Bernini His Life and His Rome Franco Mormando - PDF

Download (2025)

https://ebookultra.com/download/bernini-his-life-and-his-rome-
franco-mormando/

Visit ebookultra.com today to download the complete set of

ebooks or textbooks
 We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click
the link to download now, or visit ebookultra.com
to discover even more!

Anthony de Mello His Life and His Spirituality Anand Nayak

https://ebookultra.com/download/anthony-de-mello-his-life-and-his-
spirituality-anand-nayak/

Liberty s Apostle Richard Price His Life and Times Richard

Price His Life and Times 1st Edition Paul Frame

https://ebookultra.com/download/liberty-s-apostle-richard-price-his-
life-and-times-richard-price-his-life-and-times-1st-edition-paul-
frame/

Sigmund Freud His Personality his Teaching and his School

1st Edition Fritz Wittels

https://ebookultra.com/download/sigmund-freud-his-personality-his-
teaching-and-his-school-1st-edition-fritz-wittels/

Weinzweig Essays on His Life and Music Brian Cherney

https://ebookultra.com/download/weinzweig-essays-on-his-life-and-
music-brian-cherney/
Clausewitz His Life and Work 1st Edition Donald Stoker

https://ebookultra.com/download/clausewitz-his-life-and-work-1st-
edition-donald-stoker/

The Myth of Rome in Shakespeare and his Contemporaries 1st

Edition Warren Chernaik

https://ebookultra.com/download/the-myth-of-rome-in-shakespeare-and-
his-contemporaries-1st-edition-warren-chernaik/

Chogyam Trungpa His Life and Vision 1st Edition Fabrice

Midal

https://ebookultra.com/download/chogyam-trungpa-his-life-and-
vision-1st-edition-fabrice-midal/

Andrew Jackson His Life and Times 1st Edition H. W. Brands

https://ebookultra.com/download/andrew-jackson-his-life-and-times-1st-
edition-h-w-brands/

Foucault His Thought His Character 1st Edition Paul Veyne

https://ebookultra.com/download/foucault-his-thought-his-
character-1st-edition-paul-veyne/
Bernini His Life and His Rome Franco Mormando Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Franco Mormando
ISBN(s): 9780226538518, 0226538516
Edition: Reprint
File Details: PDF, 3.42 MB
Year: 2011
Language: english
j

Berni n i
j

BERNINI
his life and his rome

franco mormando

University of Chicago Press

Chicago and London
franco mormando is associate The University of Chicago Press,
professor of Italian at Boston College. Chicago 60637
Among his publications are The Preacher’s The University of Chicago Press, Ltd.,
Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social London
Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy © 2011 by The University of Chicago
(University of Chicago Press, 1999), All rights reserved. Published 2011.
which won the Howard R. Marraro Printed in the United States of America
Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11   1 2 3 4 5
Italian History; as editor and exhibition
co-curator, Saints and Sinners: Caravaggio isbn-13: 978-0-226-53852-5 (cloth)
and the Baroque Image (McMullen isbn-10: 0-226-53852-4 (cloth)
Museum of Art, Boston College, 1999);
as co-editor, Piety and Plague: From Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
Byzantium to the Baroque (Sixteenth Publication Data
Century Essays and Studies, Truman
Mormando, Franco.
State University Press, 2007); as co-editor
Bernini : his life and his Rome /
and co-curator, Hope and Healing:
Franco Mormando.
Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague,
    p. cm.
1500–1800 (Worcester Art Museum,
Includes bibliographical references and
2005); and Domenico Bernini: The Life
index.
of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, A Translation
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-53852-5 (cloth :
and Critical Edition with Introduction
alk. paper)
and Commentary (Penn State University
ISBN-10: 0-226-53852-4 (cloth : alk.
Press, 2011).
paper) 1. Bernini, Gian Lorenzo,
In 2005 Professor Mormando was
1598–1680. 2. Sculptors—Italy—
designated a Cavaliere (Knight) in the
Biography. I. Title.
Ordine della Stella della solidarietà itali­
NB623.B5M67 2011
ana by the president of the Republic of
709.2—dc23
Italy, in recognition of his achievement
[B]
in the promotion of Italian language
2011023774
and culture.
a This paper meets the requirements
of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (Permanence
of Paper).
to v daniel james mouhot
 contents

