Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 282, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1918 — FIRST THING FRENCH POILUS LEARN IN BASEBALL IS HOW TO CUSS POOR UMPIRE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FIRST THING FRENCH POILUS LEARN IN BASEBALL IS HOW TO CUSS POOR UMPIRE

lus learned of the great American game of baseball, after the French military authorities had officially ordered that they be instructed by Yankee soldier details, was to “cuss" the umpire. The Americans consider this a sign of distinct progress among their pupils and they have redoubled their efforts to drill into them the finer points of the game. And baseball has taken big with the French, and even now there is talk of an after-the-war “League National” with Paris, Marseilles, Lyons, Tours, Strassburg, Bordeaux and other French cities composing the circuit Sport Was Needed. About the time the “work or fight” law put a damper on the sport in the States the French military leaders who had seen the Americans playing in every place or square in most of the cities and villages of France, decided that it was a sport conducive to physique needed in military trainii j and they asked the American authorities for details to teach their men the game. W Practically every French barracks behind the lines was given a detail from the American commands. They procured the equipment and Issued guide books written in French for the soldiers. - The procedure of the instruction at one of the “casernes” may be considered typical of the hundreds of instruction camps inaugurated during the summer. . Instruction Begins. Early in August the detail of instructors first appeared on an impro-

vised diamond on the and went through rudimentary explanations with athletic instructors and men from 30 regiments as eager scholars. Three classes of more than fifty men each puzzled over intricate explanations for forty minutes each. The American detail appeared twice a week thereafter and with the aid of their guide books the poilus began to absorb such phrases as “out at first,” only it was “hors sur le premiere base.” At the end of three weeks’ practice the French soldiers learned many of the fine points of the game and were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the great American pastime. After the first lesson teams were organized and a series of games played, allowing the men to learn the game from experience and not from observation, plays being explained as the game progressed. ITISLI UvLTUn VIOVUIIIIIIUVM* As the soldiers spend but from three to six weeks at the headquarters for physical instruction, it was found necessary to discontinue the instruction September 18. On that day six teams representing the three regions from which the 30 regiments are drawn met in a three-game series. They were able to play an average of 3% Innings in the 40-min Ute period, which is not bad for beginnersAre they learning the game? Yes, swear the Yankee instructors, for in the last game one poilu protested with all the vigor of two active arms and a lot of nonunderstandable French when an American corporal, acting as “arbiter,” called him out on a close decision at first

AMERICAN SAILORS ANO SOLDIERS IN FRANCE.