which can sometimes be accomplished by muffing a fly-catch between the
bases. He caught without mask or gloves and was several times wounded by
the ball.

Let us retrace the steps of time and take a look at the old Delta on a
bright June evening, when the shadows of the elms are lengthening across
the grass. There are from fifty to a hundred students, and perhaps three
or four professors, watching the Harvard nine practise in preparation for
its match with the formidable Lowell nine of Boston. Who is that slender
youth at second base,--with the long nose and good-humored twinkle in his
eye,--who never allows a ball to pass by him? Will he ever become the
Dean of the Harvard Law School? And that tall, olive-complexioned fellow
in the outfield, six feet two in his ball-shoes,--who would suppose that
he is destined to go to Congress and serve his country as Minister to
Spain! There is another dark-eyed youth leaning against the fence and
watching the ball as it passes to and fro. Is he destined to become
Governor of Massachusetts? And that sturdy-looking first-baseman,--will
he enter the ministry and preach sermons in Appleton Chapel? These young
men all live quiet, sensible lives, and trouble themselves little
concerning class honors and secret societies. If they have a
characteristic in common it is that they always keep their mental balance
and never go to extremes; but neither they nor others have any suspicion
of their several destinies. Could they return and fill their former
places on the ground, how strangely they would feel! But the ground
itself is gone; their youth is gone, and the honors that have come to
them seem less important than the welfare of their families and kindred.

Misdemeanors, great and small, on the part of the students were more
common formerly than they have been in recent years, for the good reason
that the chances of detection were very much less. Some of the practical