Various

“ Men will unconsciously glance in the direction they are about to run. If a rusher is to take the ball, it is easier to note that fact than when the leather is going to a half-back, because the rusher is bound to assume a somewhat different position from that he would take if he were only going to block, or make a hole, or break through.
As soon as the captain or any other player discovers, or feels reasonably confident that he has discovered, what the next play of the opposing team is going to be, he should impart the information to the rest of the team. ”

“ The best team-work in the rush-line, however, is to be obtained by the playing together of the centre and his two guards. It is absolutely necessary that these men should act like a machine, with precision and celerity, for they are the keystone of the whole team. They should not only have a perfect understanding among one another, but with the men behind them. They must watch the opposing backs, and try to let their own rear men through upon them wherever a certain defense for certain plays may seem best. The ends and tackles form another division of the rush-line which acts as a unit. ”

“ Arriving side by side at a soapweed which marked the southern limit of the river-bottom, the boys put their beasts to the height of their speed, and rode for a dead cottonwood which raised its bleached and barkless branches beside the road three hundred yards beyond.
This stretch was raced over every mail-day, with varying victory for horse and mule. To-day the mule reached the tree half a length ahead, and Teddy was consequently in high glee.
"Ah, Reddy, my boy!" he shouted. "Eight times to your six! Better swap that pony for a mule, if you want to stand any chance with Puss!" ”

“ The American game has now become such that team-work is its most important feature. Brilliant individual players are valuable, and every captain should be glad to have as many as he can get; but I should much prefer to captain an eleven made up of inferior players who worked well together, than a team of brilliant individuals who played each for himself. Walter Camp says that "team-work is the road to victory," and he ought to know. ”

“ The important point to remember is, however, that you cannot assume the scorching position and the upright road position on the same bicycle without putting on different handle-bars. Hence, when you see a man trying this portion with high handles you know he is wrong. On the other hand, to start out for a pleasant afternoon run through the country for twenty-five miles in a scorching position is just as absurd as it would be if a man riding a horse in the Park for pleasure should assume the jockey seat. ”

“ A jockey when he is riding a racing horse in a big race rises in his stirrups, leans far forward, and crouches on the horse's neck: but because a jockey does this in a race—and advisedly so—is no reason for a gentleman to do the same when he is out for a jaunt on his cob of an afternoon. The two seats are both correct, but each belongs to its sphere. So it is with the bicycle. ”

“ In defensive team-work one of the most important things—next to watching the ball, of course—is for every man to try to discover what play the opposing eleven is going to make next. Having found what it will probably be, their endeavor must be to throw their whole force against it. It is frequently possible to determine not only what the enemy's probable move will be, but exactly what it will be. ”

“ His grandfather, the Emperor of Austria, was kind to him, and tried to make an Austrian of him, but he grew from a bright, handsome little fellow into a lonely, low-spirited, and brooding boy, who remembered his former grandeur and the high position to which he had been born, and fretted over the knowledge that he, the son of Napoleon, could inherit no portion of his father's glory, and was denied even the empty honor of his name. ”

“ There is a greater opportunity for team-work in defensive than in aggressive play. The former affords an excellent chance for the placing of the men so that they can concentrate their efforts to the best advantage in the resistance of the opponents' play. The captain decides beforehand who shall go through to tackle behind the line, who shall wait to see where the ball is coming through, and then block the runner, who shall wait back of the line as a reserve force, only to act if the ball is carried into his territory. ”

“ If the kick is safely made, every endeavor should go toward neutralizing its effect. This can be done by good and rapid team-play only, for, after all, the longest kick is of no great avail to your opponent unless he can keep the ball in the territory he has sent it into. The first thing to do, therefore, to neutralize his attack is to stop the opposing ends who are following the ball, and the next important thing is to give full and perfect protection to your own man, who is receiving the ball. ”

“ All this can be seen in the "correct position," and there can hardly be a question that this is the natural position for a man to take when he mounts his wheel for a run of a few miles. It naturally brings part of the weight of the body on the pedals, relieves the very uncomfortable weight on the saddle, and helps a rider to balance himself without the use of handle-bars, thus avoiding the "wriggling" of the wheel, which is so tiresome and so deadening to a steady road gait.
The position of a man who is racing is, of course, quite different, and it has a parallel in horse-racing. ”

“ There is no reason why a rider should want to have a long stride. It does not make any greater speed, and it actually detracts from the power of his stroke.
Now a word as to the ankle movement. Of course the force applied through the foot to the pedal at the moment when the latter is one-quarter way round the circle from the top, or, in other words, half-way "down," is the most valuable and powerful. Just as in rowing, the strength put into the oar when it is exactly at right angles with the boat is the most valuable. ”

“ Your dearest friend, and the next and next dearest, are at school with you, and what pleasures you share, what ambitions, what confidences! Do not let any stupid person laugh at you for being enthusiastic about your friend; you have a beautiful time with her, and she has with you and if any one makes fun of it, she shows that she has forgotten how girls feel. Mothers never consider their daughter's friendships as matters of small importance, and usually they love Marcia's and Edith's friends almost as dearly as the girls themselves do. ”

“ To begin with, then, let us take the ordinary upright position, such a position as will correspond to the upright position assumed by any one who is walking, by a good horseman in the saddle, by a cross-country runner in his run. There are rules for all these, and they are relatively the same. You want to give yourself plenty of room to breathe in. The chest ought to be well out, therefore, the shoulders thrown back, and the head up, so that you will not be crowding all the veins that send blood into your head by letting your neck sink into your shoulders. ”

