ge was spoiled by the frames he was forced to roll on
the poorer alleys, where all his cunning could not insure a safe
passage of his slow delivery on their billowy surfaces. Field's
disgust over the result of this game lasted all summer, and Hawkins
was never permitted to forget the part he played in the defeat of "the
only Bowling King."

[Illustration: A BOWLING CHALLENGE FROM EUGENE FIELD.

Who is this graceful, agile king
In proud but modest garb revealed?
He is the only Bowling King,
And loud and long the people sing
The prowess of Old Field.

How slender yet how lithe is he
And when unto the fray he glides
So awful is his majesty
That Nompy fears his wrath to be
And straightway runs and hides.

May 4th, 1886.]

During the fall of 1886 I went to New Brunswick on my annual vacation,
and Field fairly out-did himself in keeping me informed of how "matters
and things" moved along at the office while I was gone. It pleased his
sense of humor to dispatch a letter to me every evening invariably
addressed "For Sir Slosson Thomson." As these letters ran the gamut of
the subjects uppermost in Field's life at this time, I give them in the
order of their receipt:

I

CHICAGO, September 10th (Friday night), 1886.

Dear Nomp: Hawkins, Cowen and I went out to the base-ball game
together to-day and saw the champions down the Detroits to the tune
of 14 to 8. It was a great slugging match all around. Conway pitched
for Detroit and McCormick for Chicago. As I say, there was terrific
batting; on the part of Chicago, Gore made 1 base hit, Kelly 3,
Anson 2, Pfeffer 3, Williamson 1, Burns 1 and Ryan 2; on the part of
Detroit. Richardson made 2, Brouthers 4, Thompson 1 and Dunlap 1.
The Chicagos played in excellent form, yet batting seemed to be
_the_ feature of the game. McCormick struck out 6 men and gave
2 men bases on called balls; Conway struck out 4 men and gave 4
bases on balls. Brouthers made 3 home runs, but there happened to be
no one on bases at the time. There was such a large crowd of
spectators that Hawkins, Cowen and I had to sit on the roof of the
grand-stand. The sun cast its rays on us, and it was hot! [Here
followed a detailed pen-and-ink sketch of the scene.]

Whilst I was drawing this _chef d'oeuvre_ (and, by the way, it
took an hour to do it) Ballantyne came in. "That's mighty good,"
said he; "are you making it for the paper?"