FOREST AND STREAM 
93 
but anything is better than the all slide and no swing 
style which Oxford showed last summer, and the Cam¬ 
bridge view of the question is after all a safe one. The 
recovery of hands from the chest is moderate; not so elastic 
as it might be, but taken all round the crew is as strong in 
material as that of last year. 
Oxford, so far as material goes, are better than they were 
last year, but are not up to the promise that their trial 
eights gave. They also use their bodies better, swing 
longer and further back, and slide better than last year. 
There is a certain amount of body-work done throughout 
the boat, in addition to the slide. The crew is enormously 
weighted; a 12-stone 4-pound bow is a novelty, and one 
which we do not admire. Stroke is a comparatively untried 
man, and is the lightest in the boat. He has two strong 
men immediately behind him, but both of these slide too 
soon, and so do not take up his slide as well as could be 
wished. He does not go far enough back, but is anyhow 
longer than his predecessor of last year. Cambridge, 
though good in style, have two untrained men in the boat. 
Oxford, though rough, are fairly strong, and they have 
made such strides during the past month that it is on the 
cards that they may turn out something really good if they 
go on in the same way. The names and weights at present 
are: 
CAMBRIDGE. 
st. lbs. 
1. Hibbert (Lady Margaret).11 1 
2. Armytage (Jesus).11 4 
3. Peabody (First Trinity). 11 12 
4. Aylmer (First Trinity).12 13 
5. Lecky-Browne (Jesus).12 4 
6 . Reed (First Trinity)..12 7 
7. Close (First Trinity).. 11 3 
8 . Rhodes (Jesus)..’.11 9 
Candy, (Caius,) cox. 
OXFORD. 
1 . Stayner (St. John’s).12 4 
2. Sinclair (Oriel).11 7 
8 . Farrar (Brasenose).12 2 
4. Harding (Merton).11 7 
5. Williams (Lincoln). 12 12 
6 . Nicholson (Magdalen).....12 3 
7. Keable (Wadham).•.12 1 
8 . Courteney (Pembroke).11 0 
Smith, (University,) cox. 
—It will be seen that the average weight of the Oxford 
crew is about 173 pounds; that of their opponents 163 
pounds. Both crews, however, are working hard, and the 
race will be an unusually good one. 
^dtiannl §§d$timeM. 
i[£ir° Will our University correspondents kindly send us their most recent 
catalogues . 
RULES OF* CRICKET. 
O NE peculiarity of the Marylebone code of cricket laws 
is the odd way in which they are jumbled together, with¬ 
out any consistent system of arrangement. The fact is the 
rules are but little better arranged than they were for the pe¬ 
riod when a set of rules for school cricket were hastily put to¬ 
gether. That such a code should so long have ruled a game 
which has arrived at the point of extended popularity crick¬ 
et has, is surprising; but the wonder is the greater when the 
fact is considered that the existing code is the revised work 
of a party of such cultured gentlemen as compose the com¬ 
mittee of the Marylebone Club, of London. Truly custom 
is a great tyrant in England and it rules with despotic sway. 
Our last article on the rules of cricket had special refer¬ 
ence to the laws governing the delivery of the ball, and the 
last section of the rules commented upon was that known as 
“law No. 10.” We now continue the subject, and present 
section 11 of the code as the next point for comment. It is 
as follows: 
11. He (the bowler) may require the striker at the wicket 
from which he is bowling to stand on that side of it which 
he may direct. 
This rule refers to the power the bowler has of requir¬ 
ing the batsman to stand so as not to interfere with his, (the 
bowler’s,) movements in delivering the ball, and in this re¬ 
spect the bowler has arbitrary powder, as it is nothing but 
right that he should have a clear path for his movements in 
delivery. Next comes the reference to wide bowling, and 
here we have a very badly worded- section, and one which 
does not cover the whole point of the play. The rule is as 
follows: 
12. If the bowler shall toss the ball over the striker’s head, 
or bowl it so wide that in the opinion of the umpire it shall 
not be fairly within the reach of the batsman,he shall adjudge 
one run to the party receiving the innings, either with or 
without an appeal, which shall be put down to the score of 
wide balls; such ball shall not be reckoned as one of the 
four balls; but if the batsman shall by any means bring 
himself within the reach of the ball, a run shall not be ad¬ 
judged. 
This rule as worded fails to cover certain important points. 