Preface: The First English-Language Biography of Bernini ix

Acknowledgments xiii
Website Information xv
Money, Wages, and Cost of Living in Baroque Rome xvii
Abbreviations xxi

1. THE NEAPOLITAN METEOR 1

a twelve-year-old pregnant bride 1 v we pause to talk
about our sources 7 v childhood in a “paradise inhabited by
demons” 11 v moving on up: to rome, 1606 15 v
falling in love with the boy bernini 30 v “i beg you to
dissimulate” 36 v bernini comes of age 40 v “why
shouldn’t cardinal scipione’s penis get what it wants?” 44
v the tender and the true 51 v bernini rejoices 61

2. Impresario Supreme 66
“pretty-beard urban” 66 v “the michelangelo of his
age” 71 v fire is never a gentle master 76 v “what
the barbarians didn’t do, the barberini did” 83 v
“the cupola is falling!” 88 v head of the clan 91 v
an encounter with death 96 v bernini slashes a lover’s
face 99 v bernini purchases a bride 109 v “making what
is fake appear real” 116 v “to our england your glorious
name” 128 v for whom the bell tolls, or not 136
viii : c o n t e n ts

3. Bernini’s Agony and Ecstasy 144

“a universal father so coarse and so deformed” 144 v
bernini sinks and teresa floats 154 v “not only prostrate,
but prostituted as well” 161 v “unless moved by something
extraordinary that they see” 165 v la pimpaccia to the
rescue 169 v a heroic bust for a mousy princeling 177
v the papal corpse left to rot 184

4. Bernini and Alexander 195

the dream team: pope and architect 195 v “she’s a
hermaphrodite, they say” 218 v bubonic plague, yet
again 227 v a jewel for the jesuits 232 v final
act of the bernini-borromini rivalry 242

5. A Roman Artist in King Louis’s Court 245

bernini becomes a political pawn 245 v over the alps
in a sedan chair 257 v “speak to me of nothing
small!” 264 v bernini weeps 271 v “a plague take that
bastard!” 278 v the long, troubled aftermath 283

6. “My Star Will Lose Its Ascendancy” 289

a brief sigh of relief 289 v the stoning of casa
bernini 295 v sodomy behind the statue(s) 306 v
“that dragon vomiting poison in every direction” 315 v
queen christina lends her name to a hoax 322 v an
occasional round of applause 326 v “cover those
breasts!” 333 v “the cupola is falling (again)!” 337 v
not with a bang, but a whimper 339

Notes 353    Works Cited 377    Index 391

 preface

The First English-Language

Biography of Bernini

Thanks to his Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, his Saint
Teresa in Ecstasy in Santa Maria della Vittoria, his grand Colonnade of
St. Peter’s Square, and many other captivating works of art and architec-
ture, Gian Lorenzo Bernini is today second only to Caravaggio as the most
popular celebrity-artist of Baroque Rome. Millions of tourists each year
come to know and love Bernini’s many works in Rome and elsewhere. No
other artist has left so large, so enduring, and so delightful a mark on Rome
as Bernini. In the history of Western art, moreover, Bernini easily counts
as one of the most influential artists of all time, in fact, far more so than
Caravaggio.
Yet, despite the influence and popularity of Bernini’s works, few peo-
ple come to know the man himself. Why? Because there is no place in the
modern printed literature where “the man himself ” can really be found.
In all the vast bibliography on the artist, in any language, little attention is
paid to Bernini’s private life and personal interactions. Examine the current
(and not-so-current) literature on Bernini and you will find that it focuses,
predominantly if not exclusively, on his works of art and architecture, his
public “performance,” and the other impersonal facts of his curriculum vi-
tae—as if that were the sum total of his life and identity, and as if that is all
we needed to know to fully understand the phenomenon that was Bernini
and his epoch-making works of art. It is not.
Even the popular books marketed as introductions to Bernini’s life
and career are still more or less technical discussions of his works, in
 : preface

