The Polo costume is a very bright one, generally consisting of a colored shirt, tight-fitting cloth pantaloons, and gaiters, with the small cap that is well known as a "Polo cap." There may be any number of players on a side, from one to a dozen. The ball is made of wood, painted white, and looks like a base-ball. The mallet, which is called a "stick," has a handle six or seven feet long, and is used to drive the ball into the home of the enemy. Each side has its goal, made by driving two poles into the ground about six feet apart. The ball is laid in the centre of the ground, and at a signal the players make a dash for it. Whichever side succeeds in driving it through the goal of its opponents is the victor. The games that are played on the Polo Grounds in the upper part of New York city are usually very pretty sights. They are attended almost always by a number of ladies and gentlemen of fashion, who drive out in four-horse coaches, and are shielded from the sun either by the stationary awning, or by bright-colored tents, often made of the finest materials. In the heat of the summer the Polo centre is changed from New York to Newport, where most of the players are gathered. The last game at Newport for this season was played only a few days ago. A number of the fortunate New York boys who have spent the summer at Newport have been practicing frequently, with a view to making their first appearance in public in this city next spring. Some of them by a few months' practice have become very expert players.
[GARFIELD'S BOYHOOD.]
The late President Garfield was born in a log-cabin—a real cabin, for it had only one room. The roof was of rude split shingles, and the floor of puncheons. His father died while the boy was still a baby, leaving the mother very poor, with four children to bring up as best she could. The country, Northern Ohio, was wild and new, and the boys had small opportunity for education, and few companions of their own age. Except the Bible, there were almost no books in that region, and there were no periodicals for young people then, so that even if the young Garfields had been able to spare time for reading, they had nothing to read.
MOLLIE GARFIELD.
From a Photograph by J. F. Ryder, Cleveland, Ohio.
The boy who afterward became President of the United States found himself born apparently to a life of hard country work. As soon as he could do anything on the farm, he began to help, and as he grew older, the only change that came to him was a steady increase in the amount and difficulty of the work he had to do. It was only by hard work, indeed, that the family could live at all. His mother—the dear, brave old lady to whom we have all become attached—not only attended to all her household duties, but toiled hard besides. She made the clothes for her family, and took in sewing from the neighbors. She worked in the fields, too, and even helped in the clearing of timber land, her boys working with her.
HARRY A. GARFIELD.
From a Photograph by C. M. Bell, Washington, D.C.