CHAPTER XII.
FIELDING.
Next to a persistent engagement around a goal, the great and exciting charm of Lacrosse is in the ever-varying incidents and vicissitudes of the Fielding,—the gladiatorial contests, the agile feat, the sudden rally, the skirmish, the running fight. Its aspects are so vascillating, and its situations so changeable, that no moment of play is like the play that preceded it: different men are after the ball in a different way, and every circumstance out on the field, as well as every crisis at the flags, has the fascination of novelty. A new player is sooner marked by his fielding and his sense of his individual responsibility, than by any particular point of play. The play on the field is conspicuous, and there never fails to every man opportunity to distinguish himself, if he can. To be a good fielder is, therefore, a sine qua non of every player; and
