The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1902-08-21
MERRs GAME or SQUASH.
Promises to Be Most Popular Of tho
Seasons Sporta.

STOhlseS 10 f>65.MOSt Oi IuC
Seasons Sports.
Squash, which was comparatively
little known a year or so ago, prom
ises to be one of the most popular
OF this summers sports, and squash
courts are going up everywhere.
Just why the unpoetical name Of
squash should have been given it is
not discoverable. 1t certainly has no
bearing upon summer squash, the
vegetable, for, being an indoor game,
it can be played as we'll in winter as
in summer, and no other points of re-
semblance can be traced.
Properly speaking, Squash Ball is
the title, and squash is only the ab-
breviation.
To have your squash-court this sum-
mer, if you have any pretensicns to
style, is as necessary as to have your
ping.pong table or your automobile.
Last summer the game was so much
of anovelty that the story is told of
afamily in a fashionable seaside re-
sort who made their way into the elect
through their squash-court, it being
the second only Of it's kind in the
place. This year it is even more essen
tial to ones social success.
Yet there are many people clamoring
to know what squash Is.
Squash belongs to;sthe lawn-tennis
family, and under different titles and
with q few minor differences, has been
known Since the time of Henry VIII.
of England AS yet there has been
little squash literature, hence the
world-at-large has had no opportunity
Of becoming acquainted with 1t in
story. Even the squash joke has not
yet been sprung. The game of fives,
which is still played extensively, is
of the squash family. In this game,
as it was originally played, the hand
was used, hitting ball against wall
on lines laid out for tennis-court.
Going back into early history, we find
the royal princesses playing tennis in
this way, using their fair hands, or, in
some cases. gloves. When the bat
came into use it was called Bat Fives.
Then another evolution, and the ten
nis-racket came upon the scene. The
walls were enclosed, floor and cell
ing added. and VOLTA! rackets. Squash
is merely a variation of rackets, and
the courts are the same. The walls
are marked off by painted lines; the
service-line, above which the ball must
strike when served, is six feet from
the floor. Another line, called the tell
tale, is two feet from the floor, and
after a ball has been served, the Sec
ond played must return it onto the
front wall above the telltale before it
has bounded twice. The players then
continue to return the ball alternate
ly until the rally is lost A ball is
in play until it touches the roof, posts.
cushions, or is driven into the gallery.
It is then out of court. The court IS
divided by a line into two equal
spaces. There is cross-cut through
the centre, % feet from the back wall.
The game is played with ball, usual
" of India rubber, and lightweight
tennis-racket, strung with gut. The
squash-bat weighs between nine and
ten ounces. Keeping out of the way
is one of the objects of the game. II
the ball hits the strikers adversary
above the knee, or If it hits the strik-
er's partner or himself, it counts
against the striker. One Of the rules
of the game is that every player
should get out of tine way ss much as
possible. If he cannot, the marker is
to decide whether it is let or not.
The markers decision is considered
final.
Squash may be played either with
doubles or singles, and in four or
three walled court.
Any carpenter can build the house.
which is not elaborate in any way.
The height of the front wall is l6 rect.
The total length of the court is 3l.o
feet and the breadth, 1853 feet.-Col-
lier's Weekly.