The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [22]
Finally, the timber hitch helps you drag a heavy object, like a log across a field. This knot is simple and also easy to untie, an important consideration in knots. It tightens in the direction you pull in, so make sure to use that to your advantage.
AROUND-THE-POLE HITCH
TIMBER HITCH
Wrap one turn, top to bottom, back to front. At the top, loop the end around the rope, to the left (this loop is important; the end must be wrapped around the rope it just came from). Tuck the end over, back, and around three or four times, and pull tight. The tucks must sit flat against the object for this knot to stay tight, since it is held in place by the rope’s pressure against the object as you pull.
5. Stitches
There will no doubt come a time when you need to mend your gloves, replace a button that’s fallen off, or sew the tear your pants suffered while climbing rocks.
Cut your thread, push it through the needle, double the thread so it’s extra strong, and place a knot—a gorgeous Flemish stopper knot—at the end. You’re ready. The stitches below can help you quickly mend any rip or tear that will inevitably occur in a daring life.
Rules of the Game: Softball
SOFTBALL was invented on Thanksgiving Day in 1887, in Chicago. Tales report that the first softball game was played indoors one winter, and that it made good use of a boxing glove and a stick. Did George Hancock, an enthusiastic reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, really draw some white lines on the floor of the gym and shout “Let’s play ball!” thus inaugurating softball? We’ll never know for sure, but he did become intrigued by the new batting game with the large ball, and loved playing indoors while the snow fell and the chilly Chicago winter wind blew through the fields. By the turn of the twentieth century, softball had moved outdoors, and into summertime.
Everyone plays softball, but it’s still seen as a sport for girls. There’s an interesting history to this. By the 1920s, women had begun to play baseball, especially at women’s colleges. Several semi-professional “bloomer-girl” barnstorming teams traveled from city to city, and were incredibly popular. In 1943, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was established by Phil Wrigley, the man who owned the Chicago Cubs. So many American men were fighting in World War II, baseball players among them, that the rosters of men’s baseball teams were empty. Like the Rosie the Riveter movement that sent many women to work in factories and gave them new experiences there, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League opened up professional baseball to women, all in the name of the war effort, and provided entertainment to the people at home.
Some people never got used to the idea of women playing baseball. They fought against the presence of women in their sport, wanting to keep it the preserve of men and boys. They were successful; the All-American Girls League shut down during the 1950s, and women were shuttled off to play softball instead.
Today, softball is one of only two sports that the National Collegiate Association of Athletics (NCAA) has for women only, the other being field hockey. For four years, from 1976 to 1980, women had a softball league all their own, the International Women’s Professional Softball League, but it couldn’t compete against the popularity of baseball. Women’s softball was played at the Olympics in 1996 for the first time. The United States women’s team won the gold medal, and repeated that victory in 2000. It’s too bad that in 2012 softball will be dropped from the Olympic roster, along with baseball.
TO PLAY
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The first rule of softball is never to apologize. This may seem an odd way to introduce a sport, but many, many girls, and women, too, find themselves saying “I’m sorry” if the ball they throw falls short, strays long, leaps out of bounds, or in any way doesn’t land exactly the way they intended. Try to resist this impulse. Unless your throw inflicts actual bodily harm, never apologize for an errant throw or catch.