From Stevens' "Around the World on a Bicycle." (Copyright, 1887, by C. Scribner's Sons.) THE tendency towards athletics and out-of-door sports increases every year. Just now it is at its height, and athletic clubs, gymnasiums, lawn tennis clubs, and base-ball clubs flourish in every community, great or small. That we have been cultivating the mind at the expense of the body is being sadly realized by this generation of Americans, and a strong and commendable effort is being made in the direction of general physical culture. The cry is for more fresh air, more outdoor life and exercise, more holidays and less mental strain for our students and brain-workers. An enthusiast on the subject is John Boyle O'Reilly. His hobby is "boxing," which he views from both an æsthetic and ethical standpoint in his work just published," Ethics of Boxing and Manly Sport." He is very interesting and "breezy," and makes a strong plea for the physical perfection of humanity, which also includes in his opinion a purer morality and a finer brain quality. Although his book is a queer mixture of the pugilist Sullivan and the Olympian games, it is written in a refined style and is for refined people. He deprives "the noble art of self-defence" of all brutal accompaniments, and recommends it to our young men as one of the best methods of developing the muscles and gaining strength and manly beauty. In the Badminton Library, works of similar subject and tendency have been issued recently-" Athletics, and Foot-ball," by M. Shearman, and "Shooting and Racing." A little manual, Dick's Art of Wrestling," is practical and instructive. 44 These books are not exclusively devoted to men. Though "boxing" and "wrestling" are not recommended to the ladies, they are urged to learn to walk and run, and spend more of their day in the open air, and to share in the many sports of the other sex, which are open to them. Freshness and beauty, prolonged youth, and an attractive and enjoyable old age, are the rewards promised. Canoeing is another sport that has taken a strong hold upon popular favor, and which will find many enthusiastic followers as the season advances. The author of the " Ethics of Boxing," who includes in that work accounts of several delightful trips on the Connecticut, Susquehanna, and Delaware Rivers, says: "The canoe is the American boat of the past and future. It suits the American mind; it is light, swift, safe, graceful, easily moved; and the occupant looks in the direction he is going, instead of behind, as in the stupid old tubs that have held the world up to this time." "Historic Waterways," by Reuben Gold Thwaites, is another vivid sketch of the pleasures of canoeing. The author and his wife, in a small boat, visited the Rock, Fox, and Wisconsin Rivers, a rich accumulation of health and happiness being the result. Canoeing is not the only outdoor amusement that sisters, wives, and sweethearts, are sharing with brothers, husbands, and lovers. Long ago the ladies invaded the tennis field and learned to drive and to ride a horse. Now cricket is open to them, at least it has been tried by them in England, and tricycling has been discovered to have many mer. fascinations. Mrs. Pennell's many trips with her husband in England and Europe have quite inspired English and American women to emulate her example. As yet, ladies have not been seen here, unless exceptionally, on tricycles. But there is no doubt it will become a favorite mode of locomotion with the fair sex during the sumThe Pennells' trip through Italy and France has been mentioned in our "Summer Tour on Paper." Lovers of this sport might also look up their two previous works, "A Canterbury Pilgrimage" and "Two Pilgrims' Progress," which are rich in valuable experiences of bicycle travellers on the road. Karl Kron's "Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle" and Stevens' "Around the World on a Bicyle" are amazing records of "pluck" and perseverance and an almost inexhaustible fund of adventures. Other literature of this subject is Prof. Hoffman's compact "Tips for Tricyclists" and Bury and Hillier's "Cycling" in the Badminton Library. Now that the weather permits the ladies to take to the road, many equestrian parties are met in city suburbs. This is one of the most graceful and health-giving accomplishments, and was never more popular than at present. Amateurs and thorough horsewomen may gain information from the latest books on the subject, viz., Mrs. Power O'Donoghue's "Riding for Ladies" and Meade's "Horsemanship for Women." Yachting and fishing are as ardently pursued as of old, and several new books are devoted to these topics. Archery and croquet are entirely out of fashion. Though still seen in country places, they are no