Various

“ More acts of meanness are performed in the course of one football game almost than in a whole season of baseball or tennis or track athletics. Men will punch and kick one another when the referee is not looking, and they will resort to all sorts of small tricks that they would blush to acknowledge afterwards. But, remember, this is not the fault of the game, it is the fault of the man. And the endeavor of every true sportsman should be to get this sort of man out of the way. ”

“ Pointing to a grimy young bootblack who was industriously polishing away, he said: "At one time I polished boots the same as that youngster is doing there. I loved the boats and the crowds, but more especially I loved to watch the pilot and the engineer at work. To see the latter polishing and oiling his machinery as carefully as a mother would dress a baby was my chief enjoyment. I dare say I knew every part of the engine as well as he did, or at least I thought so, and many a shine I let pass simply to see him work the boat in and out of the slip. ”

“ There is that fifty dollars Aunt Betsey has given me. You can have it just as well as not."
"Cynthia, you're a brick, and no mistake," said Neal, looking at her affectionately, "but you know I wouldn't take your money for the world. You must think me a low-down sort of fellow if you think I would."
"How absurd! It is a great deal better to owe it to me instead of to a stranger like Bronson, or any one else. I'm sure I think of you just as if you were my brother, and Jack wouldn't mind taking it. You can pay it back when you get your own money." ”

“ It is ridiculous for any Captain to assert that he does not know what the men on his team intend doing a month hence. It is his business as Captain to know this. He should know where his players come from, how long they are to be in school, and all about their football experience. If he does not know all this he is a mighty poor Captain, and ought to be replaced. And the Captain who allows a man to play on his eleven whom he suspects of having intentions of leaving school before the year closes is not a fit leader for an honest school's football team, and should likewise be replaced. ”

“ If the school players will frown upon all unfair methods, and refuse to countenance sharp practice in the game, if they will insist upon adhering to the spirit as well as to the letter of the law, they will soon swell the ranks of the better element of football men to such proportions that the other class will find itself entirely overruled.
It is unfortunate that we should be forced to admit that sharp practice occurs in football to a greater extent, probably, than in any other sport. ”

“ The bicycle has proved useful as a life-saving machine in many instances, but it remained for John O'Hara, of Broome Street, in New York, to discover how good a bicycle is as a means of escape from a mad dog. John is a well-grown lad, and is so fond of bicycle-riding that he goes on wheeling trips through the streets of the Fast Side. ”

“ While speaking of sportsmen and sportsmanship I should like to call the attention of all the readers of this Department to a definition of "sportsman," published in the "Amateur Sport" columns of Harper's Weekly of August 17th: "A sportsman engages in sport for sport's sake only, and does by others as he would be done by. A 'sporting man' or 'sport' enters sport for mercenary motives, and prefers to 'do' others." ”

“ They might not themselves use violence, but they or their women would point him out to the bloodhounds in the mob—men who were ready for any deed of violence, no matter how brutal or cowardly, and the brave old fellow would have met the martyr's fate at their hands.
"He never would have gone and left poor Jim to go back and face them all alone," cried Mrs. Wallace, breaking down at last; and then Fred had to tell her that Jim was himself a leader in the strike, a personal friend of Steinman, and completely influenced by him. ”

“ The bicycle corps of a military academy near Chicago recently made a journey on wheels from that city to Springfield and back again, camping at night wherever darkness overtook them, foraging among the neighboring farm-houses for their subsistence, and conducting themselves on the whole as if they were actually in the field on active service. ”

“ It is considered clever by many to do as many small and mean acts as possible in a match game of football. To resort to petty practices is looked upon by them as good playing. But there is no good playing, except fair and honest playing. These same men who will kick their opponents in the shins when the umpire is not looking are those who encourage players to attend school during the football season, not caring whether they remain afterwards or not. ”

“ In less than a month football will be taking up most of the time and attention that school athletes can devote to sport. The coming season should be a notable one in the history of the game too, for it will show whether or not the schools are going to allow themselves to be influenced by the better or the worse element that is identified with the game. The better element is the one which has been trying for years to arrange a code of rules that would purge the sport as much as possible of opportunities for the practice of rough and unsportsmanlike methods. ”

