Ever since he was a young child, he lived a rough life. In 1869, at the age of eight, James moved with his family to Grand Calumet where his father began work as a sawhand. Orphaned at age ten, when his parents contracted typhoid fever while working in the milling community, James and his brother and sister spent the next two years in Bennie's Corners living with their maternal grandmother. Where he attended grade school in a one-room schoolhouse. James was known in the neighborhood as a strong and skillful boy, but at school his monthly report cards showed poor grades. Mr. Thomas B. Caswell, James' grade school teacher, instructed him in reading, writing, arithmetic, advanced mathematics, Latin grammar and other subjects.(Glenn Dickey) When their grandmother died in 1873, the Naismith children, A

5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in any way of an opponent. The first infringement of this rule by any person shall count as a foul; the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game. No substitution shall be allowed.

1. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.

"We decided that there should be a game that could be played indoors in the evening and during the winter seasons. I began to think of the fundamental principles of all games. I discovered that in all team games some kind of ball was used. The next step was to appreciate the fact that football was rough because you had to allow the defense to tackle because the offense ran with the ball. Accordingly, if the offense didn't have an oppurtunity to run with the ball, there would be no necessity for tackling, and we would thus eliminate roughness. This is the fundamental principle of basketball. The next step was to secure some kind of a goal through which the ball could be passed. In thinking of upright goals, the fact was brought out that the more force that was put on the ball, the more likelihood there was of having it pass through the goal. It then occurred that if the ball were thrown in a curve, it would not be necessary or advisable to put too much force on the ball. I decided that by making the goal horizontal the ball would have to be thrown in a curve, minimizing the severe driving of a ball. In order to avoid having the defense congregate around the goal, it was placed above their heads, so that once the ball left the individual's hands, it was not likely to be interfered with."(Dave Anderson)

Despite the burden of farm duties, there was time for play. In Bennie's Corners the blacksmith shop was the gathering spot for the children of the area. Here they enjoyed watching the blacksmith work his materials and playing in the sugarbush behind the shop. Where a tree or boulder served as a convenient base, they played variations of tag and hide-and-seek or tried the skill at "duck on the rock" - a game in which one child placed his "duck", a stone, on a boulder as a target for other children to try to knock off by tossing their own fist-sized stones. In the fields, creeks and rivers beyond the blacksmith shop, James and his friends found more space to play.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Springfield Mass, Luther Gulick, Bennie's Corners, Maude Sherman, YMCA Training, Broussard James, Springfield Naismith, Anderson James, James Robbie, Dickey Naismith, training school, james naismith, ymca training school, ball thrown, university kansas, duck rock, ymca training, game basketball, umpire ref, grade school, presbyterian college, dr james naismith, ball thrown curve, spiritual physical development, lacrosse rugby football,
Approximate Word count = 3419
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)