Chapter C: WESTHALL'S SYSTEM. For Amateurs

A DAY'S TRAINING.

Rise at 6 A.M., | Cold bath and rub down. or earlier in the summer. |

Exercise. | Sharp walk about a mile out, and run home; or a
| row of a couple of miles at three-parts speed.
| A dry rub-down.

Breakfast (time not stated). | Meat, mutton-chop or steak (broiled).
| Bread, stale or toast.
| Tea, half a pint.

Exercise. | (Not stated.)

Dinner, 2 P.M. | Meat (as at breakfast).
| Vegetables, none; "except a mealy potato."
| Bread, stale.
| Beer, one pint.

Exercise (afternoon). | Rowing.

If dinner be late, luncheon to be taken to consist of Meat, beef or mutton, hot or cold. Bread. Beer, one glass. (If dinner be early, "tea with viands and liquids as at breakfast" to be taken.)

Supper. | Half a pint of thin gruel, or dry toast
| and a glass of ale.

Bed. | Time not stated.

N.B.--It is added "that the above rules are of course open to alteration according to circumstances, and the diet varied successfully by the introduction of fowls, either roast or boiled--the latter preferred;" and "it must never be lost sight of that sharp work, regularity, and cleanliness are the chief if not the only rules to be followed to produce thorough good condition."

McLAREN'S SYSTEM.

A DAY'S TRAINING.

Rise at about 7 A.M. (Glass of cold water recommended.)

Exercise. | The crew meet at 7, walk and run for four or five
| miles; or, in later practice, quick run of two
| miles.
| Wash and dress.

Breakfast, 9. | Meat (broiled); bread (brown) and butter; tea, two
| cups. "Cocoa made of the nibs boiled for four hours
| is better than tea for breakfast."
| Smoking allowed (conditionally). "Smoking is barred,
| for, though here also a man's habits are to be
| taken into account, the subjects
| of training in match-boats are usually too young to
| have contracted a custom of smoking so inveterate
| as to have made tobacco indispensable
| to the body's internal functions, though it is not
| unfrequently so in older men. After breakfast is
| the only time allotted to the pipe."

Luncheon at 1. | Beef sandwich with half a pint of beer, or
| Biscuit and glass of sherry, or egg in sherry.

Exercise. | At 2.30 go out to row, and row over the whole
| course. "This altogether
| depends on the state of the crew."
| Wash in tepid water.

Dinner at 6 p.m. | Meat (roast, broiled, or boiled). "Any kind of
| wholesome meat thoroughly cooked."
| Vegetables--"The green foods permissible contain in
| their list spinach--the very best of all; sea-kale,
| asparagus, but without melted butter; turnip-tops,
| young unhearted greens, but not solid cabbages;
| broccoli, carrots, parsnips, and cooked celery.
| Turnips are also favored, and pease condemned; also
| cucumbers, and all salad mixtures. But boiled
| beet-root is good, and Jerusalem artichokes;
| and French beans stand next to spinach in virtue."
| The course is varied daily, so that no two days
| together shall see the same articles on the table.
| Pudding. ("Light puddings may be eaten.")
| Bread. Beer, one pint.
| Wine, two glasses of old port or sherry, or three of
| claret. Biscuits and dried fruits, as cherries,
| figs, etc., allowed. ("All fresh fruits are
| avoided.")
| Jellies. ("Plain jellies are innocuous.")
| Water. ("As much spring water as they have a mind
| to.")

Supper, 9. Oatmeal gruel if desired.

Bed at 10. N. B.--On Sundays a brisk walk of three hours or so
is taken.

SUMMARY.

Sleep, eight or nine hours. Exercise, about three hours. Diet, very varied.

STONEHENGE'S SYSTEM.

A DAY'S TRAINING.

Rise at 8 A.M. | According to season and weather.
| Cold bath.

Exercise, 8.30 to 9. | Walking or running. "Let all take a gentle run
| or smart walk."

Breakfast, 9 to 9.30. | Oatmeal porridge, with meat (beef or mutton,
| broiled) and bread.
| Tea or coffee, or table beer, one pint.
| "Tea is preferred to coffee.
| Cocoa is too greasy."

Exercise, 9.30 to 11.30, | Billiards, skittles, quoits, or
| other light exercise.

11.30 to 1.30. | Rowing.

1.30 to about 2.30. | Running. "According to circumstances."
| Rubbed dry and linen changed.

Dinner, 2.30 to 3 or 3.30| Meat--beef (roast) or mutton (boiled mutton
| occasionally), roast fowl, partridges, or pheasants
| (allowed), or venison (nothing better).
| "It is generally directed that the steak or chop
| should be underdone; this, I am sure, is a fallacy."
|--Bread (_ad lib_.).--Puddings occasionally,
| made of bread, eggs, and milk, and served with
| preserved fruits.--Vegetables--potatoes (one or two
| only), cauliflowers, and broccoli (only as an
| occasional change). If training is protracted,
| fish allowed (cod or soles).--Beer, from a pint to
| a pint and a half.--Wine, a glass or two, port or
| sherry.

After dinner, until 5 or 6. |A gentle stroll or book.

