The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-09-19
SWlNo-S KTTTLES.


An Old English Game-Its Adoption In
Hg Germany.
The good old English game Of skit-
ties, perhaps from its being constantly
associated with the idea of beer, ranks
somewhat low among popular amuse-
ments; its chief votaries will be found
among the frequenters of suburban tea
gardens or Of roadside public houses.
1t Is useful in its way as providing OPP.
portunities for the display of a certain
amount of address, combined with
more or less physical exercise, accord
ing to the energy of the players; but
there IL b general roughness and want
of nicely about the game which will
account for its not having made its
way into favor as an adjunct to our
country house gardens, especially as
these defects render it i'll adapted for
the gentler sex. The American form
of the game, the bowling or ten-pin
alley, is d very great Improvement
The necessity for physical strength is
reduced, while that for skill is in
creased. thereby making it better
adapted for both sexes; but it must be
played indoors, or at all events in a
covered alley, in order to prevent
the ''table'' from being damaged
by exposure to the weather; and,
moreover, the weight of the balls and
the length of the ground render the
construction of this stable" somewhat
costly. Further, it is almost impossi-
BILE to play for any length of time with
out having boy constantly at the end
of the alley to pick up the pins and
send back the balls to the players. In
Southern Germany different form of
the game is very much in vogue; the
ball. instead of being bowled, is swung
by rope suspended from sort of
gallows, and thus returns by its own
momentum to the players hand after
every stroke. Nothing in the way OF
''table'' is required beyond a small
square frame on which the pins stand,
and this may be made of stone or OF
wood sufficiently strong to defy the
weather. The pins and all the adjunets
of the game can be made by any ordi-
nary village carpenter and may be left
out of doors during the whole summer
without taking any damage. A very
small space is required, q plot
of ground twenty-four feet long
with breadth of sixteeI
feet being amply sufficient; thus
there is scarcely any garden il
which corner might not be founC
with room enough. This game is t.
be seen in the gardens of almost every
''Wirthschaft, in the Black Forest
gardens that differ very much from
those of our public houses in that they
are frequented and civilized by thu
presence of the wives and daughters o
the men of the lower and middl,
classes, who after working hours spenC
the long Summer evenings in these re
sorts. Many of the hotels have one o
these skittle grounds attached to then
in some SHADY nook, adding much K
the attractions of the lazy life of an en-
forced soiourn at a German Bad; ant
they are frequently also to be seen il
the gardens of private residences
showing that. the game is by no mean
practiced only by the lower classes.
has been long known in England Of
the toy and miniature scale, and ha
even in its fullness been sometimes i'm
ported here by some of those who hav
found it an agreeable pastime in Ger
many; and wherever it has been intro
duced it has met with favor in tn
orhood.-Loado7s Saturday Re
| R,ieaD