chronological order, with meager biographical data and social context in-
serted here and there. Some recent attempts at biography have been made
in Italian and German, but they don’t go far enough. Admittedly, the pri-
mary sources (including the authors of the first full-length “official” Italian
biographies composed shortly before and after his death) make it extremely
difficult for us to get to know the man himself. This is because they were
either not interested in the topic, or, as in the case of the first official biogra-
phies, were instead intent on marketing a carefully constructed, idealized,
and thus depersonalized image of Bernini. The first seventeenth-century
biographies (upon which we are still much dependent for our information
about the artist) attempt to sell the myth of “Bernini the genius” who, di-
vinely inspired and larger-than-life, transcended the ordinary needs, drives,
and desires that are an inescapable part of the human condition.
During his lifetime, moreover, the vigilantly self-protective Bernini
himself played it extremely close to the vest and rarely volunteered his
opinion except on the most uncontroversial of topics. He never put his
thoughts down on paper, certainly never on matters regarding his personal
life. Nonetheless, we can still sift out sufficient evidence from the official
biographies and the mass of other primary sources (diaries, private letters,
news bulletins, diplomatic dispatches), from which to build a truer picture
of the recognizably human being. Of course, this means that at times, like
detectives, we are obliged to read between the lines in order to deduce what
we can from the archival pages.
This book makes the pursuit of “Bernini himself,” the uncensored,
flesh-and-blood human being, one of its primary objectives, as it also nar-
rates the milestones of his public career and family history. Thus it can
claim to be the first biography of Bernini to appear in English and one of
very few to appear in any language since his death in 1680. To compensate
for the silences within the primary sources about Bernini’s private life, it
also reconstructs from other primary sources what we know about the daily
life and worldview (“mentality”) of a man of his station in seventeenth-
century Italy, looking at family structure, urban experience, economics,
religion, and politics. Although an artist of unique, innovative vision, Ber-
nini was, at the same time, a man of his specific time and place in history.
For that reason, this biography also looks at those major events, issues,
and personalities that had a significant impact on the lives of seventeenth-
century Romans, including Bernini, if at times indirectly. Readers will
 t h e f i r s t e n g l i s h - l a n g u a g e b i ography of bernini : xi

come to learn much about the daily life and politics of Baroque Rome, for
Bernini’s life was inextricably enmeshed in that of his beloved city. As Pope
Urban VIII famously proclaimed: “Bernini was made for Rome, and Rome
for Bernini.” This biography is as much a portrait of seventeenth-century
Rome as it is of Bernini.
My account, however, does not neglect Bernini’s many wonderful
works of sculpture, architecture, painting, and theater. As the direct inven-
tions of his imagination, these, too, I believe, reveal the “man himself ”
and are essential to the picture we are constructing, in addition to being,
of course, the most significant, enduring accomplishments of his profes-
sional life. Nonetheless, I have been cautious in drawing too many specific
conclusions about Bernini the person from the evidence of his public works
of art: this is simply too hazardous and too tentative an enterprise with any
artistic figure. At the same time, I have limited my descriptions of these
works as art objects and usually give only the most essential historical de-
tail about their origin and execution. Thorough descriptions and detailed
documentation about Bernini’s artistic production can be found in previous
works on the artist, cited in my notes and bibliography.
This biography presumes no intimate knowledge of art or European
history on the reader’s part and is narrated in a conversational, nonschol-
arly mode. Although notes are kept to a minimum, all historical data relat-
ing to Bernini’s life and all quotations are documented. (Documentation
for less known historical data of any type has been provided as well.) My
account is the fruit of ten uninterrupted years of researching Bernini’s life
and many more years spent studying Baroque Rome. The first product of
that research was my extensively annotated English translation and critical
edition of the biography of Bernini written by his youngest son, Domenico,
never before translated or republished since its original publication in 1713.
In examining every facet and every year of Bernini’s life, I constantly re-
turned to the seventeenth-century primary sources themselves, rather than
simply repeat what is found in the later secondary literature. Much of the
information presented here has been newly extracted from little-known
publications—old and new—of difficult access or mined from the maze of
footnotes in large scholarly monographs and journals.
For this reason, even more specialized readers, I daresay, will find this
biography of interest and profit. Not only does it address issues ignored in
other Bernini studies, it presents for the first time—and in English—the
xii : p r e f a c e

latest and not widely disseminated archival discoveries. It summarizes

recent decades of intense scholarly research inspired, most especially, by
the late twentieth-century anniversaries of Bernini’s birth (1598) and death
(1680), but which continues at full speed even in this new century. In
summarizing the latest discoveries and updating the facts, this biography
overturns a few long-held generalizations and oft-repeated legends about
Bernini, while filling gaps in our knowledge about the unfolding of his life
and career.
Finally, because Bernini has never been the subject of a full-length,
probingly candid biography, much of the general public, I’ve discovered,
assumes that the artist’s private life was, in itself, dull and uneventful. Noth-
ing could be further from the truth. I guarantee that in the pages that follow
you will come to meet, or know better, a fascinating (if not always lovable)
human being, one whose private life had its share of scandal, intrigue, and
much of the type of interpersonal drama that we are accustomed to seeing
on TV soap operas. Caravaggio was not the only Roman Baroque artist
who had a wild, tempestuous personality and engaged in antisocial, even
criminal behavior. Let the reader beware.
 acknowledgme nts

