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THE
BOOK OF SPORTS:

CONTAINING
OUT-DOOR SPORTS,
AMUSEMENTS AND RECREATIONS,
INCLUDING
GYMNASTICS, GARDENING & CARPENTERING,

For Boys and Girls.

BY

WILLIAM MARTIN,
AUTHOR OF "FIRESIDE PHILOSOPHY," "THE PARLOUR BOOK,"
"INTELLECTUAL CALCULATOR," ETC. ETC. ETC.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:
DARTON AND CO., HOLBORN HILL.

M.DCCC.LII.

J. WERTHEIMER AND CO., PRINTERS, FINSBURY CIRCUS.

[Illustration]




CONTENTS.


  PREFACE                                                   vii


  I. GAMES WITH MARBLES.
    Ring Taw                                                  9
    Lag Out or Knock Out                                     10
    Three Holes                                              12
    Arches                                                   13
    Bonce-Eye                                                13
    Sun and Planet Taw                                       15
    Pyramid                                                  19


  II. GAMES FOR COLD WEATHER.
    Prisoners' Base                                          21
    Stag Out                                                 22
    Warning                                                  23
    Mouse in the Corner                                      23
    King of the Castle                                       24
    Hippas                                                   24
    Thread the Needle                                        24
    Touch                                                    25
    Bowls                                                    26
    Quoits                                                   27
    Why and Because                                          27
    Bombardment of a Snow Castle                             29
    Bandy Ball or Golf                                       31
    Foot Ball                                                32
    Trussing                                                 32
    Follow my Leader                                         33
    Blindman's Buff                                          33
    Tip-Cat                                                  34
    Jingling                                                 35
    French and English                                       36


  III. DANGEROUS GAMES.
    Heap the Bushel                                          37
    Drawing the Oven                                         37
    Hop-Scotch                                               38
    Basting the Bear                                         38
    Buck, Buck                                               38


  IV. GYMNASTICS.                                            39
    Walking                                                  44
    Running                                                  45
    Leaping                                                  46
    Climbing                                                 49
    Rope Ladder                                              50
    Slant Board                                              50
    Vaulting                                                 50
    Balancing                                                51


  V. CRICKET.                                                55
    Laws of the Game of Double Wicket                        59
    The Bowler                                               61
    The Striker                                              62
    The Wicket-Keeper                                        64
    Laws for Single Wicket                                   65
    Bets                                                     67


  VI. SWIMMING.                                              69
    Preliminary Exercises in Swimming                        78
    Bernardi's System                                        83


  VII. GARDENING.                                            89
    How to keep a Garden all the year round, with
      directions for each month                             105


  VIII. CARPENTERING.                                       115
    Uses of the various Tools:--Plane, Chisel Gimlet,
      Mallet, Hammer, Files and Nails.                      116
    Stuff and Labour                                        121


  IX. KEEPING POULTRY.                                      123
    Nature and Situation of Fowl-House                      124
    The Various Breeds of Fowl                              126
    Choice of Stock                                         128
    Food and Feeding                                        128
    Laying                                                  129
    Preservation of Eggs                                    129
    Hatching Chickens                                       130


  X. BEES.                                                  131
    Queen Bee.--Drone.--Construction of Nests.--How
      to get a Stock of Bees.--Hiving                       134




PREFACE.


The prime object of this book is to induce and to teach boys and girls
to spend their hours out of school in such a manner, as to gain innocent
enjoyment while they promote their own health and bodily strength. The
Author has never lost sight of this object, considering it to be what
properly belongs to a Book of Sports.

He has, however, in many instances, had in view, in a subordinate
degree, the intellectual improvement of his young readers. He hopes that
several of the games, now described in print for the first time, will be
found, if not "royal roads," at least delightful ones, to the knowledge
of many scientific facts. There seems to be no good reason why the
_utile_ (considered intellectually as well as bodily) should not find
its place in the sports of young people, if it be so skilfully combined
with the _dulce_ as not to convert pleasure into toil.

To those who assent to what has been stated, the introduction of a
chapter on gardening will need no apology.




PART I.

GAMES WITH MARBLES.


One of the best games with marbles is

RING TAW.

[Illustration]

This is played in the following manner:--A circle should be drawn about
four feet in diameter, and an inner circle of about six inches being
also marked out in its centre, into this each boy puts a marble. "Now
then, boys, knuckle down at the offing, which is in any part of the
outer circle. Now, whoever shoots a marble out of the ring is entitled
to go on again: so mind your shots; a good shot may clear the ring.
After the first shot, the players do not shoot from the offing, but from
the place where the marble stops after it has been shot from the
knuckle. Every marble struck out of the ring belongs to the party who
hits it; but if the taw remains in the inner ring, either after it has
struck a marble or not, the player is out, and must put in all the
marbles he has won. If one player strike another player's taw, the
player to whom the taw belongs is out; and he must give up all the
marbles he has won to the player whose taw struck his."