“ Sadly we set sail on the Bristow, and began to move slowly through the still troubled waters. But at nine o'clock the fog cleared off, the wind hauled to the eastward, and the sea became moderate. I was now able to set every stitch of canvas on the vessel with a fair wind, and I laid my course for St. John's, Newfoundland. We forged ahead at four knots an hour, and hope revived in every breast. But before night the wind fell light, and our progress became nothing better than a drift of two knots hourly. ”

“ I think it is easier for some than for others to spell correctly. Spelling is largely a matter dependent on attention. You may not know it, but your eyes are always teaching you how to spell, and, unconsciously, as you read interesting books or the daily paper, you see how words are spelled, and learn to spell correctly yourself. There is no excuse for any girl who has both sight and hearing to blunder in her spelling, when Helen Keller, who can neither see nor hear, spells without ever making a mistake. ”

“ If he should hit his opponent's marble, the hit counts another hole for him, but he must put his marble into the hole he was playing for before he can shoot at his opponent's marble. There is a point to be gained in carrying your opponent's marble from hole to hole. You can finish the game in this way.
The players continue in this way until one or the other has gone up and down three times. The player who has lost the game places his clinched fist on one side of any of the holes, with his marble in front of his fist. The winner gets on the opposite side. ”

“ A VILLAGE OF CHESS-PLAYERS.
We learn from a foreign journal that the village of Stroebeck is known throughout the whole of Germany as the "chess-playing village." For centuries every native of that village, from the prosperous freeholder down to the poor shepherd, has been an enthusiastic and a more or less efficient chess-player.
From time immemorial the knowledge and love of the game have been handed down from one generation to another, and parents are still in the habit of teaching it to their children as soon almost as they are able to walk. ”

“ Amateurs are often advised to dust their plates with a brush before placing them in the holders. It requires a very soft brush and a careful hand to dust a sensitive plate without scratching the film, and if the plate-holders and camera-bellows are wiped frequently with a damp cloth there will be little danger of pin-holes from dust spots in the sensitive plate.
Transparent spots in the negative are caused by air-bubbles forming on the plate when the developer is turned over it, and the bubbles not being broken, the developer does not have a chance to act on the film. ”

“ Matters would have gone badly with them if they had not at this moment met Jack and Kitty Morgan in the Franklins' canoe.
"What's the row?" called Jack.
"Nothing much," said Bronson. "We've sprung a little leak, that's all."
"A little leak! I should think so. My eye! Why, man, you must have a regular hole for the water to come in like that. Where have you been, anyhow? You had better put in here at this little beach and step over into my boat."
"What's the matter with stepping over right where we are? No need of going to shore." ”

“ It seems to me a dreadful thing to go to one's work with the spirit of a slave. We should always put into our work our best thoughts, our best hope, and the motive of true love. No matter what the work, the way we go about it gives it worth and dignity, or makes it petty and mean. ”

“ Never takes a fellow his size," answered the ex-Pirate. "He bullies the little ones: that's why he's called a Bull."
Presently a Crocodile came stamping up the gang-plank. He had a business-like expression in his eye, and a cold sarcastic smile displayed his glistening rows of sharp teeth. He stepped right up to the ticket-window, and thrust his long snout in so suddenly that he almost knocked the Bull off his stool. ”

“ It is not necessary to varnish a negative in order to retouch it; for a fluid can be bought for this purpose, called "retouching fluid," which is applied locally with a piece of surgeon's cotton. To "apply locally" means to put the fluid on the part of the plate which needs retouching, instead of covering the whole plate. A bottle of retouching fluid costs twenty-five cents, and will last a long time. Full directions for use come with each bottle.
Fine retouching is an art, but the amateur can easily learn to cover the spots in his negative which would disfigure or spoil his prints. ”

