The public square at Marshalltown, the land for which had been donated, by my father, struck me as being an ideal place to play ball in.

There were too many trees growing there, however, to make it available for the purpose.

I had made up my mind to turn it into a ball ground in spite of this, and shouldering an ax one fine morning I started in.
How long it took me to accomplish the purpose I had in view I have forgotten, but I know that I succeeded finely in getting the timber all out of the way.

It was hard work, but you see the base-ball fever was on me and that treeless park for many a long day after was a spot hat I took great pride in.
At the present time it is shaded by stately elms, while, almost in the center of its velvet lawn, flanked by cannon, stands a handsome stone courthouse that is the pride of Marshall County.
Then it was ankle deep in meadow grass and surrounded by a low picket fence over which the ball was often batted, both by members of the home team and by their visitors from abroad.
Many a broken window in Main Street the Anson family were responsible for in those days, but as all the owners of stores on that thoroughfare in the immediate vicinity of the grounds were base-ball enthusiasts, broken windows counted for but little so long as Marshalltown carried off the honors..