THE TIM BUNKER PAPEES. 303 



NO. 83. TIM BUNKER ON BASE BALL CLUBS. 



&quot;Don t you think they are running on t into the 

 ground ?&quot; asked Seth Twiggs, as he stopped at my garden 

 fence, when I was gathering squashes this morning. &quot; I 

 du declare there ll be a slim chance to get anybody to 

 work, if things keeps on in this way. We shall be as bad 

 off as they are among the Indians, where the women do 

 all the drudgery, and the men play all the time they ain t 

 fightin . I hired Kier Frink and another White Oaker to 

 come down and help me husk, and they had to leave right 

 away arter dinner to go to a base ball match. They said 

 they wouldn t stop for double wages, for they could make 

 more money on the ball ground betting. They knew 

 which side was gwine to win. Pretty state of things !&quot; 

 Seth thought the case was so clear that he didn t wait for 

 an answer, but walked off in his usual cloud of smoke. 

 This evening, Mrs. Bunker took up the Hookertown 

 Gazette, and read, &quot; Shadtown victorious ! the White 

 Oaks nowhere ! ! The score stood 27 to 9. Great inter 

 est has been taken in this match, from the well-known fact 

 that both parties had been training for it for a month 

 past, and large sums had been staked upon the result. It 

 is said that the White Oakers practiced by moonlight 

 while they were burning their coal pits, and the picked 

 nine of the Shadtown Club have made a business of play 

 ing ball six days in a week for the last month. Of course, 

 they bore off the honors.&quot; 



&quot; Honors !&quot; exclaimed Sally, lifting her gold-bowed 

 spectacles to the top of her forehead, and looking over to 

 me. &quot; When we were young, Timothy, it used to be an 

 honor for a young man to lay a straight furrow, or to 

 mow a wide swath. But now they ve beat their plow- 



