An Anecdote of General Scott

1895

After his retirement Scott passed the summer of 1862 at Cozzens' hotel, West Point, where every evening a party of gentlemen adjourned to the general's sitting room for their game. Being a good player, the host was usually victorious, but if he and his partner were ever beaten Scott's ire was made manifest. One night it happened that the usual party was missing. What was to be done? The general must have his whist. There happened to be staying at the hotel a judge, who was asked to do the favor of taking the fourth hand. With some protest on his part he agreed to do it. By cutting for partners the general and the judge played together and were beaten — horribly beaten. Knowing how it irritated the general to lose the game, the judge, as he rose from the table, said in his most dignified and courtly way: "I formerly played a fairly good game of whist, but have been out of practice so long that I am somewhat rusty. I hope that fact may be taken as an excuse for my mistakes." Whereupon the general arose with equal dignity and retorted, "I am glad to learn that I have been playing with latent talent and not with a natural born fool!" — Kate Field's Washington.

The Game of Clotshot

1895

Two players on each side have to play alternately with one ball. One village has ball No. 1 and the other ball No. 2. Those balls are 2 inches in diameter and in weight are 1¼ pounds. The material is of hard wood root, and lead is poured into six holes, of which every two face each other. This lead makes the ball a first class missile, and the smooth surface of the hard wood lets it quit the fingers easily when the throw is made. Now, what is the object of this throwing? It is simply to get as far as possible down the appointed course. You have to walk for an hour at least and back again. He who can cover the distance with fewest throws wins.

I would like to see a good English cricket ball thrower contend at this game with these Germans. In each case a man who can throw 100 yards is a very good thrower. The Germans, in throwing, go through an amount of acrobatic contortion and leaping that I have never seen practiced at baseball or cricket ball throwing. But the Germans are very accurate. One great point with them is to cast the missile so that it shall continue after touching the ground to go on. The ball, therefore, should be thrown as low as possible, so that it may have force to bound and roll onward when it alights. — Good Words.

Games of the Old World

1895

An Italian editor has been investigating the principal games in fashion in Europe during the dull weather. He finds the present craze in England is clay modeling, the selected victims — and generally misunderstood — being Mr. Gladstone and "Sir Harcourt."

In Belgium, especially in the "Rockersclubs," slow smoking races are the fashion. These end themselves favorably to bets. Big Flemish pipes are loaded with half an ounce of tobacco, and he is winner who can smoke his own through in the longest time without relighting; present record, 67 minutes to one pipe.

Leaping beans are the amusement of Italy and southern France. The inventor has had whole fields of them sown in Mexico and the larvae carefully preserved. The bean leaps best on hot plates, but the southerners paint them as kings and queens and use a little gunpowder. Then the figures go into convulsions, and the game is called "L'anarchie."

Germany, of course, is occupied with the war game, and France has selected "divinertes," of guesses of the future.

New Hampshire Neighbors — South Conway

New Hampshire/Maine, 1916

A very pleasing entertainment was given at the chapel Tuesday evening by the young ladies of the summer colony, ably assisted by the few young gentlemen. Tableaux, singing, charades and finally the pinning of the Donkey's tail by the children all gave much amusement. Ice cream, cake, home-made candy, pop corn balls and peanuts were sold which with 10 cents admission netted the church $35.

Mr. T. P. Ivy has a new automobile and Will Jackson is his chauffeur.

Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Cook are also enjoying a new Ford automobile.

Mr. John Legere lost a nice young horse last week, tetanus caused by stepping on a rusty nail being the disease. Dr. Lord was sent for, but too late.

Mrs. Abbie Blood and daughter of Franklin, N. H., visited at A. E. Davidson's last week.

Miss Persis Davidson came home from Pendexter's Mansion last Wednesday.

Mr. John Potter and family called on friends in this place Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Stewart visited at J. M. Hatch's Sunday.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 3.

The Game of Chess

1901

The game of chess differs in the various countries of the world. Thus, in the Hindoo game, four distinct armies are employed, each with their king, each corps counting among its fighters an elephant and a knight which slay but cannot be slain. The Chinese game of chess, which boasts of the title of choke-choc-kong-ki (the play of the science of war), has a river running through the center of the board, which their elephants, equivalent to our bishops, cannot cross, and there is a fort which their kings cannot pass.

