The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-01 00:00:00

THE AMUSEMENTS OF THE PEOPLE

No one who glances over the history of the social
life of our people can fail to be struck with the
great advance made within the past few years in
the favnur accorded to recreation and amuse-
ment_ As the serious work of life has increased
in intensity, it has been found necessary to in-
dulge more in relaxation than was the case when
competition was less keen, and there ware fewer
starters in the race for riches. One result of
this is seen in the vastly augmented interest ,
manifested in the University °Boat Race; and
certainly acquatics are thought much more of
now than they were fifteen or twenty years ago.
A very small proportion of the boys of England
go to Harrow or Eton, yet the yearly cricket-
match between the representatives of these well-
known public-schools, which takes place at
Lord's, in the north-%% est of London is always
witnessed by tens of thousands of spectators
The details of a pedestrian match are eagerly
read by all classes. Football, racquets. athletics,
and gymnastics respectively have their devotees.
These we seem to have always with us. but
there are others of a more evanescent character
which seem to pass away like shadows from the
plain. About the year 1860 everybody took to
playing croquet, and not only was alcroquet lawn
an essential adjunct to every country house, but
the inhabitants of London suburbs levelled their
back gardens, and invited their friends to cro-
quet tournaments. Then came in the bicycle,
but as it was an unsuitable exercise for ladies,
its popularity was only a fleeting one. Bioye!-
yisni soon died out, and to it succeeded lawn
tennis. This was something in which a lady

could very well take part, and so it came to pass
that over many a lawn you saw stretched the
familiar'net ; while at luncheon, and in the in.
terval between the soup and the fish, young
ladies discussed with muchlearning about" cut "
and " twist ". and " screw" and i"haif-volley,"
vith num,rons other technicalities. But lawn
-.ennis, like bicycling and croqu3t, appears to
!lave had its day, for jest now the favourite oc-
cupation of leisure hours to an itmneue number
of persons is linking. This col]sists in glieing
about on castor wheels over an wiphalte pave-
ment. B its admirers it is described as an ex
hilarating means of recreation, and it can be
Pursued under cover, and in all weathers, the
tuiddle and wealthy classes have taken to it
considerable gusto It is an entirely new move-
Aleut, and there can Ile 110 question that its :-.11.0-
oess has heen extraordinary. Eighteen lbw' h

ago it was entirely confitied to the fashionable
svorld ; now there are rinks in all the suburb,
..f London, and in ev-ry large town ; there are
some twenty or thirty kinds of patant roller
skates ; there are rink hats, rink costumes, and
rink boots ; and even in the City, where men
are supposed to be shrewder than elsewhere,
proposal to float a Link Company is under at
teutive consideration.
It is difficult to say why this newest of our re-
creations should have so commended itself to
the popular fancy. Lawn tennis had its recoal.
mendations ; polo is -admirably suited to occupy
the energies of it keen fox-huuter during the
summer mewls : to run up and down the
wide reaches of the Thames in a steam yacht is
pleasant and refreshing ; and croquet, which is
now to all intents and purposes dead, combioed
healthy exercise with a training in physical
skill that was likely enough to prove useful to
some of those who practised it. Why should
riuking eclipse them all, at all events, so far as
its present popularity is concerned? One rea-
son, doubtless, is that it bears such a strong re-
semblance to the pastime of skating. Every
one knows how intoxicating that is. Let there
be a night or two of hard frost, and people fluck
to the nearest pond, as diggers might rush to a
gold mine or to a diamond field. They know
that they run the risk of their lives by ventur-
ing on the frozen surface ; but warnings are too
often useless. Notice boards with the word
" Dangerous I" printed in large characters are
displayed in vain ; iceman endeavour fruitlessly
to keep the people off. On they will persist in
going, and every winter the newspapers contain
accounts of fatal ice accidents because for a tem-
porary pleasure a crowd will venture upon a con-
gealed surface before it is capable of bearinc
the weight suddenly cast upon it. . In Canada-,
skating, which is undoubtedly the most graceful
form of outdoor exercise, aim probably the most
gratifying to the senses, lasts ter something like
four months of the year. In America, where it
is equa4 popular, the season of the frost is
shorter ; and an ingenious American, who had
been rtcommended by. his physician to skate
regularly, hit upon the invention of a roller.
skate to be upon a wooden or asphalte floor.
Barely two years ago the first rink in this
country was opened at Prince's, a well-known
resort of fashionable London. To have the
right of entry r,oon became a coveted distinction
but the middle classes soon took it up, and skat-
ing i inks sprang into existence all over the land.
Its adverse critics declare that it has nothing to
recommend it beyond the fact that it made its
first, appesraace as ITI aristocratic pursuit. /et
there is no doubt that it is invigorating, gives
health to weak people and invalids, and is
directly calculated to produce a sound mind in
a sound body—the object of all physicians. Of
course it has its perils, and some severe falls up-
on the asphalte are not unfrequent. But dangers
encompass many other descriptions of passing
away leisure time; even the favourite game of
cricket is not without these, and we an know how
the, t:ughy rules of playing football have been
proilueive of fatal ae,!idents. Archery is un-
gut stienably it pastime less perilous to those who
indulge in it than riuking, bat it is inure 1110-
10 in its nature, and possesses nothing of
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will be disposed to look unkindly on any means
of amusement which is honest, legitimate, and
free ffotn the vices of the betting ring ; if it im-
proves the
_physical health, and relieves the
mind, the end is attained, whatever may be the
agencies employed to reach it.