keeping in good condition and, as I have said above, in keeping in form. If a man wishes to win a closely contested five-set match, he has got to be absolutely fit. Such a game requires endurance as much as skill, and the man who is in the better condition, even if he is the poorer player, so far as science goes, is likely to be the winner.
Every one who has played tennis, no matter how little, knows what an amount of exertion and lung-power is expended in a three or five set match, especially if the weather is at all warm or humid, as it usually is in this part of the country on the day set for a tennis-match—(unless it rains!) In order to be able to stand the strain of such an exertion, any one who is going to play tennis regularly and in tournaments during the summer should make it a point to lead as much as possible a regular life. One of the most important things is to get a good long rest every night, and especially on the night preceding a hard match. A good night's rest may only be obtained by retiring early. The trouble with a good many of our tennis-players is that, being at hotels or summer resorts for the playing of tournaments, they are apt to be led into sitting up late at night by the company or the entertainment which is at hand.
Two hours sleep before midnight is recognized to be worth more than four hours of sleep in the morning, so far as refreshing the tissues of the body is concerned. For this reason tennis-players, and especially the younger men among them, to whom I hope to appeal in these columns, should avoid hops and dances at summer resorts, for this is the most common reason for sitting up late at night. A couple of hours' dancing in the evening, while it is fun, is exercise, and tires one. The man who has to play a match in the morning will feel that unpleasant weary sensation under the knees if he has danced the night before, and in the middle of about the second set he will wish he had gone to bed instead of to the ballroom.
As for diet, there is no particular reason why this should be especially restricted. Good wholesome food will strengthen any one who is exercising, and constant exercise will likewise usually overcome the effect of a certain amount of rich food; but it is better for the general health not to tax the system with pastry and sweets and rich sauces. Especially at luncheon, before an afternoon match, should these dishes be shunned. It goes without saying that smoking should be avoided, for there is nothing worse than such indulgence for the "wind."
While playing, either a match or practice sets, never under any circumstances drink anything. It is bad on general principles to drink when overheated, and while exercising in this way cold drinks will surely make a player feel badly, and eventually give him dyspepsia, if nothing worse. It is well to have a pail of fresh water—better still, oatmeal water—near the court, and there is no reason why the players should not occasionally wash out their mouths. In England, where there is even a greater fear of ice-water than there is among our own sensible people, tennis-players frequently take a little warm tea between sets when playing important matches. The tea, which is served not hot but only lukewarm, quenches the thirst very satisfactorily, and, in addition, acts as a stimulant to the system.
After an afternoon of play on the courts it is a very good thing to retire to your room and use a pair of light wooden dumbbells for two or three minutes. This exercise is not fatiguing and does not take up any time, and makes a man feel refreshed and somewhat rested, for it brings into play a number of muscles that were not used on the court. It goes without saying that bathing is imperative after tennis, as it is, after all, exercise, and after the bath a rub down with a rough towel. The man who takes a cold bath in the morning will find himself better set up for the coming day's play, and it cannot be too strongly urged upon players at the sea-side to take a plunge before breakfast, if they can, in the salt water.
To lay a grass court is not such a difficult matter as it might seem to one who has never attempted it, and as some of the readers of this Department seem to wish to be enlightened on this subject, it may be well to devote a few lines of explanation. We will suppose, of course, that the grass court is to be laid out on a lawn, and not on a bare space that must be sodded down. The portion of the lawn selected should be, of course, as flat and even as possible, and the court should be carefully measured out, but not necessarily marked out, before anything else is done. Then with sharp spades remove entirely all the existing turf. When this has been done the bare ground must be properly levelled and turned over, and a layer of fine soil about two inches deep should be laid on. Then replace the turf and beat it well down. It sounds like a heavy undertaking to remove the sod from the entire court space, but the results will justify the labor expended, and the court will be a much better one when completed than if the rough spots only had been taken up and smoothed over.