Under the Sanskrit name of chaturanga a game essentially the same as modern chess was played in Hindustan nearly 5,000 years ago. From Hindustan the game is said to have been carried to Persia and thence to Arabia. The Arabs introduced it into Spain and the rest of western Europe during the eighth century, where it became the principal pastime about the year 1000.

Passing of the Athletic Girl

1901

The athletic girl, it is predicted, is to be supplanted in popularity this summer by the girl of the olden type, who knew nothing of outdoor sports except a mild game of croquet be included in the list and, furthermore, did not care to know. It is hinted that the men have lost interest to some extent in the self possessed, independent young woman who can row a boat — and sail one too — play tennis, throw a ball straight, make century bicycle runs, tramp for hours without getting fatigued, swim long distances, etc., and that a reaction has set in in favor of the old fashioned type of girl, content to occupy her summer days with purely feminine tasks instead of imitating her sport loving brother.

Golf has not apparently come under the ban of alleged masculine displeasure to quite the same extent as other forms of sport, but the golf girl's skirt has been lengthened until it just escapes touching the ground, for fashion's experts declare that it is not correct to wear skirts that are overshort even on the links.

Whether or not these predictions prove true and the pendulum really does swing back to its former position remains to be seen. Meanwhile the shops are making a brave showing of golfing outfits and other sporting paraphernalia for women, and outfitting costumes have not altogether ceased to attract attention. — Dorothy Quincy in Brooklyn Citizen.

Even or Odd

1910

This game is the most ancient, perhaps, that we know. The children who played in the streets of Athens and in the Roman Forum in early ages, knew and loved it, and little children find amusement in it still. It is played in this manner: One child hides in her hand a few beans, nuts, or just bits of paper, and asks her companion to guess if they are odd or even.

If the playfellow guesses odd and on opening her hand the other displays an odd number, she forfeits the articles to the guesser, who hides them in her turn. But if the guess is odd and the number even, the guesser pays a forfeit and the first hider retains the beans, etc. The guess must be right to win.

Billiards An Old Game

1905

The game of billiards may lay claim to great antiquity, for in "Anthony and Cleopatra" Shakespeare makes Cleopatra say: "Let us to billiards;" and so, unless we accuse the great poet of error in chronology, we have traced the game back to a period before the Christian era. In early times a similar game was played on the grass or turf with stones, and later with balls of lignum vitae and other substances.

How to apply the right "twist" or "English" to the cue ball is one of the most interesting and important elements in the art of good playing. In early times only two balls were used, and each player sought simply to pocket the ball of his opponent. The red ball was introduced as a novelty to keep the game from dying out.

As time has gone on the game has had varied development in different countries. In Spain they play with three balls and five wooden pins are set up in the middle of the table. In Russia they play with five balls, two white and a red, blue and yellow one.

The English game is played quite differently from the American and French games. It is a combination of the American games of both pool and billiards, being played on a table having pockets, as in an ordinary pool table, and the points as scored in both the American games being counted.

The French and American games are played with three balls upon a table without pockets and only "canons" or "caroms" are counted. In America the game of billiards has undergone a rapid development on account of the great skill acquired by American players. Early in the last century the game was commonly played with four balls upon a pool table, more or less like the present English game, for both pocketing the balls and making caroms were counted, but in time this style of playing proved so simple that a table was adopted without any pockets in it — and caroms only were counted. — Outing.

Still in the Kindergarten

1905

Those Who Can Be Interested in Nothing That Is Not a "Game"

After an intelligent and watchful mother had sent her children to a famous kindergarten for several months she withdrew them because she found that they were being ruined by "getting the attitude of regarding everything as a game" — that is, instead of learning through games how to go about the serious business of life, they were learning to approach everything in the careless, make-believe spirit of play.

There is a hint in this for our colleges. There is a hint in it for all those who do puzzles, and play chess, and ride to hounds, and fool with rings and bars to develop their minds and bodies. The world is cursed with tens of thousands of human beings who have the best natural advantages, but can get up the steam of enthusiasm only for some "game" that is useless in its aim, and no more useful in its method, than its corresponding reality would be.

It is as certain as cause and effect that he who takes play seriously will take serious things playfully. — Saturday Evening Post.