LAG OUT OR KNOCK OUT.

This game is played by throwing a marble against the wall, which
rebounds to a distance. Others then follow; and the boy whose marble
strikes against any of the others is the winner. Some boys play the game
in a random manner; but the boy who plays with skill judges nicely of
the law of forces, that is, he calculates exactly the force of the
rebound, and the direction of it.

The first law of motion is, that everything preserves a state of rest,
or of uniform rectilineal (that is, straight, motion), unless affected
by some moving force.

Second law.--Every change of motion is always proportioned to the degree
of the moving force by which it is produced, and it is made in the line
of direction in which that force is impressed.

Third law.--Action and reaction are always equal and contrary, or the
mutual action of two bodies upon each other are always equal and
directed to contrary parts.

To illustrate the first of these laws,--a marble will never move from
the ground of itself, and once put in motion, it will preserve that
motion until some other power operates upon it in a contrary direction.

With regard to playing Lag Out so as to win, you must further understand
the principle of reflected motion. If you throw your marble in a
straight line against the wall, you find that it comes back to you
nearly in a straight line again. If you throw it ever so slightly on one
side, or obliquely, it will fly off obliquely on the opposite side. If
you throw the marble from the point C to the point B, it will fly off in
the direction of the point A, and if a marble lay there it would hit it;
but if you threw it from the point D, you would stand no chance.

         WALL
  _________________
          B
         /|\
        / | \
       /  |  \
      /   |   \
     /    |    \
    /     |     \
   /      |      \
  /       |       \
  C       D        A

In science, the angle C, B, D, is called the angle of incidence, and D,
B, A, is called the angle of reflection.


THREE HOLES.

[Illustration]

Three Holes is not a bad game. To play it, you must make three small
holes about four feet apart: then the first shot tries to shoot a marble
into the first hole. If he gets in, he goes from that to the second, and
then to the third hole, after which he returns, and having passed up and
down three times, he thus wins the game. If he cannot get in the first
hole, the second player tries; and when he stops short at a hole, the
third, and so on. After any player has shot his marble into a hole, he
may fire at any adversary's marble to drive him away, and, if he hits
him, he has a right to shoot again, either for the hole or any other
player. The game is won by the player who gets first into the last hole
and works his way back again to the first, when he takes all his
adversaries' marbles.


ARCHES.

[Illustration]

To play arches, the players must be provided with a board of the
following shape, with arches cut therein; each arch being a little more
than the diameter of a marble, and each space between the arches the
same.

  +-----------------------------------------------+
  |                                               |
  |   8    6    5    3    1    2    4    7    9   |
  |  +-+  +-+  +-+  +-+  +-+  +-+  +-+  +-+  +-+  |
  |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
  +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+

The boy to whom the bridge belongs receives a marble from each boy who
shoots, and gives to each the number of marbles over the arches should
they pass through them.


BONCE-EYE.

Bonce-Eye is played by each player putting down a marble within a small
ring, and dropping from the eye another marble upon them so as to drive
them out, those driven out being the property of the Boncer.

The law of falling bodies may be well illustrated by this game. It is
one of the laws of motion, that the velocities of _falling bodies_ are
in proportion to the space passed over; and the space passed over in
each instant increases in _arithmetical progression_, or as the numbers
1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

                  A
                /|
               /1|
              /__|B
            /|\ 3|
           /3|3\ |
          /__|__\|C
        /|\ 5|\ 5|
       /5|5\ |5\ |
      /__|__\|__\|D
    /|\ 7|\ 7|\ 7|
   /7|7\ |7\ |7\ |
  /__|__\|__\|__\|E

By the annexed diagram it will be seen, that if a marble fall from the
hand at A, when it reaches B it has only the quantity of velocity or
force expressed in the angle 1; but when it passes to C, it has the
quantity expressed in the three angles 3; when it passes to D, it has
the quantity expressed in the angle 5; when it passes to E, it has the
quantity expressed by the seven angles marked 7. Thus we may understand
why a tall boy has a better chance at Bonce-Eye than a short one.

It is found by experiment, that a body falling from a height moves at
the rate of 16-1/12 feet in the first second; and acquires a velocity of
twice that, or 32-1/6 feet, in a second. At the end of the next second,
it will have fallen 64-1/3 feet; the space being as the square of the
time. The square of 2 is 4; and 4 times 16-1/12 is 64-1/3; by the same
rule, it will be found, that in the third second it will fall 144-3/4
feet; in the fourth second, 257-1/3; and so on. This is to be
understood, however, as referring to bodies falling where there is no
air. The air has a considerable effect in diminishing their velocity of
descent.


