Walking on stilts is connected with balancing. A person can walk with greater security upon high than on low stilts. In some parts of France, the peasantry, in looking after their sheep, walk generally on stilts, and it only requires practise to make this as easy as common walking. Some few years ago, several of these stilt-walkers were to be seen in London, and they could run, jump, stoop, and walk with ease and security, their legs seeming quite as natural to them as those of the Stork.
PART V.
CRICKET.
Cricket is the king of games. Every boy in England should learn it. The young prince of Wales is learning it, and will some day be the prince of cricket-players, as I trust he will some day, a long while hence, however, let us hope, be king of merry England. I shall, therefore, be very particular concerning this noble game. It is played by a bat and ball, and consists of double and single wicket. The wicket was formerly two straight thin batons, called stumps, twenty-two inches high, which were fixed in the ground perpendicularly, six inches apart, and over the top of both was laid a small round piece of wood, called the bail, but so placed as to fall off readily if the stumps were touched by the ball. Of late years the wicket consists of three stumps and two bails; the middle stump is added to prevent the ball from passing through the wicket without beating it down; the external stumps are now seven inches apart, and all of them three feet two inches high. Single wicket requires five players on each side, and double wicket eleven; but the number in both instances may be varied at the pleasure of the two parties. At single wicket the striker with his bat is the protector of the wicket; the opponent party stands in the field to catch or stop the ball; and the bowler, who is one of them, takes his place by the side of a small baton or stump, set up for that purpose, twenty-two yards from the wicket, and thence delivers the ball with the intention of beating it down. It is now usual to set up two stumps with a bail across, which the batsman, when he runs, must beat off before he returns home. If the bowler prove successful, the batsman retires from the play and another of his party succeeds; if, on the contrary, the ball is struck by the bat, and driven into the field beyond the reach of those who stand out to stop it, the striker runs to the stump at the bowler's station, which he touches with his bat, and then returns to his wicket. If this be performed before the ball is thrown back, it is called a run, and a notch or score is made upon the tally towards the game; if, on the contrary, the ball be thrown up and the wicket beaten down by the opponent party before the striker is home or can ground his bat within three feet ten inches of the wicket (at which distance a mark is made in the ground, called the popping crease), he is declared to be out, and the run is not reckoned. He is also out if he strike the ball into the air and it is caught by any of his antagonists before it reaches the ground, and retained long enough to be thrown up again. When double wicket is played, two batsmen go in at the same time,—one at each wicket: there are also two bowlers, who usually bowl four balls in succession alternately. The batsmen are said to be in as long as they remain at their wickets, and their party is called the in-party; on the contrary, those who stand in the field with the bowlers, are called the out-party. Both parties have two innings, and the side that obtains the most runs in the double contest, claims the victory. These are the general outlines of this noble pastime, but there are many particular rules and regulations by which it is governed, and these rules are subject to frequent variations.
SINGLE WICKET.
Single wicket may be played with any number of players, and is better than double wicket for any number of players under seven. At double wicket, a small number of players would get so fatigued with running after the ball, that when it came to the last player's turn, he would find himself too tired, without resting a while. The first innings in single wicket must be determined by chance. The bowler should pitch the wickets, and the striker measure the distance for the bowling-stump. Measure a distance of the length of the bat, and then one of the striker's feet, from the middle stump in a direction towards the bowling stump: there make a mark, which is the same as the popping-crease, and this will show when you are on the ground; place your bat upright on the mark at the place where the measure came to, and ask the bowler whether your bat is before the middle of your wicket; here make a mark on the ground, which is generally called the blocking-hole.
The bowler now begins to bowl, and the striker should endeavour to hit any ball which comes within his compass, or if the ball given be not favourable for that purpose, he may block it; but in blocking he must be careful never to let the tip of the bat come before the handle, as the ball in such a case will probably rise in the air towards the bowler, and he will be caught out. In running, the striker must touch the bowling-stump with his bat or person, or it is no run, and he may be put out if he do no put his bat or some part of his person on his ground before the ball touches his wicket.
With three players, the bowler and striker will be the same as when two are at play; the second player will be fieldsman, who, when the ball be hit nearer to him than to the bowler, will pick it up, or catch it if he can, and return it to the bowler. If the striker should attempt to run, the bowler should immediately run to the wicket, and the fieldsman should throw the ball to him, so that he may catch it, and touch the wicket with it to get the striker out. When the first striker is out, the fieldsman will take his place, the striker will bowl, and the bowler will take the field. When four players are engaged, the fourth should stand behind the wicket; and when five or more play, the additional players should take the field. The rule in such a case is simply, that as soon as a striker is out he becomes bowler, then he becomes wicket-keeper, and then he takes his place in the field on the left of the bowler, and afterwards the other places in regular progression, until it is his turn to have a new innings.