between times to watch the amazing curves. He heard pleasurably the chorus of "Ahs!" and "Ohs!" and "Gees!" which followed each delivery. Then suddenly he was in the box on the great, clean diamond, with the eyes of hundreds of boys fastened prayerfully on him, and the orange-and-black stripes of a Princeton 'varsity man facing him at the plate. To beat the Princeton 'varsity—what a goal! It He saw each striped champion come up gracefully and retire crestfallen to the bench, even as the Dickinson batters had done. Innings after innings passed without a score; not a Princeton man reached for it. Then in the seventh an accident happened. The first Princeton man up deliberately stepped into the ball, and the umpire allowed him to take his base. was outrageous, but worse was to follow. On the attempt to steal second, Cap lined. a beautiful ball to the base, but no one covered it—a mistake in signals! And the runner kept on to third! Snorky settled down and struck out the next two batters. The Lawrenceville bleachers rose en masse and shrieked his praises. Then suddenly Kiefer, to catch the runner off third, snapped the ball to Waladoo a trifle, just a trifle wild; but the damage was done. 1 to 0 in favor of Princeton. Even the great Princeton captain, Barrett, said to him: such. another Princeton man reaching first. Nine innings without a hit-wonderful! -and yet to be beaten by a fluke. One out for Lawrenceville; two out. The third man up, Cap Kiefer himself, reached first on an error. Then Green to the bat! Snorky looked around, picked up his bat, and calmly strode to the plate. He had no fear; he knew what was going to happen. One ball, one strike, two strikes. He let the drop pass. What he wanted was a swift in-shoot. Two balls -too high. Three balls-wide of the plate. He was not to be tempted by any Two strikes and three balls; now he must get what he wanted. He cast one glance at the bleachers, alive with the frantic red-and-black flags; he heard his comrades calling, beseeching, imploring. Then his eye settled on the far green stretch between right and center field and the brown masses of Memorial, where no ball before had ever reached. A home run would drive in Kiefer and win the game! The chance had come. The Princeton pitcher slowly began to wind up for the delivery, Snorky settled into the box, caught his bat with the grip of desperation, gathered together all his sinews, and "GREEN!"called the sharp, jeering voice of Lucius Cassius Hopkins. Snorky sprang to his feet in fright, "Hard luck, Green! Blamed hard clutching at his book. The great home luck!" But Snorky was n't beaten yet. The eighth and ninth innings passed without "HE SAW HIMSELF PITCHING WONDERFUL CURVES" run died in the air. "Translate." Snorky gazed helplessly at the page, seeking the place. He heard the muffled voice of "Lugs" Mashon behind him whisper : "The advance, the advance, you chump!" But to find the place under the hawk eyes of the Roman was an impossibility. He stared at the page in a well-simulated attempt, then shook his head, and sat down. "A very creditable attempt, Green," said the master, now with a gentle voice. "De Soto?-Nothing from De Soto? Dear, dear! We'll have to try Macnooder then. What? Studied the wrong lesson? How sad! Mistakes will happen. Don't want to try that, either? No feeling of confidence to-day; no feeling of confidence." He began to call them by rows. "Davis, Dark, Denton, Dibble -nothing in the D's. Farr, Francis, Frey, Frick-nothing from the F's; nothing from the D. F's. Very strange! very strange! Little spring fever-yes? Too bad! too bad! Lesson too long? Yes? Too long to get any of it? Dear! dear! Every one studied the review, I see. Excellent moral idea, conscientious; would n't go on until you have mastered yesterday's lesson. Well, well, so we 'll have a beau-tiful recitation in the review. So we all know the review-yes?" How absurd it was to be flunking under the Roman! Next year he would show them. He would rise early in the morning and study hours before breakfast; he would master everything, absorb everything-declensions and conjugations, Greek, Roman, and medieval civilization; he would frolic in equations and toy with logarithms; his translation would be the wonder of the faculty. He would crush Red Dog and Bogworthy; he would be valedictorian of his class. They would speak of him as a phenomenon, as a prodigy, like Pascal-was it Pascal? What a tribute the head master would pay him at commencement! There on "THEY MARCHED TO THE STATION, AND, the stage before all the people, the fathers and mothers and sisters, before the Red Dog, and Ginger Pop Rooker, and Tug Moffat, and all the rest, sitting open mouthed while he, Snorky Green, the crack pitcher and valedictorian of his class, a scholar such as Lawrenceville had never known "Green, Gay, and Hammond go to the board. Take your books." Snorky went hastily and clumsily, waiting as a gambler waits for his chance. "Gay, decline hic, haec, hoc; Green, write out the gerundive forms of all the verbs in the first paragraph top of page 163." Snorky gazed helplessly at the chronicles of Æneas, and then blankly at the inexorable blackboard, where so many gerundives had been inscribed. Then he wrote his name in firm, neat letters