The space allotted, unfortunately, does not permit me to adequately extend

my thanks to all those who in some way assisted me in the making of this
biography, but I would be seriously remiss if I did not at least mention with
deepest gratitude Josephine von Henneberg, Eraldo Bellini, Deborah Con-
trada, Pamela Jones, Sheila Barker, Saul Engelbourg, the inimitable Tom
Powers, and, above all, John W. O’Malley, who has been for many years
both wise mentor and warm personal friend. Furthermore, this book would
never have seen the light of day without the lively personal interest and ex-
pert professional guidance of Susan Bielstein of the University of Chicago
Press. My sincere thanks also go to Carol Saller for her patient, expert edit-
ing of the manuscript and to Anthony Burton for the many services lent to
the production of the book.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the personal encouragement of
Charles Scribner III, whose best-selling book, Gianlorenzo Bernini (New
York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991), remains one of the most informative,
most insightful, and best written introductory books on the art of Bernini.
His scholarship on Bernini, Caravaggio, and Rubens has long been an in-
spiration to me, especially his 1991 article in Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society, “Transfigurations: Bernini’s Last Works.” Although
Dr. Scribner may not necessarily share all the interpretations of Bernini
and his work contained in this biography, I would not have arrived at
my deepened understanding of Bernini without the assistance of his own
scholarship.
 website information

For further information and discussion of Bernini’s life and works, readers
are directed to the Bernini section of my personal website: https://share
.bc.edu/12436/20993.
 money, wages, and cost of living
in baroque rome

Monetary values given in the Bernini sources are usually in terms of the
silver papal scudo (literally, shield). The standard currency of Rome in the
seventeenth century, the silver scudo was a coin weighing 31.788 grams.
Unlike today, at that time the weight of a coin (i.e., its gold or silver con-
tent) determined its monetary value. The Roman scudo was divided into
100 baiocchi ( pronounced “bye-oak-kee”), singular, baiocco, a copper
coin.
Even early in his career, the young Bernini was already commanding
impressively high prices for his work. He was, for example, paid 1,000 scudi
for his statue Apollo and Daphne, which he completed in 1625 at the age of
twenty-seven. In order to have meaning for readers today, that sum and the
others encountered in Bernini’s biography must be put into the context of
the cost of living and wages in seventeenth-century Rome, figures that did
not change significantly over Bernini’s lifetime.
Although we lack a thorough, systematic study of the economy of Ba-
roque Rome, a sampling of available figures on wages and prices will give
us a general picture of that economy. “A family of five in Rome around
1600 could live modestly on 90 scudi a year” (Spear, 312); therefore, such
a family could have survived for ten years on what Bernini earned for
his Apollo and Daphne alone. For a single person, the absolute minimum
for a decent living was about 2 scudi per month, although that probably
precluded much consumption of olive oil or wine, each of which cost in
the mid-seventeenth-century 1 scudo per liter (Stumpo, 39). In the period
xviii : m o n e y , w a g e s , a n d c o s t o f l i v i n g in baroque rome

