The Book of Sports.

by William Martin.

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 a.s.sent 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 ent.i.tled 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 ill.u.s.trate 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 pa.s.sed 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 s.p.a.ce 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 pa.s.s 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 ill.u.s.trated by this game. It is one of the laws of motion, that the velocities of _falling bodies_ are in proportion to the s.p.a.ce pa.s.sed over; and the s.p.a.ce pa.s.sed 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 quant.i.ty of velocity or force expressed in the angle 1; but when it pa.s.ses to C, it has the quant.i.ty expressed in the three angles 3; when it pa.s.ses to D, it has the quant.i.ty expressed in the angle 5; when it pa.s.ses to E, it has the quant.i.ty 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 s.p.a.ce 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 s.p.a.ce between the Sun and him; for Venus, the s.p.a.ce between Venus and Mercury; for the Earth, the s.p.a.ce between the Earth and Venus; for Mars, the s.p.a.ce between Mars and the Earth; for Jupiter, the s.p.a.ce between Jupiter and Mars; for Saturn, the s.p.a.ce between Saturn and Jupiter; for Herschel, the s.p.a.ce between Herschel and Saturn.