ay the very
trees round the ground seemed to stop whispering. It was a good length
ball, very fast and pitched slightly to the off. The batsman raised his
bat, expecting it to fly past the wicket. To his horror it nipped in.
Down came the bat in frantic haste. Heaven be praised! Just in time! The
bat just snicked the ball off. It missed the wicket by an eighth of an
inch and shot away to leg.

Then occurred one of those incidents that men boast of having witnessed,
one of those strange happenings in sport that are recounted to
generation after generation.

The ball had shot away to leg where there was no fieldsman. One of the
slips immediately made after it. The batsmen naturally did not run as
they did not wish to score. But suddenly it occurred to the striker that
it might reach the boundary, that the slip field might not be fast
enough to catch it up, and that, therefore, Kent would win on the first
innings and in so doing lose the championship. The idea flashed across
his mind almost immediately after he had hit the ball, and with a
promptness of action that was really beyond all admiration he dropped
his bat and ran like a madman in pursuit of the ball.

He easily outstripped the Somerset slip, who was rather a stout man, and
fled like a hare after the little red devil that was scorching fast in
search of the fatal four.

Men groaned in the agony of their excitement and women shrieked
hysterically.

On flew the gallant Kent batsman. Nearer and nearer he got to the ball.
He overtook it. He stopped it. Three inches from the boundary he fell on
it and hugged it to his chest. The match was a draw, a glorious draw!
Neither side had won or lost a point. It did not count in the
Championship table. Kent were Champions!

In the mad excitement of the moment no one thought of appealing on the
question of handling the ball or interfering with the field. Moreover
both the umpires had swooned and were being removed on shutters. The
result stood. The hero of the game was carried into the pavilion by two
music-hall agents and a reporter.

* * * * *

Editorial Amenities.

"I have no fault to find with 'Towser,' except that it is very much
like scores of other dog stories; that is probably why you have
failed to place it. Have you tried the 'Manchester Guardian'?"

_T.P.'s Weekly._

* * * * *

"What comes after Home Rule?--Mormons i