Outdoor Sports and Games

Claude H. Miller

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• Publié par: sowyir
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 33
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Outdoor Sports and Games, by
Claude H. Miller
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Title: Outdoor Sports and Games
Author: Claude H. Miller
Release Date: July 16, 2005 [eBook #16316]
Language: English
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A Boys' Camp
A Boys' CampThe Library of Work and Play
OUTDOOR SPORTS AND
GAMES
BY CLAUDE H. MILLER, PH.B.
GARDEN CITY
NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1911
Title Page
CONTENTS
I. Introductory
The human body a perfect machine—How to keep well—
Outdoor sleeping—Exercise and play—Smoking—
Walking.
II. The Boy Scouts of America
Headquarters—Purpose—Scout Law—How to form a
patrol of Scouts—Organization of a troop—Practical
activities for Scouts—A Scout camp—Model Programme
of Sir R.S.S. Baden-Powell Scout camp.
III. Camps and Camping
How to select the best place to pitch a tent—A brush bed—The best kind of a tent—How to make the camp fire—
What to do when it rains—Fresh air and good food—The
brush leanto and how to make it.
IV. Camp Cooking
How to make the camp fire range—Bread bakers—
Cooking utensils—The grub list—Simple camp recipes.
V. Woodcraft
The use of an axe and hatchet—Best woods for special
purposes—What to do when you are lost—Nature's
compasses.
VI. Use of Fire-arms
Importance of early training—Why a gun is better than a
rifle—How to become a good shot.
VII. Fishing
Proper tackle for all purposes—How to catch bait—The fly
fisherman—General fishing rules.
VIII. Nature Study
What is a true naturalist?—How to start a collection—
Moth collecting—The herbarium.
IX. Water Life
The water telescope—How to manage an aquarium—Our
insect friends and enemies—The observation beehive.
X. The Care of Pets
Cats—Boxes for song birds—How to attract the birds—
Tame crows—The pigeon fancier—Ornamental land and
water fowl—Rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice—How to
build coops—General rules for the care of pets—The dog.
XI. The Care of Chickens
The best breed—Good and bad points of incubators—
What to feed small chicks—A model chicken house.
XII. Winter Sports
What to wear—Skating—Skiing—Snowshoeing—
Hockey.XIII. Horsemanship
How to become a good rider—The care of horses—
Saddles.
XIV. How to Swim and to Canoe
The racing strokes—Paddling and sailing canoes.
XV. Baseball
How to organize a team and to select the players—The
various positions—Curve pitching.
XVI. How to Play Football
The various positions and how to select men for them—
Team work and signals—The rules.
XVII. Lawn Tennis
How to make and mark a court—Clay and sod courts—
The proper grip of the racket—Golf—The strokes and
equipment.
XVIII. Photography
The selection of a camera—Snapshots vs. real pictures—
How to make a photograph from start to finish.
XIX. Outdoor Sports for Girls
What to wear—Confidence—Horseback riding—Tennis—
Golf—Camping.
XX. One Hundred Outdoor Games
ILLUSTRATIONS
A Boy's Camp
A Child's May-day Party
Fishing is the One Sport of Our Childhood that Holds Our Interest
Through Life
The Moth Collector and His Outfit
The Exciting Sport of Ski-runningSwimming is One of the Best Outdoor Sports
In Canoeing Against the Current in Swift Streams a Pole is Used in
Place of the Paddle
Photographs of Tennis Strokes Taken in Actual Play
How an Expert Plays Golf
I
INTRODUCTORY
The human body a perfect machine—How to keep well—
Outdoor sleeping—Exercise and play—Smoking—
Walking
Suppose you should wake up Christmas morning and find yourself to
be the owner of a bicycle. It is a brand-new wheel and everything is in
perfect working order. The bearings are well oiled, the nickel is bright
and shiny and it is all tuned up and ready for use. If you are a careful,
sensible boy you can have fun with it for a long time until finally, like
the "One Hoss Shay" in the poem, it wears out and goes to pieces all
at once. On the other hand, if you are careless or indifferent or lazy
you may allow the machine to get out of order or to become rusty from
disuse, or perhaps when a nut works loose you neglect it and have a
breakdown on the road, or you may forget to oil the bearings and in a
short time they begin to squeak and wear. If you are another kind of a
boy, you may be careful enough about oiling and cleaning the wheel,
but you may also be reckless and head—strong and will jump over
curbstones and gutters or ride it over rough roads at a dangerous rate
of speed, and in this way shorten its life by abuse just as the careless
boy may by neglect.
It is just so with the human body which, after all, is a machine too,
and, more than that, it is the most wonderful and perfect machine in
the world. With care it should last many years. With abuse or neglect
it may very soon wear out. The boy who neglects his health is like the
boy who allows the bearings on his wheel to become dry or the metal
parts rusty. The chief difference is that when the bicycle wears out or
breaks down we may replace the parts or even buy another machine,
but when our health is injured, money will not restore it.
In order to keep well we must observe certain rules of health. By
exercise we keep the working parts in good order. If we are lazy orindolent we are like the bicycle that is allowed to go to pieces from
lack of use. If we are reckless and foolhardy we may injure some part
of the delicate machinery from excessive exercise or strain.
Play is the most natural thing in the world but we must use judgment
in our play. A boy or girl who is not allowed to play or who is
restrained by too anxious parents is unhappy indeed. Nearly all
animals play. We know, for instance, that puppies, kittens, and lambs
are playful. It is a perfectly natural instinct. By proper play we build up
our bodies and train our minds. The healthy man never gets too old to
play. He may not care to play marbles or roll hoops, but he will find
his pleasure in some game or sport like tennis, golf, horseback riding,
camping, fishing or hunting.
In this book we shall talk about some forms of play and recreation that
are not strictly confined to children, but which we may still enjoy even
after we have become grown men and women. We shall also talk
about some children's games that some of the older readers may
have outgrown. While we play we keep our minds occupied by the
sport, and at the same time we exercise our muscles and feed our
lungs and our bodies with oxygen.
It is unfortunate that in school or college athletics those who need
exercise the most are often those who are physically unfitted to play
on the school teams. In other words, we select our runners and
jumpers and football players from among the stronger boys, while the
weaker ones really need the benefit of the sport. Every boy should
take part in school games when possible even if he is not as swift or
as strong as some other boys.
It is very unmanly of one boy to make fun of another because he is
weak or clumsy or unskilful. After all, the thing that counts and the
thing that is most creditable is to make the most of our opportunities
whatever they may be. If an undersized or timid boy becomes
stronger or more brave because he joins in games and sports, he
deserves a hundred times more credit than the big, strong boy whom
nature has given a sturdy frame and good lungs and who makes a
place on the school team without any real effort.
If we live a natural, open-air life we shall have but little need of
doctors or medicine. Many of our grandmothers' notions on how to
keep well have changed in recent years. Old-fashioned remedies
made from roots and herbs have been almost completely replaced by
better habits of life and common-sense ideas. We used to believe that
night air was largely responsible for fevers and colds. Doctors now
say that one of the surest ways to keep well is to live and sleep in the
open air. In many modern houses the whole family is provided with
outside sleeping porches with absolutely no protection from theoutside air but the roof. I have followed the practice of sleeping in the
open air for some time, and in midwinter without discomfort have had
the temperature of my sleeping porch fall to six degrees below zero.
Of course it is foolish for any one to sleep exposed to rain or snow or
to think that th