Various

“ During my travels I have had so many strange adventures, I have endured so many days of hunger and starvation, I have had so many hair-breadth escapes, I have seen so many strange sights, I have met face to face so many savage and fierce men and still more savage and dangerous beasts, that I could spend days in recounting to you the adventures of my life. ”

“ The offensive work of the tackle depends largely upon the play and his assignment in it. In blocking he should always take the man nearest the centre, as he is the nearest to the starting-point of the play, and therefore the most dangerous. In that case he should call in his guard to take his man. On plays through and around the other side of the line, the tackle should momentarily block his man, and then get into the push or interference.
When the tackle himself takes the ball, he should be careful not to give his intention away. ”

“ To-day he is chief of forwards, there being no duplicate to his position, as there is of tackle and guard. Every play starts from the centre rush, and depends upon him for a large share of its success or failure. The position is one requiring painstaking, conscientious hard work, admitting of very little glory, although the centre handles the ball more than any other player. On the offensive, the first duty of the centre rush is to put the ball in play. Much depends upon this. The team can play no faster than he does. If he is slow, the whole thing is slow. ”

“ The ball is put into play by a delicate wrist motion back and downward.
The defensive-work of the centre is almost illimitable. He can be of as much or of as little use to his side as he has a mind to. He has more opportunity for brilliant tackles than any other man on his side, for the sole reason that he is not expected to do anything, and is the unaccounted-for man. His own man is handicapped by having to snap the ball, and he has no other assignment except that man. He should remain in his position long enough to see whether the play is coming at him or not. ”

“ Africa is a wonderful country. There are great sandy deserts, extensive ranges of mountains, immense prairies, vast tracts of brushwood, swampy lands, great rivers and lakes; but the wonder of that large continent is the great equatorial forest I discovered, and which contains so many wild animals and interesting tribes of people. ”

“ Tackle.—If there is any one position in the line harder to play than another, that position is tackle. The tackle must look out for territory on both sides of him, and be ready to help either guard or end, as the emergency requires. The great majority of the plays are aimed at him. His constant study must be how to meet each particular play in every style of offence. He should stand about four feet from his guard, and should not allow himself to be drawn out further than six feet; the wider his line is drawn out, the weaker it will be and the more territory he will have to cover. ”

“ It ought to require no more changing to throw than a baseball. The ball is picked up with the fingers over one end of it, the other end is bound to point along the arm, and thus it is ready for throwing. When the ball is snapped end over end, the quarter-back takes an entirely different position. He should stand squarely behind the centre, both feet being nearly on a line. He should stand near enough to take the ball on the first bound just the moment before the ball reaches the point where it begins to fall. ”

“ The great gorilla, which I discovered, is the terror of the natives, and is called by them the Giant of the Forest. The strong man of the woods wanders continually in search of fruits, berries, and nuts. When night comes he sleeps at the foot of a tree, while his wife, the female gorilla, is sleeping on its branches. The gorilla never makes a shelter or a house for himself. ”

“ Water-beetles and water-spiders also thrive well, and their habits are most interesting to watch; but water-beetles fly by night, and unless you are careful to cover your tank you are likely to discover some morning that a number of your tenants have taken French leave.
You must be careful not to overstock your aquarium, for your fish will not thrive if they are overcrowded. Remember, also, that heat and dust are fatal to your pets. The water must be kept clean and cool at all times, and all foreign matter and every particle of decaying vegetation should be removed immediately. ”

“ If the play is at him, by keeping his man away from him, he can get under and into either hole. If his own position is not attacked, he should take the hole nearest the runner. He can often go through between guard and centre by having his guard break to the outside, and the opposing guard, following him, makes the hole for centre to go through.
The Half-Back.—The function of the half-back is to carry the ball. The advance into the enemy's territory must be made by him, except that a tackle may occasionally be called on for a run. The position is a difficult, trying, and exhausting one. ”

