Various

“ Backing up against a stone or any inequality of the frozen ground he shows no sign of fear, boldly making little rushes towards the enemy, and as suddenly retreating to his coign of vantage as they fail to stop. All the while the air is vocal with a series of sharp little squeaks that are most surprising to the observer. The diminutive size of the animal and the small volume of sound are so disproportionate to the evident courage [Pg 434] with which he utters his notes of defiance, as to make the lemming at bay a most amusing were it not a pathetic sight for an observer. ”

“ Reg Barker was freckle-faced and red-headed, clad in flannels, with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and was adjusting a catcher's mask to his face when Alaric approached. As the latter made known his desire, Reg Barker, who was extremely jealous of the other's wealth and fame as a traveller, regarded him for a moment with amazement, and then burst into a shout of laughter.
"Hi, fellows!" he called, "here's a good one—best I ever heard! Here's Allie Todd, kid gloves and all, wants to play first base. What do you say—shall we give him a show?" ”

“ The bull was not an amiable beast on ordinary occasions, and we found him in one of his wildest moods. His bellowings had attracted a score of stray cattle from the outskirts of the ranch, and they were standing beyond the reach of his horns as he strained on his picket rope, and they were pawing the ground, pretending to gore one another, until the bull was wild with rage. It took Otto a long time to get a second rope around his horns, and meanwhile Barney and I, by the vigorous use of our quirts, scattered the mavericks over the prairie. ”

“ In the open the lemming can easily escape if the friendly snow is at hand, for his pure white fur makes it difficult for the eye to follow the tiny animal on the surface of the new snow, while the rapidity with which he burrows in it astonishes an observer, and usually discomforts a pursuer. Now and then the mouse is caught napping, and doubtless he meets often as sudden and untimely a fate as did one under my notice. Hurrying along the ice-foot with one of the largest of our Eskimo dogs, we started a lemming under our very feet. ”

“ But if we happen to hear some old-fashioned lady or gentleman pronounce a word in a by-gone manner, we shall, of course, be too polite to take notice, nor will we, as rude people have been known to do, repeat the same word in our own turn, with a different accent. I cannot too strongly urge my girls to be polite in all circumstances. Politeness is merely consideration for others, real unselfishness. ”

“ He says if Billie keeps on having adventures like that there's no reason why he shouldn't grow up to be as successful a man as your Pirate, but he thinks Billie ought to stick by Chicago and not go seeking his fortune anywhere else because there isn't another city in the world where a thing like that could happen, which I guess is true. It certainly couldn't happen anywhere around Boston, because even if they had a prairie and Indians you couldn't steer a yacht through the fearful crowds of bicyclers they have there, without having a collision. ”

“ The New Manhattan Athletic Club, however, after having stagnated in a mire of unclean sportsmanship, finally gets an injection of new and healthy blood, and realizes that from the boys of to-day are to be drawn the athletes of to-morrow. The Club thereupon sets out to do all it can to promote and encourage scholastic sports. It offers the services of its gymnasium and of its athletic instructors, it organizes a large in-door meeting and shoulders the entire financial and executive responsibility, and does everything, in fact, that a club can do under the circumstances. ”

“ Many hundred-yard sprinters coming down a short straight track lose a fraction of a second of their speed by slowing up too soon.
The half-mile run requires even a greater judgment of gait than does the quarter, and it is a much harder race to run, having now been developed into such a speedy contest that a man should never attempt to enter any other event in games where he runs a half-mile. Moreover, the athlete who adopts the half-mile as his specialty should give up every other event and train continuously and solely for that distance. ”

“ In learning the art of shooting on the wing—and this is the only way in which a shot-gun should be used—the following suggestions may be of some help, but no amount of printed directions can teach you to shoot. Practice is the best teacher. Nine out of ten young sportsmen shoot too quickly. A game bird rises with a startling whir of the wing (and sometimes when least expected) , which gives the idea that he is making much greater speed than he really is. Beginners are apt to become excited, and throw up the gun anywhere in that direction, and blaze away with no definite aim. ”

“ As Alaric, with a crimson face and a choking in his throat, sought in vain for some outlet of escape from the tormentors who surrounded him, and at the same time longed with a bitter longing for the power to annihilate them, a lad somewhat older than the others forced his way through the throng and demanded to know what was the row. He was Dave Carncross, the pitcher, and one of the best amateur players of his age on the coast.
"It's Miss Allie Todd," explained Reg Barker, "and her ladyship is offering to show us how to play ball." ”

“ He knows well that he is not safe from the ravenous ermine or the cunning fox, so be proceeds to tunnel from his nest in an opposite direction to the entrance of the burrow—a passage which ends in the open air at a considerable distance from the original place of entrance. The dry arctic snow above the nest packs with such closeness that any footfall thereon extends its vibrations a long distance, so that unless the little lemming is asleep, his acute senses give him warning of the stealthy coming of the ermine or fox in his pursuit. ”

“ For two miles further the animal was followed, when a third ball broke both fore paws just as the animal was in the act of jumping to reach a high rock. The force of the blow carried the animal over a cliff, where it rolled down a steep decline for nearly two hundred feet, and when picked up it still showed signs of life. It seemed to us to be a most astonishing example of tenacity on the part of any animal, much more of one usually thought to be timid and weak. ”

