“Sure,” said “Smoky.” “Yer get that way knockin’ around. Say, I don’t believe them New York papers about ladies drinkin’ and havin’ monkeys dinin’ at the table with ’em. I guess they’re lies, like they print about people eatin’ out of silver plates, and ownin’ dogs that cost $100.”
“Certainly,” said Haywood. “What do you play on your team?”
“Ketcher. Ever play any?”
“Never in my life,” said Haywood. “I’ve never known any fellows except one or two of my cousins.”
“Jer like to learn? We’re goin’ to have a practice game before the match. Wanter come along? I’ll put yer in left-field, and yer won’t be long ketchin’ on.”
“I’d like it bully,” said Haywood. “I’ve always wanted to play baseball.”
The ladies’ maids of New York and the families of Western mine owners with social ambitions will remember well the sensation that was created by the report that the young multi-millionaire, Haywood Van Plushvelt, was playing ball with the village youths of Fishampton. It was conceded that the millennium of democracy had come. Reporters and photographers swarmed to the island. The papers printed half-page pictures of him as short-stop stopping a hot grounder. The Toadies’ Magazine got out a Bat and Ball number that covered the subject historically, beginning with the vampire bat and ending with the Patriarchs’ ball—illustrated with interior views of the Van Plushvelt country seat.
