New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-07-20
OVEPDOING CROQUET.

r. il related Of u missionary that he once APP
oroonhcd the mayor OF thriving Arizona town
and deplored the fact that there was no suitable
Mace in the village for homeless young man TO
spend his evenings. Whereupon the city official
promptly rebuked the good man and called his
attention to bis 1.-THE mayors large faro bank in
San FranciscO-aver Temarklng energeucaily that
there was a suitable place for young man TO stay
all night if lie had the money and the backbone
Nevertheless despite this Official Endorsement,
there has always been what seems to be we'll
founded suspicion that the games indigenous to
the faro bank are not conducive TO the general
prosperity of youth But there is n game, essen
TALLY different from these. which has been almost
universally held TO be not only harmless, but
highly beneficial furnishing gentle exercise for the
body, and not, as general thing, overtaxing the
mind. We refer to the game of croquet young
man who has just played in match game OF
college football has been known laboriously to
raise himself Oh his remaining elbow, gaze out of
the hospital window with his surviving eye and, as
we'll as the bandages about his jaw would permit
sneer at the game Of croquet; but in his secret
heart he wished that he had played crOquet in
stead Of football.
That croquct could ever bring harm TO any one,
especially in q moral way, has never we presume,
entered the mind of single person. But the game
appears TO have been loaded after all-to borrow
q phrase from the obituary column In recent
issue Of The St. Louis Republic" there was
a dispatch from IlliopoiS, H., giving particulars
of the downfall OF the Rev. H. f. Howell of that
place. Reader, croquet did It! What viper
have we been harborng in our front yards! Lit
tie thought the mother Of the Rev. r. f. Howell
when she put on his hat wrong-side before and
sent him down the road past the old mill 10
school with his bright tin dinnerpail in his
chubby hand, that he would one day fall victim
to the demon croquct. But digress-our OBJ
ect was 10 give in a few plain but earnest words
the particulars of the decline and fall of the Rev
r. L. Howell Of uliopolis, Ill.
The croquet blight fastened itself upon
young Howell when lie was but thirteen
years of age. Naturally it grew with
his growth and strengthened with his strength.
When, as a young man, he entered the ministry
neither he nor his friends saw any reason why
lie should give up the game. Everybody consd-
cred it harmless Instances were of course known
where young ladies', excited by the varying fort
unes of the game, had fractured the skulls of their
opponents with their mallets, but the danger was
reckoned small After coming into charge Of a
church the reverend gentleman INDUCED in the
game more than ever. Every family in the vii
the pastor called playing was always in order
lie loved TO strike ball toward u wicket and
see it, when foot from the opening, encounter
uneven place in the ground, and roll of down
across the lawn and half way up the trunk Of a
shade tree Still, he did not let croquet inter
fcre with his ministerial duties till Wcdnes-
day evening about three weeks ago. To be sure,
sometimes hc had 10 run from the crOquet-ground
to the church. and once he APPEARED in the pulpit
with the yellow ball in his coat tail pocket Yet
rothng was thought of this. But on this particu
lar Wednesday evening he was AT Deacon Purdys,
playing with Mrs. Purdy and her Oldest daughter,
Kittie lie heard the church bell ring for prayer
meeting, but needed it not. Members Of his
flock went past, but lie paid no attention. Brother
Baxter couehed significantly as he passed the gate,
hut his pastor only played on the green ball.
The gathering AT the church was a solemn one.
Deacon Farnsworth led the exercises Deacon
Hawkins prayed for their absent pastor. Al that
moment the good man was attempting naSsc
Shot on the red When the meeting broke up
there were ominous whispcrngs As the people
went past Deacon Purdy's they noticed that Mrs.
Purly was holding a lantern while tie pastor
PLAYED tie Green for position. \ week later he
WAS requested 10 resign. lie did 80, and left for
Sprlualirld, No. Whether not he will remain
in the ministry The Republics dispatch fails to
say.
Bat we nay see how an excellent man can
be- ruined by SO harmless thing rs croquet.
There is danger in excess. Let US cultivate mod
Grafton, that "sillien string running through the
pearl choin of all virtues even in croquet