Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-07-07
CROOUET.
me mystery of the Game, and speeu-
lations Thereon.
FROM the New 1otk Evening MaiI.)


some days ago ON Broadway we were at
tfacGed py the eloquent tones of street
veneer VINO had already gathered a consid-
erable crowd about him. He was sellino
something quite new for quarter Toen2
nance Its value he told its UNIQUE history
line manufacture of this article" he said
was profound secret, and would ever
remain So The inventor used to make it
III a gafret reached by ladder, which
PflnitiVe stairway he always pulled up af-
Ter MN when he was to work. Nobody
hhe" VINO he was, where he came from. or
from whom he bought the sIzimicals.' One
morning after he had made d gross ofthem
he was found dead in his bed, and he didn't
even leave behind him prayer-book with
his name IN it. SO" concluded the yender
with a tear in one eye and his other on a
pol1ceman, who was crossing the street with
an imperative move on, sir, written all
over his lace, $50 gentlemen, said he, as
he pocketed bundle of quarters, ssthe Sc
eret died with the poor fellow, and this is
the last'dozen of that grossr'
Some such fate as this seems to have been
that OF the inventor of the popular game
croquet. Luckily for posterity, however.
there was no mystery aboutthe sskimicals )"
Although he might have immortalized him
self by leaving US his name, which. even
had it been but plain Snooks. we wouId
have ever tenderly revered, he died and left
no sign. But luckily, as we have said, he
didn't take the patent with him, There
were those who had learned the pleasant
mysteries ofhls little game, who improved
upon 1t and bequeathed it to those who fol-
lowed, who IN turn, improved until it is
given us to-day an invaluable source of in
nocent health-giving amusement
mat the origin OF the game is a mystery
Will probably be news to many of our read
ers, as we know that the general impression
is that 1t is one of the newest things one
OF the novelties of the past decade, and of
Partisan birth. But the effort to give due
credit to It's inventor which we made has
satisfied us that he must have lived Iono
before the first brick was laid in the citv Of
the Seine, probably before that discredit-
able row between Romulus and Renus
which ended in the death of the latter and
in the building of Rome by the former.
Croquet-The name is certainly suopes-
tive OF French oripin, and arguments are
not wanted to SO FIX it's nativity, but thev
are not satisfactory. Croquet in the French
means to crackle as in the act of crumplino
paper or the like, and it is just possible
that the noise made by the conclusion of
the balls during play might have suggested
his name, but this would be but a Door
effort at name-giving, and unworthy of the
French, who are specially apt in this way.
Besides, we have no evidence that the game
was ever popular in France, nor is it now:
while on the other hand we seem to find
traces of its origin among the records of old
English games instituted in England by
the Romans, who at one time made game
of the whole country. Furthermore, crouuet
is very popular there to-day, while it is even
more so III Ireland, where a club, known
as the ''Oallands Croquet Club" was in
full feather-in Beltast-some twenty wears
ago.
The game it is now played is new, and
1t seems to US that argument to prove it's
age is after all like that Of the fellow with
the jack-knife, who claimed that it had
been in his family for century, during
which tune it had had fifty-four new blades
and twentyxseven new handles. The an
c1ent simple game, upon which the present
somewhat complex oneis said to have been
built, and Of which some book-worm fshed
up an Illustration somewhere in an illus
trated manuscript, is represented as being
played by two men with bats and ball, an
something like bridge.
Surely there is not much foundation to
build on here, and yet there are men who
have positively raised books upon it, and
lived to see them printed. But as we don't
propose to write book TO prove our ignor-
anoe, taking for granted that we have suf-
ticlently proven that in much less space al
ready, and confessing our inability to bridge
this croquet difficulty, we leap over it.
Croquet, it is clear. however, aris5ocratio
on the ground of its ancient origin, did not
become fashionable game in Europe until
ten years ago. 1t has not yet become the
popular game which we believe it will be.
with its manifold recommendations to gen
eTal favor.