The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 65

3 LITTLE STORIES OF BIG MEN J. Alfred the Great. THE JUNIOR EAGLE, BROOKLYN-NEW YORK, SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, Vt6. ROMAN SOLDIERS PLAYING FOOTBALL wife came running in and scolded the young man severely. "What!" cried she.

"You will be ready enough to eat them by and by, and yet you cannot watch THE STORY OF FAMOUS SPORTS I. FOOTBALL Alfred the Great, King of England, died more than a thousand years ago, but his fame remains as great as ever. Many persons will disagree as to who was the second greatest ruler that England has ever known, but no one will dispute Alfred's right to be the greatest The subject of this story was born at a time when England was but a half civilized country. There was not one kingdom extending over the whole island, but a large number of little countries that were forever fighting one another. The rulers of these various States were crude barbarians, who knew little of anything but the art of making war and that In the crudest Cushion possible.

A large part of the country was covered with dense, tangled forests, in which lived great wild animals that have since died out In Europe. Vast stretches of the land were nothing more than marshes, bogs and barren moors, where one was just as likely to meet a pack of wolvis as a troop of marauding others. In all England there were i roads worthy of the. nane except the few that the r.oi. ans had built 800 years beforo, I nd even these had long fallen into disuse and neglect.

Scarcely i In the land could read or write, and an American child of 12 would have been considered very highly educated Indeed. Some of the nobles could sign their r.ames, and a good many of the clergy could write quite well, but the monks and priests shut themselves up in the great monasteries and church domains, where they remained entirely apart from the rest of the world. Villages consisted of rude, thatched huts, with no furniture and no flooring. In many places the horses, cows, sheep and other domestic animals shared the same roof with their masters. Add to all this the fact that there were no wagons or carts of any kind; that men had to go about at all times armed with clubs or swords; that even London, the largest city In the entire country, was only a rude, rough little town of perhaps fifty thousand people, and you will have some slight idea of the England of Alfred's day.

King Alfred was one of the four sons of King Aethelwulf, the ruler of a llttjfl State in liritain. Early In life he showed that he was far above the average run, and he excelled in the pursuits of the mind, as well as in athletic sports. When Alfred was 12 years old he had not yet learned to read or write. This was not any fault of his own, but was due simply to the custom of the times. No one thought it necessary for a man to learn how to read, even if he were a king's son, so Alfred had never received instruction.

The young I'rtnce's mother, Osburga, was a very excellent woman, and what was unusual for her time, she could read. It happened one day that the Queen was reading lo Alfred and his brothers out of a very beautifully "illuminated" book. (Printing was unknown then, so the letters were carefully painted by hand or illuminated.) The four boys wanted the book, so their mother promised It to whichever one should learn to read first. Alfred obtained a teacher that very day. and was within a short time able to win the book.

In the first years of Alfred's reign, the Danish sea rovers landed on the English coast and sent marauding parties to plunder and devastate the country. Alfred gathered his army, and within the year fought nine battles with the invaders. Sometimes one side won, and sometimes the other, but finally the Danes landed a large army in England, and in the fourth year of Alfred's reign succeeded in scattering his forces altogether. The King Wl compelled to disguise himself and flee for his life, as the wild and lawless Danes would assuredly have killed him If they could have taken him prisoner. During this hard time Alfred asked shelter one night of a poor cowherd.

The request was granted, and the king, who was still a very young man, was left to watch the griddle cakes, so he let the cakes burn. The cowherd's them now, you Idle dog." Little did she know that she was scolding the King. I King Alfred did not have to remain in hiding long. A large number of men from the County of Devonshire assembled and managed to defeat the Danes in a pitched battle. The King, hearing the good news, abandoned his disguise and joined the victorious I forces.

Later, he assumed an-, other disguise, that of a traveling musician and singer, and undertook to visit the camp of the ene- my. This was a very risky errand. but the young king was equal to the occasion. He played his harp and sang even In the tent of jc.uthrun, the commander of the I Danish army. While he seemed to do nothing i but sing and run his fingers over the strings of the instrument.

