The herald., 1897-07-04
Novel Pastime for Society's
Enjoyment
A VERY PRETTY GYMKHANK
THAT PROVES GREAT SPORT
ON THE LAWN
The Costumes of the Women Must Be
Sweet to Look Upon-The Bril-
liant Mannequin Race

Now, if the smart set wishes to do
the latest thing, it must have gym
khana." Paris is just reveling in the sue
cess of her first one, and the thing took
like wildfire.
The lack of the facility in polo has
made it, instead Of fashionable recre-
alton, too much like professional sport.
The Paris polo players evidently felt
this. But now they have "gyna-
khana," and everything is different. The
ladies made the dolls used in the sport.
And as at a certain crisis in the pro-
ceedings pocket handkerchiefs were de-
manded. every woman naturally pro-
vided herself with a. dainty mouchoir.
lest she be the one called upon.
The sport, as the name implies, Is Of
East Indian origin, the word gym
khana" really meaning gymnasium. But
as indoor gymnasiums are almost un-
known in India, the word applies more
properly to games and amusements
where feats of horsemanship are re-
quired. The fad has really been i'm
ported to this country by English army
officers serving under Her Majesty
Queen Victorias standard in India.
England, in fact, set the style las:
year, by holding 'gymkhana," which
was graced by the presence of the prince
of Wales, and at which the prizes were.
distributed by that gracious and popular
woman, the princess of Wales.
At recent game the costumes Of the
women were as sweet to look upon a.
a peach orchard in bloom in the midst
of a clover pasture. they were so gay,
so full of joy and so enthusiastic.
There were plenty of seats at hand,
but everyone was too interested and ex-
cited to sit quietly while polo ponies
were dashing in and out among the
crowd, men giving orders dogs barking,
music playing, all the preludes Of the
"gymkhana." There was, as always at
any sort of function whatever in Paris,
the usual complement of little tables
set out in rows under the trees and be-
enath the spreading roof Of summer
pavilion. But for once these were left
almost wholly neglected.
The items on the program read as il
prosaic. They We're easy to tell off, but
impossible to picture, unless, indeed,
with kaleidoscope.
In the cigar race each man had to
sadie his own horse, dash off to table
placed at the converging lines of. the
visual angle, light a cigar lying there
and race back. The start was marred,
or rather enlivened, by the slip of sad
die girth, and out of the number one
was disqualified becase he did not have
the whole end of his cigar lighted.
The handkerchief race was interest,"
ing, because this gave the women
chance. Nine women chose nine
knights" to whom each gave each a
dainty kerchief Each little fiuttering
bit of muslin and lace was placed on
little flag few inches from the ground.
each woman standing opposite her hand
kerchief. At a signal the knights were
off like the wind. They grabbed the
handkerchiefs as they ran, returning in
a circle to the lady of the kerchief, re-
turning the same with a low bow. The
first winner in this instance was one
Lord Shrewsbury, the knight of
Vicomtesse de La Rochefoucald.
The paper hoop race consisted in
throwing the ivory balls through hoops
over which paper had been pasted.
Three balls were thrown through the
hoops placed about sixty yards apart
In the potato race a fine fat potato
w as ldlu ol lHe STOuHu ana ABOUT thirty
feet on another and another, about q
dozen in all, with common tin pail at
the end of the line. The trick was to
dive down, pick up the potatoes on the
point of sword and deposit them in
the bucket one by one until the whole
dozen were in. In the course of events,
of course, the pony knocked the bucket
over-or, if the man knocked it over
himself, it was the <pony's fault-and
the more bad luck a fellow had the
more everybody laughed and the more
confused he got, until he didn't know
whether he was putting potatoes in q
bucket or taking them out.
The "mannequn" race was the most
brilliant of all in point of coloring,
Large dolls about the size Of 12-year
old had been previously dressed by the
ladies. Prizes were given for the best
dressed doll, as well as to the winner Of
it. There were all nationalities of dolls.
Miss Topsy, in gorgeous green dress
and an amazing yellow hat with yellow
to match looked every inch
the proud representative of the negro
race. as they call it there. A howling
heather doll, with features and paint,
was a joy to behold. Another was a
society swell IN the latest creations IN
the dressmakers art. One was gotten
up as a pig, another as ballet dancer,
and so on.
These were placed on chairs, where
they sat with staring eyes awaiting
their doom. The horses bore down on
them. every fellow grabbing his doll
wherever he could without regard to
the conventionalities All one could
see was the legs of the ballet dancer fly
ing in the air. Topsy was carried by her
curly hair and the pig by the tail.
Other things on the program, uninter-
esting to describe but amusing to wit
ness, where costume race" in which
the participants rode to a given point,
donned the outfit of a pastry cook and
returned to the starting point; course
de buffet, in which a man must some-
how swallow a cake and drink bottle
Of pop, and a balloon ce,which includ-
ed the smashing of quantity of toy
balloons. The pretty ending to all this
was when each manly fellow got his
cravat tied by the Lady of his choice, the
thing being to race back as quickly as
possible, the first in to win the prize. This
was about the slowest thing on the
And it looked for awhile as
f each fellow were trying to see who
could be the last in. Tying cravats un-