Exercise, 6 to 7. |Rowing.

Supper, 8. |Oatmeal porridge with dry toast or chop,
| with glass of port.

Bed at 9 or 10.

SYSTEM OF JACKSON AND GODBOLD.

BREAKFAST.--Stale or whole-meal bread, or toast, a little butter, plenty of marmalade if you like, but not jam. Bacon and eggs, or chops or steaks, with watercress if obtainable. To those who like it, a basin of oatmeal porridge, _properly made_, taken with pure milk about an hour before breakfast, is an excellent thing, and has a very beneficial effect upon the stomach, but it should not be taken every day. It is better to miss it every third day, or to take it regularly for a fortnight and then omit it from the next week's diet, as the too frequent use of it is rather injurious to the skin of some persons. Tea--not too strong--is better than coffee. Good ripe fruit is a capital adjunct to the breakfast-table, and is an excellent article of food.

DINNER.--Lamb, mutton, beef, fowl (tender and boiled), varied by fish, of which haddock, whiting, and soles are the best, with potatoes (well boiled, and not much of them), and well-cooked vegetables, followed by a small allowance of light farinaceous pudding or stewed fruit, will be a good, wholesome diet. If you want bread, have it stale. Never eat _new_ bread. Avoid all sauces, or made dishes, and adhere to plain food only. One thing we would particularly impress upon the reader, and that is never to take his exercise immediately before or after meals, nothing is more injurious, or likely to produce indigestion, and its concomitant evils. Some authorities abjure the use of sugar, but taken in moderation it is not injurious. A well-known champion of our acquaintance, when in the pink of condition, was wont to amuse himself by eating the contents of a sugar basin, if one were inadvertently left near him, and without feeling any ill effects from so doing. Our readers need not follow his example, for although it might suit him, it probably would not agree with them. We have said, take sugar in _moderation_. Now, in this last word lies all the lectures one can give on this subject. Be moderate in all things, one might say, but above all things be moderate in the use of all edibles not actually necessary to support the increased exertion which a man in training is called upon to perform. No liquid should be taken except with, or just after meals, but we would not advise stinting the quantity too much. In summer three or four pints, and in winter two or three pints per diem would be about the quantity. Never drink just before exercise, and it is better not to drink just before going to bed. In fact, the less one has to digest when retiring for sleep the better, and be sure not to drink tea late at night.

Yale.]

TEA, or SUPPER, should be taken at least two hours before bedtime, and we would allow a small chop, or some light fish, bread, and very little butter, with some ripe fruit. The best meal to take before a race, and which should be taken about two hours before starting-time, is the lean of mutton-chops and a little dry toast. We have said that no liquids should be taken except at meal-times; but we do not intend to state that if a man be very thirsty he may not touch them. If he does so, it must be a very small quantity. Thirst can often be assuaged by rinsing the mouth out with cold water, and this is by far the better plan if it is efficacious.

A COMMON-SENSE SYSTEM.

One author says: "Rise at six; bathe; take about two ounces (a small cup) of coffee with milk: this is really a stimulating soup. Then light exercise, chiefly devoted to lungs; a little rest; the breakfast of meat, bread, or oatmeal, vegetables, with no coffee; an hour's rest. Then the heaviest exercise of the day. This is contrary to rule; but I believe the heaviest exercise should be taken before the heaviest meal; a rest before dinner. This meal, if breakfast be taken at seven or eight, should be at one or two, not leaving a longer interval than five hours between the meals. At dinner, again meat, vegetables, bread, perhaps a half-pint of malt liquor, no sweets. Then a longer rest; exercise till five. Supper light--bread, milk, perhaps with an egg. Half an hour later a cup of tea, and bed at nine."

J. B. O'REILLY.

Seven o'clock is a good time for an athlete in training to rise. He ought to get a good dry-rubbing, and then sponge his body with cold water, or have a shower-bath, with a thorough rubbing afterwards. He will then go out to exercise before breakfast, not to run hard, as is commonly taught, but to walk briskly for an hour, while exercising his lungs in deep-breathing. Before this walk, an egg in a cup of tea, or something of the kind, should be taken.

The breakfast need not always consist of a broiled mutton-chop or cutlet; a broiled steak, broiled chicken, or broiled fish, or some of each, may be taken with tea or coffee.

Dinner may be far more varied than is usually allowed by the trainer's "system." Any kind of butcher's meat, plainly cooked, with a variety of fresh vegetables, may be taken, with ordinary light puddings, stewed fruit, but no pastry. A good time for dinner is one o'clock.

An American athlete, when thirsty, ought to have only one drink--water. The climate and the custom in England favor the drinking of beer or claret; but, beyond question, the best drink for a man in training is pure water. After dinner, rest, but no dozing or _siesta_. This sort of rest only spoils digestion, and makes men feel slack and "limp."

Supper, at six o'clock, should not be a second dinner; but neither should it consist of "slops" or gruel. The athlete ought to be in bed by ten o'clock, in a room with open window, and a draught through the room, if possible, though not across the bed.

Princeton.]

The American football captain or coach should bear in mind, when reading these various systems, that the use of ale and port seems to be much better borne by those who live in the English climate than upon this side of the water.

