the sidewalks. For skating, there were "Vandcventer's ponds," which 

 filled the little valley from the gas-house to Moore Street, At intervals, 

 there would be a gala night, with a brass band and a flaming tar-barrel, 

 and every one, not physically incapacitated, skated frequently, even daily. 

 Old ladies didn't skate, for that would have been "unladylike" and, in 

 those days, woman seemed to hurry into old age, putting on lace caps 

 and refraining from exercise. Every one else, from little children to old 

 men, was on the ice as often as possible. 



One of the principal differences from modern times was the paucity 

 of public entertainments and amusements of every kind. Concerts were 

 rare and what music we had was almost entirely due to amateurs. The 

 only room for public purposes of all sorts was Mercer Hall, now, I 

 believe, a Masonic lodge. Several times, I was taken there to see con- 

 jurors, my favourite diversion. The forerunner of the moving pictures 

 was the stereopticon and a man named Cromwell, at a period a httle 

 later than the one of which I am writing, came frequently to Princeton 

 with really beautiful views of European countries, from which I acquired 

 a wish to see Europe, which became an obsession with me, as it was with 

 my Mother. 



Baseball early became a passion with me and, when I couldn't play, I 

 loved to watch the game. "Greenholm" was, until comparatively lately, 

 a large open field, which was used as the College baseball field. The first 

 game I saw there must have been in 1867 and was with the "Atlantics" 

 of Brooklyn, then one of the leading professional nines of the country. 

 Essentially, the game was then what it is today, but there were many 

 differences of detail. The most important one was that the pitcher had 

 really to "pitch" the ball; i.e. deUver it with a straight-armed, swinging 

 motion and, at the moment of delivery, the hand had to be below the 

 waist. This precluded the possibility of any great speed in pitching. 

 Another very important difference was the use of the "lively" ball, 

 which had a larger rubber core than the ball now in use. Those two 

 features made the hitting much harder and more frequent and scores 

 of 60 runs and over were, by no means, uncommon. The modern devel- 

 opment of the game, not in all respects an improvement, has been domi- 

 nated by the professional management in its desire to shorten the game 

 as a spectacle and thus make a larger attendance possible. At the time 

 of which I speak, the fielding was not nearly so good as it is now and 

 no account of errors was kept by the scorers. In part, this deficiency was 

 due to the harder hitting, but chiefly to the lack of all the present-day 

 fielder's defensive armour. The playing was all barehanded; gloves, 



