ll out." The distinctive feature of rounders, and the one which gives
it its name, is that when all of a side except two have been retired, one of
the two remaining may call for "the rounder;" that is, he is allowed
three hits at the ball, and if in any one of these he can make the entire round
of the bases, all the players of his side are reinstated as batters. No such
feature as this was ever heard of in base-ball, yet, as said, it is the characteristic
which gives to rounders its name, and any derivation of that game must certainly
have preserved it.
If the points of resemblance were confined solely to these two games it would
prove nothing except that boys' ideas as well as men's often run in the same
channels. The very ancient game of bandy ball has its double in an older Persian
sport, and the records of literary and mechanical invention present some curious
coincidences. But, as a matter of fact, every point common to these two, games
was known and used long before in other popular sports. That
