“I’m the King of the Castle,
    Get down you cowardly rascal.”

The rest try to shove him from his position and to hold it successfully against all comers themselves.  The game, if played fairly, simply consists in fair pulls and pushes without grasping clothing, but if played roughly it is almost a “free-for-all” fight.

LACROSSE

A game of ball played by two opposing teams of twelve players each.  The lacrosse field is a level piece of ground with net or wire goals at each end.  The players strive to hurl the ball into their opponents’ goal by means of a lacrosse stick or “crosse.”  This is a peculiar bent stick with a shallow gut net at one end.  It somewhat resembles a tennis racket, but is more like a snowshoe with a handle.  The game originated with the Indians and is much played in Canada.

In playing, the ball must not be touched with the hands, but is hurled from one player to another by the “lacrosses” until it is possible to attempt for a goal.  It is also passed when a player is in danger of losing the ball.

Lacrosse sticks cost from two to five dollars each and are made of hickory with rawhide strings.  The players wear specially padded gloves to protect the knuckles.  The usual uniform for lacrosse is a tight-fitting jersey and running trousers.

LAWN BOWLS

This is a very old game and of great historic importance.  The famous Bowling Green in New York City was named from a small park where the game was played by New Yorkers before the Revolution.  The game is played with wooden balls five inches in diameter and painted in various gay colours.  Usually lignum vitae is the material used.  They are not perfectly round but either slightly flattened at the poles into an “oblate spheroid” or made into an oval something like a modern football.  Each player uses two balls, which are numbered.  A white ball, called a “jack ball,” is then thrown or placed at the end of the bowling green or lawn and the players in turn deliver their balls or “bowl” toward the jack.  The whole game consists in placing your ball as near to the jack as possible and of knocking away the balls of your opponents.  It is also possible to strike the jack and to drive it nearer to where the balls of your side are lying.  When all the players have bowled, the two balls nearest the jack each count a point for the side owning it.  The game if played by sides is somewhat different from a two-handed contest.  The main point first is to deliver the ball as near to the jack as possible and then to form a barrier or “guard” behind it with succeeding balls to block those of your adversaries.  Sometimes the Jack is placed in the middle of the green and the teams face each other and bowl from opposite ends.  A green is about seventy feet square with closely cropped grass.  Four players form a “rink” and are named “leader,” “second,” “third,” and “skip” or captain.  The position from which the balls are delivered is called the “footer.”  It is usually a piece of cloth or canvas three feet square.