year. ers). If they leave the firing point, ooo men now shoot there every they must withdraw the cartridge. 12. No rifle shall be cleaned or wiped out except between ranges. 13. If any competitor is not ready to fire when his name is called, he shall forfeit his turn. 14. Competitors will be allowed one minute to each shot. 15. Ties. Ties shall be decided by the total score made at the longest distance; or if those scores are also tied, by the total score at the second distance. If that is a tie, then by the fewest outers in the entire score; by the fewest inners in the entire score; and by inverse order of shots, counting singly from the last to the first. In team shooting, if there be still a tie, the competitor making the highest score on each side shall fire five rounds at the longest distance. 16. Any competitor violating one of the rules, or refusing to obey an officer of the match, shall not be allowed to compete further. 17. Any competitor firing when the danger flag is shown, or knowingly discharging his rifle except at his target, shall not be allowed to compete further. This does not apply to a person accidentally firing at the wrong target when no danger signal is up. 18. Any competitor found with a loaded rifle, except at the firing points when about to shoot, shall not be allowed to compete further. 19. Any competitor firing his rifle accidentally may be required to withdraw from the match by the executive officer. History of Rifle Shooting. Rifle clubs have existed in this country for a long time, but scientific rifle matches and organized target practice began in 1873. The National Rifle Association was organized in 1871, and, with the aid of the State of New York, established in 1873 the rifle range at Creedmoor on Long Island, where many matches have since been held. About 25,-| SHUFFLE-BOARD, or SHOVEL BOARD, a game played by two or four persons with iron weights, which are slid along a board sprinkled with fine sand. The board is 30 feet long, with slightly raised edges to keep the weights from sliding off sidewise. Lines are drawn across the board five inches from each end, one for a starting line and the other for a finishing line. There are eight weights, or "pieces," weighing about a pound each, and divided into two sets of four each. The players are divided into opposing sides, and each side has one of the sets of pieces. Each player in turn, standing at the starting line, slides his pieces along the board. Each piece that projects partly over the edge of the board scores three points, and each that lies on the finish line or between it and the edge of the board is said to be "in," and scores two points. If no piece is in, the one nearest the line scores one. After a round has been played, the players go to the other end of SIEGE It was sometimes played on tables with pieces like checker-men. Shuffle-Board was forbidden by law in the reign of Henry VIII., as one of the games that turned the people from the practice of ARCHERY. the decks of ocean steamers, but differently from the way just described. A figure is chalked on the deck like that shown below. The weights used are of wood, and are pushed from a distance of nine SIEGE. See FOX AND GEESE. or ten paces by a long staff with a SIMON SAYS. a game played by curved end. The players take turns, but nothing is scored till the end of any number of persons, who sit in a the round, when each is given the circle, or around a table. The leader number of points marked in the says, "Simon says thumbs up," holdsquare occupied by his piece. An ing out his clenched fist with the enemy's weight may be knocked thumb uppermost; "Simon says out of the figure altogether, or thumbs down," reversing it; or a friend's shoved in, by a blow "Simon says wiggle-waggle," movfrom a succeeding player. If a ing his thumb back and forth. The weight remain in the semi-circular rest of the players must imitate him space nearest the players, ten is whenever he uses the words "Simon subtracted from its owner's score. says," but when he says simply Thumbs up,' Thumbs down," or The winner must make exactly 50 points; all in excess of that number "Wiggle-waggle" no attention is are subtracted instead of added; paid to him and the position of the thus if a player's score be 46 and players' hands is not changed. If he make 8 more, 4 points are any one obeys the leader when he added to bring him up to 50, and the should not, or fails to obey when he remaining 4 are subtracted, mak- should, he must pay a forfeit. The In like man- leader tries to give his orders in ing the total still 46. ner 48 and 3 would make 49, and so such rapid succession that some of the players will be confused and make a mistake. on. History. Shuffle-Board was played long ago in England, and its origin was probably similar to that of BOWLING, QUOITS, and CURLING. PuzSINGLE-LINE DRAWING. zles are often given out in which it is required to draw a certain figure ΔΑΚ Single-line Drawing. without taking the pen from the be the fewest number of lines with This paper or retracing a line. kind of drawing may be called single-line drawing. Given any fig. gure whatever, the following rule will tell whether it can be thus drawn, and if not, with how few lines it can be drawn. Count all the points in the figure where an uneven number of lines meet. There will always be an even number of such points, if there are Half this number will any at all. which the figure can be drawn. Thus, of the four figures shown, the first has no points where an uneven number of lines meet, the second has two, namely A and C (BC and CD counting as separate lines) the third has four, E, F, G, and H, and the fourth six. Therefore, when a figure is given to be drawn in a single line, the first thing to do is to see whether it be Then, if it possible so to draw it. be possible, begin at one of the points where an uneven number of lines meet, but if there are no such points, any point may be taken as the starting-point. When a crossing is reached, it is better always to adopt some one plan and to follow it on all similar occasions to avoid confusion. For instance, the line to the right of the one you are on may be taken, supposing that you are facing the direction of motion of your pencil. Or, you may plan so as always to cross a line, never taking the adjoining one. But if there is no system and you sometimes take one way and some times the other you will often find that you have left part of the figure undrawn. SIPHON, an instrument for drawing liquid out of a vessel over the side. It consists of a U-shaped tube, one of whose branches is longer than the other, The tube is first filled with the liquid and then the shorter arm is dipped in the vessel, when the liquid will flow over the bend and out of the longer arm. A simple siphon may be made by bending a glass tube (see CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS) or of a piece of rubber tubing. Instead of first filling the siphon with the liquid, the short end may be placed in the vessel and the mouth applied to the long end. The liquid is brought over by sucking it, and when it has started it will continue to flow. The action should not be started thus, of course, unless the liquid is harmless. EXPERIMENTS. 