Sour Expression Caused Divorce

Carrie Fields has been granted a divorce from Dr. L. S. Fields at Sanborn, Iowa, because the husband did not like her make of pancakes and ridiculed them. She testified that the expression upon the doctor's face when eating the cakes was such it might work permanent injury to her health.

Boys Play Skittles With Skulls

1905

Numerous bones and skulls hare been recently dug up near the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, and boys of the locality are playing skittles with them.

This will soon be stopped, as the human debris is to be carefully collected by the workmen who are excavating in the district.

The skulls and bones come from the old graveyard of the Abbey of St. Martin-des-Champs, which existed where the Commercial Conservatoire now stands. There was also another cemetery, that of St. Nicolas, in the same district, and it was built over in the eighteenth century. — Paris correspondence, London Telegraph.


Japanese Live By Rule

Their Diet and Habits Regulated Strictly Through a Thousand Years

An army officer, discussing recently with friends the surprising immunity from sickness of the Japanese troops as manifested in the present war, said that, while the first cause was doubtless the diet prescribed, the real reason was to be found in the way the dietary is adhered to.

The Anglo-Saxon fighting man might be told what to eat and what to eschew, but centuries of personal liberty in eating and drinking and the ordering of his daily regimen to suit himself had given him a certain independence. With the gallant little yellow man, however, the adherence to the instructions they receive on such matters was slave-like.

Their minutest personal actions had been regulated through a thousand years of feudal strife and dependence, which, taken with their peculiar temperament, had made them submissive to a degree unknown among the freer races, or races which, if not freer, had freer institutions, in which minute details of life were not so closely regulated.

Device Will Interest Children Fond of Playing Marbles

1905

Science in the Nursery

This is a country of inventors and an age of machinery. Labor-saving devices enter not only into our work, but also our play, and in our nurseries as well as our shops.

The great American game of baseball has now a special piece of apparatus for nearly every player, and the mechanical ball tosser threatens to supplant the human pitcher. Elaborate devices are used in automobile speed contests, for accurate timing and mechanical starters are to be found on every race track.

The craze for mechanics has reached the nursery. One of the latest contrivances is a device for shooting marbles more accurately and with greater force than can be done by the bare knuckles of even the most expert youngster. The device consists of an arrangement of spring wire of a shape adapted to fit the hand and to engage the marble. By means of a thumb trigger the sphere is ejected as desired.

Doing It Well

1900

Half-heartedness never wins in this world. If a thing is not worth doing, do not do it, is a good rule. The late Robert Louis Stevenson was always an enthusiast in whatever he undertook, even when at play.

His stepdaughter, Mrs. Isabel Strong, who was for a time his amanuensis, says that Stevenson used to maintain that no one could write a good story who was not a good player — who could not enter fully into the spirit of a game. He himself threw all his energies into whatever he might be playing.

At one time he was visiting a house where a small boy was "playing boat" on the sofa. When the lad got tired he did not wait for the ship to come to port, but got down from the sofa and walked toward the door.

Stevenson, who was watching him eagerly, cried out to him, in apparent alarm, "Oh, don't do that! Swim, at least!" — Youth's Companion.

London Women Rolling Cigarettes for Soldiers

1915

They Abandon Knitting for a New Fad for Relief of Men

London. — Rolling cigarettes for relatives, sweethearts, and friends in the fighting line is just now the occupation of many women here, who believe tobacco in this form will be more appreciated than packages of cigarettes manufactured in the ordinary way.

It is not an uncommon sight to see women rolling cigarettes in the lobbies of some well-known hotels, and many have temporarily given up knitting to make cigarettes. Symmetry, of course, is not much in evidence in these productions, which often swell toward the center like cigars, but Tommy Atkins will probably be able to smoke them despite their shortcomings.


Piquet War in Trenches

Soldiers Have Regular Championship Matches Along the Battle Lines

Paris. — Piquet, says the Figaro, is the favorite diversion of the French troops in the trenches along the battle lines. Some remarkable games are played between the crack players of the different companies.

Many of the contests are broken off suddenly by the bursting of shrapnel in or near the trenches. Not infrequently a game ends in a "dead" hand when some unfortunate player "passes out" forever while holding the winning cards.

