The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-09-20
MODERN GAMES ALL OLD.
we are stul P'aying yhose Invented by
the Ancfents Long Ago.

the Ancients Long Ago.
Few of ehe hundreds OF new games
mat are invented every year become
ooprlar They may be seen In any toy
,tore by the score--laWn games and par
or games, games Of cards and games
u h,s.ll, games for young and for old.
They are melancholy sight, for not one
II hem will ever take the plaDs OF the
I'D stand-bys Of infancy and boyhooi.
sven the names of most Of them will
never be heard OF by the majority OF
american boys and girls. This Is the
logic OF history.
1t seems an easy meItter to invent
game; the best games are so slmple-yee
1 popular game was never yet invented.
Every one of them has grown, and the
ocst Of them have been growing for hum
ireds of years. Scientific men tell us
nat all sorss of queer creatures once llv-
"a on this earsh-grca: lizards, with
Wings: sea monsters, half whale, half
sal, and rhlnoceroses larger than ele-
,nlnts All these have died away, be-
cause they were not fi5ted TO live. while
hose animals that were fit for life have
zone on growing beisef and better, TIN
,ome-the horse, for instance-we could
10. do without. 1T Is Just so with games.
rhNse live thai are Al to live. and the
'e,st die.
our best games form a sort Of arls-
,ocracy; thelr pedigrces run back to very
Anclens times and no modern upstart
An compete with them. Take baseball
pni cricket, for instance-probably the
most popular ous ?door games of modern
I'm s--:he one in our own country, the
other In England. They are first cousins
md their hold on American and English
Boys Is In all probability due to the fact
that they each unite two strong lines OF
descent-that of the bat and ball games
to which tennis. lacrosse. hockey, cro-
Qus., and, more distantly, billiards, also
belong. and that Of the goal games, such
as tag, puss-in- -5he-corner, l spy, and
dozens of others. AL the nations We
know anything about had bat and ball
games ages ago. Nobody invented the
bat and ball: they grew up with our civ
.l.za,on from the time when little saw
ages used to knock about pebble or
fruit with a ssick. SO with the goal
games-4they have always been popular.
Their name Is 5tlll legion. The goal part
tthst Is. the running from base to base)
Is much more important part of the
game in baseball than 1t Is in cricket,
and for this reason we Americans are
justified in looking upon baseball as the
better game. all other things being equal
To be sure. neither baseball nor cricket
Is the game II was 800 years ago. but
both have grown, not changed.
Any one who chooses may trace the
growth Of crlcket from the year 1900. It
Is not 50 easy to trace the pedigree Of
baseball, for just as with a great many
American families. there Is a break in
IN. record back in colonial times. 1t Is
known 10 have been played by the In
dlans. 1t Is a thoroughly American
game, and no one loves 1t less because
some people claim round ers as its an
cestor and others reject the claim with
scorn. ...
AS for indoor games, we may prove
their nobility in just the same way.
Chess comes down TO us from the an
cient Hlndoos. by way OF Persia. Check
ers were played in Egypt, and then In
Greece and Rome. Cards made their
appearance in Europe in 1850, and the
Chinese say that they used them two
centuries earlier than this. Ten pins
was certainly played in the ohirteenth
century and probably much earlier. All
these have grown. but they have not
changed their nature.
Lawn tennis Is only an offshoot of the
old game of court tennis, said to have
been brought into Gaul by Roman SOL
diers and still played. Again only a
growth. not a new device. There Is hall
ma-only a variation OF the old pyramid
game OF checkers. How about parchesi?
The pompous title, "A Royal Game Of
india" Inscribed on the old parchesi
board Is often thought to have been only
an advertising dodge, but It was quite
true. Parchesi. called by the Hlndoos
pachesl, Is widely played in Aslatic
countries, and the Spanish explorers
wen found the A2tecs playing it under
The name Of patolll, in Mexico, whittier
t may have been carried across the
Pacific.
These and many other instances are
worth thinking over deeply for they
teach lesson. If any one Is tired Of the
old games and wants something a little
different, let him alter the old in the d.
rectlon OF growth rather than try to in
vent something quite different. The
most successful inventors of games have
followed this rule. Indeed, It Is more
than rule--it Is a law of nature You
might as we'll try to please the human
palate with food made out of sand and
sawdust as to force boy or man to get
enjoyment out OF game that does not
contain the old, well-tred game ele-
ments.-New York World