Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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lO TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL Rl-XORU. make an individual effort, not resting until we place the dear old School where it should be, head and shoulders above all others : This is the wonl that year by year Wliile in her place ttie School is set, Kveryone of her sons mii t hear, AntI none thai hears it dare forget. This ihey all with a joyful mind Bear through life like a torch in flame And falling lling to the hosts behind — ' [ ' lay up I riay up I and play the game ! ' A TALK ON CRICKET. Mv l)i; R Hoys, — I have been asked to write an article for the Record on Cricket, or something having to do with the game, in Canada. Now, there is s »tiet iin,i; which has altogether too much to do with Cricket in this country, and I would like to say a word or two about it, for it is a fault which is very common among cricketers in Canada, and if it is not checked, it will, I fear, have a very bad effect upon the game ; but to write an article ' about it sounds a very serious matter, and I thought that if I put what I had to say in the shape of a letter to you it would have a better chance of being read. Now this fault (it might fitly be called a disease) about which I am going to .say a few words, may be described in one word — SLACKNESS. ' You all know what is meant when you hear it said that the fielding of a team is very slack, but this s ackiiess which I have in mind is a fault which is not only seen in fielding but in bowling and bat- ting as well, indeed it often is apparent before play begins at all. If one watches any cricket match and ob- serves the players closely, one can soon tell which of them are victims of this wretched disease, and I think it will help me to make my meaning plain, and will help you to see what the symptoms of slackness are, if we imagine that w-e are looking on at a match and discussing the game and the ulayers. I t us sup|)ose then, that it is a line Sat- urday in the middle o.f ' Crinity ' { ' erin, and that the Town is to play the .School on the School ground. I fancy I hear S ' )me one re- minding me that the Town Club is no match for the .School, but no matter, in my day the Town had soine very good players, and beat the School, I fancy, as often as we beat them. So, now that we have arranged the match and settled the weather, let us choose a com- fortablespot from which tosee the game. Here is the place, in the long grass and clover on the slope down from the football field and almost in a line behind the wickets so that we can not only watch the bowling well, but between the overs can look beyond the play- ing fields to the smiling farms and pretty woodland country, the iiills in the distance forming a beautiful background to the scene. This view from the playground comes back to me again and again as one of the most pleasant of my life; but I am quite sure I did not appreciate the scene when I was at School, and in the habit of seeing it every day, so that I can ' t expect you boys that are going to be spectators of this game with me to share in my enjoyment of it, but you can at least appreciate the comfortable spot I have chosen. So let us sit down and wait for the game to begin. The Town men are punctual for a wonder; the School captain has a few minutes ' chat with the captain of the Town eleven, and then we see them toss for the choice of innings. Ve are too far away to hear what is said, but we know, from our captain ' s dis- appointed face, that the Town has won, and presently we hear him call out, Come on, boys ; we take the field, but, he first num- bers off his men, to see if they are all there. There is evidently something wrong, and, on counting heads, we see that only eight of the School team are with him. Vhere are the two ? . youngster in our party says Slo- man and Lazihoy, late as usual ! ' I ' hat ' js usuaF s[)eaks whole libraries, and when one .says, What is the matter with those two fellows ? although he did not expect an answer to his question, I take the opportunity of answering ' ■ slackness and call attention to the fact that although not a ball has been bowled, and the players are nor yet in their places, we have discovered two boys on the School team against whose name we can write Slack — with a capital S.. for unpunctual- itv in cricket is only another word for ' ■ slackness in one of its many forms. The Ca|)tain is annoyed, and he has a right to be ; he sends two small boys after the delinquents, but as it is time for the g.ime to begin, he c.rn ' t wait any longer for them, and leads his other eight men to the field. The two first batsmen for the Town walk toscthcr towards lie wicket, and ju t as they

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vinit Collcoc School IRccorb. VOL I. T RINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL. PORT HOPE. APRIL 4TH. 1898. NO. 2 I|C triiiito ftollcfli; Srliool iljccorii. Editor. IN. Chiek: E. M. Watson, Esq Manac.ek AND Trbasurbr: W. H. Nightingale, Esy. Assistants; H. WoTiiERsi ' onN and F. W. H. Ridout. Secretary: Rev. G. H. Brougiiall Assistants: G. R. Hindes and C. E. Duggan. All communicatiuns on business, and all subscriptions should be addressed lo llie .Manager, who will also send the rates for a Ivcrlisins, on request. Letters and articles tor insertion should be addressed to the Editor, and must in every case be accompanied by the name of the writer, though not necessarily for publication. Annual Sl ' hsckiption , 50 cents. THE FIRST NUMBER. If one may judge by the kiml notices whicli have appeared in several of tile daily papers and the still kiiuler letters of Old Hoys and friends, the first number of tile RliCORD has been a success. Especially do we wish to tender our thanks to Kit of the Mail and Empire to the Editor of Chit-Chat in the Glol ' e, 10 the Editor of the Giit:lf li Herald and the Sporting Editor of the Hamilton Herald for their friendly and encoumgiiig words, as well as to the Editor of the Trinity Revi(7v whose notice was even warner than we could have hoped for. e are told that the Ricorh sujipliesa long- felt want. We hope so, and no efforts on our part shall be lacking to make it of interest to every one, past and present. Once more we ask Old Boys to send us any news of them- selves or of others, so that the pa[)er may ful- fil its name and be the ' I ' rinity College School Recorii. .■ l)0ve all things we wish that Old lioys should keep in touch and be kept in touch with the School, and the Rkcokd should be the means of doing this. We therefore appeal to all our Old I5oys to become sub.