Field      878    Thompson    866
Hawkins    697    Cowen       818
——­               ——­
1575               1684

Only one of the three alleys was fit to roll on, and Field scored 231 and 223 in his turns upon it.  The modern experts may be interested in the following details of his high score: 

_______________________________________________________

____
|    |    |    |    |     |     |     |     |     |      |
|  \ |  \ |  \ |  X |   X |   X |   X |   \ |   \ |  X X |
| 18 | 37 | 57 | 87 | 117 | 144 | 164 | 182 | 202 | 231  |
___________________________________________________________|

It will be perceived that Field’s score contained six strikes and five spares, which was good rolling on a long and not too carefully planed alley.  His average was spoiled by the frames he was forced to roll on the poorer alleys, where all his cunning could not insure a safe passage of his slow delivery on their billowy surfaces.  Field’s disgust over the result of this game lasted all summer, and Hawkins was never permitted to forget the part he played in the defeat of “the only Bowling King.”

[Illustration:  A BOWLING CHALLENGE FROM EUGENE FIELD.

  Who is this graceful, agile king
    In proud but modest garb revealed? 
  He is the only Bowling King,
  And loud and long the people sing
    The prowess of Old Field.

  How slender yet how lithe is he
    And when unto the fray he glides
  So awful is his majesty
  That Nompy fears his wrath to be
    And straightway runs and hides.

  May 4th, 1886.]

During the fall of 1886 I went to New Brunswick on my annual vacation, and Field fairly out-did himself in keeping me informed of how “matters and things” moved along at the office while I was gone.  It pleased his sense of humor to dispatch a letter to me every evening invariably addressed “For Sir Slosson Thomson.”  As these letters ran the gamut of the subjects uppermost in Field’s life at this time, I give them in the order of their receipt: 

  I

  CHICAGO, September 10th (Friday night), 1886.

Dear Nomp:  Hawkins, Cowen and I went out to the base-ball game together to-day and saw the champions down the Detroits to the tune of 14 to 8.  It was a great slugging match all around.  Conway pitched for Detroit and McCormick for Chicago.  As I say, there was terrific batting; on the part of Chicago, Gore made 1 base hit, Kelly 3, Anson 2, Pfeffer 3, Williamson 1, Burns 1 and Ryan 2; on the part of Detroit.  Richardson made 2, Brouthers 4, Thompson 1 and Dunlap 1.  The Chicagos played in excellent form, yet batting seemed to be the feature of the game.  McCormick struck out 6 men and gave 2 men bases on called balls; Conway struck out 4 men and gave 4 bases on balls.  Brouthers made 3 home runs, but there happened to be no one on bases at the time.  There was such a large crowd of spectators that Hawkins, Cowen and I had to sit