The sun., 1904-12-04
SQUASH RA(QUETS IN SEASON
THE GAME rs IN MUCH FAVOR ~
A .HIDVINTER PASTIME.
How the Odd Name Origlnated-Plh|cd cd IN
Small Courts With Lawn Tennis bai'
Courts In Town and Country "he
on the Roof OF an Apartment House

Small Courts With Lawn Tennis nan
Courts In Town and Country, One
on the Roof OF an Apartment HOUSE
tell me. do you like squash' Just
dote on it,
well, frankly. think pumpkin is nucn
nicer in pies" replied the candid man rom
CHEYENNE TO the question and excIainatioh
OF tn, city girl beside him at dinner
How YOU Westerners do joke! ! mean
the game. OF course," The Cheyenne young
man kicked himself and the first thing IN
the morning he set out to learn what sort
of break he had made, anyhow. .,
1t did not take him long TO discover tha'
the game the girl had mentioned Is very
popular winter recreation, particularly
at the country clubs and country houses
and that it is fast gaining permahehcy
in the city indoor amusements oil the coio
months. The name that had feazed hirn'
TO try to set down in order all the facts dug
I'D by the man from Cheyenne, bears no 70,
lation TO the vegetable. The name originated
at Harrow, in England, years ago ana
seemed 80 appropriate that 1t spread 10
Rugby and all the schools there puohc
or private, to describe the game OF fves,
or their handball, when a soft ball was useo
instead OF the hard ball. At Harrow they
used a racquet bat and -squashed' the
soft ball with it up against wall.
Fives had also some vogue here years
ago, played usually against an open wall
with a racquet bat and a hollow rubber
ball. There we're also courts for fves' IN
imitation Of the courts at Eton and Rugby
and to Hollis II. Hunnewell Is said to be
49, r., af r,lo Cin
lawn tennis ball. This was at Boston,
and in 1887 he had the first squash court
built at his winter residence in Aiken.
A squash court is q miniature racquet
court, and the game is precisely the same
except that lawn tennis balls are used A
racquet court is 90 by 20 feet, with walls
and floor OF the hardest cement or asphalt
but the squash courts are usually OF wooo'
which answers nearly as well and Is much
cheaper. squash court IL usually 80
by Is feet but there is no definite standard
The small court makes the game fast
one, and, aside from its own merits, squash
racuuets is an admirable training for the
older and more exacting games played WITH
the racauet-oourt tennis and racquets
At the Merton Cricket Club, near Phila-
delphia, the squash courts are white
throughout, so that dark balls have to be
used, but at the Tuxedo Club and else
where, whether OF cement or wood, the
squash courts have brown walls and floor,
forming fine background for the white
tennis balls
Among the young and active OF e ether
sex squash raoquets has high place as
competitive game about and in New York.
There are open and private tournaments
galore for the squash players in mid~inter
and divers club championships. 7 ere Is
also national championship which is
under the special care Of the Tuxedo Club
and held on its squash courts every February
during Washington's Birthday week. II
has been played for three years, and the
winners have been members OF the New
York Racquet and Tennis Club George /.
Scott twice and William p Blagden last year,
when Scott was the runner up. Bagden
uses a lawn tennis racquet and puts great
cut on his services, but generally the players
use racquet bats.
Frank j. Gould is the latest TO put in q
squash court in fact the work on 1t is now
in progress at his tow house, s34 Fifth
avenue. 1t is to be asnallcourt, 1880 feet.
Courts Of this size may be put up almost
enjoyed by every member OF the family.
Inere Is no better eAeI uIse, too tor young
or old 1t is better than banting to re-
move fat, for rother thing, and there
is no better way TO keep youthful figure
and agility than to play a fast twenty min
utes daily at squash. The latter recon-
mendaton appeals 10 many men and to
nearly all womsn. but TO get the best results
from the game II must be played briskly
and be followed by cold bath and rub
bing. There is no benefit To be gained by
lounging in or about "a iash court. with
bat in han and gossiping, but those who
play the game systematically and vigor-
ously find 1t to be as fine an indoor medicine
as golf and lawn tennis.
To many suburban men who come to
town for business, the squash toIrt is the
cold weather substitute for the links and
the turf courts--indeed for the full rourd
Of summer outdoor recreations. Darkness
comes on during the winter so early that
II is impossible to have any fun in the open
before dinner and in lieu Of the pleasant
and healthful pastimes of the 'onger days
there IL no better stimulant than sharp
rally in the squash court and cold rub
before donning dinner clothes. Twenty
minutes OF fast work with the racquet will
stir up every muscle and bring out the g'oS
of action quite as efectually as eighteen
holes at golf or an hour of lawn tennis.
board wall in front and on two sides,
put up in the carriage house or an outer
porch, Is a cheap and fairly satisfactory
substitute for regular court. The game
is made vastly more interesting by back
wall. A regular court. IS by 80 feet with
four sides and an open grating a the upper
part Of the back wall for onlookers 10 peep
through may be built wherever there Is
room available by any carpenter who is
supplied with the working plans. The
cost, II 1t be in a room and without a roof,
should not be very great. The regular
single court, II built by an architect, will
cost from 81 900 up to any amount, all de-
pending on the accessories.
At the country clubs and the large country
houses the squash courts are built in couples
or In groups Of four, and they are usually
IN a building erected for them. The build
ing may be entirely Of wood, the lighting
being provided for by q skylight and by
electric lights. At the Rockaway Hunt
ing Club there are three squash courts side
by side, the gallery at the back having seats
in tiers, and the spectators may change
about TO watch the match-should three
be In simultaneous progresS--in which they
take the most interest. The courts NAV
be Of wood or Of cement as to the floor and
walls, the latter being by far the more eX-
pensive. especially if the cement is Of the
imported sort. But wood an swers quite as
well and L. the usual mater al
o he palf - 1