Page:The international cricket match.djvu/11

This page has been validated.

DEDICATION.

To the President and Members of the St. George's Cricket Club.



Gentlemen:

The following Report of the Great International Match, recently played under your auspices, in the vicinity of the City of New York, is respectfully dedicated to you.

The countenance you bestowed upon the game, and the patronage you extended, characterized it as a very important event; never before equalled in interest by any other occurrence in our country, connected with athletic exercises.

You have put all American Cricketers under an obligation, for much benefit must accrue to us, from the recent visit of the "All England Eleven;"—they have shown what is to be attained by activity and practice. Now, have we not the same muscle, and the same nerve? Are we not of the same stock? All we need, then, is that landable ambition to excel in our out-door games, that characterizes our transatlantic friends.

Go on, then, gentlemen, to encourage a disposition to all out-door recreations in this country, but particularly the Game of Cricket; the only object I had in view in writing this report, is to foster and promote, as far as my humble ability will enable me to do so, such a disposition among the young men of the present day.

If I have succeeded no further, I can at all events

"Lay this flattering unction to my soul,"

that all, who have taken part in the recent game, will find