For instance, it fails to define whether the ball is wide that 
simply passes over the batsman’s head, while he stoops to 
avoid a high ball hitting him, or whether it is wide only 
when it goes over his head while standing upright. Again, 
in calling a wide no provision is made for the point of play 
when a ball called wide by the umpire is hit by the bats¬ 
man. The real definition of ilie rule as governed by cus¬ 
tom is as follows: The ball is only wide when bowled over 
the batsman’s head, when it goes over his head out of fair 
reach of the bat, as the batsman can readily allow a high 
pitched ball which goes over his head and yet not out of 
the reach of his bat, to strike his bat and glide off to “leg” in 
such a way as to secure a short run by it, and in such case 
no wide ought to be called. The obectof the rule is simply 
to punish the bowler for delivering the ball out of the le¬ 
gitimate reach of the bat, and therefore it is left to the um¬ 
pire to judge whether the line of the ball is covered by the 
bat; if it is no wide is called. Thus, in the case of the bats¬ 
man who stands well in his ground and never steps out in 
endeavoring to reach a ball bowled off the wicket, the um¬ 
pire is justified in calling a wide on a ball nearer the wicket 
than on one sent in off the wicket to a tall batsman who is 
free in his hitting and apt to reach well out in “cutting to 
the off.” In reference to the hitting of a ball which the 
umpire has called wide, there is no questioning the fact 
that such a ball should be decided a fair hit, and the decis¬ 
ion of wide reversed. But no such mistake would ever be 
made if the umpire would refrain from calling wide until 
the ball has passed the wicket, and this the rule should re¬ 
quire him to do. No matter how wide of the wicket the 
ball may be delivered, if the batsman choose to step out to 
hit it, and either does so or covers the line of the ball with 
his'bat, no wide can legitimately be called. A mistake of 
this kind was made by the late Mr. Sharp, when acting as 
umpire in one of the international matches in Philadelphia, 
in 1858. He called wide ball on a ball which the batsman 
hit, and the ball was caught on the fly. The umpire ought 
to have reversed his decision, and given the batsman out, 
for his decision was erroneous, as the ball was not bowled 
wide in the meaning of the rules, as the fact of its being liit 
proved, the umpire being too hasty in deciding it wide before 
it had passed the wicket. In this case the English cricket¬ 
ers decided that the umpire’s decision ended the matter; 
in this they erred according to the wording of their own 
rule. The spirit of the rule is that every ball is wide if 
bowled out of the legitimate reach of the bat, and that 
legitimate reach varies with the style of play of the bats¬ 
man, and whether he is tall or short, or in the habit of 
standing close in his ground or not. Of course, a correctly 
worded rule should cover all these points, which the rule in 
question does not. 
—The Peninsular Cricket Club of Detroit, held their an¬ 
nual meeting on March 9th. The club financially is evi¬ 
dently in a satisfactory condition. They played seven 
matches last year, four of which were won and three lost 
by the Club. The following were elected officers for the 
year:— 
President, R. B Ridgely; Yice President, Fred. Dam- 
ford; Treasurer, J. W. Waterman; Secretary, A. Borrow- 
man; Committee of Arrangements, Underwood Armstrong, 
Frank Irvine, Charles B. Calvert, W. F. Kelso, Frank 
Gidday. 
—The New York Athletic Club held their annual meet¬ 
ing last week at their rooms, Nos. 4 and 6 East Twenty- 
eighth street, when the following officers were elected for 
the ensuing year:—President, D. FI. Knowlton; Yice Pres¬ 
ident, Richard C. Fellows; Secretary, William E. Sinclair; 
Treasurer, M. Elliott Burris; Captain, H. E. Buermeyer; 
First Lieutenant, R. William Rathbone; Second Lieuten¬ 
ant, Waldo Sprague; Trustees, J. N. Miller, George Moore 
Smith, W. K. Collins; Delegates to Harlem Rowing Asso¬ 
ciation, H. G. Meeker, P. A. Curtis, N. E. Buermeyer; 
Delegates to Athletic Convention, N. G. Meeker, M. Elliott 
Burris. 