1606–7, “a field worker made . . . about 50 scudi a year; a skilled mason

earned . . . about 85 scudi annually; in 1627, a tailor made half as much”
(Spear, 312). In 1621, a Roman copyist, representing a form of manual but
highly skilled labor, was earning 15 scudi per month reproducing docu-
ments and manuscripts (Storey, 148). At midcentury papal employees were
well compensated: a simple papal soldier (including the Swiss Guards) re-
ceived a yearly salary of 48 scudi, while a cavalry soldier (cavalleggero)
earned double that amount, 96 scudi a year. A doctor in the papal navy was
paid 216 scudi in the course of a year; yet even a simple musician in the pa-
pal court also received a handsome wage, 84 scudi per year (Stumpo, 40).
In the early part of the century, decent working-class apartment rents
in Rome ranged from 12 to 40 scudi per month, though poorer folk could
find some sort of housing for just 1 scudo per month. In the same period a
dozen eggs cost 1 baiocco, and a pair of shoes 50 baiocchi, the latter roughly
equivalent to what an average worker earned in two days (Spear, 312). In the
seventeenth century, the pagnotta, the standardized loaf of bread (weighing
an average of eight ounces) of the Roman lower classes was fixed by law
at 1 baiocco. Therefore, a minimal yearly ration of bread for one person
would cost close to 4 scudi (Reinhardt, 1997, 209).
Contrasting ordinary wages and prices against a more affluent standard,
let us look at the biggest player in town, the papal court. In the first half
of the seventeenth century, the annual revenue of the papal treasury av-
eraged about 1.5 million scudi; in the second half, the average had risen
remarkably to 2.5 million scudi. However, the total debt was always and
perilously many times that amount: in 1657 it was 30.7 million scudi and
nearly 40 million in 1678 (Carboni, 151–52, 171). The cost of the St. Peter’s
Colonnade project ( begun 1657) is estimated at 1 million scudi, represent-
ing, therefore, just under half of the papacy’s annual income. On that same
project, the salaries of the ordinary worker ranged from 60 to 120 scudi per
year, whereas a “poor” cardinal of the period enjoyed an annual income of
at least 5,500 scudi (Rietbergen, 1983, 150–55). For 36,000 scudi, in 1624 a
Roman prince, Michele Peretti (descendent of Pope Sixtus V), purchased
from the papal treasury a handsome, medium-sized, historic mansion in
the city center, today’s Palazzo Fiano-Almagià, adjacent to the Church of
San Lorenzo in Lucina (Spada, 131n68). For only 25,000 scudi, however,
in 1662 Cardinal Flavio Chigi acquired from the Colonna family a prop-
erty of similar category (plus a small adjacent building) but in much need
 m o n e y , w a g e s , a n d c o s t o f l i v i n g in baroque rome : xix

of renovation (Waddy, 302). We don’t know, however, whether in either

case the buyers paid full market price for their new homes.
It is extremely difficult to make estimates of currency equivalents—Ba-
roque scudi versus American dollars—over so vast a span of time and cul-
tures. There are numerous variables to factor into the equation with no
fixed points of reference over the centuries. However, I would conjecture,
conservatively, that in Baroque Rome 25,000 scudi most likely had the pur-
chasing power of at least a million dollars in today’s currency, based on my
interpretation of the empirical economic evidence.1
Hence, in terms of the compensation Bernini commanded and the ma-
terial cost of his works of art, our artist, by the age of twenty-five, was
already a “luxury” afforded almost exclusively by the super-rich, namely,
popes, kings, princes, “rich” cardinals, and bankers. By mid-life he himself
was one of Rome’s multimillionaires. Of this there is no doubt. At his death
in 1680, the eighty-two-year-old Bernini left an estate which, according to
the most conservative figure given by contemporary sources, was worth
not less than 300,000 scudi, or roughly twelve million twenty-first-century
American dollars.
Other documents randomly have
different content
 CHAPTER XXV
A DOUBLE UNASSISTED

