BATTLE 



627 BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK 



two tons, requiring 100 men to work it. The 



soldiers operating the battering ram w. 



ally protected by a screen. During the siege 



T\V< > I < >i:MS OF ANCIENT BATTERING RAM 



of Jerusalem the Romans used battering rams 

 with teml>le effect, no walls being able to with- 

 stand their constant blows. 



BATTLE, TRIAL BY, OR WAGER OF, a custom 

 <! the Middle Ages of proving the innocence 

 of one accused of crime by a solemn, judicial 

 duel fought 1 >et \veen the accused and the 

 accuser, in the belief that God would give the 

 victory to the right. Women and churchmen 

 wen- forbidden to take part in these duels but 

 might choose a champion to fight in their stead, 

 and this fighting by proxy led to great abuse of 

 the custom, for professional fighters were often 

 trained and hired out to do battle. Introduced 

 into England by William the Conqueror, the 

 >in was not formally abolished by law until 

 1819. Wagner's music drama of Luh< ngrin cen- 

 ters around the idea of trial by battle, the 

 white knight Lohengrin appearing in response 

 t<> tli. prayers of Elsa, who has been falsely 

 accused. 



BATTLE CREEK, MICH., in Calhoun Coun- 

 ty, in the -outhwi -t part of the state, is twenty- 

 two miles east of Kalamaxoo, 165 miles east of 

 Chicago and 1'Jl miles west of Detroit. It is at 

 tin- junction of Kalama/oo River and Battle 

 Creek, and is on the Michigan Central and 

 Grand Trunk railroads. Interurlian electric 

 lnii- conn, .-i with Detroit and neighboring 

 Of the city is nearly 

 - In I'.iln the population was 

 25,267; in 1914 it was 28,122. 



Battle Creek is the home of Battle Creek 



:;i (>t:ili||.-hrd in 1 SfiO ) . The instltu- 



mcludes a hwpital. dormitone-. homes for 



children :md fof tl 



has a tabernacle with a Beating capacity of 



3,500. Prominent building- "f tl.. 



ial limlding. the city hall, Po.-t 

 I building, the puMic library and V. M 

 I hull. ling, the two latter the gift of ( 'I, 

 Willard; al>o a well-equipped hospital. 



Largely due to the dietetic reforms of the 

 Sanitarium. Battle Creek has become famous 

 as a manufacturing center of breakfast foods 

 and for publications of diet-reform literature. 

 The city has extensive mam. of thresh- 



ing machines and other farm implements, trac- 

 tion engines and steam pumps, and produces 

 also printing presses, hose fixtures, paper car- 

 tons and boxes. Extensive car shops of the 

 Grand Trunk Railroad are located here. The 

 city is in a rich agricultural section and has an 

 important trade in grain, fruit, live stock and 

 wool. Battle Creek was settled in 1831 and 

 incorporated as a village in 1850. Trouble 

 which occurred between surveyors and Indians 

 at this point is a circumstance said tor have 

 given the city its name. A charter granted in 

 1859 was revised in 1900. The commission form 

 of government was adopted in 1913. G.S.B. 



BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK, a 

 game played with a small racket, called a 

 battledore, and a shuttlecock made of a piece 

 of cork, or other light material, with feathers 

 fixed round the top. The racket may be cov- 

 ered with stout parchment or made of strings 

 crossed and fastened as in a tennis racket. T\\ > 

 players stand facing each other a few yards 

 apart and hit the shuttlecock back and forth 

 as many times as possible without allowing it 

 to touch the ground. The player who allows 

 the shuttlecock to fall to the ground loses a 

 point. A game may consist of any number of 

 points agreed upon by the players. 



BATTLEDORE AND SIH TTLECOCK 

 (a) Two formx <-f L.iltl. <!.'!; (6) the shuttlo- 

 . whi.-li is nut so \i\\w in |irn|>..itj..n to th> 

 aise of the battledore as the Illustration would 



lie to believe. 



mild but interesting sport is of very 



nt origin, and has been popular in China. 



India .us. I -ill. i K.'istcrn countries for at least 



2,000 yean. A modern development of it 18. 



known as Badniititun. and it is popular a* an 



indoor winter pa-time in Kngland. Th racket 



\ n r than those u>ed in 



the oldei 1 the rules of Badminton are 



' .r to those of tenm<. A net is placed 



I i in nk< d court, and (he shuttlecock is 



