Vagaries.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 242, 30 June 1874, Page 7

Vagaries.

ifr m let alone, I do not go strongly for athletic exercise, my education having been ■sadly neglected in that particular line. My pedestrian achievements have never been great, although I often take a run round the board. lam not a first-class swimmer, although I go into every pool my limited income allows, I think if I had practised I might excel in jumping, for 1 once jumped a building section, and a bigger man came along and I jumped out of it so much quicker than I jumped in, that I think had ray improvement, as shewn by these first and second , attempts, continued, I might have attained V excellence in this particular branch. I may belong to the effemenate class muscular Christiana are so fond of holding up to ridicule, but I, candidly own ray preference to cribbage as compared with cricket, and I’d much rather lose a game of billiards than win a running match, mile heats. But I’m one of those pliant, easily-persuaded people that I really believe I would rob a bank if anybody insisted that it was my duty to do so. And it is to this peculiar trait in my character that I owe one-half my misfortunes in life. My broken nose is the effect of following the advice •of'a friend and indulging in a game of cricket. I was put at cover-point as a nice •easy place for a new beginner, and the advice given me was not to let the ball pass, and the first time the ball was drove my way it struck me between the two eyes, and when my pockethandkerchief was saturated with the vital fluid that flowed from my nose, in consequence of the blow, my friend unfeelingly remarked that I had stopped the ball very well indeed for a novice. But of all out-door spores the one towards which I entertain the most unqualified feeling of abhorrence is football. No later than last Saturday I joined in a football match. “ Come op," said Brown. “ But,l,don’t understand the"' game,” I argued.,,;■‘‘Nonsense,’’ he replied, ‘‘itis as simple-as can be, you have only to kick the ball you know ; come in and have a kick or two anyhow.” In direct antagonism to my natural inclinations 1 consented. I had a kick or two, perhaps half-a-dozen. I could not enumerate them with any degree of certainty. lam positive 1 got one in the pit of the stomach, which the doctor informs me has possibly caused internal injury, and the mark on, or rather in, my shin, was most certainly caused by the toe of a hoot. Yes, I had a kick or two, and I am quite satisfied that football is a manly pastime that ought ■ to be indulged in by persons wealing wooden shoes and armour plated pants. Before I join the Greymouth football club I shall endeavour to rent a nice little quiet cottage in the vicinity of the hospital.—Grey Star.