1. Using a bent rubber tube for a siphon, raise and lower the outer end while the water is running. It will be found that the water will run faster the lower the end is, and will stop when the end is just on a level with the surface of the water. The reason is that the difference of weight of water in the two branches of the tube makes the water flow. The greater the differ ence, therefore, the faster the water will run, and when there is no difference at all, it will stop. The part of the small end that is under water does not count as part of the tube. 2. Plug the lower end of an argand lamp-chimney with a cork or rubber stopper through which passes the long branch of a glass tube bent into the form of a siphon, the bend and short branch being inside the chimney. Let water flow into the chimney through a tube much smaller than that used for the siphon. As soon as the level of the water reaches the bend of the siphon it will fill the siphon and be at once discharged. Then the supplytube will fill the vessel again, and so on, the discharges taking place at regular intervals. This arrange Exp. 2. Tantalus's Cup. ment is often called "the cup of Tantalus," from the old Greek legend of Tantalus, who was said to be doomed to stand up to his chin in water, which receded every time he tried to drink it. The illustration shows the form of the toy sold by makers of chemical apparatus. Cups are sometimes made containing figures of Tantalus, in which a siphon is concealed. Water is allowed to run in till it reaches the mouth of the figure, when it suddenly runs out. It is supposed by some people that intermittent springs, which flow at regular intervals, are natural siphons of this kind. The arrangement is used practically to "flush" or wash out sewer-pipes at regular intervals. ing that musical notes are made up so that it can be fastened to a of a regular succession of noises. A TWIRLER. A glass tube, drawn out simple one can be made by having at one end to a jet (see CHEMICAL cut out a disk of sheet-iron about a EXPERIMENTS), is fixed to the end of foot in diameter, with holes large a rubber tube. The other end of the enough to admit a lead-pencil around the edge. A similar row containing half as many holes is made a little nearer the centre. The holes in each of these rows must be at equal distances apart. The disk has also a hole in the middle tube is held in the mouth, while the jet is held pointing toward one of the holes in the disk. The twirler is now turned, and by blowing through the tube a succession of puffs is heard as the stream of air passes through the holes. By turn ing faster this series of noises can be made to pass into a musical note, though in this rough form of siren it is mixed with a whistling or hissing sound. The faster the disk twirls the higher the note is, and the smaller row of holes always gives a note an octave lower than the other. If the disk is large enough, the notes of the musical scale can be formed by making eight rows of holes containing successively the following numbers, or numbers proportional to them: 24, 27, 30, 32, 36, 40, 45, 48. If a glass tube having a cork in one end be placed with its mouth toward the disk, as in the illustration, the sound will grow suddenly louder when the disk reaches such a rate of speed as to give the note to which the tube responds, and this may be varied by pushing the cork backward or forward in the tube. SIXTY-SIX. See BÉZIQUE. SKAT, a game of CARDS, played by three, four, or five persons, with a EUCHRE pack. Only the three at the dealer's left take active part in the game at a time. The dealer gives five cards to each active player, lays two cards face downward on the table to form what is called the “Skat,” and then deals five more cards to each. The cards may also be dealt three, four, and three at a time, or two at a time, in which case the skat may be laid out between any two of the rounds. The privilege of playing any one of several different games is now sold to the highest bidder, as follows: The eldest hand first decides on the game that he can play best, depending on the cards in his hand, and says, "I ask." (The names of the different games, and the values of the corresponding bids, are given below.) If his own bid is the larger, he says "Yes," and then the other may bid again or pass. This is repeated till one or the other passes. The third active player then bids against the one that did not pass, in like manner. When bidding is over, the highest bidder announces the name of his bid and playing begins. The object of the highest bidder is to make 61 points in the hand. If he does, he scores the amount of his bid; if not, each of the others, including the silent players, if there are any, scores that amount. (An exception, in the case of the bid called "Null," is explained below.) In playing, suit must be followed, but if that is impossible any card may he played. In reckoning the necessary 61 points, the cards count as follows for the player taking the trick containing them: The Nines, Eights, and Sevens have no counting value. In the lay suits the rank of the cards, beginning with the highest, is Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Nine, Eight, Seven. The four Knaves, which are always the highest trumps, are called "Matadores." and their rank, beginning with the highest, is Knave of Clubs, Knave of Spades, Knave of Hearts, Knave of Diamonds. (The bid "Null" is an exception to this also, as explained below.) All trumps count as Matadores in bidding. The Bids. In some of the bids the suit on which they are based must be mentioned, and the value depends on the trump and on the number of Matadores held, as will be explained. The bids are as follows: The player on his left then makes his bid, by mentioning the kind of 1. Simple Game, or Simple. When game he can play best, and the eld- the highest bidder has bid a simple, est hand, if its value is larger than the suit named in his bid becomes his own estimated bid, says, "I pass." | trumps, unless he chooses to change |