“ Do you see to what a condition the heat of Summer has reduced me—me who am so strong and so powerful; who raise up the waves, who lay low the fields, whose force nothing can resist? This sultry day has killed me. ”

“ If you have a '95 wheel, therefore, which has run about a 1000 miles, two courses are open to you. You may be able to get $50 for it, and by putting another $50 with that, buy a new one; or you can spend ten or fifteen dollars on the '95 wheel and have a bicycle practically as good as can be obtained for ordinary use. If you are riding bicycle-races, or going in for long-distance records and thousand-mile tours, it will unquestionably pay you to get what you can for the old machine, and buy a new one of the highest price. ”

“ There is no doubt that the lemming's characteristic rashness is as fertile a source of danger as is the activity of his pursuers. Often when escape is certain, a delay to show his courage proves fatal. If he is quite a distance from his burrow or a snow-bank, his chance of escape by direct flight is hopeless. When this is the case, he always dies with his face to the foe. ”

“ The horse stopped short, braced himself and the Indian began to grin, expecting to see the boat capsize, but he forgot that the boat had a speed of a hundred miles an hour on and weighed three times as much as the horse in the bargain. He found out in a minute though, for the rope snapped taut, yanked the horse out from under the Indian, threw the Indian over on his own neck and broke it, and went sailing over the prairie with the poor, kicking horse in tow. Billie stopped the yacht as quick as he could for the horse's sake, though it couldn't hurt him much towing him through the soft sand. ”

“ The principal rules are that the ball may be thrown with one or both hands, but the person must not throw it while he is down or on his knees. He must not run with the ball, and he must not step over the base-lines. Breaking any of the above rules counts as a foul, and one point is given in each case to the side not at fault. The length of game is decided upon by the captains of the teams and the referee before play is started, and the side having the most points at the end of the allotted time is the winner. ”

“ Occasionally—say once a week—try a 100 yards for speed, and about every tenth day take a trial quarter on time.
The most important of all things in running the middle distances is that the athlete should become a judge of pace. He must know just how fast he is going. It takes time, of course, to acquire this knowledge, but the good men in the events know just how rapidly they are travelling around the track, and can tell to a fifth of a second what their gait has been for any fraction of the course. ”

“ When you are travelling, or are in any place where a stranger performs a kind and obliging act, acknowledge the courtesy by a simple bow and a thank you. The man who rises and gives you a seat in a car is entitled to this acknowledgment, and so is any one who, at any time, shows you politeness. But you must not enter into conversation with strangers, nor make new acquaintances in public.
Any question in regard to photograph matters will be willingly answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions. ”

“ Baseball practice in New York has not begun in earnest yet, but it is probable that the average of the teams will be stronger than they were last spring, as there seems to be a renewal of interest in the national game, which has led a pretty precarious existence here for the last two seasons.
The interscholastic contests that are being held from time to time in the gymnasium of the New Manhattan Athletic Club are excellent things, and will serve to develop a good many young athletes who would not otherwise have a chance to show what there is in them. ”

“ In a place like New York city, or Chicago, or Philadelphia, or Boston, one can pick up a good wheel for half price which will be sure to last him a year without expense or annoyance. Somebody with a superfluity of money is willing to let his wheel go at any price in order to have an excuse for buying a new one; and such a man usually gives a bicycle a minimum amount of use. ”

“ What the club is trying to do is to help the young men interested in sport by relieving them, as far as possible, from the business part of athletics, and thus to make sport purer; and after this has been successfully accomplished, the N.M.A.C. will be very glad to see all these honest young sportsmen competing as members of its organization—an organization which, I hope, will stand for cleanliness in sport just as prominently as at one time it stood for the very opposite.
The gymnasium work of the Trinity School has developed a new game there. ”

“ When momentarily expecting a bird to rise, and obliged to have the gun cocked, it should be carried across the breast with a sharp upward slope to the left. This is the only way the gun should be carried cocked. A breech-loader is so easily unloaded that there is no excuse for getting into a wagon or boat, or going around a house, without unloading. Never hand a loaded gun to any one who asks to look at it. Whenever you pick up any kind of a gun to examine it, always open it and see if it is loaded, and the habit will grow so that you will do this almost without knowing it. ”

“ What might appear to be an inch at the muzzle of the gun might really be a foot in front of a bird forty yards away. It must be learned by experience, and when accustomed to it the aim will be taken almost instantly, governed by the direction of flight, the speed of the bird, and the distance from the shooter.
It is best to ask permission of the owner to shoot over his land. You will seldom be refused, and will frequently be given permission to shoot over land which is posted "No Shooting." The land-owners know that it is the lawless hoodlums who do them damage. ”

“ Let us now turn to the means and methods by which these animals succeed in maintaining life, which, it has been made evident, can only be done by the highest order of intelligence, courage, and endurance.
The smallest of these arctic animals is the lemming, which looks to one not a naturalist like a thick, short-tailed mouse, some four inches long, excluding his scant inch of tail. The lemming forms the principal food of the ermine and fox, while in summer it is likewise pursued by the robber gulls and the arctic owl. ”