KITES AND KITE-FLYING; AN INTERESTING EXPERI K MENT FOR BOYS. BY WILLIAM ABNER EDDY, Expert in Kite-flying and Kite-photography. ITES can be made from sticks, cloth, paper, or from material intended for other purposes. If two sticks of spruce be bound together and one placed across the other at a distance of one-fifth of the upright stick from the top of the upright stick-both sticks of equal length-the resulting kite so made will fly without a tail if the cross-stick is bent backward into the form of a flat bow. Very thin sticks can be put together in this way and tissue paper can be pasted upon them without using string for the edge of the paper. The bridle of this kite, known as the Eddy kite type, should be tied well below the top of the kite. While a kite made without edge-strings saves much trouble, it yet fails of durability because the edge is easily torn, especially when tissue paper is used. If edge strings are passed around the ends of the sticks, as in the ordinary tail kite, this should be done before bending the cross-stick backward into the form of a flat bow, because any bending of the cross-stick afterward will loosen the edge-strings. So far as adjusting the bridle is concerned, that can be done in various positions experimentally until the kite flies. I advise against the use of a very large kite for boys-say six feet in diameter, because considerable extra expense for sufficiently strong cord will thereby be incurred. Many interesting experiments can be easily tried by using the upward slanting kite cord as a lifting force. For example, a square piece of thin pasteboard with four thin sticks fastened to the corners and united in a bunch at the top makes a light suspended platform upon which may be placed thin pieces of tissue paper not over three or four inches in diameter. This platform can be attached to the upward slanting kite string, and paid out upward as the kite is paid out. This will raise the light platform into the air. The tissue paper is laid on the platform and held down by a light stick of wood fastened to a string a foot long. When the platform has reached a height of about 200 feet, the paper can be released by quickly jarring the string at the earth or by paying out ten feet so rapidly that the stick of wood holding down the paper drops off the platform and releases the paper, which may float away to a great height in the air in case of a rising air current. I advise hanging the platform by means of sticks at the corners of the pasteboard because string twists and distorts the platform. The platform should be suspended from one string. It will then escape entanglement with the kite string extending on up to the kite. Several pieces of tissue paper can be dropped aloft at the same time. Following roughly is the back construction of the Eddy kite. It flies with its bulging side toward the wind, and tailless. Fig. 1. Back of kite, showing crossbar. Very thin strips pasted Fig. 2. I advise boys by all means to avoid the use of wire for flying kites. String is preferable, because the wire may kink or break and trail A B over live electric wires and cause currents of electricity to jump the insulation. Any one taking hold of such a trailing wire, if he were standing on wet ground or iron, would be seriously shocked if his kite were sagged owing to light wind and came in contact with a live wire. It is the general belief that in such a case the electricity would jump the insulation and charge the kite wire with fatal results. But I consider dry cotton cord perfectly safe. In flying kites tandem, each kite is flown with its individual string, but none of the branch lines must be so long that they permit the lower kite to get to the point where the lines radiate. If kite A drops upon the junction point B, a bad tangle results. But if kite A only drops against the line below B, it only upsets and again rises into position. LACROSSE. L BY THOMAS WALL, Canadian Representative for A. G. Spalding & Brothers. ACROSSE had its origin among the aboriginal tribes of America, with what particular tribe or in what particular section, no man can tell with any degree of exactness, but it is probable that while Christopher Columbus was yet having his argument with the Spanish scientists, the game was then ancient in the New World. But the game, which had its inception among the Indians, really reached its highest state of development in the hands of the far distant grandsons of the men who first took possession of the North American continent. When the French first landed in America they found the Indians in the northern part of the land amusing themselves with a game played with a netted stick and a ball. The stick resembled a cross or bishop's crozier, and this led the adventurous Frenchmen to name the implement used in the pastime "La Crosse," this latter being welded in one word and applied to designate the game and the stick. There is one story handed down of a tragic event connected with the game. A band of Indians approached a fort in the days of the old French régime and announced that a game of lacrosse would be played. The game started, and in the excitement of the contest, sentries carelessly left their posts, and the doors of the stockade were left ajar. The game had centred in a struggle close to the fort, and, at a signal, blankets were discarded, and from under the cover weapons were quickly produced and a massacre followed. In the old days of the Indian game it was played by unlimited sides, sometimes whole villages playing against each other, and from the accounts handed down in the old records, these games appear to have sometimes resulted in bloodshed. The history of the game is not a very clear one, but the Indian seems to have clung to his old pastime, at least in Canada, although there are some instances of the game yet remaining with some of the tribes in the United States. The Indians of Caughnawaga, near Montreal, and those of St. Regis, near Cornwall, and not far from the New York border, retained the game, and fifty years ago they were the greatest exponents of the game in Canada. Then the white men began to take a more than passing interest in the game. They began to play it, and soon learned to be adept with the crosse, and presently were able to cope with the red man at his own pastime. Little by litle interest in the game increased among the white inhabitants of Canada, and soon there were