“ The tackle should go nearly straight, so as to protect the centre of the field, the ends taking care of the sides.
The great bulk of the tackle's work is on the defensive. His duty is to tackle everything in sight. Clean, sharp breaking through is imperative in a tackle. The first thing a tackle should do when he steps into the line on the defence, is to notice his opponent's style of blocking, and adapt his method of breaking through accordingly.
Plays directed on the tackle call for great judgment and great strength. The tackle should, if possible, shove his man back and into the play. ”

“ As to the form of the half-back, it should be such as will not give away the direction in which he intends to run, yet such as will enable him to start at once upon the snap of the ball or signal. Many of the best backs give away the point of attack by unconscious glances and movements, things that should be studiously avoided. False starts are also to be guarded against, as they spoil the whole play and slow up the game. The backs should take, as far as possible, the same position in the given play every time. ”

“ The subject of position-play in football may best be covered by taking up and discussing each individual of the team in turn. The end rusher, therefore, should be chosen for agility, speed, endurance, and good judgment. The first three qualifications are necessary to enable him to avoid, break up, and worm his way into, through, or around the interference, tackle into its very midst, or take advantage of occasional fumbles. ”

“ But it was as light as a thistle ball, and when we turned it loose it rolled away across the prairie again as if nothing had happened.
"They're bad things sometimes when there is a prairie fire," said Jack. "No matter how wide the fire-break may be, a blazing tumbleweed will often roll across it, and set fire to the grass beyond. They've been known to leap over streams of considerable width, too, or fall in the water and float across, still blazing. ”

“ The fact that a guard must stand lower than tackle, and has less and different kind of territory to cover, will prevent him ordinarily from using as many methods of breaking through as a tackle. He must take some method of getting through that will enable him to use the body of his opponent to cover the territory between him and centre, and to enable him to get out and back up tackle, and that will put him through back to back with his man before the runner reaches the line.
Centre Rush.—The position of centre rush is comparatively a new one. ”

“ What narrow escapes I have had with snakes, scorpions, centipedes! I wonder sometimes that I am alive to tell of the things I have seen. I never used to lie down without looking for these creeping things. You think, naturally, that a man's life must be miserable on that account. Not at all; one gets accustomed to everything in the world. ”

“ Do not carry the ball too far under the arm. The ball should be carried so that it may be shifted in order to use the nearest arm to ward off would-be tacklers. It is surprising how many tacklers can be warded off by using that arm like a piston-rod against every man that comes up. In line-breaking, the back should remember to keep his feet and fight for the last inch of ground. If he can only keep his feet and give his own side a chance to push, he is bound to gain ground. ”

“ Full-Back.—No player has cut so much ice in the winning or losing of big matches in the last two seasons as the full-back. The holding of big teams to small scores by inferior ones has been largely owing to good men in this position. Hence the growing appreciation of the demands of this position and its vital importance to the success of the eleven. Kicking to-day has come to be a part of the offensive game, and the full-back, consequently, the biggest ground-gainer of all the backs. The full-back should be chosen almost solely for his ability to kick. ”

“ Place the ball as far under you as possible; it shortens the distance. The advantage of the side snap is that the snapper can balance himself partly on the ball, so that he can ofttimes put the ball into play under very trying circumstances.
Second, the end-over-end, or snap on the shorter axis. This snap is in most general use at present. It requires more skill in handling than the other. It has the advantage that it is quicker when well executed, and enables the quarter to be of considerably more aid in the interference. ”

“ The lightning at times is so vivid that it pierces the foliage of the trees; and as to the heavy rain, it often falls like a solid sheet of water for hours, and this happens almost every night for nine months of the year. ”

“ He should be cool without being deliberate, enthusiastic without being excitable. He should be brimful of nervous force and energy and of tireless activity. He should be absolutely fearless, and of positive force of character. The quarter-back should have constant, painstaking practice in handling and passing the ball. All spare moments on and off the field can most profitably be put in by him in receiving the snap from his centre and passing to some back. By that practice he gets used to his centre and learns intuitively when and where the ball will come every time. ”