The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-03-19
Antiquity
OF the Game
OF Bowling.
Modern Enthusiasm For
a Sport That Had It's
Origin In England and
Germany Early In the
Fourteenth Century.

Philadelphia accepts IL as "the proper
caper." Cincinnati has more than a
hundred alleys. and New York counts
hers by the scores. But. then. the last
named city has had for years what now
seems to be a general craze
1t is not fad. however. as many will
conjecture. but a revival of a very old
sport that before the days OF baseball
and golf and lawn tennis was held in
the highest respect by the muscle
! trainers who had not thought so years
ago of calling themselves athletes.
Bowling is an old game OF English
origin, though a favorite with both GER
mans and Dutch. known TO our fore
fathers. for il has been in existence
more than 200 years in America and In
Europe ii dates from the fourteenth
] century. Bowling Green" the name OF
towns. sites and parks i'm both this
country and Great Britain. is n histor-
ical testimonial TO this sport. There are
! illustrations in the British museum
one particularly. in an MS, representing
/ two men bowling at a single pin i'm the
! open air-whlch prove that il was a
4
/ 1t is even believed from fair evidence
that the game has been played in some
form or other for a thousand years.
Naturally there have been modiica-
tions of the game-it has varied from
nine pins TO ten pins. and vice versa
but enthusiasts declare it is "the sport
Of kings" a term which, however. has
been pre-empted by lovers OF the horse
as applied 60 racing.
The ancient game was played on the
! turf The grass was shaved close by
hand. watered and rolled Sometimes
the sod was removed. and the bowlers
had a hard. smooth piece OF earth sim
liar TO the skin diamonds of baseball at
| the present.
In olden days the game was of nine
pins, arranged in the form OF a dia-
mond. with three pins across the mid
die. then two rows--one each side OF the
center row-of two pins. and. last. one
pin each at the two corners or points
| OF the diamond.
| II was scientific game and required
n very great amount of skill as well rs
| strength. for the balls were not the
finger balls of the present. but were
large and smooth. AS the alleys were
narrower a large ball delivered with
great speed and accuracy was essen
tial. The players who had all the req
| uisites were comparatively rare and
the swindlers of those days watched for
men who had some self conceit and
money. Then they proceeded To fleece
! the innocents at the first opportunit.'
The bowling green was public tract
| of ground set apart for the use OF ALL
| Nearly every town in England had one.
| Il. .fs
the beginning of Broadway. formed by
| the junction OF state and Whitehall
streets. that Is now an inclosed park,
but where the leaden statue OF King
George III stood till the patriots OF
l775 tore il down and nodded IL into
bullets The Dutch played bowls there.
and the name was probably given to
shc spot soon after the English occupa-
| tion of New Netherlands. In 1864.
But open air bowling was impractical
BILE in moist weather. and hence the
subsequent erection of sheds and places
/ of shelter which have gradually de-
/ veloped into the modern clubhouse,
| with accessories as luxurious as those
| of any other resort of elegant relaxa-
| ton There is an old cut that depicts
| the return trough for the balls, and
| that illustration is 500 years old. The
| game, which was then called bowls"
| because il was played with half round
stone that resembled "A bowl. was, how
! ever. at first gambling sport Many
tales are told of the various cheating
| devices used by sharpers. and to check
| the growing evil adverse legislation
| was begun I'm the days Of Edward Nv.
| Both gambling and game We're prohib-
| tied under penalty OF the convicted be-
| ing utterly undone and Impoverished
| of their goods"
| In the reign of Henry VIII there were
more judicial procedures against bowl
| ing. but this legal warfare was aimed
| at the alleys for hire, which had be-
| come a public nuisance. The laws then
enacted were not repealed till 1s45.
| There was an exception made of pr-
vate alleys in gardens used only by
those who were personally able to
maintain the luxury. The public sport,
which was then stamped out, slumber-
| ed and again reached popularity, but
| its development since 1850 has been
| spasmodic. IL is not now held i'm high
| favor i'm England. and IL is very doubt
| full IL there is a bowling green i'm gen.
eral use i'm "the tight little island"
| After the attempt To stop the game as
an indoor recreation Il was revived as
4 an open dlT tNtTClSt, anu ~ poHuidf
| did IL rapidly become that in the days
of George III the sport was universal In
| Great Britain. Since the opening OF
| the present century IL has again be-
come almost exclusively an indoor
| game.
The old play was almost identical
| with curling" except that the distance
is always fixed in the Scotch game.
! while i'm bowling IL was changeable.
Examination of many books and rec
ords shows that the sport has had
great vicisstudes and has been played
under many variations. but the alley.
pins and balls have always been used.
Shakespeare in Hamlet speaks OF
'1oggats." which was game akin to
bowling and the French game "kayles.
| But there are many illusions In both
history and literature to the game. In
n play ufi ElizabethS time with the
strange title. The Longer Thou Livest.
| the Bigger Fool Thou Art Ounce
boasts of his skill "at skales and the