"I'll sew it to-morrow, Joe. I've got to make a new collar now. Mabel
and I are going to the matinee, and I want to look my best."

"Oh, all right," agreed Joe easily. "There's no special hurry," and he
went on thumping the baseball into the hollow of the new glove.

"Well, Joe, is there anything new in the baseball situation?" asked Mr.
Matson of his son a little later. The inventor, whose eyesight had been
saved by the operation (to pay for which most of Joe's pennant money
went) was able to give part of his time to his business now.

"No, there's not much new, Dad," replied the young player. "I am still
waiting to hear definitely about St. Louis. I do hope I am drafted
there."

"It means quite an advance for you; doesn't it, Joe?"

"Indeed it does, Dad. There aren't many players who are taken out of a
small league, to a major one, at the close of their first season. I
suppose I ought to be proud."

"Well, I hope you are, Joe, in a proper way," said Mr. Matson. "Pride,
of the right sort, is very good. And I'm glad of your prospective
advance. I am sure it was brought about by hard work, and, after all,
that is the only thing that counts. And you did work hard, Joe."

"Yes, I suppose I did," admitted the young pitcher modestly, as he
thought of the times he pitched when his arm ached, and when his nerves
were all unstrung on account of the receipt of bad news. "But other
fellows worked hard, too," he went on. "You've _got_ to work hard in
baseball."

"Will it be any easier on the St. Louis team?" his father wanted to
know.

"No, it will be harder," replied Joe. "I might as well face that at
once."

And it was well that Joe had thus prepared himself in advance, for
before him, though he did not actually know it, were the hardest
struggles to which a young pitcher could be subjected.

"Yes, there'll be hard work," Joe went on, "but I don't mind. I like it.
And I'm not so foolish as to think that I'm going to go in, right off
the reel, and become the star pitcher of the team. I guess I'll have to
sit back, and warm the bench for quite a considerable time before I'm
called on to pull the game out of the fire."

"Well, that's all right, as long as you're there when the time comes,"
said his father. "Stick to it, Joe, now that you are in it. Your mother
didn't take much to baseball at first, but, the more I see of it, and
read of it, the more I realize that it's a great business, and a clean
sport. I'm glad yo