The herald., 1898-08-22
THE TENNIS TOURNAMENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

"Say, Chimmie. let's 80 up to de Casino
and see de dudes play tennis tourment wild
de wife drawers on"
|, NAV; don't want ter; I'd ruther go
fshin' fer sculpins.''
But, Chimmie, we kin swipe de balls, l
got me shirt full yist'day and sold two Of
'em to Billy Cole fer a nickle. Yer see yer
lust hang roun' de fence till Freeman
knocks one over. Den you takes 1t to de
gate and dey let's you In, and wen dey's all
a-hollerin' and stompin' you picks up de
odders, see?'
"What makes 'em holler?"
"Well, one of de dudes has stick like de
rim of fryin' pan covered with fish net.
He lams de ball wild it., and den everybody
wells play, play and he's been playin' all
de time; and den de odder dude, he lams
| It back and de first one jumps UP in de air
and lams it again, and dey goes jumpin'
and hoppin' around like grasshoppers.
Bimeby de ball goes rollin' off in corner,
and all de girls clap and holler and say.
Pretty! Pretty!"
pretty what?"
Pretty nawthin'. guess; only they don't
know anythin else to say. But when they S
all a-clappin' and a-yellin' we gifts de balls,
see?"
Chimmie is not the only one who holds
the game Of tennis in irreverent scorn. 1t
| is the most deceptive game In the world.
Somehow the very grace and ease of a
| skillful player conduces to the Idea that it
| is really simple thing he is doing. But
there is moment when humility comes to
| the scorner in large chunks, and that is
when, novice, he takes his racquet for the
| first time and starts to show how the thing
should be done. After losing a few balls
in adjoining townships and making I'M
counted Intellectual attempts to drop the
ball into the opposite receiving court he
finds that 1t is skill hardly less than
magical which can take a ball, moving like
rifle bullet, curv1ng out or down with an
uneven arc, and place 1t with as great
speed over the net, within few inches Of
given spot yet not drive 1t out of court.
Another fine thing about the game is Its
ever widening horizon. In plenty of coun-
try towns they will tell you that Mr.. A is
the champion; and yet the game has not
got out of the rainbow variety. Then
somebody with "drive" will rusticate
there and King A is deposed. The game
will progress to the driving state and then
somebody else will introduce the Lanford.
Then the met game" will straggle out into
the country, perhaps. But in all these
stages the players will have enjoyed them
selves as much as II they had been profess
SIGNALS all the while.
There is no limit to the learning. The
strokes are infinite. One Of the hardest to
acquire Is to take a fast drive at volley.
and, by the proper amount of cut, drop
it dead just over the net. 1t was done once
or twice in the tournament. but 1t can be
acquired as sroke by long enough prac-
tice.
Probably the most skiilful stroke, used
freely last week, was Freeman's smashes
of lobs. 1t doesn't look hard. but to make
that fierce smash on rapidly falling ball
at just the infinitesimal moment when It
is right is wonderfully diflcult matter
A degree too much of the swing OF the
racquet drives It into net: degree too
little puts 1t out Of court. Its difficulty IL
proved by the fact that Mr.. 1tesaaAn was
the only man who tsssysd the strokA au|