English Slang A Riddle

1914

Language of Cricket Game as Confusing as American Report of Baseball Game

Why so much slang should accompany the report of a baseball game is a mystery of America that no Englishman has ever solved. Really, you know, it's quite absurd; and a jolly bit confusing, old chap.

Of course, baseball slang is confusing to the stranger to the game, but an Englishman should never criticize our baseball slang, as Arnold Bennett, W. L. George and many others have done. Cricket slang is just as confusing, just as foolish to stranger ears — and, no doubt, just as essential to the game.

In describing the recent Eton and Harrow match at Lord's, a big event in the cricket season, the London Sphere uses a few phrases that sound like an American sporting page:

"The bat must have come forward crooked and it is not surprising to see the leg stump turning cartwheels.

"The best ball sent down in the match. It started well outside the off stump, swerved inward late in its flight, and fairly fizzled off the pitch in its new direction.

"Amory got most of his runs by beating the ball to the boundary in front of square leg, and he was not a bit particular about the line on which the ball was pitched. Several went from outside off stump, but this one pitched on his pads. Oates, behind the wicket, jumped to the leg side to save the possible bye. Eventually Amory tried one cow shot too many and the middle stump went for a walk."

Machinist Given Surprise Birthday Party, Receives New Pipe

Indiana, 1906

BOLINGER WAS SURPRISED

Carl Bolinger, a machinist at the Pennsylvania round house, was greatly surprised Wednesday evening, when fifteen of his shopmates marched in upon him unawares and announced that they had come to celebrate his birthday anniversary. As soon as the callers were divested of their overcoats they surrounded Mr. Bolinger and one of their number, speaking in behalf of all, presented him with a handsome and costly pipe. Games, music and luncheon followed the presentation and the guests declare they never had a more pleasant time.

—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, January 19, 1906, page 11.

Death and Sadness in the News

Iowa, 1898

STATE NEWS

John Burk was instantly killed in a horse race at Winthrop, Iowa.

Mrs. Mary Christensen of Council Bluffs has gone insane through worry.

Charles Andrews, aged 20, was drowned while bathing in the Coon River at Farnhamville.

It is supposed that the four weeks' old child of J. W. Warford of Des Moines came to its death by reason of a wound inflicted by a pin near its ear.

John Gibbins, a switchman at Ottumwa, was struck by an engine in the yards at that city and injured so severely that he died within a short time.

While the little daughter of Mr. Gullander, living near Denison, was leaning over a fence of a hog lot, the animals caught her by the dress and pulled her over. She was twice severely bitten before being rescued.

Horse, the 7-year-old son of James Maualtt of Brooklyn, was playing with a number of companions, the game being practice in throwing the lasso. The rope was thrown over his head and tightened with a quick jerk, throwing the little fellow to the ground, breaking the collar bone and rupturing a blood vessel in the head. The little fellow died in about three hours.

--Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, September 6, 1898, page 7.

Appetite for Peyote Seeds Up Since Prohibition

1922

NORTHWESTERHERS ARE EATING PEYOTE SEEDS

Since the Prohibition Laws New Appetite Has Gone Even to the Orient.

A new form of intoxication, viewed as a social menace among Northwest Indians and Orientals in Washington, is the eating of peyote or button-like seeds of an Arizona cactus.

Thousands of these types of Northwest inhabitants are now alleged to be peyote drug fiends, a spree occurring several times a year and lasting many weeks. The effect of the cactus button on its victims is sleeplessness, morbidness and an increased mental desire for hilarity and games of chance.

The peyote is a pear-shaped species of cactus common in parts of the Southwest. The top bears seeds resembling red-coat buttons. These are sold by pickers to dealers for $2 per thousand.

The button-like seeds are generally eaten in the dry, brittle state, from 5 to 50 in a single night.

From time immemorial the peyote has been used in the Southwest among the aborigines and Mexicans for producing an intoxication of soul and body to aid them in gambling, dancing, or ill-timed deeds.

Since the abolition of liquor and the ban on narcotics, the peyote fans gradually moved northward along with other vile drugs. The consumption of this bean has invaded the Northwest to Alaska, and many bushels of the peyote buttons have been taken to the Orient.

—Oneonta Daily Star, Oneonta, New York, April 24, 1922, page 7.

Supreme Court Unable To Classify Ouija Boards

1922

CANNOT PASS ON OUIJA BOARD

Supreme Court Admits Inability to Classify It.

