e difficult than many who are in the
habit of judging hastily from the outward semblance can possibly
imagine. It is in fact the cricket of the American continent,
considerably altered since its first origin, as has been cricket, by the
yearly recourse to the improvements necessitated by the experience of
each season. In the cricket field there is at times a wearisome monotony
that is entirely unknown to baseball. To watch it played is most
interesting, as the attention is concentrated but for a short time and
not allowed to succumb to undue pressure of prolonged suspense. The
broad principles of base-ball are not by any means difficult of
comprehension. The theory of the game is not unlike that of 'Rounders,'
in that bases have to be run; but the details are in every way
different.

"To play base-ball requires judgment, courage; presence of mind and the
possession of much the same qualities as at cricket. To see it played by
experts will astonish those who only know it by written descriptions,
for it is a fast game, full of change and excitement and not in the
least degree wearisome. To see the best players field even is a sight
that ought to do a cricketer's heart good; the agility, dash and
accuracy of tossing and catching possessed by the Americans being
wonderful."

This, coming at that time from a paper of the "Field's" high standing
was praise, indeed, but the fact remains that the game itself, in spite
of all the efforts made to introduce it, has never become popular in
England, for the reason perhaps that it possesses too many elements of
dash and danger and requires too much of an effort to play it.

Commenting after our return to this country upon this tour and its
results, Henry Chadwick, the oldest writer on base-ball in this country
and an acknowledged authority on the game, said:

"The visit of the American base-hall players to England and the success
they met there, not only in popularizing the American National Game but
in their matches at cricket with the leading Cricket Clubs of England,
did more for the best interests of base-ball than anything that has
occurred since the first tour through the country of the noted Excelsior
Club of Brooklyn in 1860. In the first place, the visit in question has
resulted in setting at rest forever the much debated question as to
whether we had a National Game or not, the English press with rare
unanimity candidly acknowledging that the 'new game of base-ball' is