The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-16

Turns suddenly From TrRnsvanI AZ
fairs 10 the Great Game.

From New York COMMERCIALLY
A. ]. Balfour the first lord of the Creas-
ury, showed his gift of detachment of
mind recently in Dundee. Immediately
after delivering a long speech on the
British constitution and the Transvaal
problem he spoke interesting on golf. He
said;
Nov, I have strong view as TO the
place which goH takes among the rea-
sonable recreations of mankind There is
an old-and In some respects perhaps.
wise-adage which tells us that there is no
dispute about tastes; and in one sense that
adage is true. 1t is impossible to COM
pare the abstract mems of arts so differ
ent for instance, as those of music aud
painting. In the same way IL Is impos-
sible reasonably to compare the abstract
and intrinsic merits of games so different
for example, as golf and cricket, and on
subjects of that kind l am prepared 10
put aside all dsputation. But l mean to
argue-l have often argued, and l shall be
prepared to argue IN the future-that II
you come to these games in the concrete
if YOU ask how each is fitted to do that
which the game is intended TO do. viz, to
supply recreation for the busy-then
think there is no comparison between the
two great games that / have mentioned.
and | am prepared, on any platform and
on any occasion to uphold the rights and
claims of golf. l quite acknowledge that,
as a spectacular game, there is no com
parison between the two
1T is impossible a golf to have arrange
ments by which at present in London and
most of the great provincial centers OF
England, you may have body of specta-
tors as numerous as that of good-sized
country town to congregate without dif-
ficulty and in position 10 watch the mi
nutest Vicissitudes. the most delicate re-
qurement of play between the great coun-
ty or international elevens. Golf can
present nothing like that. IL is perfectly
true that there is no more agreeable occu-
patton than seeing two great opponents OF
the game playing their best round on good
links. But the number of people that can
enjoy the sight is necessarily limited and l
am afraid il already often reaches num-
hers which actually interferes with the
play which is the object of general inter
est Only Yesterday believe l am not
wrong I'm saying 1.-THE ST. Andrews medal,
instead OF falling 10 Mr.. Edward Black
well had II not been that his bail struck
one of the spectators who was standing
too near the green and glanced from him
into a hazard. / mention that incident
merely to show that | am fair-minded
man, and that in comparing golf and
cricket / acknowledge that as a spectacu-
lar game cricket has the advantage.
"But, after all, che game is for the play
or of the game. The game primarily eX-
lists, not for those who look on, but for
those who act; not for the spectators, but
Cor the participants In its pleasures; aud
from that point of view It appears to me
that on almost all counts, under almost all
heads, cricket IS not game for the busy
great match takes three days. No busy
three
days to give to a great match. Still lees
has he the time to go through the requisite
practice to enable him to do himself JUS
tice when these three days arrive. In the
second place, cricket IS not for the middle
aged. still less for those advanced IN
years Cricket loses its charms when a
man reaches middle life, and finds that
he can no longer stoop TO field the ball
with his old agility or run between the
wickets with his old speed.
Tut golf while il is pre-eminently a
game al which elasticity of muscle and
lithesomeness of limb produce their nat
ural and legitimate fruits, is game from
which the middle aged and those who are
past middle life can derive pleasures, not
the less poignant. not the less keen, than
tfey had in the first flush of their youth.
The length of the drive may diminish,
the length of the handicap may increase,
but though the PLAYER has to acknowledge
that he no longer possesses his ancient
cunning, though new heroes occupy the
field where once, maybe, he excelled, still
he can go round the old course with undi-
minished joy, gain health, gain recreation,
cain pleasure with no less success and in
no less ample pleasure, than he did in the
esrlier years of his golfing career This,
ladies and gentlemen, has sometimes been
used as an argument by the young ana.
| win add, by the ignorant, against the
Of ann oh
Il is no argument. II is perfectly true that
Il golf is an art which a man might take
IN at his will when all other means OF en-
ioyment have left HIM, pastime Whlch
he can begin with success in his old age.
probably a game of that sort could never
rank in the first class of games.
But those who think that golf may pe
50 described show themselves totally lg-
norant of the game they are criucisiug'
and they have only got to carry out their
own precepts, and attempt after mlddie
life to learn the great mysteries OF the
goddess OF golf TO discover how great Is
their mistake, how fatal their biunder mas
been in too long delaying their introduc-
t,on 10 pleasures which they might have
enioyed in the fullest measure had they
begun earlier. There is, perhaps, only one
other point of superiority on which l need
dwell to-day, for the subject of golf Is so
inexhaustible that / don't profess to treat
il completely on the present occasion But
there is one other point, which Is that
by some happy dispensation of nature II
seems that wherever golf can best be
played there is some Of the finest scenery.
and some of the best air to be enjoyed
anywhere
This Is true, strangely enough not only
of seaside links, where the ocean itself
supplies an object of perpetual and ever
varying interest, but 1t Is true also OF
some Of the best inland links with which
am acquainted. They not less than
their more happily situated brethren sup
pIy the golfer with some Of the most love-
ly views in the intervals Of his game
which it is possible TO enjoy, and even
the most devoted advocate of the claims
of cricket will, / think, hardly maintain
that the ground at Lords or at the Oval
supplies anything like the views which
the golfer at North Berwick at ST. An
drews or at Monifieth may have for the
asking.
II admit that 1 could have wished the
popularity Of golf did not give one quite
so many opportunities of enjoying that
no. e,ttfta M