estimonial, had I accepted it, would doubtless have been a great
success, as it was endorsed by all of the League magnates, by the press
generally, and by the lovers of base-ball all over the country, but to
me it appeared to be something too much in the nature of a charity gift
for me to accept, and I felt that I should stultify my manhood by so
doing, and that I should sacrifice that feeling of independence that I
had always possessed. To the many friends who urged it upon me at the
time I am still deeply grateful, but I feel that in declining to accept
it I did a wise thing, and I am confident that very many of them now
agree with me in that opinion.

Just at this stage of affairs my plans for the future were apparently a
matter of great interest to both press and public, and if the statements
made by the former were to be believed, I had more schemes on hand than
did a professional promoter, and every one of them with "millions in
it." I was to manage this club and manage that club; I was to play here
and play there, and, in fact, there was scarcely anything that I was not
going to do if the reporters' statements could be depended upon. One of
the most senseless of these was the starting of the A. C. Anson Base-Ball
College, the prospectus for which was typewritten in the sporting-goods
store of A. G. Spalding, and read as follows:

Location.--The school will be located on what is known as the A. G.
Spalding Tract, covering the blocks bounded by Lincoln, Robey, 143d and
144th streets, upon which Mr. A. G. Spalding will erect suitable
structures, fences, stands, dressing-rooms, etc. The site is in the
celebrated Calumet region and is easy of access.

Membership.--All accepted applicants for membership will be required to
submit to a thorough physical examination and go through a regular and
systematic course of training, calculated to prepare them for actual
participation in base-ball games. Upon entering they will subscribe to
the rules and regulations of the institution, which will demand
obedience and provide for discipline, abstemious habits, regular hours,
proper diet, in fact everything which tends to improve the health and
physical condition will be required. They must also pass an examination
made by Captain Anson as to their natural aptitude for becoming
proficient in the game of base-ball.

Instruction.--The course of instruction will consist of physical training
by the latest and most approved methods,