  The game is played by two teams, of eleven men each, upon a field 330 feet long and 160 feet wide, at either end of which are goal-posts with a cross-bar. The ball, which is like a large leather egg, is placed in the centre of this field, and each team endeavors to drive it in the direction of the opponents' goal-line, where any scoring must be done. Goals and touch-downs are the only points which count, and these can be made only as follows: A goal can be obtained by kicking the ball in any way except a punt (a certain kind of kick where the ball is dropped by a player and kicked before touching the ground) over the cross-bar of the opponents' goal. A touch-down is obtained by touching the ball to the ground behind the line of the goal. So, in either case, the ball must cross the end of the field in some way to make any score. The sole object, then, of all the struggles which take place in the field is to advance the ball to a position such that scoring is possible. A firm grasp of this idea usually simplifies matters very much for the casual spectator. The object of the white lines which cross the field at every five yards is merely to assist the referee in determining how far the ball moves at a time; for there is a rule which states that a team must advance the ball five yards in three attempts or retreat with it twenty. If they do not succeed in doing this, the other side take possession of the ball, and in their turn try to advance it. R. M. APPLETON. Harvard. R. M. APPLETON. Harvard. There are certain rules which govern the methods of making these advances, any infringement of which constitutes what is called a foul, and entails a penalty upon the side making it. Any player can run with the ball or kick it if, when he receives it, he is "on side"—that is, between the ball and his own goal-line. He may not take the ball if he is "off-side"—that is, between the ball and his opponents' goal-line—until an adversary has touched the ball. Whenever a player running with the ball is held, he must cry "down," and a man of his side then places the ball on the ground and snaps it back. This For the purposes of advancing the ball or repelling the attack of the opponents it has proved advisable for a captain to divide his eleven men into two general divisions: the forwards and backs. The forwards, of whom there are seven, are usually called rushers, and they make practically a straight line across the field when the ball is put in play on a "down." Next behind them is the quarter-back, who does the passing of the ball to one or another of the players, while just behind him are the two half-backs and the back, usually in something of a triangle in arrangement, with the last named nearest the goal which his team is defending. The following definitions will also aid the spectator in understanding many of A drop-kick is made by letting the ball fall from the hands, and kicking it at the very instant it rises. A place-kick is made by kicking the ball after it has been placed on the ground. A punt is made by letting the ball fall from the hands, and kicking it before it touches the ground. Kick-off is a place-kick from the centre of the field of play. Kick-out is a drop-kick, or place-kick, by a player of the side which has touched the ball down in their own goal, or into whose touch-in-goal the ball has gone. In touch means out of bounds. A fair is putting the ball in play, from touch. A foul is any violation of a rule. A touch-down is made when the ball is carried, kicked, or passed across the goal-line and there held, either in goal or touch-in-goal. A safety is made when a player, guarding his goal, receives the ball from a player of his own side, and touches it down behind his goal-line, or carries the ball across his own goal-line and touches it down, or puts the ball into his own touch-in-goal. A touch-back is made when a player touches the ball to the ground behind his own goal, the impetus which sent the ball across the line having been received from an opponent. A fair catch is a catch made direct from a kick by one of the opponents, provided the catcher made a mark with his heel at the spot where he made the catch. Interference is using the hands or arms in any way to obstruct or hold a player who has not the ball. The following is the value of each point in the scoring:
The rules which bear most directly upon the play are: The time of a game is an hour and a half, each side playing forty-five minutes from each goal. There is ten minutes' intermission between the two halves, and the game is decided by the score of even halves. The ball is kicked off at the beginning of each half; and whenever a goal has been obtained, the side which has lost it shall kick off. A player may throw or pass the ball in any direction except towards opponents' goal. If the ball be batted or thrown forward, it shall go down on the spot to opponents. If a player having the ball be tackled and the ball fairly held, the man so tackling shall cry "held," the one so tackled must cry "down," and some player of his side put it down for a scrimmage. If, in three consecutive fairs and downs, unless the ball cross the goal-line, a team shall not have advanced the ball five or taken it back twenty yards, it shall go to the opponents on spot of fourth. If the ball goes into touch, whether it bounds back or not, a player on the side which touches it down must bring it to the spot where the line was crossed, and there either bound the ball in the field of play, or touch it in with both hands, at right angles to the touch line, and then run with it, kick it, or throw it back; or throw it out at right A side which has made a touch-down in their opponents' goal must try at goal. THE END.BLAIKIE'S HOW TO GET STRONG.How to Get Strong, and How to Stay So. By William Blaikie. