The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-10-23
The Crime of Croquet.
IFrom the New Yor& WOrld.l ]

The Rev. Mr.. Bott, OF the Twelfth
Baptist Church in Philadelphia, is likely
to be occasion of several precedents in
Baptist ecclesiastical law. He is
charged with playing croquet, with play
ing croquet in company with woman
who was not his wife, with riding in
horse-car with woman who was not
his wife, and with playing croquet under
an alias. This last charge we should
incline to believe to be the gist OF the
whole matter, if the previous charges
were not dwelt upon with equal circum-
stantiality.
The relations of eroquet to the Bap-
tist Church are enveloped in painful uD-
certainty. The Baptist Church has
never taken the ground that eroquet
was q body-and-soul-dest stroying vice.
On the contrary, the younger Baptist
laity play 1t without pastoral reproot,
and it has never been made matter of
| Church discipline before. The only fea-
son we have for supposing that croquet
will be treated as crime by Baptist
body, when perpetrated by minister,
lis that it is the favorite diversion of the
curates of the Church of England. 1t
may, therefore, be inferred that, like the
[use OF stained glass and WaIstcoats cut
Thigh in the neck, it has direct tend
lency to Romanism.
But so long as Mr.. Botts Church has
taken no ground against croquet, we do
not see why he should be cut off from it
for playing it, when it appears that he
took every precaution against playing
it publicly, or SO as to exert corrupt
ing example on Baptist youth. The
charge thai he played it with a woman
who was not his wife is hardly an ag-
gravation of Botts otfense. II does not
appear that he has any wife. If he has
lit should have been stated in the
charges. II he has not, it will not be
pretended that bachelors should be
debarred from croquet. II croquet be
permitted to preacher, preach
ers no more than other men ought 10 be
confined to playing croquet forever as a
duet with their wives. AS to his being
seen upon horse-car in company with
La woman not his wife, let that man who
has never been seen upon a horse-car
with woman not his wife cast the first
stone at him. Even as to the more seri-
Ious charge Of playing croquet' under an
alias, we are not disposed to visit Mr..
Bott too roughly. Perhaps he did not
do 1T. Even if he did, consider the cir.
EcumStances.
His name was asked OF him by an in.
lQulsitiye woman, who apparently had
Ino business to ask it, and II he gave her
"a false name IL was a Venial sin. Be-
sides, few lull-grown men caught play.
ling croquet would have the fortitude to
avow their real names, particularly il
they were clergy and those names
were BotC. That which we call a Bot
Iby any other name would sound as
sweet. By the name of Horace Easton
lit would sound much sweeter.
If Mr.. Bott has been behaving himself
Icriminally we are very sorry for it. But
all that the "cnarges" against him es-
tablish are that he has a couple of sneaks
lin his congregation who have been set
ting spies on his movements, and there
lis an unfortunate tendency, Which ought
by all means to be checked, to believe
accusations Of immoral conduct
against clergymen on slighter grounds
than would make them credible against
other men. We repeat that we hope MIR
Bott may vindicate his innocence, and
that the elderly Philadelphian, who, be-
lieving himself wronged and his family
Invaded by Mr.. Bott, chased Bott from
his church the other night down the
street, kicking 80 violently as he ran at
the bounding and elusive Bott, as tt
kick his own false teeth loose, did so un-
der misapprenensiOn.