longer, as the English say, "good form." * * "Some days must be dark and dreary" even in a summer holiday. And when the rain comes it is well to be prepared for it. Novels, gossip, and fancy work go a long way with ladies towards banishing ennui, but men, especially those who are not readers, chafe over a long, purposeless day or evening spent in the house. An almost inexhaustible source of amusement for such times are games-dominoes, chess, cards, or the many innocent romping games that all young people know. The old Puritan disapproval of cards as used in games of skill and chance is fast fading from American life, and whist, euchre, bezique, and even poker, once tabooed by all respectable society, are looked upon as legitimate methods of recreation. Wives and sisters have learned to take part in them, and are often the most zealous players. Experience has taught them that their presence is often the strongest safeguard against gambling on a large or small scale. All games of cards may be played for stakes, and all, even poker, may have this objectionable characteristic eliminated and made perfectly innocent and charming. Poker has recently become quite the fashion and many writers have gone into the science of the game. Keller's little book, "Draw Poker," is excellent for reference; "Science in Poker" is equally useful and covers every point. Euchre takes many forms. "Progressive Euchre" has been the latest craze, and is very sociable, as it takes in a large number of persons. A little book has been written about it by Will T. Irwin. Keller's "Game of Euchre" and Leeds and Dwight's "Laws of Euchre," as adopted by the Somerset Club, of Boston, are the latest authorities on the standard game. Whist, the favorite game of the middle-aged, and the comfort and resource of the old, will never go out of fashion. If you are a lukewarm or an indifferent whist player,do not spoil the game for others by taking a hand. Intelligence and alertness tell here as in the more serious matters of life. Elia's friend, "old Sarah Battle, who, next to her devotions, loved a good game of whist," was a model player. "She loved a thorough-paced partner, a determined enemy. She took and gave no concessions. She hated favors." Her celebrated wish for "a clear fire, a clean hearth, and the rigor of the game" has immortalized her-at least with whist players. The new books on this subject are Whist Universal," Pole's "Modern Scientific Game of Whist," and Wilks and Pardon's "How to Play Solo Whist." Cavendish's "Pocket Guide to Bezique" is still the best authority for a game that has many pleasant qualities. A new card game, that came from Boston this winter, is "Domino Whist." It is already very popular and is taking the place of "Progressive Euchre." From Cleveland, we have news of another new card game called "The Game of Solo Sixty," said to be quite exciting and requiring considerable skill. "The Standard Hoyle," which gives directions for playing almost every known card game, is the book for the trunk or hand-bag. A pack of "Moguls," or indicators with round corners, with a box of red, white, and blue ivory "poker chips," are indispensable adjuncts to the card-table. "Poker chips" are now used in nearly every kind of card game, and though the name has a very wicked sound they are quite as innocuous as buttons or beans, for marking the game, and far more pleasant to handle. THE ATOLLS AND THE KOSEKIN. From "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder." (Harper.) "BY-THE-BYE, is it really true," asked Featherstone, "that these coral islands are the work of little insects?" "Well, they may be called insects," replied the doctor; "they are living zoöphytes of most minute dimensions, who, however, compensate for their smallness of size by their inconceivable numbers. Small as they are, they have accomplished infinitely more than all that ever was done by the ichthyosaurus, the plesiosaurus, the pterodactyl, and the whole tribe of monsters that once filled the earth. Immense districts and whole mountains have been built by these minute creatures. They have been at work for ages, and are still at work. It is principally in the portant as in the present. All Germany rests upon a bank of coral; and they seem to have been most active during the Colitic Period." How do the creatures act?" asked Feather 44 stone. "Nobody knows," replied the doctor. A silence now followed, which was at last broken by Oxenden. "After all," said he, "these monsters and marvels of nature form the least interesting feature in the land of the Kosekin. To me the people themselves are the chief object of interest. Where did they get that strange, all-pervading love of death, which is as strong in them as love of life is in us?" From