Base Bald in England,— The subject of American 
base ball has suddenly become as interesting a topic among 
the class of English sportsmen who favor field games as 
cricket was to us during the advent of the English cricket¬ 
ers in America in 1858. The mission of the American 
agent of the base ball tourists has been a decided success, 
and, from the comments of the English sporting papers, 
it is very evident that the representatives of our national 
game will meet with a hearty reception next August. The 
Land and Water , in reference to the visit, says:— 
“It is now almost certain that the contemplated visit of 
a party of base ball players from America will be an ac 
complished fact. Mr. A. G. Spalding, their representative 
now in London, has received such flattering assurances of 
success here from well qualified persons that we may con¬ 
fidently look forward to the appearance of the Americans 
at the end of July next. We understand that in all prob¬ 
ability Meade andNewhall, two good bowlers—and perhaps 
the best in the United States—will accompany the excur¬ 
sion, so that we may count on an excellent show of cricket 
as well as at their own national game. The Marleybone 
Club has, as usual, been foremost to encourage and assist 
the project, for it has, through its secretary, offered the free 
use of its ground for three days to the strangers on their 
arrival. Moreover, our English Amateurs were so hospi¬ 
tably entertained last year, during their stay in America, 
that it becomes us to give their entertainers a hearty and 
warm reception on the occasion of this return visit.” 
On the 27th of February last a game of base ball was 
played at Kensington Oval between nines respectively cap¬ 
tained by Mr. Spalding, of the Boston Club, and Mr. Chas. 
Alc.ott, of the London Sportsman , the latter of whom made 
his debut as a base ball pitcher on the occasion. He was 
assisted by Mr. Briggs, of the Beacon Club, of Boston, 
who ably acted as catcher, and, being well supported in the 
field, Mr. Alcock’s side came in the victors by the following 
score:— 
Spalding’s side—1 10 10 2—5. 
Alcock’s side—2 2 1 4 0 8—17. 
Mr. Spalding visited Paris before he left, and inoculated 
the Parisians with the base ball fever. 
—By the feport of the proceedings of the Professional As¬ 
sociation Convention held in Boston, it will be seen that 
the ten men rule though excluded from championship con¬ 
tests is to be the rule for all exhibition games played by 
the professional clubs. In fact they are dgjiarred playing 
any “exhibition,” game under the regular rule of play 
until they have played their championship series to a close. 
The first series of these games therefore under the ten men 
rule will be played the same week, in April, when the Bos¬ 
ton Club will make an exhibition tour prior to their com¬ 
mencing the championship series. As at the Amateur 
Convention in New York last December, some of the dele¬ 
gates declared that the basis of their opposition to the ten 
men rule was the fact that the Professional Convention 
would adopt it, and that they wanted something different 
to the game that class played, by the same course of rea¬ 
soning the Amateurs should adopt the new game them¬ 
selves. Under their proposed rule of allowing but a square 
pitch in delivery, they well want ten men in the field to 
keep down the large scores that will be made against a 
simple pitch of the ball to the bat. 
—A match game of billiards was played at New Orleans, 
March 14, between A. P. Rudolphe and George T. Slosson. 
Rudolphe won by a score of 400 to 227. His average was 
31 and his best run 81. Slosson made a run of 106. 
Rudolphe announces his readiness to play any man in 
America at 400, 500 or 600 points, French carrom, for any 
amount, from $ 1,000 to $ 5,000 a side. 
—The Billiard Tournament at Bumstead Hall, Boston, 
terminated on Friday last. The players were Gamier, C. 
Dion, J. Dion, Ubassy, and Daly. The following table 
shows the result of the ten regular games of the tourna¬ 
ment :— 
Gamier. 
Games 
Won. 
Games 
Lost. 
Best 
Runs. 
General 
Average. Average. 
.. .3 
1 
78 
7.48 
5 i 
C. Dion. 
.. .8 
1 
77 
6 
51-6 
J. Dion. 
.. .2 
2 
45 
5.80 
4* 
Ubassv.. 
. ..1 
3 
65 
7.11 
5 1-5 
Daly/... 
. ..1 
3 
43 
5.89 
4 1-7. 
This placed the first prize 
between 
Gamier and Cyrille 
Dion. The third prize belonged to Joseph Dion, and the 
fourth lay between Ubassy and Daly. 
The tie between Daly and Ubassy for the-fourth and fifth 
prizes was played on Friday evening last, and resulted in 
Ubassy winning, making the 400 points to Daly’s 324. 
