WATCHING THE PROCESSION 97 



public streets, what a stir they would excite ! For 

 a day or two the newspapers would be full of 

 the sensation, and possibly the baseball reporters 

 would be compelled for once to shorten their ac- 

 counts of Battum's " wonderful left-hand catch " 

 and Ketchum's " phenomenal slide to the second 

 base." It is just as well, I dare say, that nothing 

 of this kind should ever happen, for it is hard to 

 see how the great reading public could bear even 

 the temporary loss of such interesting and instruc- 

 tive narratives. 



Meantime, though the greater part of the peo- 

 ple pay no heed to these " birds of passage," 

 some of us are never tired of watching them. I 

 myself used to be fond of gazing at military and 

 political parades. In my time I have seen a good 

 many real soldiers and a good many make-believes. 

 But as age comes on, I find myself, rightly or 

 wrongly, caring less and less for such spectacles. 

 It will never be so, I think, with the procession 

 of which I am now writing. I have never watched 

 it with more enthusiasm than this very year. It 

 is only just over, but I am already beginning 

 to count upon its autumnal return, and by the 

 middle of August shall be looking every day for 

 its advance couriers. 



Till then I shall please myself with observing 

 the ways of such of the host as have happened 