King Alfred was, nevertheless, taking i note of many things in the enemy's camp. He noticed how many I troops Guthrum had, how they iwere armed, where their supplies i were kept, and even their plans of battle. Very deftly the king slipped out of the Danish camp and rejoined his own army. Aided by a knowledge of the enemy's strength and their plans of battle, the English were able to rout the Danes, following the battle, Alfred and his warriors pursued und surrounded 'the retreating hosts of Guthrum, forcing the greater part of them to surrender. Instead of putting his prisoners to death, the great king spared their lives and offered to make peace with the Danish sea rovers.

His offers were, of course, accepted. This Is what Charles Dickens said about the character of Alfred the Great: "As great and good in peace as he was great and good in war. King Alfred never rested from his labors to improve his people. Hp loved to talk with clever men and with travelers from foreign countries, and to write down what they told him for his people to read. He bad studied Latin after learning to read English, and now another of his labors was to translate Latin books into the English-! Saxon tongue, so that his people I might be interested and improved by their contents.

"He made just laws that they might live more happily and freely; he turned away all partial judges that no wrong might be done them; he was so careful of their property that it was a common thing to say that under the great King Alfred, garlands of golden chains might have hung across the streets, and no one would have touched one. I "He founded schools; he pa-Itlently heard causes himself in his court of justice; the great desires I of his heart were to leave Eng- land better, wiser and happier in 'all ways than he had found It." During all his long reign. King Alfred suffered from a dread un-i known disease, and no physicians were able to relieve him from the terrible pain he suffered. For years jho bore his hard lot uncomplainingly, and worked for hours on end when other men would have stayed In their beds and writhed with pain, Alfred the Great invented the first lanterns and candle clocks known in his country. lie Was also the first king to rule over jail of England.

Me died in the ycar 901, greatly beloved by all his people. I Thin Is the flrnt series nliotlt Krf'l lllt'll Hint rnmona women. Next Sandfly, BRAVE FRENCH ARMY DOGS. No members of the Preach army are braver or more loyal than the dogs. There aro not many of them, but the few are highly trained All are sheep dogs, although there are five different brecds-lhc "Maliimis." "Cronendael," "Bar Houge." "Bri-are" and "Berger A demand," which last, the French officers say with fine Gaelic humor, is the least intelligent.

When thoroughly trained, says the Youth's Companion, the dogs are absolutely fearless and, instead of being frightened at an exploding shell, will usually rush toward it and bark. They do both ambulance and patrol work, but are most useful in carrying messages. eleven, and It was not unusual to see al1 twenly-two players piled up in one huge heap. Those undermost ofti'n sustained serious injuries, and considered themselves luckv when they ese-aped without so much as a scratch, Football at Ibis time was spectacular in the extreme, and very exciting to watch; but that did not render It any the for those taking part in the contests. The football of mass formations Could not last.

One college after another dropped the game because of injuries ie (-layers, while parents began to forbid their children from learning or playing the game. Finally, In 100, the rules were gone over, and the old phalanxes and flying wedges that had caused so many injuries we re largely dono away with Since then niher important changes have been made almost annually, so that today our football Is a game- of cleverness and speed instead eif a contest of brute force alone. Thk Is Hrt leHes of hit- terii.il skH.h.H en the great athletlll imes. Tin- next will en De StoO if rnnis. (he (am thnl wh.

ployed ley and murtlsrs in brtons tune, boys signal corps. Residents of Flatbush will undoubtedly be Interested to learn that there now exists in their community a Junior signal corps company, known us the Flatbush Signal Corps. Formerly the corps, which Is connected with at Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Newklrk avenue and East Twenty-eighth street, Flatbush, was known as SI. Stephen's Signal rps. The new organization, which is officered by experienced military men, drills every Friday night at 8 O'clock, in the elrill hall, at St.

Stephen's Church. At the present time the muster il shows sixty members, all active. Since Ihi- reorganization, the officers in charge have decided to xtend the membership to eighty, and there- is a great opportunity for bright youngsters of good moral character between 12 and IS years of age to join. The company is commanded by Captain George II. Smith.

