HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE.
Single Copies, 4 cents; One Subscription, one year, $1.50; Five Subscriptions, one year, $7.00—payable in advance, postage free.
The Volumes of Harper's Young People commence with the first Number in November of each year.
Subscriptions may begin with any Number. When no time is specified, it will be understood that the subscriber desires to commence with the Number issued after the receipt of the order.
Remittances should be made by Post-Office Money-Order or Draft, to avoid risk of loss.
HARPER & BROTHERS,
Franklin Square. N. Y.
WEIGHING THE BABY.
[THE GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF CROQUET.]
BY G. B. BARTLETT.
As summer dries up the moist paths and lawns, the boys are eager for new out-of-door games, and we will hunt for them, where most good things come from—in the distant past, the games of which are the new ones of to-day.
The boys of 1881 are advised to reproduce one of the first games ever played in merrie England, one in which kings and princes delighted to join, and in honor of which a celebrated avenue still retains its ancient name. Very little can be ascertained about this game and the manner of playing it, as the only authentic record which we can find consists of a picture of one of its balls and mallets in the Bodleian manuscripts. A hint has also been discovered in another book, from which we have gathered ideas enough to describe a game full of novelty and interest to both boys and girls, in addition to its deep historical and literary associations. From the form of the simple implements preserved in the picture, Pall Mall may certainly be considered as the ancestor of Croquet, for the idea of a ball driven by a mallet was doubtless derived from it.
The best mall for this game is a hard concrete or gravel walk seven feet in width and forty feet in length. Doubtless after this game becomes widely known through the great circulation of Harper's Young People, malls for this purpose will be made on many pleasure-grounds; but it can be played on any lawn by inclosing a space with small posts, to which a line is fastened six inches from the ground, and ruling out all balls that roll outside of the boundary or pass under the line. When played on a path or avenue, the boundaries are marked by the grass or border on each side. Any number of players can join, each one being provided with one ball and mallet. The best ball for the purpose is the smallest size of those used in bowling-alleys, made of hard heavy wood, four inches in diameter. Each player must be able to identify his ball at once among a crowd, for which purpose each should be marked with a spot of different color. The mallet must be made of oak, with a head nine inches long and four inches thick, through which a very strong handle is securely fastened, projecting three feet at least. It is well to have the handles of these mallets of various lengths, to accommodate tall or short players, as the ball should be hit without stooping, and on the run.
Upon the mall lines are made with white lime, flour, or plaster; one for the starting-point, one in the centre, one at the goal, and one six feet from the starting-point. All these lines cross the mall, excepting the one six feet from the start, which is a circle four feet across, made by fastening a string to a post, and drawing a ring on the ground with another stick tied to the post by a string two feet long, and marking the circle thus made with plaster. The goal is a small board, with a peg eighteen inches long at the middle of the lower edge, by which it is driven into the ground. At equal distances from this peg arches are cut in the goal six inches high and five inches wide, and just over the peg a circle of the same size as the ball is made with white chalk.
As the first stroke is important, it is determined by placing all the balls on the circle in front of the starting-place, and allowing each player to knock his ball; and the one whose ball goes farthest along the mall has the precedence, and the next one in order has the second choice. These two players then choose sides in turn, and direct the game. The object is to hit the white circle of the goal, with the fewest strokes, without sending the ball outside of the mall. Any player who sends his own ball or that of an adversary off the mall before it reaches the centre line causes that ball to be out of the game. Any ball knocked off the mall, after passing the centre line, may return once only to the starting-point for a second trial. Any ball sent through either of the arches in the goal, before hitting the white ring, is out of the game. Players who have passed the centre line may knock either way, but before reaching the centre must always play toward it.
When a player has hit the circle on the goal, without being hit, he can, if he prefers, let his ball remain, and play against the others, or remove his ball to count on his side; but if not taken off, his ball is equally liable with the others to be knocked off the mall or through the arch, in which case it is out of the game.
A player who clears the centre line at one knock can play again, and if he hits the circle with one knock more, his side wins the game. Great judgment is thus required in the force applied to each stroke, especially when many balls are in the mall, as the player runs the risk of knocking off friends and adversaries alike. To gain force for the blow each has the choice of running along the mall from the starting-point. The side wins which hits the centre ring first with the most balls, as it seldom happens that more than three balls reach the goal without going through it or being knocked off the mall. The contest grows hot around the goal, as many players send their own balls off the mall in their eager efforts to knock away those of their adversaries, and the game is at an end only when every ball has hit the circle or is out of the game either by going through the goal or off the mall, as after passing the centre line one may play toward the goal or against any ball in either direction.
"Hey, Johnny, come and get these purps quick—one of 'em's for you, anyhow—I's caught fast to somethin'!"