ling of a court can be accomplished with a rake
and a straight-edged board, but after the clay has become packed and
hard it will be necessary to use considerable force in scraping off
the inequalities. A metal cutting edge, such as a hoe or scraper, will
be found useful. A court should be swept with a coarse broom to
distribute the fine material evenly. Another very good sweeper can be
made from a piece of wood about six or eight feet long to which
several thicknesses of bagging have been tacked or fastened. The final
step in making a court consists in marking it out. Most courts are
marked so that they will be suitable either for singles or doubles or
so that either two or four people can play at a time. Where tape
markers are to be used, the proper distances will appear on the tape
without measuring, but if lime is used for marking a careful plotting
will be necessary to secure the proper distances, after which the
corners should be indicated by angle irons, so that the court may be
re-marked at any time without re-measuring.

[Illustration: A game of doubles in lawn tennis]

Considerable difficulty is often experienced by beginners in marking
out a court, and, in fact, it is not a simple matter. The first thing
of importance is to determine generally one corner of the court and to
get a base line and a side line at a true right angle of ninety
degrees. The same principle may be employed that is used by builders
and surveyors in "squaring a building," as it is called. You will need
a ten-foot pole with marks for the feet indicated on it in lead
pencil, and in addition to this a few 20-penny spikes and a ball of
stout twine. Drive a nail into the ground where you want one corner of
the court and fasten the line to it; then stretch the line to another
nail to mark either a side line or back line. You will then have one
side and the corner fixed, and the problem is to get another line at
right angles to it. Boys who have studied geometry know that "in a
right-angle triangle the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum
of the squares of the other two sides." It isn't necessary to
understand this, but it is the principle employed in "squaring." You
next stretch another line and have some one hold it. On the fixed side
line you measure eight feet from the corner nail and mark it with a
piece of twine tied around the line. You also make a six-foot mark on
the line to be at right angles to it, the exact direction of whi