At the end of the bench sat Frank Foley, sombre gaze fixed on the
batsman. Joe, seeing him, felt sorry for his defeated rival and
wondered whether Mr. Talbot would put him in for an inning or two.
He surely deserved it, thought Joe. It was hard lines having to sit
there all through the big game without even a chance to warm his
hands! Only, he reflected, if Bat did put Foley in Jack would simply
throw a fit! At that instant Foley happened to turn his head and their
looks met. If Joe, averting his own glance quickly, had expected to
find anger or antagonism in the other’s eyes he was wrong. Foley
met his gaze impersonally, unsmilingly. They were still cheering
lustily on the stands when Calvert shot the first ball in. Then the
noise died away, to start again as the umpire called:
“Ball!”
Another ball followed. Then a low one that looked good from the
bench and, it seemed, looked good to the umpire. Tom Pollock
gravely studied the plate, took a new grip of his bat, and waited
once more. The next effort was wild and the ball almost got past the
catcher. Amesville shouted and jeered and the two coachers danced
and waved and made noise any way they could. Again Calvert
pitched, and once more the ball went wide.
“Four balls!” announced Mr. Reardon. “Take your base!”
“Here’s where we start!” cried Jack, excitedly thumping Joe’s knee.
“Go to it, Gordon, old scout! You know what to do!”
“It’s the lucky seventh!” shouted the Amesville rooters ecstatically.
“Smash it, Smith! Bring him in! Here we go, fellows!”
 After that for many minutes Joe was too excited and anxious to
know what was going on around him, although once during the
subsequent proceedings he had a dim notion that Mr. John Hall and
Coach Talbot were shaking hands and that Walter Cummings had
fallen backwards over the water carboy! They were cheering Smith
now as he faced the pitcher with “sacrifice bunt” written large all
over him. But Smith wasn’t destined to sacrifice. Calvert simply
wouldn’t allow him to. He, too, ambled to first on a free ticket and
bedlam broke loose in the Amesville stand. Men on first and second
with none out and only two runs needed to tie! This was indeed the
lucky seventh! Then came Sid Morris, after listening to Coach
Talbot’s instructions, and Sid was there to hit, as he soon proved by
swinging at and missing two pretty poor balls. With the score two
and two Fortune took a hand in the game. Calvert was noticeably
nervous now and when the fifth delivery shot away from his hand—
Sid had fouled off one—it twisted straight for the batsman. Sid
stepped back, but not far enough, and the ball struck against his
shoulder. He staggered away, dropping his bat and doubling over.
But by the time two or three of his team-mates had leaped to his
assistance he was smiling and shaking himself.
“All right,” he said over his shoulder as he trotted down the line.
That was the final undoing of Pitcher Calvert. Already the
Petersburg second-choice twirler was warming up behind the first
base stand. Calvert gazed anxiously around the filled bases, heard
the frenzied shrieks of the coachers and the wild, disconcerting
babel from the audience and faced the situation a bit wiltedly. The
catcher soothed and reassured him from in front of the plate and
Calvert tried his best to come back. But Jack laid his bat against the
very first ball that came his way and off screeched a line drive into
left field, scoring Tom and Gordon Smith and placing Sid on third.
Jack took second on the throw-in.
Petersburg seemed inclined to stop the game then and there and
have a consultation about it, but Umpire Reardon would allow no
post-mortems. Calvert, the center of a group of dismayed players,
yielded the ball and took that long walk from the box to the bench,
cheered perfunctorily by friend and foe, and Gorman took up his
task. Gorman was younger, smaller, and slighter, and that he didn’t
at once stop the havoc being worked against Petersburg’s defences
was not to be wondered at. Hale was now at bat and the hoarse
cries of the Amesville fellows, mingled with the shrill shrieks of the
coachers, whirled and eddied about his head, imploring him to clear
the bases. In the meanwhile Petersburg’s coaches were rushing
about, giving instructions to the fielders. Gorman had speed and lots
of it, and Petersburg cheered loudly when his first offering cut the
middle of the plate and went for a strike. But Hale was not to be
denied and a moment later he connected with one of Gorman’s
benders and lifted a high fly to deep left. The fielder made a nice
running catch of it, but could not prevent Morris from scoring and
putting the game at 5 to 4!
Amesville was now wild with excitement and hats and pennants
were waving madly. With but one out and a run to the good the
game seemed won, for Jack Strobe was dancing around at third
ready to come across on any excuse. It was Peddie’s turn at bat, and
Peddie, with one hit already to his credit, would surely be good for
another. He was. The youngster let two wide ones go by him and
then swung. Crack went bat and ball and the latter sped out into left
field, free of the outstretched hands of the fielders, and Jack romped
home!
Six to four now, and still there was only one down! Amesville sang
and shouted and tramped and waved flags and acted like so many
happy lunatics. Down at second Peddie sat on the bag and
recovered his breath while Gorman and Beale met for a conclave
between plate and mound and Joe, gripping his bat, strode
resolutely to the plate. One hit had been the portion of “Lucky”
Faulkner that day, and one hit seemed very little to him. And so,
when the game went on, he watched and waited craftily until
Gorman had tried him on two wide ones and scored a strike. Then
Joe found what he wanted and smashed a drive toward third
baseman and streaked to first. In the ordinary course of events that
should have been the safest sort of a hit and should have put Peddie
across the rubber and left Joe on first. But, as it happened, the
Petersburg shortstop, who had all the afternoon performed
remarkably, sprinted across at full speed and when the ball eluded
the frantic glove of the third baseman, got it on the run and, without
pausing, slammed it to the plate! It was a close decision, but the
umpire waved Peddie out. That virtually ended the lucky seventh,
for, although Joe went down to second and slid into the bag an
instant ahead of the ball, Arthur Cummings proved an easy victim to
Gorman’s skill.
So, with the score 6 to 4, Petersburg went desperately to bat in
the eighth while the shadows lengthened across the diamond and
the crowd on the stand began to dribble down to the field. Joe made
the first out in that inning, taking a sizzling drive from Catcher
