The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-02-25

tics conHecfed with tne pursuit Of The pas
tire There being no hrds 81 VI avail
!. able and posebiiity that thre never
|. would be, the commltiee deljcately ebr
. stained from any mention 10 Pilltcott Of
: this partiounlar Item Of the course, tudg-
ing q would be kinder To let him find IL
out naturally and gradually in the progress
~ of things.
II was arranged that the tee off beyond
, Peters hole should be from the roof Of
, Tubb's tool shed.
! 1t was necessary to gently loft over the
fowlhouse and between Tubb's pigeon
cot and poplar tree on to the gravel path
at the corner Of Tubb's kitchen. From
this point one could drive straight across
the road, under the DOCTORS lamp on the
farther side and between conservatory
and house wall, to the foot Of the DOCTORS
!, rubbish heap, which constituted another
official bnnker-rubbish bunker.
The drive across the road was difficulty
because 1t was impossible for the player to
know whether any one was about to pass
along the road, and II was therefore neces.
sary to arrange the height of the stroke to
nicely, 80 that the ball should pass over
the road at Just such a height as to avoid
the head of a pedestrian and yet low
enough to avert the smashing Of the doc
tors lamp over the way. The ball could
not pass over the lamp because it would
then come in contact with a "mop" tree
and fall into difficult gully, and from
the gully 1t would need three strokes, a
dribble, a gentle loft over dust hole, and
another loft to bring it to rubbish bunker.
Then came difficulty. The only posi-.
BILE way to obtain drive from here was to
open the two windows of Crackleton's
washhouse and send the ball straight
through, which would enable 1t to cross
the road again and pass between Wilkin.
sons gate posts (the gate also being left
open) to Wilkinson's dust hole, which
blocked it, Hence, by a short dribble, the
ball could be placed in position to loft il
over holly hedge on to Wilkinson's green
tho lower lawn-where the hole was
Bogey for this was four, and this complet.
cd the round of eight holes, DOGGY for the
whole round "a.
Then q boy turned up-none knew
whence or how. He was believed to have
come from dirty back street a little way
Off, but why the school board allowed him
to wholly suspend his attendance and de.
vote himself to us we could not make out.
! We feared that boy from the first moment
we set eyes on him. He was % Scotch boy
with unlimited confidence in himself, and
he seemed to be an absolute professor OF
golf.
The first day we began to play he some
how--with whose authority we know not
constituted himself caddie, and simply
sat on the lot of lis. In fact, our dread OF |
the scorn Of his eye was only inferior to our
dread of that of the eye of McGourock,
Under the tuition of McGourock and tho
boy we made our first round 1t was dis. |
astrous. |
First, Wilkinson, standing too closely |
behind Dipps when the latter was attempt. |
ing his first tee off, suffered u compound
fracture of the hat and u considerable con. |
fusion of the scalp. Next, Dipps, having |
with great effort performed drive of sever 4
yards, made another mighty stroke at til,
ball on the strawberry bed where it hau ]
landed There was Il wild scattering q
earth and strawberry leaves, and Dipl, !
gazed with great pride at missile ilyin |
through one of the next door Windows
But when he looked again at his brassC
the head was not on it, while the ball lav |
innocently on the strawberry bed as before
1t was therefore concluded that it had been |
the head of the brassey and not the ball \
which had gone through the neighboring 4
window, and this was subsequently ascer.
tanned to be fact.
Wilkinson, following on, promptly lost
three balls. One was believed to have
landed in q roof gutter. But no man
knows to this day what became of the 9th.
er two, nor what direction they took, and
some hold that they are still whirling
through space, to the danger of the public. !
Then Cattlchury dcnted Wilkinson's shin, |
for Wilkinson seemed extremely unlucky l
at golf, hurt his own leg, and finally drove !
his ball through the window of Pillicotta 1
billiard room. 1t was agreed that this |
should not be considered as disaster, see. |
ing that such casualty had been antici. [
patcd and provided for by the provisional |
committee of survey.
Dipps made really brilliant stroke
from the corner of Tubb's kitchen across
the road, but n carriers cart happening |
most unfortunately to pass at the moment, |
the ball took Il tuft of hair off the back OF
the carriers head and DETECTED from its
true course, smashed the doctors lamp or
the farther side of the road.
Pillicott required 3 strokes for the space
between the tee off on Tubbs tool shed and
Cattlebury's uncle's green Wilkinson 10, |
and Dipps no fewer than 80, DOGGY beings
Ihun Banting unfortunately killed Mrs
Cattlebury's pug and wounded the cocka.
too.
On that first round the casualties were;
Windows broken o. Commissions, etc, 5; ]
soil sticks damaged, IA; pugs killed, /;
cockatoos damaged, Il balls lost or straycd,
20. Total casualties, So
At each misfortune the boy laughed in Il |
demoniac way, and the scorn in McGou-
rock S eye was fearful to look upon
That evening We met at Wilkinson's and |
agreed that the game thus played did not
seem promising but McGourOck declared
his intention Of going over the round rogu-
larly until we should succeed in finding
more suitable links, and such was our
dread of his eye that we dared not request
him to abstain, and he did 60 round all
day, every day, accompanied by the boy.
We were miserable. He had thrown up
bunlicrs in our tennis ground and we
could not play, and his irritation when
any OF the ladies attempted cycling on tho
road was too terrible to defy. lie objected
to our even playing tennis, or crOquCt or
anything in our own gardens--indccd, it
was risky to go into them at all. At last,
when tho gardeners left because thoy OBJ
JGClNu 10 DC IL on Int eau Win SOl1 !
balls, we secrecy urged one another to take
tome decisive step with McGourock
AT this crucial time fate intcrpoSud. We
found suitable common some Way off,
and the club applied for permission to
practice the gimO Oh it,
Then came friction, First, the ladies
wanted 10 join the club. But MCGouruck
did not like ladies, and refused to hear Of
it, and his yCto was sternly seconded by
the hoy. From time to time certain Of lis
have ycHrncd to vary golf with an ucca-
sional turn Al our tennis. But the Nc
Gourock will not permit that either, as ho
says ii puts the hand Out'fOr the game
We are learning golf under the stern ego
of President MCGOurOck, jnd-wcll, we
like golf But we are IN search Of another
stern dGvotcc "A Scotchman for preference,
to 60 the round with him and engage his
attention, so that we may I've able to enjoy
ourselves little now and again.
If You happen to know Of such man,
we are quite willing to hire him. or even
buy him out and out for lump sum-
Budnlnton Magazine.