WASHINGTON, June 5.—The Supreme Court today announced it would not determine what is a ouija board. The question was presented in a case brought by the Baltimore Talking Board company, which protested against taxation of such boards as sporting goods and insisted that should the court refuse to hold that the board "is a grade motor automatism, involving considerable subconscious action of intelligence," that it should at least classify the smaller boards as "children's toys."

The lower federal courts sustained the government's contention that the boards should be classed as sporting goods.

—The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, June 6, 1922, page 1.

Poker: Four Deaths Because of Five Aces

1911

FOUR DEATH DUE TO POKER

"Bad" Ace in Pack Starts Bullets Flying at Kayler, Pa.

Kittanning, Pa., May 23. — A poker deck which, it is said, held five aces is responsible for shooting which took the lives of three miners at Kayler near here. Charles Sendric, Andy Braltis and Rocco Braltis were killed instantly and Walter Spilesh was fatally injured.

The "bad" ace was seen in the hand of Dick Sendric and he was given a severe beating by the other players and thrown out of the house. Sendric later returned with an automatic gun and, it is alleged, fired its contents into the home.

Uniontown, Pa., May 23. — Frank Pecan, aged twenty-nine, was shot through the breast and killed instantly as a result of a shooting affray in connection with a poker game at the Sunshine Coke works, twelve miles south of this place. Frank Renite, aged twenty-five, was shot and seriously injured. The police are searching for three brothers named Logwabaca, one of whom, it is alleged, did the shooting.

—Indiana Evening Gazette, Indiana, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1911, page 3.

The Easter Egg Rolling on the White House Lawn

1906--

The Easter Egg Rolling on the White House Lawn

More than 20,000 children, varied in age and size and color, an aggregate of 100,000 brilliant-hued eggs and perhaps 30,000 adult male spectators -- these are the chief participants in the novel spectacle of the annual egg-rolling carnival which takes place every Easter Monday in the president's big back yard at Washington. There is no frolic anywhere in the United States, and probably none anywhere in the world, like this spring merrymaking on the 80-acre grounds of the presidential mansion.

The monster egg-rolling fete is a heritage which has been handed down from generation to generation of children at the national capital. Just when and how it originated no person seems to know, but tradition declares that this odd juvenile romp originated in a foreign custom, which was altered and elaborated in character after it was transplanted to the city on the Potomac. Years ago the annual egg rolling took place on the grassy slopes that fall away from the United States capitol building, but ere long the scene of the fun was shifted to the grounds of the executive mansion, at the other end of Pennsylvania avenue, and there has remained ever since. Indeed, the youngsters guard this privilege of playing in the president's yard once a year as a sacred right, and when, a few years ago, some official proposed that the custom be abolished there arose a wall of protest that shook the foundations of social and political Washington.

The egg is king of the carnival at the big gathering on the day following Easter, but this great "play time" is not devoted exclusively to the pastimes wherein the colored eggs are an all- important adjunct, for the president's lawn is open to all children, rich and poor alike, and many of the little visitors who have come unprovided with baskets filled with the fragile playthings spend the entire day skipping the rope, playing with dolls, sailing miniature boats in the great fountain basins or indulging in some other diversion dear to the childish heart, and for which exceptional facilities are afforded in the vast playground that is, under ordinary conditions, reserved exclusively for the use of the president's children.

However, as has been said, eggs decorated in many bright colors and employed in any one of a dozen ways constitute the favorite playthings for the occasion. The genuine "egg rolling" -- that is, the bowling of the eggs back and forth on the velvety lawn or down the gentle slopes in which the grounds abound -- has the preference over all other pastimes, particularly among the younger children. The older girls and boys manifest a special penchant for games of "toss and catch," which are likely to seriously deplete the stock of eggs, or for the sport known as egg "picking," which necessitates an even more prodigal use of the delicate souvenirs of the day.

"Picking." It may be explained consists of the striking of two eggs together, each held by a youthful champion confident of the solidity of his egg. The picking continues with gradually increasing force until the shell of one or the other is cracked. When the owner of the egg which has failed to stand the novel test must surrender the damaged egg to his victorious competitor, who goes on his way seeking new worlds to conquer.

--The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, April 15, 1906, page 3 of editorial section.