Beale’s bat. After that Smith threw out the centre fielder and Pitcher
Gorman got a life on Smith’s fumble of his grounder and took second
when Tom walked the head of the list. But it was all over a minute
later when a fine throw from Sam Craig caught the pitcher flat-
footed off second.
Sam led off for Amesville in the last of the eighth with a scratch hit
that proved too slow for second baseman to field in time. Tom
Pollock tried hard to get a hit, but finally fanned, and Smith was
instructed to lay down a bunt and advance Sam Craig. It was at this
moment that Joe saw Jack leave his place on the bench and speak
to Coach Talbot. What was said between them Joe couldn’t hear, nor
did he try to, but after a minute of indecision Mr. Talbot nodded his
head and Jack returned, looking, as Joe put it afterwards, like the
cat who ate the canary.
“You and Bat got it all settled?” asked Joe laughingly as his friend
seated himself again.
Jack rewarded Joe with a somewhat sheepish glance as he
nodded. After a moment he said in a low voice: “It was about
Frank.”
 “What about him?” asked Joe, his gaze travelling to the end of the
bench.
“You’ll see,” replied Jack evasively, and that was all that he would
say.
Smith’s attempt to bunt resulted disastrously, for Gorman would
have none of it and the first thing Smith knew he was in the hole.
When, with two strikes and two balls against him, he tried to hit it
out, the ball slammed itself into Gorman’s glove and Smith was
gone. Sid Morris had better success, for he got a hit down the alley
between second and shortstop and Sam Craig advanced a base.
Then Joe learned the meaning of Jack’s converse with the coach. Mr.
Talbot recalled Jack, who had been half-heartedly awaiting his turn,
and summoned Frank Foley.
“Foley! Take a whack at it. Don’t try to bend your bat. Just put
one through.”
Foley, surprised, leaped from the bench. “Me, sir?” he asked.
“Yes, hurry up!”
Foley hurried. Half a dozen eager hands stretched out as many
bats toward him and, seizing a couple, he hurried to the plate,
swinging them eagerly. Foley’s friends in the stand applauded
warmly and Joe viewed Jack quizzically as the latter sank back into
his place on the bench.
“Jack,” began Joe in a whisper.
Jack turned on him rudely. “Oh, dry up!” he muttered.
Joe chuckled. “You’re a fine hater, aren’t you?” he asked.
“That’s got nothing to do with it,” declared Jack, reddening.
“Frank’s worked hard all spring and—and he deserved to get in.”
“Of course, he did, and I’m glad, Jack, mighty glad. And it was
decent of you, you old poser, to let him——”
 “Dry up and watch the game,” begged Jack. “I hope he does
something!”
And Frank, who seldom came through with a hit, today did the
unexpected. There was a strike and two balls against him when he
took his swing, a very healthy swing, too, and off went the ball
straight down the first base line, and in raced Sam, while Amesville
cheered another tally. But that was all, for Hale flied out to shortstop
the next minute and the inning ended.
“All over but the cheering!” cried Jack as the bench emptied. “Hold
them safe, fellows! Don’t let anything slip, Joey! I’ll be watching
you!”
Frank Foley trotted into left field and Loomis to right. But those
were the only substitutions made. Williams and Moran started to
warm up by Coach Talbot’s orders, but no one looked to see either
of them get in. The audience was already starting hesitantly toward
the gates when Petersburg’s right fielder went to bat. Five minutes
later many of them were scurrying back again, for, after fouling
himself into the hole, the batsman waited and walked! Petersburg
cheered hopefully then and when the next man up, who happened
to be that redoubtable shortstop, smashed a two-bagger over
Peddie’s head, advancing the first runner to third, she cheered quite
madly!
It was Amesville’s turn to show concern and Toby Williams began
to put on speed where he was pitching to Jack Speyer. But Coach
Talbot, contenting himself with low-toned instructions, never so
much as looked at Toby. The opponent’s left fielder was replaced by
a pinch-hitter and the pinch-hitter won fame and glory. He picked off
Tom’s second offering and sent it well into short centre, scoring the
men from third and second, putting himself on first and then going
on to the next bag when the throw was made to the plate in the
attempt to head off the shortstop!
Seven to six! And only one out! No wonder Captain Craig walked
down to the box, amidst the joyful hoots of the visitors, and held a
consultation there with Tom. No wonder that at last Mr. Talbot’s
glance wandered along to where Williams and Moran were pitching.
Scattered cries of “Take him out!” arose from the uneasy throng
back of the first base line. But the demand was not general and, in
any case, Coach Talbot had other intentions.
Captain Lyman came to bat, a little pale, very determined, and—
struck out! It was Amesville’s turn to jeer and rejoice and she did so,
relieving over-strained nerves. Tom faced the Petersburg second
baseman calmly and smilingly, got his signals from Sam, wound up
and pitched.
“Shtrike!” called the umpire, and the Brown-and-Blue partisans
shouted stridently. Then came a ball, a low one and wide, followed
by a second strike across the centre of the plate and shoulder high.
Another ball then, for Tom could afford to waste one, and then——
Well, then there was a crack of wood against leather and the
batsman was speeding to base! The ball went to Tom, but it was
bounding crazily and he could only knock it down in his first stab for
it. When he had it in hand he turned toward third to head off the
runner from second and saw that that youth had changed his mind
and was on his way back to the middle sack. Wheeling quickly, Tom
pegged to Joe at first. But by that time the Petersburg runner had
rounded first and was dashing to second. Joe caught and turned to
throw to Smith when he caught sight of the further runner doubling
back. Sensing a mix-up, Joe held the ball and raced for second base.
The two runners reached that bag simultaneously. The expected
happened. Plump into each other they went with a bang that
doubtless made them see stars as they each rolled apart, clear of
the base! Joe threw himself between them, his hand with the ball
shot to the left and then to the right, and the game was over!
Two minutes later, when Joe, with most of the others who had
been caught on the field, was being borne crazily about through the
laughing, jubilant throng, swaying and pitching above a sea of faces,
his bearers brought him for a moment abreast of Frank Foley and
their glances met.
 “That was great, Faulkner!” called Frank warmly.
But Joe, smiling happily, shook his head.
“Only luck,” he answered.

