To the many friends who urged it upon me at the time I am still deeply grateful, but I feel that in declining to accept it I did a wise thing, and I am confident that very many of them now agree with me in that opinion.
Just at this stage of affairs my plans for the future were apparently a matter of great interest to both press and public, and if the statements made by the former were to be believed, I had more schemes on hand than did a professional promoter, and every one of them with "millions in it." I was to manage this club and manage that club; I was to play here and play there, and, in fact, there was scarcely anything that I was not going to do if the reporters' statements could be depended upon.

One of the most senseless of these was the starting of the A.C.Anson Base-Ball College, the prospectus for which was typewritten in the sporting-goods store of A.G.Spalding, and read as follows: Location .-- The school will be located on what is known as the A.G.
Spalding Tract, covering the blocks bounded by Lincoln, Robey, 143d and 144th streets, upon which Mr.A.G.Spalding will erect suitable structures, fences, stands, dressing-rooms, etc.

The site is in the celebrated Calumet region and is easy of access.
Membership .-- All accepted applicants for membership will be required to submit to a thorough physical examination and go through a regular and systematic course of training, calculated to prepare them for actual participation in base-ball games.

Upon entering they will subscribe to the rules and regulations of the institution, which will demand obedience and provide for discipline, abstemious habits, regular hours, proper diet, in fact everything which tends to improve the health and physical condition will be required.

They must also pass an examination made by Captain Anson as to their natural aptitude for becoming proficient in the game of base-ball.
Instruction .-- The course of instruction will consist of physical training by the latest and most approved methods, with the special intention of developing the body and mind, so that the best possible results may be obtained looking to perfection of base-ball playing.