Also, that stiff exercise before breakfast has not been proven advantageous to our athletes except as a flesh-reducer, and then only in exceptionally vigorous constitutions.

Also, that tea is not as popular with us as with the men who train in England.

SLEEP AND CLEANLINESS.

To come to the third agent of health enumerated some pages back, Sleep. As a rule, it is not a difficult matter to see that members of a football team take the requisite amount of sleep. There are occasions, as in college, when some society event of unusual importance tempts the men to sit up late, but with such exceptions as these there is no great difficulty experienced in making the majority of the men keep good hours. And this is growing more and more simple as athletics become more general, for they take the place of much of the dissipation which was formerly the only outlet for the superabundant animal spirits of young men. In the case, however, of the occasional candidate for the team who comes under the captain's eye as inclined to late hours, there must be the strictest kind of discipline shown. Such a man is the very one whose stamina will be affected after a while by lack of sleep, and that too at a time when the rest of the men are nearing the perfection of condition. Thus he will be found falling off at the very time when it is a most serious matter very likely to fill his position with a new man. Eight or nine hours sleep should be insisted upon, and that sleep should be taken with regularity. In fact, not only the sleep, but the meals and the exercise, should all be made as nearly regular, regarding hours, as possible. Men should have separate rooms, and particularly when off upon trips they should not sleep together. Plenty of fresh air should be admitted to the sleeping-room, but draughts are to be avoided. This is not because every time the air blows upon a man he is liable to contract a severe cold, for the chances are against this, but because there are times when he is particularly prone to such an accident, and if he is in the habit of sleeping without regard to draughts it is not likely that he will take precautions then. If a man has, for instance, played an especially stiff game and upon a muggy and exhausting day, he will undoubtedly turn in thoroughly tired out, and perhaps still somewhat heated. Now if he, when in that state, sleeps in a draught, he will probably find himself very lame in the morning, even though he escape other more serious consequences. Just one more word of caution regarding sleep, and that is in the matter of obtaining a good night's rest just before the important match of the season. To insure this is to do much towards securing the best work of which the men are capable from the team upon the following day.

Yale.]

First and foremost, they should not be allowed to talk about the game or the signals or anything connected with football during that evening. If possible, they should do something to entirely divert their minds from all thought of the game. Nor should they be hustled off to bed an hour or two earlier than usual. Rather ought it to be a half-hour later, for then the chances are that the men drop off to sleep immediately instead of tossing about, thinking of the exciting event of the morrow.

Finally, as to overtrained men, and that restlessness and inability to sleep that almost always comes with the worst cases of this kind. There is but one thing to do with a man when he "goes fine" to this extent, and that is to sever his connection with the team for a time. If it is early in the season, there is some chance of his recuperating rapidly enough to still become serviceable. If it is late, there is no hope of this. In either case he must neither play, eat, nor spend his time with the members of the team. He can do almost anything else; he can go and watch the crew row or the ball nine play; he can study or read; he can, and in fact should, do everything possible to disassociate himself from football and violent exercise for a time, and, unless the trouble has gone too far, it will only be a couple of weeks before he will find himself coming out of it all right, and among the first signs will be good, refreshing sleep.

To pass now to the fourth of our agents for health, Cleanliness. It is fortunately seldom necessary to argue the advantages of the "tub" or "sponge bath" to our football players, because they are usually accustomed to it. A daily splashing has been their ordinary habit. It is well to mention also that a fortnightly warm bath may be indulged in to advantage. But with the present understanding of all these advantages, the wisest remarks that can be made are cautions as to indiscretions in the use of baths. In the first place, one bath a day is enough, and any other should be a mere sponging and rubbing. Men who indulge in a tub in the morning and then spend another fifteen minutes in a plunge after practice in the afternoon get too much of it. Again, the habit of spending a long time under the shower every day is a mistake. It feels so refreshing after a hard practice that a man is tempted to stay too long, and it does him no good. The best and safest plan is to take a light, quick sponge bath in the morning immediately upon rising, and then, after practice in the afternoon, to take just a moment under the shower, and follow it by a good rubbing. This, with the fortnightly warm bath, will be all that a man may do to advantage.

A CHAPTER FOR SPECTATORS

To those who have never played the game of football, but who chance to open the covers of this book, a short explanation of the divisions and duties of the players will not be out of place. For these this chapter is added.

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.

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 puts it in play, and is called a scrimmage, and this scrimmage is the most commonly recurring feature of the game.

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 the expressions used by the devotees of the sport:

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 _penalty_ for fouls and violation of rules, except otherwise provided, is a down for the other side; or, if the side making the foul has not the ball, five yards to the opponents.

The following is the value of each point in the scoring:

Goal obtained by touch-down, 6

Goal from field kick, 5

Touch-down failing goal, 4

Safety by opponents, 2

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 angles to the touch line; or walk out with it at right angles to touch line, any distance not less than five nor more than fifteen yards, and there put it down.

A side which has made a touch-down in their opponents' goal _must_ try at goal.

THE END.

* * * * *

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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.

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_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.

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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._

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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
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_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._