The sun., 1897-12-05


is in danger of being improved out Of existence.
And there is no doubt that the mere average
player 10 often nowadays afraid to cut In with
men whose play he does not know, for fear
that he may DO among high priests OF the great
whist cult, whose scorn and anger at his
modest game would only be equallod by his own
| misery.
We may not indeed wish to return to the
| primitive days 10 which the writer refers with
| an air OF regret when whist fourished In back
drawing rooms, and was played-mostly the
long form OF it-by people to whom 'Cavendish'
| was sealed book, and even 'Hoyle' an abstrac-
ton. To them whist was q simple game, and
nothing moro. A long suit to the queen was 30
much lumber; aces and kings existed only to be
] led out; and trumps were to be nursed. with
miserly rejoicing, to the triumphant end. They
chartered all through the game, forgot the Inas.
| ter cards, played out Of turn, now and then re-
voked. and were irresponsible and-haDpy. But
| some one in q hurry introduced short whist,
and from that momont change came over the
| spirit OF things. So long there were ten
points to the game, nothing had mattered; there
| was always plenty OF time. And was there not
| the supreme moment when, with mingled hope
| and foar, you asked your partner: Can you
| onef' +"
But many will sympathze with him to some
extent in his plant. that with:the advent of the
|
| Importance, and the play moro than ever
the thing. The genius of Napoleonwas need
| cd to meet the demands Of the fnesse; the craft
| Of a Tallcyrand was barely equal to the nceties
| of the discard Every card played became a
| signal, and every combination Of cards had Its
| appropriate lead. From out these celebrations
| was evolved the sinister figure of the superior
| player. Who has not known him. and chafed
| under his autocracyl Actuated by rooted dis.
trttat ~ h 81, se.l,
| for his own hand; when you had ut last estab
ished your long suit, he deliberately took the
| lead away from you. lest you should be tempted
| to misuse 1t. He suffered ostentatiouslr when
| his peter was disregarded. and his echo went
| for nothing; and at the close OF each hand he
showed, with irritating detail, how the result
| would have been quite different had the cards
been played otherwise
Sadly complaining that the game has become
| altogether too scientific, he goes on: mo won
| der that whist gradually died out a family
recreation. and was rele. .ated to the more
solemn order of clubs. The average player
abandoned it, just as the average lover of lawn
tennis fled before the master Of smashes' and
'twisters, and as the duffer at golf already hesi
| tates to swing an inaccurate club on any
spectacle links. In his higher development
the dispossessed gamester took to solo, which
| has flavor of fine recklessness and, more than
|
esting moments, with too-captious partner.
Tho baser kind revelled for a tme.dn the
monotony of nap but has since succumbed to
| the destinations Of poker. In this annexation
| OF the national game of America there Is some
thing Of the justice of revenge, for it is to the
charge Of the Americana. who take their pleas.
ures even more sadly than do. that the ex-
cessive refnements of modern scientific whist
are chiefly to be laid They have thrown per.
tl,.
theories of American leads. and have eliminated
from it the one rem aiming element OF chance
which Is, after all, the salt OF cards-by abolish.
j ing points for honors In their hands the game
pursuit. Whist clubs-snrely the most dreary
Of all institutions-abound in their land. They
have complicated tournaments, and even lady
professors for the decent instruction Of female
students. But time has its revenses, and even
There are whispers that it is being dispos.
sessed in the most unimpeachabe quarters by
while those who are most happy when they are
least amused have actually ventqred into the.
dreary intricac'es Of the Teutonio skat."
e ss a
the level Of a high art. II is picturesqpe at no
or a.nSss
unmarried by vplgarity or noise. On the river
tho Londoner shows artistic qualities of which
only as he seems in the city. For no function
docs the English girl know how to turn herself
out appropriately SO well as for the river; no.
be said Of her b1othor Both are at home on the
Thames IS neither TOO biz nor too small for this
kind Of pleasure and its picturesque reaches
cry. Nor are its natural beauties spoiled to
any great extent BY mans handiwork. True,
tories spoil the view, but for the most part,
| Dame Nature has not been interfcred with, or
| beauties
scene rather than detract from il. And, as is
only fitting the ryer S ezra craft flare are n b keeRng
boat, rowboats Of all sorts and Sizes the fiat.
bottomed punt the tis Ganadian ol; canoe; and nov %
| pleasant to the eye. In the near neighborhood
Of London the river seems TO throw some of its
glamour upon even the pulling tug and IT'D grimy
Next summer it seems likely that a craft
the river. few days ago public trial was
made on the Thames of new electric vessel
motive power is not in the boat itself but in an
attached front, which may take almost any
have hare counterfeit @ presentments Of dolpnins, sea sea
horses, mermaids, or wild birds harnessed to
gig Pa or esn bat r the
the experiments the motive power was inoased
the body sSyg Of swan y ith thi M water d
, to be attached by a stay Of somewhat rigid
form to the boat which 1t tows, in order mainly
Is a sudden necessity for slackening speed or
stopping altogether The connecting rod, ow-
ever, can be readily unfastcned and bolted to
any other craft without difficulty 30 that the
same motive power can be turned to account
| In many different ways.
, In this readiness Of transfer from one pur
pose to anolher rests its chief claim to distinc-
lion from older forms OF motive power. 1t Is a
simple box OF machinery, capable OF self sup
port on the water by rs own power OF fota.
may be needed at short notice. In its most
perfect working form 1t has to be con troll ed by
a small lever fixed In the passenger boat, and
| actuating electric currents by means of wires
that pass through the connecting tube to en-
| gines In the mechanical float. All this, how
ever, can be done in another way II one wishes
| to apply the drauRht power to boats that do not
| happen to- b0 fitted with special appliances, 80
that the floating motor may he taken by travel
lGrs overland from river to river, and attached,
| as circumstances demand, to any sort of boat
that can be procured.
It's most general use, however, will be on such
| waterways as the Thames and for pleasure
X boats whose owners can afford to indulge their