Cyrille Dion and Gamier settled their tie, and the last game 
of the Tournament Mr. Allen umpired for Dion, Mr. Gal¬ 
lagher for Farmer, and Mr. Pulsifer was referee. Gamier 
at once took the -lead with a run of 18, and soon after this 
he piled up 40, which, followed by 22 and 19, carried him 
round his first corner, with Dion at only 28. Dion was 
playing very poorly, and this continued to do to the end of 
the game, his runs, with the exception of a 35 and a 41, 
being unworthy of mention. Gamier won on the sixty- 
seventh innings, making the necessary 400 points to Dion’s 
241. The final result of this well managed Billiard Tourn¬ 
ament is as follows:— 
Gamier besides making the largest single run, the best 
single game average, and the best average of the Tourna¬ 
ment, takes the first prize $600, and the gold badge. C. 
Dion the second, $400; Joseph Dion the third, $100; Ubassy 
the fourth, $250, and Daly the fifth, $150. 
Sew mn. 
The American Sportsman. By Elisha J. Lewis, M. D. 
With, illustrations. Third edition. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott 
& Co. 
It may be safely said of this excellent book, the work of a thorough 
sportsman and naturalist, that, like good wine, it simply improves with 
age. Familiar as the “American Sportsman” may be to many of our 
readers, who some eighteen years ago first turned over its leaves 
for information, it is pleasant to see that our youngsters, those inclined 
to handle the old muzzle-loader which once belonged to their sires, still 
look up to Dr. Lewis’ book for not only amusement, but instruction. 
Books of this character, so excellent in style, so thorough in their ac¬ 
quaintance with the topics they treat about, are always fresh. The arms 
may have been revolutionized, the localities may be less thronged by the 
birds, the grounds where Dr. Lewis and the reviewer might have had a 
pleasant day’s shooting some fifteen years ago, may now be covered 
over with bricks and mortar, but the habits of the birds, their varieties 
remain forever the same. The most flattering compliment that can be 
paid to the ‘ American Sportsman” is to state that it is now in its third 
edition, for no similar American book treating of the game birds and 
wild fowls of America, or the training of dogs, has ever been so incieas- 
ingly popular or more frequently quoted as authority. It belongs, per¬ 
haps, not only to the grace with which this volume is written, apart from 
the varied character of its contents and its reliability, but from the fact 
of an inherent veneration all true sportsmen have for books which treat 
of the topics so dear to them, that a compilation like the “American 
Sportsman” never does grow old. We may have, in time to come, other 
books given to ns on this same inexhaustible subject, for there is a 
change in all mundane matters, and perhaps in twenty years to come 
the breech-loader of to-day maybe as antiquated as is the muzzle loader; 
but Dr. Lewis’ “American Sportsman” must always remain as the found¬ 
ation on which other works will have to be built, and to its worthy author 
and to Philadelphia must be accredited the praise that the volume under 
review was the first thorough book of the character ever produced in the 
United States, not even excepting Frank Forrester’s “Field Sports.” 
Thr Heroism of Mary Dustin, and the Indian Wars 
of New England. By Robert B. Covesly. Boston; B. B. Russell. 
This, from what we learn from the advanced sheets, will be a most in¬ 
teresting and vigorous narration of the heroism of Mary Dustin, who was 
taken prisoner by the Indians, with her infant one year old, and Mary 
Neff her nurse. This event occured on the fifteenth of March, 1698 at 
Haverhill, Mass. Mrs. Dustin was taken from her bed and compelled to 
follow her captors, who, tired of the child as an incumbrance, killed it 
and left it on their trail. The party proceeded up the Merrimack River 
with the mother and nurse, and encamped upon a picturesque island, 
which is now known as Dustin’s Island. Here they landed and built a 
fire and sought a temporary rest, previous to proceeding to the Indian 
settlement. Well knowing the wretched fate reserved for her, Mrs. Dus¬ 
tin resolved to escape from her enemies, and imparted her plan to her 
nurse and a lad named Leonardson, a previous capture When the In¬ 
dians, worn out with their orgies, lay in profound slumber, this intrepid 
woman, with the aid of Mary Neff and Leonardson, actually killed ten of 
the savages and made their escape in the canoe of the Indians and ar¬ 
rived in safety at the settlements. In commemoration of this event the 
Dustin monument is to be dedicated on the coming 17th of June, with 
appropriaie ceremonies. 
In the forthcoming book a full account of this early and thrilling his¬ 
tory will be found. 
--- 
Microscopic Objects. The preparation and mounting of 
Microscopic Objects. By Thomas Baires. 12mo. Cloth, $1 25. N. 
Y.: G-. P. Putnam’s Sons. 
