Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-06-23
SOmething About Tenhia
From the American Quenn.
"What treasure uncle?n
"TenniS-balls, my liege."

From the American Quenn.
"What treasure uncie?p
"TenniS-balls, my iege."
Henry y, Act l. Scene 2
Although the revival Of the ancient game of
tennis, which is now generally known as lawn
tennis, is of recent growth the sport is simply
modification Of the pastime familiar to the
English people in the time Of Shakespeare.
They, in turn, borrowed the game from the
French. There can be little doubt that the
sport arose out Of ''hand-ball." or, as it was
called by the French, palm-play, so-called be-
cause the exercise consisted in receiving the
ball and driving it back again with the palm of
the hand. In former times they played
with the naked hand, then with glove. After
wards 1t became the fashion to bind cords and
tendons around the hands to make the ball re-
racquet derived its origin. During the time Of
Charles l. hand-tennIs was exceedingly popular
in France, being played for large sums Of
money: 30 strong was the passion for betting
they had about them, would frequently pledge
their wearing apparel According to Laboureur,
French historian. the Duke of Burgundy
.'haying lost sixty francs at palm play with the
Duke of Bourbon, hessre William de Lyon and
Messire Guy de Ia Trimouille, and not having
money enough to pay them, gave his girdle as q
pledge for the remainder, and shortly after
wards he left the same girdle with the Count
D'Eu for eighty francs which he lost at tennis"
Indeed, 1t was very common in those times to
negotiate girdles instead Of bonds In betting
transactions
In the fifteenth century regular and fixed
rules were introduced in the game for the first
time, and covered courts were erected. In the
sixteenth century tennis courts were quite COM
mon IN England, and the sport was literally en-
couraged by the sOvereigns. In work pub
lished by HoOle in 1858 there is picture of q
tennis court, divided by a line stretched in the
middle. and the players standing on either side
with their racquets ready to receive and return
the ball. which the rules Of the game required
to be struck over the line.
The Duration of a XIII.
From the Albany Journal
curious investigation was made the other
day by party of young fellows who had daw-
oiled most Of the afternoon away at the windows
of Delm onico's barroom. 1t was little in the
way OF science, but not much; and don't say
that it was valuable, except by contrast with
the greater worthlessness of their ordinary do
ings. They were languidly discussing the length
OF minute as compared with the usual concep-
ton of it. 1t was truly asserted that occurrences
OF few seconds duration seemed to occupy
as many minutes, under some circumstances
One had asserted that certain round in a box
ing match, reported In the papers as occupying
half minute had really lasted not less than two
minutes. His accuracy Of judgment was at once
pitted against that of the reporters, and he was
himself made the referee. This was done by
letting him call time" for an imaginary repeti-
ton of the round, and "stop" at its close while
the others noted the lapse of time. Well. his
mental measurement of two minutes was equal
to just three-quarters of minute by the watch
Then the dandies tried to realize the length Of q
minute by holding their breath, but that pastme
proved too exhausting, and had quickly been
dropped, when two girls met ana kissed on the
opposite sidewalk.
''What's the average duration Of q kiss?" was
asked.
Interest In the question languidly arose.
proposition to investigate the subject was made
All plans OF procedure were rejected as imprac-
tlcable and Enthusiastically, however, until some
body hit upon the idea of going to the Grand
central depot at the time of an arriving train
and accurately observing the kisses as unpre-
meditatediy made am able to give the re-
sultlng data. Thirteen kisses were measured as
to duration from the instant of contact to that
OF elimination. Two Of these were so instan-
taneOus that the observers noted them at hum
dredth part Of second, and four more were
rather guessed than actually timed at flftieth
All these were between women. Thenext group
Oh nve kisses were recorded at twentieth. The
couples were divided as to sex, but were made
up OF persons whose ties were presumably those
OF c0nsanguinity. Then came a full half-minute
kiss-that of a little girl and man who was
doubtless her father. The longest Of the thir-
Teen was over minute, according to the time
keeper, but the reliability of the record was
questioned on the ground that there was sue
cession of kisses instead Of q continuous con-
junction of the lips. This couple was composed
either of young married folks or Of sweethearts
who felt sure that they were among total stran-
gers. There was no hurry or reserve about their
affeCtiOuate greeting