teams organized solely of white men, and these showed skill and strength at the game which they had taken up. The white man's fondness for the game developed year by year, while gradually they surpassed the descendants of the original players, and now the Indian is unable to compete with the white teams, while the Indian players, who can win places in white teams, can be counted among the thousands of Canadians who play the game. It is rather odd to say that a white man was "father" of a game that was old when the New World was first touched by the Genoese, yet this is true enough of lacrosse. Dr. George Beers has that title, and although he has now passed to his reward, his name will long remain as the "father" of a fine game. Dr. Beers, with Mr. W. L. Maltby, a well-known figure in Montreal's business circles, undertook to set the game upon a solid basis with the Canadians, and the result of their missionary work was the formation of uniformed clubs, and afterwards the formation of the National Amateur Lacrosse Association, which for many years controlled the destinies of the game in Canada. To-day there are associations in the middle east, in Ontario, in Manitoba, and British Columbia, while there is an international league in which teams in Seattle and St. Paul are interested. The game is played in New York, in Chicago, and San Francisco, while many of the leading colleges in the United States have taken some interest in the game, with the result that there is a growth of interest in the grand game throughout the republic. The game has taken hold in England to some extent, and there is a lacrosse league over there which has a large membership, while in Australia there is a league of considerable importance, showing that the game, if properly played, is one to command attention whenever offered to people who love fine manly sport and who want to see opportunity for individual and team play. Lacrosse affords excellent chance for the individual to shine, but the secret of success lies in combination, and teams which arrive at this quickest are certain to prove victorious. Dr. Beers worked at his idea to get Canadians interested in the game, and in 1876 he organized a team to go to England. This proved a success, and did much to advertise Canada, and in 1883 there was a second trip. On this latter occasion a team of amateurs and a team of Indians were taken, and the matches between these organizations proved wonderfully interesting to the Britishers. In 1884 a team of players from the United States, organized by Erastus Winans, went to England and had a successful trip. In 1885 a team of Montreal players toured the principal cities of the United States. In 1887 a team of players from Ireland toured Canada. Later there were visits from teams from the United States to Canada, and in the course of time visits to New York by teams from Montreal and elsewhere became frequent. In 1903 the Toronto Lacrosse Club sent a team to England, and the following summer a team composed of students of Oxford and Cambridge Universities toured Canada and the States. These international visits have done much to promote a knowledge of the game and to make known its many fine points. The movement of Canadians to the United States has aided largely in developing good material there, and in the course of time, when the youngsters begin to handle the stick at an early age, there should be no reason why first-class teams cannot be produced here. The greatest development of the game has been in the middle of Canada, from Toronto to Montreal. The name of Shamrocks is on the tip of the tongue when lacrosse is mentioned. This club has done a great deal to improve the game, and at the hands of the greenshirted Irishmen of Montreal the sport has gained much. Montreal and Toronto Clubs were famous in the old days, while later teams of fame have been the Capitals of Ottawa, Cornwall, Nationals of Montreal, Brantford, and New Westminster. The Canadians naturally excel. With them it is a National pastime, and the growing boys begin to fondle a stick at an early age, and it is this which makes them so graceful, so lightfooted, and so certain in all that they do when on the field of play. It is a game requiring physical strength, speed, and quick-thinking qualities, and such a combination of good points can well be achieved by participation in this magnificent sport. UNITED STATES LACROSSE RULES. RULE 1.-SECTION 1. The crosse may be of any length to suit the player, and shall not exceed one foot in width. It shall be woven with catgut. ("Catgut" is intended to mean raw hide, gut, or clock string; not cord or soft leather.) A string must be brought through a hole in the side of the tip of the turn, to prevent the point of the stick catching on opponent's crosse. A leading string resting upon the top of the stick may be used, but shall not be fastened so as to form a pocket lower down the stick than one of the length-strings. length-strings shall be woven to within two inches of their termination, so that the ball cannot catch in the meshes. Metal of any kind shall not be allowed upon the crosse; splices must be made either with string or gut. The RULE 2.-The ball shall be India rubber sponge, not less than seven and three-quarters, nor more than eight inches in circumference and four and a half to five ounces in weight. In matches it shall be furnished by the home club, and shall become the property of the winning team. RULE 3. SECTION 1. Each goal shall consist of two poles six feet apart, and six feet high out of the ground, joined by a rigid top cross-bar. The poles must be fitted with a pyramid-shaped netting of not more than one and one-half inches mesh, which pyramid shall extend and be fastened to a stake in the ground at a point seven (7) feet back of the centre of the goal, and said netting shall be so made as to prevent the passage of the ball put through the goal from the front, and the bottom of the netting must be held close to the ground with tent pegs or staples. They shall be placed at least 110 yards, and if the ground will permit, 125 yards, from each other. In matches, they must be furnished by the home club. SEC. 2. The Goal Crease shall be a marked line, twelve feet square, and the goal poles shall be placed six feet from the front and back lines and three feet from the side lines. RULE 4.-SECTION 1. Twelve players shall constitute a full team; they shall |