The Florence tribune., 1897-12-11
THE CAME OF GOLF.

II Ia aeaIsy 8 Einxuistic. Dtaet3itne
 Leurred crf of nooTs.
 A celebrated metaphysician cace said that tie Hegelian philosophy consisted entirely of scientific termino.ogy which no two people iEtcrp-e ted iu the same sense, hence its value as a source o1 endless discussion" The more you talked the further you were from a conclusion, but you had grand train ing in dialectics." It is eminently proper that the game of golf should originate with the metaphysical race, the Scotch, for it consists partly of a hard rubber ball, number of peculiar curved sticks and a becoming negiigee costume, but chiefly and primarily of a vocabulary. It can be played, but not properly played, without master ing the vocabulary. It cannot be thor oughly enjoyed unless the name golf is rightly pronounced, but, as no one knows how to do that, and all think they do, the pronunciation is a matter of comparatively little consequence. The proper use of the technical terms, however, is a matter of vital impor- tance.
 The principal words in the new Ian guage are: Driver, butter, cleel, loft ing iron, niblic, mashie links, tees and eaddy. One who has thoroughly mas tered these words and wears costume is a golfer" To confuse their mean ings, to speak, for instance, of ''holing a caddy" or '1ofting a links," or call a putting green" "niblic" is as serious a breech of good form as it would be to call a fishing rod fish pole, as boys did 25 years ago, before the tyranny of the technical term set in. To be sure, you do walk about out of doors and strike the ball with the clubs, but the real essence of the game lies in wearing the costume and using the words. A thorough mastery of them is 8 liberal education
 Other subjects have their peculiar ter. minology, but in none of them Is it SC extensive and of such educational value as in the game of golf An eminent authority defines an electrician as one who thoroughly comprehends the word potential and the notions collateral thereto" If you go into the woods, and live on canned food and crackers you must speak of the place where you try to sleep, not as a "shanty," but as "a camp" The name at once elevates the place into the region of sylvan DO etrv and makes discomforfs eniova ble It really is a shanty: call it so, and the result is complicated discomfort; call ;t a camp, and the result is happiness The right words are still more vital ir golf, because the vocabulary is more extensive, though perhaps not con taining any word of the peculiar DO teney of the monosyllable, camp But take the entire technical vocabulary of golf, it is more productive of a large amount of low-gTade joy than any other agency in the world. Low-grade joy is far better worth attaining than high grade joy or excitement. The great value of the game of golf can be read fly seen. It presents all the advantage! of studying a language. It is less diff ficult than Latin or French, and i learned outdoors. It is called a game
 but in reality it is linguistic disci pline undergone in the open air un
 consciously, accompanied by moder i ate pedestrian exercise and the wear 1 ing of very sensible Scotch uniform
 Hartford (Conn) Courant.