ery man should have a heavy sweater or
an overcoat at hand to put on as soon as play is stopped, for every
precaution should be taken to avoid catching cold. Every football team
should, if possible, have hot and cold water shower-baths convenient to
their dressing-rooms--for cleanliness is as important a matter to the
welfare of the players as fresh air. Long hot baths are weakening and
should be avoided, except when a cold has settled in the muscles, and
then hot water is of value.

Football players should be regular in their daily habits. They should
rise, take their meals, and retire to bed at the same hours every day;
and it is likewise a good thing to have the practice at the same hour
each afternoon, and, if possible, at that hour of the day when matches
will most probably be played later in the season. The men should have
plenty of sleep, say from ten at night until seven in the morning, and
on rising they should, if possible, take a short walk before breakfast.
And now that the word breakfast has fallen into the discussion let us
look at the commissariat side of the football question.

There was a time when a football player was supposed to make a martyr of
himself, as far as the good things of the kitchen were concerned. His
bill of fare was made up chiefly of raw beef, and he was permitted to
drink only so many glasses of water a day. This barbarous custom,
however, has now been done away with, and from personal experience I can
vouch for the delicious fare of the training-table of the present day. A
football player's diet must be restricted, of course, but there is an
ample list left that he may choose from. Roast beef, beefsteak, lamb
chops, roast lamb, broiled chicken, oatmeal, rice, mush, and all kinds
of cereal food, potatoes cooked in any style except fried, vegetables,
eggs, apple sauce, baked apples (never any raw apples), prunes, oranges,
grapes, figs, dates, and all fruit in season; rice and bread pudding,
stale bread, and dry toast--all these can go on the bill of fare. The
forbidden dishes are pie, cake, salad, pork, veal, rich dressings,
anything fried, ice-cream, candy, soda-water, and any kinds of drinks,
alcoholic, malt, or soft. No tea, no coffee, no chocolate, and--but this
should go without saying--no tobacco.

Another important thing for the Captain of a football team to give his
closest attention to is the condition of his men. He should watch them
continually, and note the slightest ten