The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-10-17
GOLF AS A GAME.
An English Statesman on Its
Great Merits.
u Il Pre-eminentIy the Game for An,
ola and Young.

Arthur j. BalIour, the Eng lish states
man, spoke at q fair held to raise money
for the purchase of the Moniaeth Golf
Links. EIs sad;
1--WE rightly and tr,perly spend great
deal Of thought in find ne means for re-
striuting within rsa enable limits the
working hours Of the n unity. But,
after all, when you have dIminis led the
working hoi rs OF the ooma unity, WHAT
ever class Of the CON munity you are deal
Ing with. you leave TIE more time 20 bs
difiicult--it Is more ditiicUls very oitea-
TO ind good rJcr satlon as 1t is TO 1ud re-
munera employment. Now, l have
strong views rs TO the place which Ron
takes among the reasonable recreat ons Of
mankind. (Cheers.)
/. "Ihere Ia an old-and, in fome re-
spects, perh APPS, wise--adage, VIII oh
tells Us that there Is no dispute absut
tast.s; and in one sense TINT adase Is
true. 1t Is Impossible to compare the nj.
stract merits OF arts 30 different, for in.
staDee ns those of music and painting.
In the same way, IL Is impotsitl, ieston.
ably TO compare the abstract ard insrin-
sio merits Of gamer so different, fer e.
ample. as golf and cricket, and en- sub
jects Of thst kind am prepared to put
asiue all tiisputatiou. But mean to ar
gue-I have often argued, and thall be
prepared to argue In the future-that II
you come TO these games In the concrete,
II you ask how elon Is fitted to do that
which thu game is INTENDED to do, name
ly, to supply recreation for the busy, then
l think there Is no comparison betwes
the two great games that / have mem
toned; and am prepared on any plat
form and on any oocasion to uphold ihs
ri ;hts and claims OF golf. (Che r5.) /
quite nckr owl -dge that as spectacular
sr..t har "a mo h.af tho
two. 1t Is impossible at golf to hive ar
rapgemeuts by which, as at present in
Lon1cn, and most of the great provincial
centres Of England, you may have body
o. spectators as numerous as that OF
good-slzed country town to copgregate
without difficulty, and in q position to
watch ihs minutest ticissitudes, the most
delicate rsouiI e'nents of play between
tw great county or national elsve1s.
Golf can present nothing like that.
1t is perfectly true that there Is no more
agreeable occupation than seeing two
great exponents of tbs game playing
g. cir best round ON good links; but tbs
number of people that can enjoy the sight
is necessarily limited, and / am afraid 1t
already often reaches mum hers which ac-
tually Interfere with tie play which Is
the object Of general interest. The game
primarily exists, not for those who look
on, but for those who act, not for the
It's pleasures; and from that point of
view 1t appears to me that on almost all
counts, under almost all heads, golf has
the advantage. (Cheers) 10 begin with,
cricket Is not game for thu busy.
great match takes three days. No busy
man, except on rare occasions, has thrse
days to give to great match. Still less
has he the time to go through the
requisite practice to enable him to do
himself justice when these three days ar.
rive. In thu 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 deli the ball with his
oh agility or run between the wickets
with his old speed. But golf, while 1t
IL preeminently a game at which elastici-
ty of muscle and lithesomeneEs of limb
produce their natural and legitimate
aged and those who are past middle aga
can derive pleasure not ltss poignant.
not less keen, than they had In the first
flush of their youth. The length OF the
drive may diminish; the length OF the
handicap may increase, (laughter); but
though the player has to acknowledge
that he no longer possesses his ancient
cunning, though new heroes OCCUPY the
field where once maybs he excelled, still
he can go round the cid course with I'M
diminished JOY, gain health, gain recrea-
ton, gain pleasure, with no less succe S,
and in no less ample measure than he
did In the earlier years of his golting ca
reer. (Cheers.) This, ladies and gentle
men, has sometimes been used as an argu-
ment by the young, and, l will add, by
To ignorant, as an argument against the
merits, against the pre-eminent merits.
OF our national game. 1t Ia no argu-
msnt. 1t Is perfectly true that II golf Is
an art which man might take up at his
will when all other means of enjoyment
have LIFT him, pastime which he can
begin with success in his old age, proba-
bly, game Of that sort could never rank
In the first class OF games; but Those who
think that golf may he so described show
themselves totally ignorant OF the game
they are oriticising, and they have only
attempt after middle life to learn the
great mysteries OF the goddess OF golf to
discover how great is their mistake, how
fatal their blunder has been in too long
delaying their Introduction to joys which
they might have enjoyed In the fullest
measure had they begun earlier.
There is perhaps only one other point
Of superiority on which l need to dwell
t oday, for the subject of golf Ia SO mex.
haustibls that i DO not profess to treat 1t
on the pre- ssnt occasion.
There Ia one other point, which 10 that
by some happy dispsnsation Of nature 1t
seems that wherever golf can best be
played there Is some of the finest scenery,
and some of tie best air likewise, to be
enjoyed. This Is true, strangely enough,
not only of seaside links, where the ocean
itself supplies an object of perpetual and
every varying interest. but 1t Is true also
of some of the te;t inland links with
which am acquainted. They net less
than their more happily situated breth-
rem supply the golfer with some of the
most lovely views in the intervals of his
game which Ii is possible TO enjoy, and
sven the most devoted advocate OF the
claims of cricket will, l think, hardly
maintain that the ground at Lords or at |
the Oval llaughtsr) supplies anything
Ike the Views which the golfer at North |
Berwick, OF st. Andrews. or at Mont |
feth (cheers) may have for the asking.
admit that could have wished that
tie re. ulaiity of golf did not give one
quite SO many opportunities of enjoying
taaf seauary II Ghonln ha nnIta aOrfanf