't you recite it again?"

"No, I cannot," replied the ex-Pirate, severely. "If you don't look out
I'll write a piece about you."

This seemed to frighten the Gopher, for he snapped his fingers again and
took another plate of soup.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]

Last week this Department discussed the preparatory work and training of
football-players; in this issue I want to speak briefly of team-play.
The American game has now become such that team-work is its most
important feature. Brilliant individual players are valuable, and every
captain should be glad to have as many as he can get; but I should much
prefer to captain an eleven made up of inferior players who worked well
together, than a team of brilliant individuals who played each for
himself. Walter Camp says that "team-work is the road to victory," and
he ought to know. It is plain that if you have eleven men working as
one, and directing all their force against a single point, you have a
much more formidable engine than if the individuals making up the team
are doing their best according to their own conceptions of the
requirements of the situation.

There is a greater opportunity for team-work in defensive than in
aggressive play. The former affords an excellent chance for the placing
of the men so that they can concentrate their efforts to the best
advantage in the resistance of the opponents' play. The captain decides
beforehand who shall go through to tackle behind the line, who shall
wait to see where the ball is coming through, and then block the runner,
who shall wait back of the line as a reserve force, only to act if the
ball is carried into his territory. There is also always plenty of
opportunity for team-play in the working together of several rush-line
men in the defense, as, for instance, when two or three block off the
attack's interference while another tackles the man with the ball.

The best team-work in the rush-line, however, is to be obtained by the
playing together of the centre and his two guards. It is absolutely
necessary that these men should act like a machine, with precision and
celerity, for they are the keystone of the whole team. They should not
only have a perfect understanding among one another, but with the men
behind them. They must watch the opposing backs, and try to let their
own rear men through upon them wherever a certain defense for certain
plays may seem best. The ends and