1847.17
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US Traveler Sees Baseball-Like Game in Northeastern France
| Salience | Noteworthy |
|---|---|
| Tags | |
| Location | |
| City/State/Country: | Rhiems, France |
| Modern Address | |
| Game | |
| Immediacy of Report | Contemporary |
| Age of Players | YouthYouth |
| Holiday | |
| Notables | |
| Text |
A Boston newspaper published a letter from a Bostonian traveling in Rheims, France, about his visit to a boys' school there:
"They played all my old plays. There close to a triumphal arch under which Roman Emperors had passed; under the dark walls and gothic towers of a city older than Christianity itself . . . . these boys, as if to mock all antiquity and all venerable things, were playing all the very plays of my school-boy days, 'tag' and 'gould' and 'base ball' and 'fox and geese,' &c."
Rheims is about 90 miles NE of Paris
|
| Sources | Boston Olive Branch, January 9, 1847, column 3, "European Correspondence." |
| Warning | |
| Comment | David's comment, 11/2015: "Hard to know what to make of this. Maybe he spied a game that resembled baseball (theque?). And what is gould? I've never heard of it before. Maybe I'll try researching it when I have time." David's full email is shown below. Edit with form to add a comment |
| Query | Comments, research tips, speculation welcomed. And . . . what is the game called "gould?" Edit with form to add a query |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| External Number | |
| Submitted by | David Block |
| Submission Note | Email of 11/24/2015 |
| Has Supplemental Text | Yes |
1847.17 US Traveler Sees Baseball-Like Game in Northeastern France"
Comments
<comments voting="Plus" />
Supplemental Text
David's Email:
I recently came across a minor 1847 newspaper mention of baseball. I didn't spot it in the chronology, so I'm passing it along for what it's worth, which isn't much. The newspaper is the "Boston Olive Branch;" issue of January 9, 1847. On page 3 is a column entitled "European Correspondence" that features a letter written by a traveling Bostonian who was passing through the French city of Rheims. He describes a visit to a boys' school that happened to be situated near a grand Roman gateway About the boys he wrote:
"They played all my old plays. There close to a triumphal arch under which Roman Emperors had passed; under the dark walls and gothic towers of a city older than Christianity itself . . . . these boys, as if to mock all antiquity and all venerable things, were playing all the very plays of my school-boy days, 'tag' and 'gould' and 'base ball' and 'fox and geese,' &c."
Hard to know what to make of this. Maybe he spied a game that resembled baseball (theque?). And what is gould? I've never heard of it before. Maybe I'll try researching it when I have time.