SUN AND THE PLANET TAW.

[Illustration]

This is an entirely new game, and consists of the Sun in the centre,
which may be represented by a bullet, because the sun is the most
ponderous body of the system, and will in this game be required to move
slowly. The planets moving round him, with their satellites, I represent
by marbles. Now, each boy must take the place of a planet; and having
taken it, he is required to put down as many marbles as there are
satellites belonging to it. The boy who plays Mercury, puts down only
one for his planet; the boy who plays Venus does the same; he who plays
the Earth, has to put down one for the Earth, and one for the Moon, its
satellite; the boy who plays Mars puts down Mars and the four satellites
that lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; the boy who plays
Saturn puts down one for the planet, and draws a ring round it, outside
of which he puts the seven satellites in any position he chooses; the
boy who plays the planet Herschel, puts down one for the planet, and six
for the satellites. Each boy, having taken his place in this manner,
lays down his taw on any part of the orbit of his planet he pleases,
being the point from which he must make his first shot.

The rules of the game are very easy; but it is necessary to be perfectly
acquainted with them, as it saves much trouble, and prevents disputes;
and no one ought to play till he understands them tolerably well.

1. The players must each put his marble into a hat, and turn down the
hat over the sun; then, as the marbles fall near or far from the sun,
the planets are taken.

2. The player who puts in Mercury has the first shot.

3. No planet can be taken till the Sun has been struck beyond the orbit
of Mercury.

4. The player who strikes the Sun beyond the orbit of Mercury, receives
from the person who holds the orbit, as many marbles as there are
planets or satellites in the orbit in which it stops.

5. The orbits are,--for Mercury, all the space between the Sun and him;
for Venus, the space between Venus and Mercury; for the Earth, the space
between the Earth and Venus; for Mars, the space between Mars and the
Earth; for Jupiter, the space between Jupiter and Mars; for Saturn, the
space between Saturn and Jupiter; for Herschel, the space between
Herschel and Saturn.

6. If a player succeeds in knocking the Sun on the line of his own
orbit, he receives one from every shooter so long as it remains there.

7. If the Sun is knocked against a planet, the player doing so has to
pay two to the owner of the planet.

8. If the Sun be struck within the orbit of a planet, the player
striking it receives one if for Herschel, two for Saturn, three for
Jupiter, four for Mars, five for the earth, six for Venus, and seven for
Mercury.

9. The player who succeeds in knocking the Sun beyond the orbit of
Herschel, wins the game; that is, he receives one from each player, and
all the marbles on the stake in the inner circle.


MOTIONS OF THE PLANETS AND THEIR SATELLITES.

10. When a planet is knocked out of the outer ring (the orbit of
Herschel), it belongs to him who strikes it out: the loser must replace
it by putting a marble down in its _original_ place.

11. When a planet is struck within the orbit of any other planet, the
player striking it there has to pay him to whom the orbit belongs, as
many marbles as there are satellites.

12. Should a player's taw, after it has struck another taw, a planet, or
a satellite, fall into its own orbit, he has to put one in the inner
ring as stakes for the winner of the game.

13. If a player gets his taw within the inner ring, it must remain there
for the winner, and he cannot play any more.

14. If a player has all his satellites taken, he then becomes a Comet,
and can shoot from any part of any of the orbits every time the Sun is
struck.

15. No player can shoot at his own planet or satellite.

16. Any player who strikes a planet or satellite within Saturn's ring,
forfeits three to the inner circle. If he strikes the Sun, then he may
take up Saturn and all his satellites remaining within his orbit.

17. After the first shot, every player must shoot from the place at
which his taw rests.

       *       *       *       *       *

Such are the laws of Sun and Planet Taw, and it will be found that in
playing the game, some degree of thought is requisite, and a little
calculation respecting the moves. It may be judicious for a good shooter
to keep the Sun within the orbits as long as possible; or till such time
as the inner ring gets _fat_ with the forfeitures, or he may drive him
from orbit to orbit where the forfeitures are large. He will endeavour
to place him on the line of his own orbit. He may also strive to place
his adversaries' taws within the inner ring, and to be careful in
striking planets that they fall into the orbits where the forfeitures
are small. By thus thinking of what he is about and exercising
forethought and prudence, he will soon become expert, and by paying
attention to the game he will make it his own.


PYRAMID.

To play Pyramid, a small circle of about two feet in diameter should be
made on the ground, in the centre of which is a pyramid formed by
several marbles