lished by another communication from Mr. Waldo M. Claflin, of Philadelphia, who had it from a personal and intimate friend of Mr. Lincoln himself, Mr. Alexander P. Brown, of Philadelphia.
The interest of former President Roosevelt in athletics, and his special predilection for Base Ball, are too recently and too generally known to require emphasis here. While President, Mr. Roosevelt, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of Army and Navy, used his official efforts upon frequent occasions to secure the playing of Base Ball at Army and Navy stations, by garrisons and crews, urging that it was the best available means of preserving the esprit de corps, and an excellent avenue for the administration of discipline. He has ever stood for Base Ball as the out-of-door game par excellence of the American people, and no wonder! For he is himself the very incarnation of all that goes to make a great ball player.
Quite recent dispatches by the Associated Press report President William H. Taft and Vice-President Sherman as frequent, highly-interested spectators at Base Ball games at the Capital. Here is one of them:
"Washington, April 19, 1910.—President Taft went to the Base Ball game to-day, saw Washington beaten, 8 to 4, by the Boston Americans, was initiated into the mysteries of the 'spit ball,' shared a five-cent bag of peanuts with Vice-President Sherman, wished hard for Washington to win and said sadly that he hoped he was not a hoodoo.
"President Taft arrived at the beginning of the second inning. The Vice-President, a dyed-in-the-wood fan, had gone directly to the grounds from the Senate chamber,
"Mr. Sherman kept a detailed score of the game, supplying the President with such statistical information as he asked for, and caused some one in the party to remark that if he ever lost the job of Vice-President, he might get a place on Ban Johnson's scoring staff.
