The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-06-18
WRONG USE OF A GOLF BAG
An Experience Showing That Habs
bit Is One Thing IT should
Not Hold.

objects which its inventor could never
have foreseen. 1t is by accident rather
than intent that the majority of these
strange things find their way into the
bags, and it is generally when they are
made to serve as kind of hold-all. One
man explained the presence of pair of
knickerbockers in golf bag by saying
that they had been accidentally left out
of his travelling bag, and had to be ear
red along some way. The excuse fer
the presence of pair of stays which
were brought to light at one of the best
known New Jersey golf clubs was al
most precisely the same. Exceptional
as they were, none of the experiences
with a golf bag was so remarkable as
that which will be told here. 1t hap
pened at a country house near the city,
as well as possibly near the best-known
links in this part of the country.
One day in the early spring, when the
links were crowded with players, two
men who had been awaiting their turn
to begin, came up to young girl who
was playing with party. One of the
men held by the neck young rabbit,
which he had caught in woods dioin-
ing the clubs grounds. The girl
clapped her hands with delight when
she saw the rabbit. She must have it..
The only thing that interfered with her
becoming possessed of the beast was
the difficulty of disposing of 1t. But
that question was soon solved. The
game had been finished, and the girl
saw one of the men about to close the
golf bag. That suggestion wassufficient
ooh, the golf bag she cried, put
him in there"
So Bunny was dropped in and started
home on the back of the runabout.
1t rained for several days after this
incident, and golf was out of the
question. So the bag remained in its
accustomed place in a closet under the
stairway. The house was large one
in the midst of large grounds, and only
a short time before the rabbit was
brought home to live in it the place had
been newly decorated and fitted up.
The rain alternated with damp weather,
cold equally unsuited to golf. The
whole family, except the men, who went
daily to New York, were practically con-
fined to the house.
This circumstance made them pos
sibly more than usually sensitive to the
conditions of the atmosphere. At all
events the women began to declare that
the plumbing must again be out of or
der. Something was certainly the mat
ter. Some of the people talked of sewer
gas and its dangers. During the two
weeks the trouble did not diminish. A
physician came in and he declared he
certainly detected sewer gas. So did
the plumbers. Their tests failed to
show that anything was wrong. Their
noses, however, convinced them of the
opposite. 1t was finally decided that
il would be necessary to search for the
cause of the trouble in a way that
should determine it with certainty.
Again the family would have to go away
and leave the house to the plumbers and
let them again tear up what they had
put to rights only a short time before.
The physician urged that the family
GO at once. So preparations were hur-
riedly made, rooms were engaged by
telephone at one of the city hotels and
the family was ready to move to New
York within day after the final de-
cision of the plumbers.
The carriages stood at the door and
the daughter of the family had just
taken her place in one of them. The
footman was about to shut the door.
"Wait a moment" she cried to him,
"Has anybody taken my golf bag"
Nobody had, to judge from the silence.
"Then get it," she ordered, amiably,
"from the closet under the stairs"
The man hurried to the door and
opened it. Then he hurried more rap
idly away from it. Then he called
wildly for somebody else and the two
or three maid servants that answered
rushed away from the open door as
swiftly as he had. The members of
the family who were still in the house
came into the hallway. Then they re-
tired to the open door. Windows went
up quickly and finally the owner of the
golf bag, weary of waiting in the car
riage, made her appearance. She put
her handkerchief to her face and look
of thorough understanding suddenly
1T up her face.
"Why, it's the rabbit" she said.
Poor little thing"
The golf bag was ultimately removed
from the house and so was all that re-
manned of bunny. The retinue did not
move. The doctor as well as the plumb
er said It was all right. But bunny had
already made great deal of trouble
and came near causing considerable
more. The desirable uses of golf bag
are really somewhat restricted.-N. Y
SIM