Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/59

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42
THE PRESENT GAME.

verance; and, above all, learn by heart and practise in conscience that beautiful verse of Thackeray's—

"Who misses or who wins the prize,
 Go, lose or conquer as you can,
 But if you fail, or if you rise,
 Do each, pray God, a gentleman."

The best players are early risers. No sluggish snoozing after five or six, but up while "silken dailliance in the wardrobe lies," and out in the blue unclouded morning, on a fresh green meadow, where one's blood is set a boil, and put into such healthy circulation that appetites are made ravenous for breakfast. A grand tonic it is, too, which bestows a clear head and a fresh heart, and makes one feel as if he had stolen a march upon time, and was prepared to tackle to business, after the fashion of Monckton Milne's men of old who

"Went about their gravest tasks
 Like noble boys at play."

Lacrosse dislikes fellows who "spree," who make syphons of their œsophagi, and who cannot make better use of their leisure than to suck mint juleps through straws. It dislikes immaculate snobs, or snobs of any kind, who are allowed to live to show