St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-08-26

your dyspepsia or headache, he will prob
| ably prescribe series of twisting ana
bending motions for the muscles oil the
trunk and abdomen. But every time you
| take iull swing with golf club you go
| through these very motions. You are
| taking the. Swedish movement cure
without knowing it. The average golf
course is mile and half long. Let the
parson finish his preparation tor Sunday
by Saturday noon. Then let him walk
three miles in pleasant company, amid
beautiful natural surroundings, and
meanwhile swing club vigorously some
eighty to a hundred times, and II he
| doesn't sleep well OF a Saturday night,
there is something wrong with his liver
or his conscience. or with both.
Coll furnishes an inexhaustibe variety
OF interest. No two shots are exactly
alike. No golfer will claim to have mas
tered all the possibilities of the game.
After five years of playing, he will confess
that he is just beginning to appreciate
them. This very difficulty is one of the
destinations of the sport. The beginner
usually makes good drive at the hrst
attempt. AS he watches che flight OF the
| ball he inwardly exults. 1t seems so easy
to hit that little sphere fair and true
every time, with just the right direction
and force. When he fails he is sure he
can do it next time. You never get over
anticipating that perfect shot which is
| always just one stroke ahead. And
| when the ball sails away far and true
| from brassie, or you lay an approach
shot dead to the hole" there is an I'M
failing exhilaration about the success,
and you are more than ever determined
| to make such strokes the rule rather than
the exception. To play perfect golf re-
quires the utmost nicely of skill, the per-
feet cooperation of eye, hand and brain,
| as well as cool nerve and undaunted
pluck. But, on the other hand, no mat
| ter how much OF a ''duher" you are, you
may always find partner of your own
class, and two poor players equally
matched get as much enjoyment out OF
the game as two experts.
| This leads me to speak of the social
side OF the sport. do not refer to the
pleasant chat of the piazza golfer" who
make the clubhouse gay on holiday after
Moons, nor to the entertaining discussions
of various plays, after the match is over
and the nineteenth hole" is played to-
gether. But wherever you play golf you
are sure to meet men whom it is pleas
ure to know. A Jolly "toursome" can
have as much wholesome fun as can be
crowded into one short afternoon. Then,
TOO, the game equalizes all ages. 1t often
happens that man past middle life is
paired with youth in his teens. and the
two learn to know and respect each
other, to their mutual advantage. Hun
dreds of business men are thus renewing
their youth and getting acquainted with
younger generation. | have often seen
a veteran OF seventy and boy of four
teen playing close match together. I'm
fortunately few ladies play enough to
play well, and the number of lady golfers
tends to decrease. 1t is fine exercise for
women, but the game is too difficult to
attract many. But when four we'll
matched players get together, two oil
them being ladies, the social pleasure Of
the sport is more than doubled.
A word might be said about the moral
discipline of golf. In common with all
good games it trains one to win modest.
ly and to lose serenely, to keep ones
temper under difficulties and to be mind
ful of the obligations of courtesy. Some
sports, like football and baseball, arouse
the spirit of combativeness, and the play
ers fight for every point, sometimes by
foul means as we'll as tair. But tenni:
and golf are pre- eminently games o
gentlemen, and the atmosphere o
courtesy surrounds them. And golf Ger
tainly tends to cultivate the grace o
humility. The best player will have days
when his skill seems suddenly to hav'
deserted him, and he will play like {
hired man with a BROOM" to his owl
modification and the amusement of hi
comrades. Then his patience and sell
control have their sphere, and the mai
with unruffled temper and cool determin
alton soon gets the hayward muscle
under control and resumes his wontet
pace.
One Of the doubtful advantages of tn
game is the endless topic for converse
.. tion which it affords. Two golfers will
discuss strokes, clubs and players til
midnight, and meet again in the morn
,, ing to fight their battles DER with I'm
, diminished zeal. One of my friends heart
a player declare that if he had not beer
stymied on the fifteenth green he woult
have been dormie three. "Well!" ex
claimed the listener. II might possibI,
learn the strokes, but ii I've got t.
acquire new language l guess won
begin" If he had played around tn
course once, the new terms would no
have dismayed him.
A game that has an equal attractio
for judges of the Supreme Court, tn
lieutenant general of our army, thor
sands of professional and business me
OF mature years, and for the boys an
= girls in our schools and colleges, mus
a certainly have something to it. 1t re
n quires thought as well as manual dez
y. terity to play it well. 1t is played wit
S brains as well as with clubs. And to a
l who have not tried its destinations,
t can cordially commend it as rations
S and healthful exercise, and most d.
e lighttul recreaton.- Rev. Edward N
:. Noyes in the Congregationalist.