at the top: "Roger Ballington Green." Then he erased it, and wrote it again dashingly-the signature of a remarkable man. Satisfied, he drew a strong line under it, with two short crosses and a dot or two, and returned to his seat. ONCE more in the abode of dreams he was transported to college, president of his class, the idol of his mates, the marvel of the faculty. He hesitated on the border-line of a great football victory, where, single-handed, bruised, and suffering, he would win the game for his college, and then he found what he sought. War had been declared swiftly and treacherously by the German Empire. The whole country was rising to the President's call to arms. A great meeting of the University was held, and he spoke with a sudden revelation of a power for oratory he had never before suspected. That very afternoon a company was formed under his leadership. Twentyfour hours later they marched to the station, and, amid a whirlwind of cheers and godspeeds, embarked for the front. During the night, while others slept, he pored over books of tactics; he studied the campaigns of Cæsar, Napoleon, Grant, and Moltke. In the first disastrous year of the war, when the American army was beaten back at every point and an invading force of Germans was penetrating from the coast in three sections, he rose to the command of his regiment, "That is the plan," he said calmly, with the authority of a master mind; "it means the safety of a hundred thousand, and if a junction can be made with the . Army of the Center, the Germans can be stopped and driven back at so-and-so. But this means the death of five thousand men. There is only one man who has the right to die so-the man who proposes it. Give me five regiments, and I will hold the enemy for thirty-six hours." He threw his regiments boldly into the enemy's line of march, and by a sudden. rush carried the spur that dominated the valley. The German army, surprised and threatened in its most vulnerable spot, forced to abandon the pursuit, turned to crush the handful of heroes. live in that hurricane of lead. He went down the line, calling each man by name, rousing them, like a prophet inspired. The fury of sacrifice seized them. They fought on, parched and bleeding, while the sun rose above them and slowly fell. A thousand lives; half that, and half that again. Five o'clock, and still two hours to go. He looked about him. Only a few hundreds remained to meet the next charge. Red Dog and Ginger Pop were cold in death, Hickey was dying. Of all his school friends, only Dibble remained, staggering at his side. And then the great masses of the enemy swept over them like an avalanche, and he fell unconscious but happy with the vision of martyrdom shining above him. All day long the desperate battalions flung themselves in vain against the little band. All day long he walked with drawn sword up and down the thinning ranks, stiffening their courage. Red Dog and Ginger Pop called to him, imploring him not to expose himself-Red Dog and Ginger Pop, whose idol he now was; yes, and Hickey's and Dibble's, too. But carelessly, defiantly, he stood in full view, his clothes pierced and his head bared. Then came the night-the long, fatiguing night, without an instant's cessation. The carnage was frightful. Half of the force gone, and twelve hours more to hold out! That was his promise. And the sickening dawn, with the shrouded clouds and the Red Dog, of all the world! Red Dog, expectant vultures came stealing out of whom he had just cheered into a hero's the east. Until night came again they death. Snorky, thus rudely brought to must cling to the spur-top and manage to earth, decided to resuscitate himself and RED DOG, on his way back to his seat, knocked against him, saying angrily: "Oh, you clumsy!" read the papers, with their big pagebroad scare-heads of the fight on the spur. This accomplished, he decided to end the war. The President, driven by public clamor, put him in command of the Army of the South. In three weeks, by a series of rapid Napoleonic marches, he flung the enemy into morasses and wilderness, cut their line of communication, and starved them into surrender; then flinging his army north, he effected a junction with the Army of the Center, sending a laconic message to the President: "I am here. Give me command, and I will feed the sea with the remnants of Germany's glory." Official Washington, intriguing and jealous, cried out for a courtmartial; but the voice. of the people, echoing from coast to coast, gave him his wish. In one month he swept the middle coast bare of resistance, fought three enormous battles, and annihilated the armies of the invaders, ending the war. What a triumph was his! That wonderful entry into Washington, with the frenzied roars of multitudes that greeted him, as he rode simply the development of science, the uniting into one system of all the warring branches of education, the amalgamation of Canada and Mexico into the United States, the development of an immense merchant fleet, the consolidation of all laws into one national code, the establishment of free concerts and theaters for the people. Then suddenly there fell a terrible blow: the hand of a maniac struck him down as he passed through the multitudes who loved