A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder." (Copyright, 1888, by Harper & Brothers.) South Seas that their labors are carried on. Near the Maldive Islands they have formed a mass whose volume is equal to the Alps. Around New Caledonia they have built a barrier of reefs four hundred miles in length, and another along the northwest coast of Australia a thousand miles in length. In the Pacific Ocean islands, reefs, and islets innumerable have been constructed by them, which extend for an immense distance. "The coral islands are called 'atolls.' They are nearly always circular, with a depression in the centre. They are originally made ringshaped, but the action of the ocean serves to throw fragments of rock into the inner depression, which thus fills up; firm land appears; the rock crumbles into soil; the winds and birds and currents bring seeds here, and soon the new island is covered with verdure. Those little creatures have played a part in the past quite as im "Why, they got it from the imagination of the writer of the manuscript," interrupted Melick. "Yes, it's easy to answer it from your point of view; yet from my point of view it is more difficult. Í sometimes think that it may be the strong spirituality of the Semitic race, carried out under exceptionally favorable circumstances to the ultimate results; for the Semitic race more than all others thought little of this life, and turned their affections to the life that lives beyond this. The Kosekin may thus have had a spiritual development of their own, which ended in this." "What a pity it is," continued Melick, "that the writer of this manuscript had not the philological, theological, sociological, geological, palæological, ornithological, and all the other logical attainments of yourself and the doctor! He could then have given us a complete view of the nature of the Kosekin, morally and physically; he could have treated of the geology of the soil, the ethnology of the people, and could have unfolded before us a full and comprehensive view of their philosophy and religion, and could have crammed his manuscript with statistics. I wonder why he didn't do it even as it was. It must have been a strong temptation." "More," said Oxenden, with deep impressiveness, was a simple-minded though somewhat emotional sailor, and merely wrote in the hope that his story might one day meet the eyes of his father. I certainly should like to find some more accurate statements about the science, philosophy, and religion of the Kosekin; yet, after all, such things could not be expected." "Why not?" said Melick; "it was easy enough for him.” "How?" asked Oxenden. "Why, he had only to step into the British Museum, and in a couple of hours he could have crammed up on all those points in science, philosophy, ethnology, and theology, about which you are so anxious to know." "Well," said Featherstone, "suppose we continue our reading? I believe it is my turn now. I shan't be able to hold out so long as you did, Oxenden, but I'll do what I can." Saying this, Featherstone took the manuscript and went on to read. A Coaching Trip. From Welch's "The Tailor-Made Girl." (Scribner.) BOX SEAT BRILLIANCY. MISS GUSHINGTON (who goes in for fascinating ignorance). Oh, how charming this is! Fancy owning such a coach and such lovely horses, too! Mr. Tandem. Yes; one needs the horses, for a fact. Miss G. Oh, yes, and they are such beauties, too. I just love these bays next to us. Mr. T. You mean the wheelers—they're chestnuts, though. Miss G. Oh, are they? I never can tell the difference; and, oh! are they off or nigh? Mr. T. Why one, you know, is off, and the other nigh. Miss G. Why, of course! I am so wretchedly stupid. Mr. T. Oh, don't mention it. Miss G. Oh, but I am; and do tell me which is the off horse? Mr. T. (pointing). This one. Miss G. Is it really? How very interesting! Mr. T. Oh, not at all! course, is the nigh one? ton! Mr. T. Miss G. Oh, I know you are. I have always heard you were such a whip! REAL PLEASURE OF COACHING. Mrs. Married Belle. How charming the day has turned out. Mr. Blasé. Ya'as. Mrs. M. I quite trembled for my toilet this morning. Mr. B. Ya'as, it was rather threatening. Mrs. M. And one has to coach, you know, rain or shine. Mr. B. Oh, ya'as, indeed! That's all I coach for. weather. Mrs. M. How odd to like that! Nor bedtime yet! The full-blown flower Mr. B. Life still is sweet, the heavens are fair, Mrs. M. Though fields are brown and woods are bare, Mr. B. Mrs. M. dine? That's about all. And when, our cheerful evening past. In wearied nature's sweet repose, Mr. B. train. Ya'as, gives a zest, you know. Then, I suppose, you only coach and You might try running for a railway Mr. B. Oh, too fatiguing, and quite too com mon. |