“ I don't see how she ever did it."
"I wish I had an Aunt Betsey," remarked Neal; "those gold pieces would come in pretty handy just now."
"Aunt Betsey is so fond of giving gold," said Cynthia. "She always says it is real money, and bills are nothing but paper. I shall put mine away for the present, until I think of something I want terribly much, and then I will go grandly to Boston and buy it like a duchess. Goody Two-shoes, but I feel rich!" ”

“ All of these streets are crowded, but probably no one of them is so jammed full of pedestrians and push-carts and peddlers' wagons as Forsyth Street. Experts say that no other part of the world is so thickly populated as this neighborhood, so you can easily imagine how difficult it must be to go wheeling a bicycle through it.
John O'Hara was enjoying a pleasant spin on the smooth asphalt pavement of Forsyth Street, near Broome, at noon the other day, when he noticed the crowd scattering right and left, and diving into open hallways and down cellar stairs. Presently he heard a cry of "Mad dog!" ”

“ I recommend the entire article to every one interested in the welfare of sport.
The Academic Athletic League of California has track-athletic sports as well as football in the autumn term. Their next semi-annual field-day is to be held September 28th, and from present reports the new material in the schools is going to make a showing. As the meet is to be held on the University of California track, which has the fastest 100-yard course on the Coast, the A.A.L. sprinting records, which are at present 10-4/5 and 25-1/5 secs., ought to be reduced. ”

“ Then Jessie's sobs broke forth afresh, and a young railway man, whose bruises the surgeon had been dressing, could stand it no longer. He was one of the striking trainmen, and knew Jim well.
"Mrs. Wallace," he cried, struggling to his feet and coming towards her, "I'm a Brotherhood man and bound to them in every way, but I can't stand this. I know what's happened, though I had no hand in it, as God's my judge! The old man's safe, ma'am—safe and out of harm's way, though I don't know where. ”

“ Continuing the trip from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, the first stage of which was given in the Round Table for last week, we start from Hammonton. The run from here to Atlantic City is somewhat roundabout, owing to the nature of the country through which you must pass, and the run is about forty miles in all. Leaving Hammonton proceed through New Columbia, five miles away, to Batsto. The condition of the road is not of the best; but there are almost no hills, and the side path will, in many places, save you a good deal of hard riding. ”

“ THE BICYCLE CORPS AT DRESS PARADE. A PILOT'S STORY.
For a number of years I have been a traveller on the North River ferry-boats running between New York and Jersey City. One of the pleasures of these short trips has been in my interest and admiration for the skilful way in which such huge, unwieldy boats are handled by their pilots. The tides in the river are at times very strong, and especially so near the ferry slips. To prevent mishaps it requires the most careful manœuvring, as a small error of judgment might send the heavily laden boat crashing into the bulkheads. ”

“ The spider possesses no special ability to get from one tree to another. He depends upon the wind generally. He spins a single thread long enough to reach across and then trusts to the wind. If the end attaches itself at what he deems the wrong place, he goes over it where it is, or around by way of the ground and adjusts it. He makes the web regular, both in size and distances apart, because he possesses mathematical and mechanical instinct, just as does the bee, only in less degree. He keeps from falling by clinging to his web. ”

“ I know a beautiful cheerful garden, in which many children walk about. They have golden coats on, and gather beautiful apples under the trees, and pears and cherries and plums; they sing, and jump about, and are merry ”

“ Five boys and girls blessed that cloister-home at Wittenberg. The Luthers were never "well-to-do"; sometimes they were so short of money—for Luther was overgenerous in his charities—as to feel the pinch of poverty. But Luther had friends in high places who would not let him want, and he was therefore able to give his boys tutors at home and good instruction later on in life.
"Son John" could scarcely be called a brilliant scholar. ”

“ If they are nailed the wood wears away quickly, and the heads of the nails stick up perhaps half an inch, and offer one of the most admirable opportunities for puncture that could be found. Never ride over a bridge of this sort at speed, therefore, and always keep a line between the rows of nails, so that you may not run the chance of thrusting one of the nail-heads through your pneumatic tube. If you are riding at night, and want to be on the safe side, it is wise to dismount, and either carry or push the bicycle across the bridge. ”