This court should then be left for a week or two, to settle down, so to speak; and after that the grass should be carefully mowed. There is a good deal of skill in the use of a lawn-mower, and a good gardener can do more for the turf with this little machine than might at first be supposed. The grass ought not to be cut more frequently than once a week in the spring-time, but as the summer becomes older and the grass grows faster, it may be well to mow the court twice and possibly even three times in the week. In the early days of the court's construction, if it is not in demand for playing, the best thing is to allow the cut grass to remain on the lawn, for it acts eventually as a sort of fertilizer and develops a superior quality of turf.
Next in importance to mowing is rolling. A lawn-roller need not be a large one, but its use should not be spared, and while the ground is soft in the spring the court should be rolled a little almost every day. On one day roll the lawn from end to end, and on the next roll it from side to side. But in spite of the most careful mowing and rolling, weeds will appear on every lawn, and if they are not attended to at once they will multiply so rapidly that the entire sodding will have to be torn up again and relaid. A very good way, in the spring, is to call in a couple of small boys and set them to work at pulling up weeds. The twenty-five or fifty cents that the small boys will consider ample payment for their labors is nothing compared to the nuisance and annoyance that weeds might cause later in the season. Recognizing this fact, it might be well, if the boys proved efficient as weed-pullers, to have them come in throughout the playing season, every fortnight or so, and thus keep the court in good condition.
In this Department last year, at just about this season, were printed a couple of paragraphs telling of the construction of dirt and clay courts; it seems, therefore, unnecessary to return to that subject again this summer; but any of the readers of the Department who desire information on that subject may obtain it by addressing the Editor. It is not always possible, as I have said before, to answer by letter the many inquiries that come to this Department, but correspondents may feel assured that sooner or later their questions, if they are of general interest to sportsmen, will be answered here.
Conger. Walsh. Bannister (Capt.).
Dannatt. Armstrong. Mongovern. Davis. Flournoy. Whitson. Kelster.
Carmichael. Berrien. Lake. Van Allen. Holmes. Lachmund.
THE CLINTON, IOWA, HIGH-SCHOOL TRACK-ATHLETIC TEAM.
The Clinton High-School track-athletic team, a picture of which is given on another page, is the champion of the Iowa State High-School A.A., having taken the greatest number of points again this year at their annual field-meeting. One of the most promising of the young athletes in the group is Flournoy, who came on with the Iowa team to the National Games, and participated in the high jump. Since the formation of the National Association there has been a great boom in track athletics in many of the Western States, where hitherto the interest had been more or less desultory, especially among the graduates, and without graduate interest little can be done by the young sportsmen themselves. Now, however, it looks as if Iowa and Wisconsin, and Ohio and Minnesota were in a fair way to develop strong school athletes, and within the next year or so these lads will surely become a factor in the interscholastic athletic development of this country.
While it is perhaps a little early to begin the discussion of football, it is not out of place to call the attention of captains to the fact that the University Athletic Club has revised the rules of the game, and that in all probability this fall their code will be accepted by all the colleges in the country. Last year, as we all remember, there were two or three sets of rules, and Harvard played one way, while Yale played another way, and when matches were arranged between colleges that had early in the season adopted varying regulations, it was first necessary for the managers to meet and decide upon what should be considered fair ruling in the proposed match.
Now this is done away with, and a new code has been accepted—a code that I feel sure will be better than anything we have had before. For the best heads evolved it, and the idea of the committee representing the University Athletic Club was to do away with the worst features of roughness in the game, at the same time retaining the science and the keen edge of the sport.
These rules may not yet have been published, but I should advise every school football captain to inform himself concerning this, and to secure a copy of the book as soon as possible, in order that when he gets back to the gridiron he may be familiar with the changes and innovations that have been made, and thus gain time which must be spent in the study of the rules.
No captain can be efficient unless he has the rules of the game at his fingers' ends; not only the general rules, but the various interpretations that can be put on points that only come up perhaps once in a season, but which often cause long delays and discussions when they do crop up, and the captains and umpires are uninformed concerning the penalties required.
In the next issue of the Round Table we shall begin a series of descriptive articles on swimming and diving, which will run from rime to time in this Department, as the articles on track athletics were printed last year. The descriptions will be illustrated from instantaneous photographs taken of one of the most expert swimmers in the country, and it will be the object of the papers to so describe the science of swimming and diving that any boy who does not know how, but who has a pond near his home, may go out and soon learn the necessary strokes.