@eicket.

E have said elsewhere that foot-ball is the national game of
England; yet vieing with it in interest and exceeding it in
number of persons playing it is the game of “cricket.”
The origin of this game is lost in the past. The word
itself is foundin the Saxon language and means a “crooked
stick,” and old prints of the game now in existence show
that it was formerly played with a stick, quite crooked.. Its earlier English name
was “Handoute,” a title which is more significant than the present term.
In the first years of its existence it was played very rudely, but as far
back as 1740 it was looked upon as a fashionable sport, guarded by careful

rules, dignified by printed scores, and = —
possessing skillful exponents. To-day
it is played as freely as base-ball in our
own country, every town and hamlet
having its clubs, and in England no
school is complete without its private
cricket grounds.

Some attempt has been made to
introduce it into America, but so far it
has not met with large favor, yet every
large city has its cricket clubs, though
most of its players are Englishmen.

The game is played somewhat like
our own base-ball. The bat, instead of
being round, is flat and wide, thus giv-
ing the batter a tar better chance to hit
the ball. The game is played with
eleven men upon a side; two strikers
coming in at a time, one at each wicket,
and the object of the fielders is to dislodge them according to the rules of the
game. When a ball is hit, the striker, if he can reach the opposite wicket be-
fore the wicket is thrown down, scoresarun. This you will see is something
like the game of ‘Two old cat,” in which the batters change places when one
of them hits the ball; that one failing to reach his position before the ball is
returned being put out; it is the business of the fielders to stop and catch the
ball and return it to each of the wickets with all possible haste.