"Oh, sweep, sweep across the board, With your castles, queens, and pawns; We are with you, all Havana's horde, Till the sun of victory dawns; Then it's fight, _fight_, FIGHT! To your last white knight, For the truth must win alway, And our hearts beat true Old "J.R." for you On Capa-blanca's Day." "Up to this point the game had proceeded along the lines generally recommended by the masters," writes Capablanca. "The last move, however, is a slight deviation from the regular course, which brings this Knight back to B in order to leave open the diagonal for the Q, and besides is more in accordance with the defensive nature of the game. Much more could be said as to the reasons that make Kt - B the preferred move of most masters.... Of course, lest there be some misapprehension, let me state that the move Kt - B is made in conjunction with K R - K, which comes first." It is lucky that Mr. Casablanca made that explanation, for I was being seized with just that misapprehension which he feared. (Mr. _Capablanca_, I mean.) Below is the box-score by innings: 1. P - K4. P - K4. 2. Kt - QB3. Kt - QB3. 3. P - B4. P x P. 4. Kt - B3. P - K Kt4. (Game called on account of darkness.) XXXVIII "RIP VAN WINKLE" After all, there is nothing like a good folk-opera for wholesome fun, and the boy who can turn out a rollicking folk-opera for old and young is Percy MacKaye. His latest is a riot from start to finish. You can buy it in book form, published by Knopf. Just ask for "Rip Van Winkle" and spend the evening falling out of your chair. (You wake up just as soon as you fall and are all ready again for a fresh start.) Of course it is a little rough in spots, but you know what Percy MacKaye is when he gets loose on a folk-opera. It is good, clean Rabelaisian fun, such as was in "Washington, the Man Who Made Us." I always felt that it was very prudish of the police to stop that play just as it was commencing its run. Or maybe it wasn't the police that stopped it. Something did, I remember. But "Rip Van Winkle" has much more zip to it than "Washington" had. In the first place, the lyrics are better. They have more of a lilt to them than the lines of the earlier work had. Here is the song hit of the first act, sung by the Goose Girl. Try this over on your piano: _Kaaterskill, Kaaterskill, Cloud on the Kaaterskill! Will it be fair, or lower? Silver rings On my pond I see; And my gander he Shook both his white wings Like a sunshine shower_. I venture to say that Irving Berlin himself couldn't have done anything catchier than that by way of a lyric. Or this little snatch of a refrain sung by the old women of the town: _Nay, nay, nay! A sunshine shower Won't last a half an hour_.