Cricket 1914

S e p te m b e r , 1914. THE WORLD OF CRICKET. 443 J. H . M. G o r d o n , who has lately been in the em ploy of W hite- m ore Brothers, of R egina, and has made a nam e as a cricketer in th at city, was ordered b y cable on August 4 to rejoin his old regim ent, the 4th B a tt. Gordon H ighlanders, a t once. He was then representing Saskatchew an A in the interprovincial tourna­ m ent. t F ro m the McGill C.C. (Ottawa) fifteen have volunteered for active service. Am ong them are W . B . Burns (Worcestershire), C. F . Lane (an old Reptonian), A. D . Ince (from Barbados), and E . S. Cam eron, who has been showing fine form w ith the bat this year. Is Canada to sham e us ? W ith a population less than one- fifth of ours, th ey raised 100,000 more speedily than we did. And th ey are raising another 100,000. Before this is read some of our Canadian brothers m ay be in the fighting line. T h e splendid lo y a lty of the great dominions overseas to the M other Country has been testified abun dan tly in this crisis. W ill it endure if the feeling grows strong among these staunch colonials th at the youth of the homeland shirks its ordeal of fire ? A nd ye vaunted yo u r fathom less pow er, and y e flaunted yo u i iron pride, Ere— ye fawned on the Younger Nations for the men who could shoot and ride ! S o w rote K iplin g after the Boer W ar. W e learned some of the lessons of th at ; we did not learn all. I know men to whom the raising of the age lim it for enlistm ent to 35 w ill come as the best news th ey have had for m any a long day ; I know others who on ly w ait the call for those above 35 to step forward at once. B u t w e shall not be as valuable as we ought to be. W e shall have it all to learn, where we ought to have learned much of it already. N o vau n t w ill be upon our lips ; we shall go hum bly, b u t our hum ility w ill not be for the foe. H im we can face with high hearts, I am sure. B u t we hate ourselves and hum ble ourselves th at we failed to learn th at lesson. T h e blam e must not b e laid on our rulers. In the event the nation, not the n ation ’s chosen a t W estm inster, must bear it. Did w e require to be forced into the ranks before we would go ? There would be no need for conscription if each man did his duty. W i l l ye rise and dethrone your rulers ? (Because ye were idle both ? Pride by insolence chastened ? Indolence purged by sloth ?) D o not let us have it said again th at we asked our kinsmen overseas to fight our b attle for us ! L e t them share it w ith us. It is their b attle too. I t is the W ar of civilisation against bestial tyran n y. B u t let us show th at we are prepared to play our part. In the early days it seemed th at there could be no doubt as to this. N ow there is grave doubt ; too m any men appear deaf to the call. I w a s told yesterd ay th at a big proportion of men could do nothing to help because th ey are wage-earners ! I take it th ey are prepared to receive German wages in the event of the worst happening. B u t surely this is no common attitude ? W h a t was w ritten of Kruger years ago (“ The Old Issue ” ) is ten tim es truer of the blood-bespattered K aiser. H ow like you this for a picture of a Germ an-ridden England ? H e shall m ark our goings, question w hence we cam e, Set his guards about us, as in Freedom’s name. He shall take a tribute, toll of all our ware ; He shall change our gold for arms— arms we may not bear. He shall break his Judges if they cross his word ; He shall rule above the Law calling on the Lord. He shall peep and mutter ; and the night shall bring Watchers ’neath our window, lest we mock the King— Hate and all division ; hosts of hurrying spies; Money poured in secret, carrion breeding flies. Strangers of his council, hirelings of his pay, These shall deal our Justice : sell—deny—delay. We shall drink dishonour, we shall eat abuse For the Land we look to— for the Tongue we use. We shall take our station, dirt beneath his feet, While his hired captains jeer us in the street. N o t t h is ! Surely w e w ill not h ave this ! That which our best and our bravest have won for us, that will we keep ; Fields that our fathers have planted and watered no foeman shall reap ; Ours be our Empire for ever and ever, from deep unto deep ? Rise, Landsmen and seamen, English and free men, Ready for battle, whoever defies! D r . W . G. G r a c e w rites thus to the S p o rtsm a n of August 27 : “ Sir.— There are m any cricketers who are already doing their duty, b u t there are m any more who do not seem to realise that in all probability th ey w ill have to serve either at home or abroad before the war is brought to a conclusion. The fighting on the Continent is very severe, and w ill probably be prolonged. I think the tim e has arrived when the cou n ty cricket season should be closed, for it is not fittin g a t a tim e like the present th at able- bodied men should p lay d ay after d a y and pleasure-seekers look on. There are so m an y who are youn g and able, and yet are hanging back. I should like to see all first-class cricketers of suitable age, etc., set a good exam ple, and come to the help of their country w ithout d elay in its hour of need.— Y ou rs, etc., W . G . G r a c e .” N o more typ ical Englishm an than the G. O. M. of cricket lives to-day ; and surely his are words which will carry weight. T h at he is right no one can doubt, one thinks. The M .C.C. has decided to have no cricket a t L o rd ’s during Septem ber, and the practice ground a t headquarters is alread y occupied b y troops. From the O val th ey have passed out. An old Surrey idol of form er d ays— R obert A b el— told the w riter how he w atched their going, and there was no m istaking the fact th at the sight had thrilled him , though he had no great eloquence a t command to express his feelings. He. too, believes as W . G. does th at, great as cricket is, there are greater things, and th at the d ay has come when those things need the attention of the cou n try’s manhood. T h o s e of us who have alw ays loved the game say this through no slackening of our love for it. R ath er is it th a t w e love it too well to be able to bear reproaches levelled against it. N ot one of us b u t is grateful to the W ar Office for the kindly th ough t that prompted such care not to spoil the splendid tu rf a t Kennington. N ext year, let us hope, men who h ave done their share in the sterner w ork of the battlefield will be seen there again in the bloodless fray. B u t w e don ’t w an t men playing there who ought to be doing th at work. S in c e this was w ritten has come the news th at the Scarborough F estival is abandoned and th at the Surrey C.C.C. have given up their two rem aining m atches— v. Sussex a t Hove and Leicester­ shire a t the O val. T hus first-class cricket w ill autom atically end on Septem ber 2. T h is is as it should be, one thinks. There are argum ents on both sides, of course. To impeach as unpatriotic those who urge the carrying on of gam es as usual is unfair. B u t while the manhood of the coun try is needed elsewhere let football ground and cricket field lie untenanted, or serve the nation’s need in other wise ! I t m ay be asked w h y. feeling so strongly th at this is no time for cricket, we should issue another num ber at this juncture. T h e question is a fair one, and shall be answered honestly. If the issue of this number m eant the holding back of even one m an’s hand from the n ation ’s w ork, it would not be issued. He who w rites this is ready to do anyth in g th at he can do ; has offered his services ; hopes to be doing som ething useful before these words are read. B u t one m ust look beyond the W ar. The gam e w ill go on ; and it is to be hoped th at T h e W o r l d o f C r ic k e t w ill go on also. W e owe a d u ty to our subscribers. For over 30 years C r ic k e t m aintained the record of the game unbroken, and when C r ic k e t laid down the task this paper took it up. There m ust be no break now. H a d we deferred our next issue, as originally intended, till the season had run its fu ll course, the publication of the scores of all leading m atches would have been well nigh impossible. Some have had to be left over from this number to the n ext as it is. W e know how our subscribers— and especially those overseas— value the com plete record ; and for their sakes we hope to keep it com plete, if a trifle belated.