Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-03-13
The sports of Greek and Roman
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The sports Of Greek and Roman
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By EDITH D. soMNER.
l know many of my readers would be
int&1aed in moving how Greek and
Run14 3I1dhsan,used themselves, what
toA e1t used, and in what sports they
engaged. The whip.top was /, f;avoritc
with Grecian boys !. long while ago, and
it is mentioned in Virgips writings. As
for marbles, Augustus spent many hours
in playing with them a game called taw,
in company with little Moorish boys, only
they made use of nuts instead Of agates,
which were then unknown. Agesllaus, i
Lacedemonian king, was found BY tho
Persian ambassadors engaged in playing
at horse with his children, substituting q
stick for tho animal, and prancins with
it around the room. Socrates, tho wise
man Of Greece, did the same for one Of his
pupils,~ at which Alcibiades langhe1 ut
him. Grecian boys were very familiar
with a childish game of chance, called
even or odd, which consisted in one per-
son concealing in his hand number OF
pieces, and calling out even Or odd? If
amy one guessed right no took the pieces.
Paper kites were. used by Chinese boys
long, long ago, and the paper wind, mill
is tive hundred years old. Hunt tie fox
was favorite game over two hundred
years ago, and leap.frog is mentioned in
Shakspeare's time. Hot cookies, in
which one player kneels, and laying his
head in the lap Of another, guesses who
struck him,was we'll known to the ancients.
Horace, tho old Latin poet, wrote about
children building little houses, and Joining
mice to diminutive wagons. The Greek
boys had game something like hide and
seek, but with little variation. The
game Of hand-ball il as old as the destruc-
ton Of Troy, and the first ball is said to
have been made by Greek lady, who
presented tito Naus;ca, the daughter of a
king, and taught her how to nse it. Lon
don school-boys 6ve hundred years ago
played ball in the fields on holidays, and
frequently put rse.beans or peas inside,
to make rafting when they kicked it.
The most ancien, gume OF ball with bats,
was golf or handy ball, in which holes
were made in the ground, and he who
drove the ball in the holes with the f.west
number of strokes gained the victory.
The Greek children played too at leap.
frog; one seated on the ground, was sur
rounded by his comrades, who hit him
until he could catch one Of Them, then the
child caught took his place, and was
leased IN the same manner. Among the
ancient Britons hunting was faSorite
pastime with boys, since Alfred the Great,
at the age of eleven, was an expert and
active hunter, and excelled in all the
branches of that art. When he became
Older, he was educated to train ard fly
hawks, which was then very popular as
an amusement iu England. And here l
will relate a little story Of u hawk, which
! think will interest you. A young man
OF high rank, named Lothbroc, living in
Denmark, was amusing himself one day
with his hawk, near the sea, when the
bird fell into the water. Lothbroc, in or
der to rescue her, got little boat and
rowed out to take her up, but before he
could return storm arose, and be was
driven over to the coast Of ngiand where
ne Landed at a town called Readham.
The Inhabitants Of the town carried hin,
to King Edmund, who, on hearing his
story, showed him great kindness, because
ct his skill in flying hawks. Now the
king already had a native falconer, named
beoric, who became so jealous of the
stranger that he murdered him and HID
the body in wood. 1. was discovered
however, BY little dog, and the king, IA
punish the murderer, sent him to res in u
BOAT, without mast, oarr, or rudder, SUP.
posing that he would be drowned. Ins.ead
OF that, however, he arrived safe in Den.
mark. where ~ represented that KIM
King Edmund had DESTROYED Lothhroc
and ne raised an army with which he re-
turned to England. and dethroned The
KING. And all this occurred from the fall
ing ola hawk into the water.