The very essence of the athletic spirit is a hearty determination to end by excelling, malyré defeat after defeat. 'The wan who runs in every race unsuccessfully, but ends by winning the cousvlation,' receives a hearty pat on the back from all sportsmen for his pluck; but as for the gentleman who comes out in the silk knickerbockers, makes a showy effort in the first event which doesn't come off, and then says the thing's not good enough and joins the spectators, they don't embrace him with sympathy—he's not interesting.
All this anent news from the Potamofulax Cricket Club, in which I once took interest. A mere recollection ut the old country; but the world is much the same full of troubles; perhaps the.C.C.'s vicissitudes may be of interest. What induced my first sentence was, that they lately underwent their fourth or fifth defeat in the year; they were so badly beaten that they winced under the publica tion of the score. They had no need to do that; perseverance meets admiration 5 it is the right spirit.
The Potamofulax Club after a lazy existence of twenty years has been passing through the throes of rejuvenescence. P. is a small village. Let me see; I think there were the squire's sons, and the parson's sons, and the sons of the other inhabitants. There was a schoolmaster, a big farmer. and other farmers, Nothing could be done without the schoolmaster; he knew and helped in every th Nothing could be done with the big farmer—he didn't know, or subscribe to, anything. When I joined (I was staying with the squire), there were some twenty playing members, prac-rising regularly, hail-fellow-well-met all over the green, winning all their matches. In fact, there was a boom in sports: time and the nan seemed to be pulling together, And then, of course, at the end of the ear, they spread themselves abroad: from budded into P.A.C.; incorporated rowing, tennis, and everything else; all at the same subscription of £2.a year. (They had 25 members and a grownd-rent of £6 a year: naturally they were confident.) 'They acquired presentations of 2 four-oar boats from the county capital, and another town; and purchases of new' gear, tennis nets, footballs, etc., flowed in. A tennis court was laid out with infinite care; goal-posts sprang up. Now, so they write me, that court is conspicuous only for its crop of reeds and the donkeys browsing thereon and the unused net sold itself with gladness another club. The football was kicked
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.