no-ball rule. Why not make it a no-ball every time unless the bowler has
both feet in the air at the moment when the ball leaves his hand? One
might put up a little hurdle--nothing obtrusive--only a matter of a few
inches high.

We believe that something might even be done by borrowing from hockey
the principle of the semi-circle, outside of which a goal may not be
shot. The whole pitch might be enclosed in a circular crease--which
would look uncommonly well in Press photographs. (We cannot exist
without the Press.) No fielder inside the magic circle would be allowed
to stop the ball with his feet.

Finally there is the case of billiards, not a game that is very closely
allied to cricket, but one from which much may be learned. How has
billiards brightened itself? By adopting the great principle of
"barring" certain strokes. Here we have got on to something really
valuable. We propose to go one better, and draw up a schedule of the
different conditions of barring under which matches may be played. It
will only remain for secretaries, when fixtures are made, to arrange the
terms by negotiation. In time to come, should we be able to carry our
point, we shall all be familiar with such announcements as the
following:--

Notts. _v._ Surrey. (Cut-barred.)
Gentlemen _v._ Players. (L.b.w.-barred.)
England _v._ Australia. (Googly-and-yorker-barred.)

We do not pretend to have exhausted the subject, but we have made a
start. We must look about us. Something may be learned, we firmly
believe, even from skittles and ping-pong. Our national game cannot
afford to exclude special features. It should have the best of
everything.

* * * * *

[Illustration: "Are you Mrs. Pilkington-Haycock?"

"No."

"Well, I am, and this is her pew."]

* * * * *

Professional Candour.

"The sermon over, a collection was taken, and hardly a person
present did not contribute. Mgr. Benson's sermon went to the
hardest heart there. Even the journalists contributed."

_The Universe._

* * * * *

THE HERE, THERE AND LONDON LETTER.

_With apologies to "The Westminster_ Gazette."_

The Home of the South Saxons.

Sussex, the county for which Mr. C. B. Fry (who hurt his leg in the
Lord's centenary match) used to play before he moved to Hampshire, is an
attractive division of the country to the south of London with a long
sea bo