io6 



RECREATION 



Madison Square Garden in the spring 

 of 1904. If the interest in army athlet- 

 ics increases during the next few years 

 as it has during the past few years, we 

 can probably look forward to the army 

 holding its regular Departmental meets 

 just as the colleges now hold their in- 

 tercollegiate meets ; and when such time 

 arrives what excellent results it will 

 produce, and what an amount of 

 healthy gossip it will occasion among 

 the enlisted men of the United States 



army 



"To go barefoot, to live on the bare 

 ground, to be satisfied with little meat 

 and drink, to suffer heat and cold, to be 



exercised continually in hunting, wrest- 

 ling, running on foot and horseback, to 

 be inured to blows and wounds so as to 

 vent neither complaint nor groan — 

 these," says the historian, Rollin, "were 

 the rudiments of Spartan training." Let 

 us hope that the American soldier will 

 never have to endure the harsh disci- 

 pline of the Spartan, but continue, 

 whether "rookie" or veteran, to have 

 comfortable clothes, clean barracks, 

 healthful amusements and a plentiful 

 supply of good food; and that he will 

 be required to emulate the Spartan only 

 in courage and in the variety and ex- 

 tent of his athletic sports. 



PHOTOGRAPHING PRAIRIE DOGS 



By CHARLES TURPIN 



It's hard work to photograph prairie 

 dogs. They are very scary I tried a 

 half-dozen times to get them to stand 

 still long enough to make an exposure, 

 but the very sight of the camera seemed 

 to drive them nearly to distraction. For 

 two or three days I spent many hours 

 in the little village reproduced here. 

 Its inhabitants finally grew to know me ; 

 then to like me, the friendship gradu- 

 ally being cemented with liberal "treats" 

 of ginger-bread, cakes, nuts, etc. At 



last we were on such friendly terms 

 that the prairie dogs felt well disposed 

 even to the kodak which I set up 

 a few feet from the "atrium" of the 

 largest house. v Then taking the photos 

 was easy enough. They did not mind 

 me moving around to turn the film or 

 adjust the shutter ; but the moment a 

 stranger approached, no matter how 

 softly, the little fellows, losing interest 

 in the proceedings before them, van- 

 ished like a flash into the earth. 



