Being ball-proof, they never skipped out of the way, but stood still and took the result; when a Bessemer was at the bat and a ball hit him, it would bound a hundred and fifty yards sometimes.

And when a man was running, and threw himself on his stomach to slide to his base, it was like an iron-clad coming into port.

At first I appointed men of no rank to act as umpires, but I had to discontinue that.

These people were no easier to please than other nines.

The umpire's first decision was usually his last; they broke him in two with a bat, and his friends toted him home on a shutter.