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. Mr. Blaikie has treated his theme in a practical common-sense way that appeals at once to the judgment and the understanding. A complete and healthful system of exercise is given for boys and girls; instructions are set down for the development of every individual class of muscles, and there is sound advice for daily exercise for children, young men and women, business men and consumptives. There are instructions for home gymnastics, and an easy routine of practice laid out.—Saturday Evening Gazette, Boston. Every word of it has been tested and confirmed by the author's own experience. It may be read with interest and profit by all.—Christian Instructor, Chicago. A successful performance, everything in the line of gymnastic exercise receiving copious illustrations by pen and pencil. The authors aim is genuinely philanthropic, in the right sense of the word, and his work is a useful contribution to the cause of physical culture.—Christian Register, Boston. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. The above work will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price. BLAIKIE'S SOUND BODIES.Sound Bodies for our Boys and Girls. By William Blaikie. With Illustrations. 16mo, Cloth, 40 cents. A manual of safe and simple exercises for developing the physical system. Mr. William Blaikie's new manual cannot fail to receive a warm welcome from parents and teachers, and should be introduced as a working text-book into thousands of schools throughout the country.—Boston Herald. A book which ought to be placed at the elbow of every school-teacher.—Springfield Union. The directions are so simple and sensible that they appeal to the reason of every parent and teacher.—Philadelphia Press. The influence of judicious exercise upon mind as well as body cannot be overestimated, and this will be a safe guide to this end, requiring no costume nor expensive apparatus.—Presbyterian, Philadelphia. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. The above work will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price. BOOKS FOR ANGLERS.Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle. Suggestions as to their Manufacture and Use. By Henry P. Wells. Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. The book is one of great value, and will take its place as a standard authority, and we cannot commend it too highly.—Forest and Stream, New York. An illustrated volume, elegantly presented, that will make all anglers jealous of possession until upon their shelf or centre-table.—Boston Commonwealth. Mr. Wells's competence to expound the somewhat intricate principles and delicate processes of fly-fishing will be plain to any reader who himself has some practical acquaintance with the art discussed. The value of the author's instructions and suggestions is signally enhanced by their minuteness and lucidity.—N. Y. Sun. The American Salmon-Fisherman. By Henry P. Wells. Ill'd. Square 8vo, Cloth, $1 00. The success of Mr. Wells's "Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle" has made his name familiar to thousands of American anglers. "The American Salmon-Fisherman," like the former work, is the fruit of the author's long experience and practical knowledge of this subject. The text is illustrated throughout.—Boston Traveller. A practical, interesting guide to the sport of salmon-fishing. The tyro will read it through profitably; the old hand will not be offended by it as too elementary. The author is alert and companionable.—Atlantic Monthly, Boston. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. Either of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price. Dr. C. C. ABBOTT'S WORKS.Upland and Meadow. A Poaetquissings Chronicle. By Charles C. Abbott, M.D. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. Delightful reading for students and lovers of outdoor nature.... Here the author discourses with the greatest charm of style about wood and stream, marsh-wrens, the spade-foot toad, summer, winter, trumpet-creepers and ruby throats, September sunshine, a colony of grakles, the queer little dwellers in the water, and countless other things that the ordinary eye passes without notice.... The book may be heartily commended to every reader of taste, and to every admirer of graceful and nervous English.—Saturday Evening Gazette, Boston. Waste-Land Wanderings. By Charles C. Abbott, M.D. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. There is a freshness about his anecdotes of fishes and birds, and his descriptions of unfamiliar scenery, that must make the book delightful to every lover of similar sports. To those who have not the leisure nor the enterprise for similar expeditions the reading of it will charm many an idle hour, besides imparting in the most agreeable manner possible a large fund of interesting information.—St. Louis Republican. It is a charming book, introducing the reader to the interesting guests and dwellers in the forests, upon the downs, and by the river-side. All lovers of nature will find an abundant source of instruction and pleasure in it.—Zion's Herald, Boston. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.Either of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price. |
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