The horseman's joke

On the bank of the Hudson River there was a little quiet village where people told many stories about ghosts. The most terrible story was about a horseman who had no head.

Many years ago a school-teacher, Crane by name, lived in that village. He was a very tall man with a clever face. In the same village lived Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a rich farmer who had no other children. She was beautiful and many young men wanted to marry her. Crane, too, loved the young girl. So all the other young men were Crane's enemies. The most dangerous among them was a young man, Brunt by name. He was a strong man who was popular with the village people.

One afternoon, when Crane was in his school, a servant came from Katrina and brought him a letter which invited him to a party at Van Tassel's house. The pupils went home before the usual time and Crane began to dress for the party. He wanted to look well that night. Besides, he asked the farmer in whose house he lived then, to give him a horse to ride to Katrina's house. In the evening Crane came to the party where he saw many other guests. There were many good things to eat and much dance. Everybody had a very good time that night. When the party almost came to end Crane suddenly left the room where the dances continued. He went to Katrina's room and stayed there for a short time. Nobody knows what the young people talked about.

But the conversation was not pleasant because the school-teacher looked upset when he came back. It was late at night when Crane started back home. He rode through the forest as the night grew darker and darker. He came to a place where the road went over a small bridge across the river. When Crane came up to it his heart began to beat fast. He suddenly remembered all the stories about the ghosts. He was so frightened that he pushed his horse forward but the animal suddenly stopped. On the bank of the river stood a horseman on a black horse. Crane pushed his horse again and rode as fast as he could. The horseman followed. Crane looked behind and could not believe his eyes: the horseman had no head. Crane was still more frightened when he saw that the horseman held his head in his hands. Crane tried hard to get away from the man. He rode faster and faster but the horseman came after him. Soon the school-teacher saw a bridge behind the trees.

"If I get to that bridge everything will be all right", he thought. Again he looked behind. He saw how the ghost raised his head and threw it at him. It struck Crane on the head and threw him off his horse. The ghost horseman and his black horse quickly passed by.

The next morning people found Crane's horse near his master's house. But nobody saw the school-teacher himself.

BASKETBALL

It was a rainy day in November, 1891. An instructor at Spring­field college in Massachusetts climbed up a ladder and nailed a fruit basket to the wall of the gymnasium. Then he climbed down the ladder. He picked up a football and threw it. The ball went into the basket. As he climbed back up the ladder to get the ball, the man was very glad. Maybe he had solved his prob­lem! Well, he would soon see.

Ten minutes later, eighteen young men ran into the little gym. The instructor put nine boys on one side and nine on the other. He told them to throw the ball to each other or bounce it and, when they were near the wall where the basket was nailed to try and throw the ball into the basket.

The game started, and what a game it was!

When several of the young men fell to the floor as they were playing, the instructor stopped the game. "Something is wrong in this game," he said. "This is too unpleasant."

He sat down and took out a piece of paper and a pencil. "Now let's have some rules—and let 's observe them!" He paused for a minute, thinking. Then he began, "Rule number one: No one can run with the ball! You have to throw it or bounce it to someone else on your side.

They all agreed that it was a good rule.

"Rule number two: If a man pushes another player to get the ball, the game will stop. The man pushed will have a free throw at the basket. Nobody must try to catch the ball on its way to the basket."

That rule, too, was good. Quickly, other rules were made. When the game started again, there was less pushing, fewer men failing, and better passing of the ball from one man to another. A second basket was nailed to the wall at the other end of the gym.

The man who nailed the fruit baskets to the wall, was a young Canadian. His name was James Naismith, and he was a college teacher.