A LITTLE BOYS 1 GAME WITH A BALL. 655 



done by a single player. In a three-handed game the work is 

 further divided, there being now a batter, a pitcher, and a catcher. 

 This we used to call " one old cat " The three players occupied 

 the same positions now held by the same three players in the 

 great American game. 



Bases were now introduced. When the batter had struck the 

 ball three times, he must run to the pitcher's base before the ball 

 was thrown across his path in front of him. Otherwise he was 

 out, and the player who " crossed him out " got his bat. There 

 were, therefore, three ways of securing his bat : by catching the 

 ball when he had struck it, by catching it when . he had struck at 

 it, and by crossing out when he ran bases. And there were two 

 players at work trying to accomplish the object. The batter's 

 life was rendered far less easy by these new features. Of course, 

 every time the batter ran, the pitcher and catcher, instead of 

 changing places, changed occupations. 



If another batter was added, the two occupations of pitcher 

 and catcher merged back into one. This was " two old cat." Its 

 rules were usually the same as in the preceding game ; but some- 

 times, instead of " every fellow for himself," it was " one out, all 

 out." It was then a game of partners, like whist. 



There was also " three cat," or " three-cornered cat," and even 

 " four cat." The rules were the same. 



One important difference between the batting and the hitting 

 games was that, in the former, the complexity of the game in- 

 creased with the number of players, while, in the latter, the sim- 

 plest games were those in which the whole school could join. Up 

 to eight players, the simple " old cat " games were the common- 

 est. With more players than eight we usually played "town- 

 ball." It was plainly evolved out of the cat games, for it retained 

 all their rules. And it forms a connecting link between them and 

 base-ball. But it resembles " one cat " more than any of the other 

 forms of cat-ball. It might be called a lateral branch of the cat 

 family, just as the lion and the tiger are related to the common 

 cat. In ball-games the cat family had two principal lines of evo- 

 lution. Along one line it bloomed into two, three, and four cat, 

 and along the other line into town-ball, the professional base-ball, 

 and one or two other allied forms. 



Along the first line there was a mere cumulation of cats. All 

 that is implied by this expression is that there was a multiplica- 

 tion of batting bases. After " one cat " there was just one batter 

 and one catcher to each batting base. 



In the other line we revert to the single batting base, regard- 

 less of the number of players. Even in " one cat " there were two, 

 which were used alternately by the batter. His run was from one 

 batting base to the other. Every time he ran, his former pitcher 