“ The best team-play to defeat the object of a kick is still a matter of dispute. There are so many possibilities in the case and so many different directions for the ball to take that, after all, no method can be determined upon beforehand as the best defense. But every team should be provided with several moves for such occasions, and as usual it devolves upon the captain to decide which play to put in operation. ”

“ There are the backs, of course, upon whom this duty of tackling the runner should devolve, but rapid and judicious interference at the proper moment may overcome their efforts, and give to the enemy a clear field. Perhaps the safest way to meet an on-coming wedge is to try to force the peak—that is, to so concentrate your resistance as [Pg 923] to change the course of the aggressors and drive them across the field. They are thus exerting just as much of their strength as if they were advancing, and yet are gaining little or no ground. ”

“ Quick play is essential to successful and effective team-work. After a scrimmage and a down, play should begin at once, i.e., just as soon as the centre can secure the ball. Every man in the rush-line and all the backs should be in their positions without the slightest loss of time after they are sure the man who was running is down, and all should be alert for the signal for the next play, which is given during the line-up. ”

“ In other words, put as many men forward as you can with the object of securing the ball as soon after it is put into play as possible—while it is being snapped back to the quarter, while it is on its way to the half, while the half is catching it, while he is preparing to kick, while he is kicking, and just as it leaves his foot. ”

“ On the Assyrian slabs, and on more than one old European fresco, is seen the paddle-wheel for boats, although the propeller is not in evidence. The bicycle seems to have been known in China more than two hundred years ago, and the velocipede was seen in Europe even before that. On a pane of the ancient painted glass in the old church at Stoke Pogis, England, may be seen the representation of a young fellow astride of one of these machines. He is working his way along with the air of a rider who has introduced a novelty, and is the object of the unbounded admiration of a multitude of witnesses. ”

“ For such people bicycle riding is not by any means the healthiest exercise that could be found. In the first place, it is an extraordinary stimulus to the heart. If you dismount after working up a bad hill you may very possibly find your pulse at 150—something unusual in almost any running game. Then again, while riding exercises certain muscles of the legs admirably, the shoulders and back muscles are not only not getting much training, but in certain too common positions they are actually being distorted. ”

“ The most beautiful summer resort I have seen while travelling in Europe is Baden-Baden, situated in the Black Forest. Many people go there, one-fourth of whom are Americans. The air of the pine forest is very healthy. It is said that the climate in winter is very cold, so there are not many foreigners; but in the summer it is lovely. When you go walking in the woods you do not notice you are climbing, as the roads are so well kept. ”

“ The arms are rigid, the body is leaning on them. This thrusts the shoulders back until the shoulder-blades touch each other behind the shoulders. The lungs and neck are pushed forward, and every single muscle and nerve in the upper part of the trunk and neck is out of place. The result is that neither heart nor lungs get good opportunity for action, and the shape of your upper body is slowly but surely being deformed. In the other position, the correct one, the rider could at any moment take his hands from the handle-bar and not alter his position in any way. ”

“ A young life begun in glory went out in gloom; the Prince of the Tuileries became the prisoner of Vienna: the dream of empire was speedily dispelled, and death itself mercifully removed one who might have been a menace and a curse to Europe. ”

“ Imperfect exercise is better than none, and many people ride a wheel religiously who would not be persuaded to take any other regular exercise. The hours in the open air on a wheel are far better than nothing, therefore, and then, too, a good many other exercises [Pg 916] which are far more general, are for one reason or another beyond the reach of some of us. Horseback riding, for example, is a much more general and temperate exercise, but we cannot all support a stable. Walking is no doubt better than bicycling ”

“ Let the player who has first "heurt" drive his ball toward those in the ring and endeavor to displace them. If he touches one or more of the balls he is entitled to another turn, and now tries to drive one of the balls outside the ring, naming his choice by color. If he succeeds in knocking out a ball, he again tries, continuing to play until he fails to touch a ball. The second player then drives his ball toward the ring, having the further advantage of hitting his opponent's marteau. ”

“ I have never seen so many wild roses in my life as this summer, nor such acres of daisies in the day of them, and now the whole country is gay and glowing with our beautiful American flower, the golden-rod. ”

“ It is not well, however, for the runner to use his own discretion as to the manner in which he shall escape from the wedge after it has come against the opposing line. Team-work is invariably injured and weakened when one player holds discretionary power in a mass play. ”

“ In the same manner a diagonal kick, short, over the heads of the first men of the opponents, was exploited by some of the adventurous captains. But toward the end of the season the problem narrowed itself down to a question of the relative value of a kick, short enough, and in a sufficiently high slanting direction, to enable the rushers to get fairly well down to its falling-point, and a long kick driving the opponents back, admitting, it is true, of a run [Pg 922] in because the rushers cannot reach the dropping-point in time to down the man receiving the ball. ”

“ It is plain that if you have eleven men working as one, and directing all their force against a single point, you have a much more formidable engine than if the individuals making up the team are doing their best according to their own conceptions of the requirements of the situation. ”

“ In this, team-work is fully as important as in the defense, and in some cases more so. With the majority of football elevens team-work in aggression is much better done and more fully developed than in defensive play, but it is the team that can offer the best organized defense—all other things being equal—that will stand the better chance of success. The chief aggressive move now in use, and the one that has been most widely adopted by football-players in the past five years, is the interference wedge. ”