-.cribers, and we venture to say th.it they will find it well worth their while to do so. Of course it is not to be expected that a list of subscribers should spring u|) in a night as did the beanstalk of our young days, but we must confess to a slight feeling of disap- l ointment that our list at present is not larger. Doubtless it will grow during the Ivister holidays, for we are convinced that foigetfulness rather than disinclination is the cause. May we be permitted also to say a few words about the O. H. A. ? There are bare- ly 100 members on the roll ! How comes this ? There should be 500 at least. We cannot think that it is want of loyalty, but rather that the same reason may be given :i ' J.Mn, fmxel iilness. Hut in this case forget- fulness works a much greater harm and might almost receive another name, for it is seriously impairing the work and usefulness of the OH A. Ihere are some, we may say 75 Old Hoys, who are unfailing in their sub- scriptions, but where are the others? In their hearts they are doubtless just as loyal, but why hide their loyalty ? .Among other objections made to the O. H.A we have iieard one which has no foiin iation, that its funds, after expenses have b.-en paid, are handed over to the School authorities. No such thing ! as anyone who takes the trouble to read the Constitution and the Treasurer ' s report can easily see for himself. And while on this subject we should like to remove another false impression. T.C.S. has no endowment, nor does any individual or corporation make one cent out of the School. Any siirjihis left over, after running expenses have been paid, is devoted to pro- viding for the greater efficiency of the School or to a fund for an endowment. We are not asking for large subscriptions in money. Welcome though they always are, we feel that they are not to be compared in value with that loyally and living enthusiasm of her Okl Hoys which is the surest founda- tion of a School. Let us all, past and pre- sent, take lo heart Mr. Newbolt ' s insjiiring lines in his Vitai I mpada; and each of us

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TRINITY C()LL1:GK SCHOOL RHCORL). 1 1 get there we see Masters Sloinaii aiul l.a ihoy come round the end of the gym at full speed, as if to make up by extra exertion for their slackness. IJut they can ' t do that, and they hotli ar- rive on the field pufi ' ed and with scarcely enough breath to say awfully sorry, old man, to the Captain, who savs nothing, hut if looks mean anything, he will have some- what to say to them alter the game is over. Sloman is one of the bowlers, and the Captain generally commen- ces with him : now he has to consider whether it would not be advisable, untier the circumstances, to begin with someone else. However, he decides to try Sloman, but, in consequence of his having run himself out of breath, that bowler is decidedly loose, and a good many runs are scored off his first few overs, and the Captain soon takes him off. The bowler at the other end however, is in good form, and gets two or three wickets, but then the Town ' s two best batsmen get in together and lioth become pretty well set. Laziboy is fielding at cover, the batsman plays a ball straight towards him, calls for the run, and they make it easily. The Cap- tain signals Lazilioy to come closer, he does so, but on crossing at the end of the •jver he goes as far from the wicket as before, anJ the first tiall of the new over is plaved slowly towards him and another run is stolen by the batsman in just the same way. Now, 1-aziboy did not fumble the ball, and he threw it in straight enough, but all the same he gave the other side a run through sheer s ackiiess ; he should have known enough to watch the batsman and come closer after the first run was stolen, without being told, but to be told by his Captain, and then to liisre- gard the order was unpardonable. The Captain will have an extra score to settle with Laziboy when he has it out with him after the m.itcli. But, alas, laziboy is not the only slack man on the team. We n tice that Short-leg mi-ssed a catch because he was talking to the umpire when all his attention should have been given to the task of getting the batsmen out. Long-off too, several times let the batsmen g .■l one more off each drive than they de.ser - ed, eith ' -r tlirough being too slow in getting after the ball, or in returning it to the wickets; and he once lost the ojiportunity of running a man out, by returning the ball to the nearest wicket just because it was the nearest, al- though a glance would have shown him that there was no chance of running out the bats- man who had to make that end, while there was every chance of a run out if the ball had been thrown to the other wicket. .• nd so in watching the fielding we see at various times during the innings either field- ing that is distinctly bad in itself, or ojipor- tunities of good play lost through want of at- tention, want of thought, want of effort, or whatever other want it may be, all of which come under the general heading of sAwA- nss, for it is a hydra-headed monster and assumes many shajies. But I have said that Slackness is not merely a fault in fielding, but we see it in bowling and batting as well. We have seen that Sloman ' s bowling was pretty well knocked about, and he was soon taken off, and several changes are tried before he is put on again. Now, Sloman has a fair command of the ball, usually bowls a good length, and can get some work on, and any one with these cpialifications should make a very useful bowler, if he only uses his head. Hut poor Sloman doesn ' t. When he is jjut on again he liowl.s just the same kind of stuff, ball after ball, as he tlid before. Of course, he knows (or he wouM know if he thought about it) that batsmen don ' t often make mistakes on a good wicket when they are well set, if they know exactly what sort of ball is coming, and yet he doesn ' t try any de- vices to tempt the batsman to make a false stroke, or lay any traps to catch him. Now, this is all slackness, which in this connection means want of head, want of care, and want of thoroughness generally. But the best of batsmen will make mis- takes, as these two eventually do, and pay the penalty, and after the two good batsmen are got rid of, the rest of the Town wickets fall verv cheaply ; and when he gels at the tail ' Sloman improves his analysis, for good length and good pitch will get batsmen any day who are not first class. But the test of the really good bowler is to get rid of the best batsman, and Sloman can ' t claim to 1.,- .1 really good bowler until he uses his head more. rhe Town innings closes for 150, of which