him. He was carried unconscious to the nearest house, the greatest physicians flocked to him, striving in vain to fight off the inevitable end. He saw the street filled with tan-bark and the faces of the grief-stricken multitude, with Hickey and Red Dog and Ginger Pop sobbing on the steps and refusing to leave all that fateful night, while bulletins of the final struggle were continually sent to every part of the globe. And then he died. He heard the muffled peal of bells, and the sobs that went up from every home in the land; he saw the houses being decked with crape, and the people, with aching hearts, trooping into the churches: for he, the President, the beloved, the great military genius, the wisest of human rulers, was dead-dead. "NOMINATED BY ACCLAMATION" and modestly, but greatly, down the Avenue at the head of his old regiment, in their worn and ragged uniforms, with the flag shot to shreds proudly carried by Red Dog and Dibble; and in the crowd he saw again the tear-stained faces of the Roman and the head-master, and all his old comrades, who waved their handkerchiefs to him amid the frantic thousands. At this point Snorky's emotion overmastered him. A lump was in his throat. He controlled himself with difficulty and dignity. He went over the quiet, stately years until a grateful nation carried him in triumph into the Presidential chair, nominated by acclamation and without opposition! He saw the wonderful years of his ascendency, the wrongs righted, peace and concord returning to all classes, SUDDENLY a titter, a horrible, mocking laugh broke through the stately dignity of the universal grief. Snorky, with tears trembling in his eyes, suddenly brought back to reality, looked up to see Lucius Cassius Hopkins standing over him with a mocking smile. From their desks Red Dog and Ginger Pop were making faces at him, roaring at his discomfiture. "So Green is dreaming again! Dear, dear! Dreaming again!" said the deliberate voice. "Dreaming of chocolate éclairs and the jigger-shop, eh, Green?" THE CONCEALING COLORATION OF ANIMALS NEW LIGHT ON AN OLD SUBJECT (AN ESSAY ON THE QUESTION OF HOW, AND TO WHAT EXTENT,-NOT WHY-ANIMALS ARE CONCEALED BY THEIR COLORS) SINCE BY GERALD H. THAYER WITH PICTURES FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND PAINTINGS INCE the days of Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of the great evolutionist, much has been thought and written about the wonderful colors and patterns worn by animals. The phrases, "protective coloration," "adaptation to environment," "protective mimicry," "protective resemblance," "warning colors," "signal colors," etc., are familiar to every one who has read books on natural history. But few people yet know that the greater part of this elaborate fabric of theories has lately been overthrown by an artist and proved to be misconceptions. Slow as men have been in recognizing it, the clues to the subject lay wholly without the scope of ordinary zoological observation and reasoning, and wholly within the scope of artistic observation. For the artist is the only true specialist in the matter of visual appearances, per se,-the question of how things look. As might, indeed, have been expected, the coloration of animals, in its effects, and particularly 1 Mr. A. H. Thayer's first articles on this subject were published in the American journal of ornithology, "The Auk," in 1896. The two papers, entitled The Law Which Underlies Protective Coloration," and "Further Remarks on the Law Which Underlies Protective Coloration," respectively, were republished together by the Smithsonian Institution in its year-book for 1897. A summary of these articles, with an introduction by Professor Poulton of Oxford, was published in the English magazine, "Nature," for April 24, LXXVI-25 in its power of making the animals inconspicuous, or well-nigh invisible, involves certain profound and subtle prin-. ciples of light and shade and optical illusion, matters which belong to the artist's stock in trade, but with which the physical scientist has little or no concern. Hence it is not surprising that zoologists should all have ignored these underlying principles of animals' coloration, nor that these should finally have been discovered by an artist keenly interested in natural history. Two main results have been reached by the investigations of this artist, Mr. Abbott H. Thayer. First, the revelation of the great principle of counteracted light and shade, with its corollary laws, by which almost alone the long recognized "protective coloration" of animals is achieved ;1 and second, the discovery that most of the colorations which have always been called "conspicuous," are purely and potently concealing, with the revelation of the principles under1902. Mr. Thayer has also shown models illustrating his discovery at various meetings of naturalists in America and Europe, and has given like apparatus as permanent exhibits to the museums of South Kensington, Oxford, and Cambridge in England, and the Royal Zoölogical Museum in Florence, Italy. These models have also been copied by other continental museums; but in the United States there is as yet no such established exhibit, except in the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute. 249 |