THE END

Transcriber’s Notes:
Except for the frontispiece, illustrations have been moved to follow the text
that they illustrate, so the page number of the illustration may not match the
page number in the Illustrations.
Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST BASE
FAULKNER ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in
these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it
in the United States without permission and without paying
copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of
Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything
for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research.
Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given
away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with
eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject
to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free

distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree
to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be
bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund
from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in
paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be

used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people
who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a
few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic
works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.
See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with
Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law
in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do
not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing,
performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the
work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of
course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™
mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely
sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated
with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this
agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached
full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge
with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the
terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying,
performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this
work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes
no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in
any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™
work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears,
or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is
accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived

from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a
notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright
holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the
United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must
comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted

with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted
with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning
of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a
part of this work or any other work associated with Project
Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1
with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you
provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work
in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in
the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or
expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or
a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original
“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must
include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in
paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive
from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
 about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who

notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt
that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project
Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in
the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90
days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™

electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend

considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe
and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating
the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may
be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to,
incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a
copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or
damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for

the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3,
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the
Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim
all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR
NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR
BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH
1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK
OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL
NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT,
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF
YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you

discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving
it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by
sending a written explanation to the person you received the work
from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must
return the medium with your written explanation. The person or
entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide
a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work
electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to
give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in
lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may
demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the
problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted
by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation,

the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation,
anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with
the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or
any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission

of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.
It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and
donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a
secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help,
see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project

Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,

Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to

the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can
be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the
widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many
small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to
maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and
keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in
locations where we have not received written confirmation of
compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of
compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where

we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no
prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in
such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of
other ways including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About

Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,

including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how
to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookultra.com