IN AUSTRALIA.

We played our first game at Melbourne on Saturday, December 22d, the
second day after our arrival from Sydney, and in the presence of one of
the largest crowds that ever assembled at the Melbourne Oval, the
handsomest of their kind in Australia. The surroundings were of the most
beautiful character and the day itself as perfect as any one could have
desired for base-ball purposes. The lawn in front of the Club House was
thronged with ladies in light attire, and the many-hued sunshades that
they carried gave to it the appearance of an animated flower garden. The
Club House balconies were crowded and even the roof had been pre-empted
by the ladies and their escorts as a coign of vantage from which to view
the game. The grand stand was filled to overflowing and the crowd that
overflowed from it encircled the field, extending from the grand stand
clear around to the Club House grounds. The scene was indeed an
inspiring one, and it is not to be wondered that a good exhibition of
the beauties of the game were given under such circumstances. The
base-running was of the most daring character, the fielding sharp on the
part of both teams, and the batting heavy. Baldwin and Crane were both
at their best and pitched in superb style, while the exhibition of
base-running that was given by some of the boys brought the onlookers
fairly to their feet and they cheered themselves hoarse in their
excitement.

Up to the seventh inning the score was a tie, but we managed to get a
man across the plate in the seventh inning, as a result of Burns'
three-bagger, and Baldwin' single, and another in the eighth, the result
of a single by Sullivan and a long right-field hit for three bases by
myself, and that I foolishly tried to make a home run on, being put out
at the plate by Brown's magnificent throw from the field. The game
finally resulted in a victory for Chicago by a score of 5 to 3, and
leaving the field we congratulated ourselves on the fact that both at
Sydney and Melbourne we had played first-class ball.

Supper parties and banquets were now becoming every-day occurrences with
us, and that night we were handsomely entertained by an English actor of
note, Mr. Charles Warner, who was at that time touring the colonies, the
place selected for the entertainment being the Maison Dore, the swell
restaurant of Melbourne. Here we spent a very pleasant evening until it
was again time to retire.

The next morning, in the big rea