The progress., 1904-03-19
NOVEL RACES IN FRANCE.
Amusing Feature of an Outdoor En-
tertainment in One of the
Country Towns.

Exceedingly novel races for boil
women and men resulted from the an
nual gymkhana at Compiegne, neal
Paris. Perhaps the most diverting, say!
an account in the Chicago Tribune, wa!
the soda water running match, which
had been arranged for competitors ol
the sterner sex.
At fixed distances along the course
bottles of highly charged English soda
water were placed-four for each man
In order to win the race each bottle had
to be opened in turn and the contents
swallowed, it being condition that none
should be spilled to avoid the ordeal OF
drinking 1t.
The spectacle of the competitors in
their attempts to swallow bottle OF
soda water at once proved highly divert
ing, several suffering temporarily for
their haste, although benefiting in the
end. They became so charged with gas
that they felt as If they were bursting;
and three of them were so discouraged
by the effect Of the first bottle that they
could not face the second, and forthwith
retired from the race.
What was described as an orange race
for young women proved an interesting
and attractive event. At regular dis
tances of 20 yards from each other ten
oranges we're placed on the ground for
each competing damsel.
These had all to be picked up and
brought back in the hands of the COM
petitor to the finishing line. The diff
Guilty of picking up an orange with sew
eral already in ones grasp must be ex-
perienced to be appreciated, and the
frantic efforts of the young women to
pick up more than they could hold pro-
vided no end of amusement for the on
lockers.
In the result several of the girls
dropped every one of their captured
oranges before reaching the winning
point. and only two succeeded in carry
ing home the ten circles Of golden fruit.
But what seemed to be the most popu-
lar competition of all was the necktie
race, in which the participants proper
were gentlemen, though the fair sex had
uOI q lllllC W w Win tACiA ShohSOo Vi
success. The distance to be run was
some 200 yards, and the competitors had
all to start with their neckties undone.
At the end of the first 100 yards we're
stationed the young women who had
to assist in the race. What
each competitor had to was to run as
speedily to the particular girl who was
awaiting him, and kneel down before her
while she neatly and properly tied his
necktie. This done, he had only to get
up and finish the race by covering the
100 yards.
Another striking novelty was basket
and ball race for ladies. Each girl par
in it started out with basket
dozen balls and attended
by mere male AS she ran she had to
throw out of her basket all these balls,
one after another, while her knight in
was to pick them up as nim-
bly, as he could and return them to her.
The first girl to succeed in getting to
the winning post with the IL balls re-
stored to her basket was to be the win
ner. In their scrambles after the balls
some of the men cut such ludicrous fig |
lres that the spectators roared with |
laughter. |
An exceedingly pretty race was the one |
Tor young girls, in which they trundled |
arge wooden hoops which were fitted |
with spokes and gayly decorated with |
flowers.
There was also a most eccentric race |
between a baby warthog, a young ant |
bear, a kangaroo, black goat, a mon
Key, a pet goose, a Barbary sheep, tor
oise, 40-pound turkey. bantam roos-
er, an Egyptian scarabaeus, and, most
of all, considering that each
was driven by its own lady
owner, a common little mouse! The
monkey wrung the goose's neck, the tur-
Sey swallowed the scarabaeus, and the
int bear came in first