The boys are trained in signal work, such as I. graplry, telephone, wig wag and semaphore. The members are taught such practical military training in the 'annul of arms, steps and march ing and discipline, that they are equipped to enter almost any branch of the military service without first bains; placed in the recruit lass. The ceirps also provides athletic training for ils members, and will have baseball, basketball and track teams. A BUSINESS MAX.

Peel Hit I have a most valuable bo. to sell madam; It tells one iw to do anything. Lady (sarcastically) Does it tell 01 how lo get rid of a pestering peddler? Pedriter (promptly)- Oh, yea, madam. Buy something from him. Evening Wisconsin.

ever despite law. Whole villages used to oppose each other in a mat oh that is. the men, women, and even I be children of ono village would ptttj the entire population of another Village Both patties trier, to kick the ball into the termor) ol the opponent Some of the guttieC were played over a stretch ol land a mile long and a mile wide, and were a good dial rougher than anything we have nowadays. King Henry 1 1 1 and Queen Elizabeth passed laws against toot-ball because of ils roughness. In 1 fiXlf, a man writing about football had Ibis to say of the game: "It is a wicked pastime, and hereof growottl envy, rancor, and malice, ami sometimes brawling, murder and great effusion of blood, aa experience daily teacheth." These words show that football was far from being a pink tea affair in the days of good Queen Bess.

What King Thought of Football. who came to the throne-in 1 C03. said that footh ill was more likely lo lame a man lhan do him good. During his reign and afterward, football began tC lose its popularity, until in 183(1 "Football Day" died out altogether in England. For thirty years after IRSO Rugby, as the English began call ing the game, was played only in the great high schools such as Eton.

Marrow anil Itughy. Wherever the English have gone, they have laken their football with them. They brought it here just as they took it to Canada. Australia and South Africa. Football has been played in America siin-o early Colonial times.

Until 171, however, it was a sort of socker, in which the players kicked and "dribbled" the ball. In that year Rugby football was Introduced into this country from Canada, and WHS first played at Harvard Soon after. Yale adopted the regular Rugby rules and played a game hi Harvard. This was the first of the great series of Harvard-Yah- con tests that take place once a year and which attract tins of thousand: of spectators. Rugby football in America changed so rapidly that Within a feW years it became an entir-1.

new game. The number of players was reduced from fifteen to eleven anil the various plays reclve I names. Meanwhile-, American f-hall grew rougher and rough thereby getting back somewhat in the style of game played hundreds of years before. Mass formal ions and battering-rani tactics became the rule of the-day. Eleven men hurled themselves heaellong Against another Football is such an old game that no one knows when it was first played.

Two thousand years ago the spirt was quite popular among tho Roman Soldiers who Mlted it "harpastum." The ancient Romans, had two kinds of football, one for the fields, and the other to bo played under shelter, much the same as we have indoor and out- toor baseball, "Harpastum" was something like SOCker, except that the players were permitted lo carry the ball at times Both sides tried to kick the ball (or rather, the inflated bladder; pigskin footballs were unknown) into the goal of the opposing team. It is said that the Romans brought the game to England, and that it was played in Great Britain and Ireland nearly 2,000 years ago. There was a "Football Day" once a year in the ea-ly times, when the young men used to leave the walls of their towns to play football on the greens beyond. Just fi02 years ago, King Edward 11 of England issued an order forbidding the playing of football in the streets of London. The game had become so popular that large crowds of men and boys, and sometimes even women, used to kick the ball around in the narrow, winding alleys.

From time to time persons were killed by being trampled upon, or by being thrown against irons, posts and other objects. Many of the old street games ended in free-for-all fights in which clubs, daggers, and other weapons were freely used. Therefore, when King Edward stopped game from being played in the streets of London, it was generally agreed that he was doing something very sensible. Later on football was forbidden 1 even in the country, because of the belief that it took the young men away from the archery practice. England's bowmen were at that time the backbone of her victorious armies, and a thorough knowledge of the art of the "cloth-yard shaft" was of prime importance.

Games Where Hundreds Bach Other. Football could not be entirely stamped out, however, and the people began to play it as much as.