, 1897-04-08
A CADDIE'S TRAGEDY.

s'S $4,000 va AAo AAto
Ter was, for it might vex some poor SEN
soul beyond the styx and to no
purpose. But, for himself, he was a
most familiar figure on the links-tall,
bent, somewhat one sided, an infirmity
that increased with years and rheuma-
tism, with an angular face, clean
shaved twice a week, with a Scotch
bonnet stuck awry Above it and a short
clay PIPE insecurity held in the corner
Of his mputh for lack of teeth. Presum-
ably ha had not been always thus.
DoubtleS there had been a time when
he was barelegged gossoon, scamper-
ing blitfly with naked feet, and again
a time then he was a spruce young
man, a bvorite with the lassies may
be, nut such times had ever been it
was ext4mely hard to picture them to
ones mptal vision, and "Slowback"
himself lever referred to them.
It wa}impossible to picture him 9TH
er than was when first we knew him
-sham1hng in gait, crooked of aspect,
clad in 4ng trousers and an inadequate
ly short font, with u wooden scarf about
his necHand booted at such length that
it seemfd absurd to suppose his toes
could reich the end of their coverings.
He was reserved man and appeared to
be without relatives. We did not trou-
BILE to pquire about his lodging, but
every mkrning he was to be seen sitting
ON the h$nch that the other caddies &C.
cupied, Smoking his pipe and waiting
for his haster to come with the clubs
from thf clubhouse. Then he would
"carry' the two statutory rounds of
the links and disappear again until the
following mnning. How he spelt his
Sundays we never thought of asking,
but no n las ever appeared to have
seen him on TIE day Of rest.
All this was in the years before the
''boom'' in g,lf which led to the game
becoming the possession Of all and sun
dry. Books ] ad not been written about
the game, AMI all the available maxims
were carried in the heads of those who,
like "Slowiack," made n profession
either Of plying or Of carrying clubs.
The maxims were substantially three,
"Slow back" keep your eye Oh the
ball" and Don't press" To these
might have been added a fourth, BE
But this applied more particularly
to the short game, and it was the first
Of the maxims, concerned with the more
glorious business of the drive, hat was
destined to exercise an important in
6uence on "Slowback's" life. There is
no doubt, Of course, that he had another
name than this sobriquet, but it hap
pened to one of us ever to learn it, and
the manner in which he obtained his
was as follows: His master
was never more than an Indifferent
at the best. He was conscious Of
bis deficiencies. but rather than attrib-
.te them to what were perhaps their
eruer cause, of faulty eyesight or made
Quate muscle, preferred to refer them to
Of some Of the important max
Of the golfing art and especially to
that first quoted one of "Slow back"
he conceived that he had contracted q
fatal habit Of hurrying the club away,
In the back stroke, from the ball, and
that this initial error was responsible
for all the subsequent miss hits and top
pings with which the club visited the
ball ON its descent. Maybe he was
right But in any case the mean by
he strove to cure himself of this
fatal tendency were to make his caddie
sjsculate the magic words of monition,
'Slow backi' each time that he prepared
10 raise his club for the driving stroke.
The result, It has to be admitted, was
not wholly satisfactory. One can say no
more than that his execution might
,opceivably have been worse in the alb
renee Of the warning.
Thus It went on for several years. At
The end Of that time it happened that
master-for already the
had earned the nickname by
which alone we knew him-was called
Away for three weeks or 10 by the death
Il . near relative. Then "Slowback'
clubs for another master. But
the habit that he had formed during
these years Of circulating his monitory
Slow backr' as his master raised the
,lub was not to be denied. Still, at the
of each address to the ball,
be uttered the solemn words, then found
covered with the most pitiful
,onfusion at the rebuke which his un-
for interference had merited. For
/ stroke or two, putting great restraint
apon himself, he succeeded in keeping