The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-16

recorded the rumble and bang OF
the balls and pins is heard through the
land from Maine to California, from Win
nipeg to New Orleans, with an echo or two
from the City Of Mexico. In every village,
hamlet and city in the United States there
is the thunderful muttering that bespeaks
the bowler at work, and should Hendrix
Hudson, of rip Van Winkle' fame, quit
the fastness of his romantic palisades, he
and his merry crew could find fitting en-
tertainment wherever they might chance
TO wander.
Bowling is without question the winter
game par excellence of rich and poor, old
and young, and sex enters in not at all. ex-
cept possibly in the magnitude of scores.
Ten years ago the ranks of the bowlers
were thin and alleys were few and far be-
tween, mostly located in i'll ventilated
Easements where the fumes of all yarie-
ties of tobacco filled the air and COM
pletely offset whatever physical advantage
accrued from the exercise.
Bowling was then stagnant and did not
enter into either the social or sporting
side of life. 1t was an out of the way
paStime INDUCED in at intervals according
to such haphazard rules as might spring
up and become effective by custom. The
alleys were poorly constructed and de-
Perforated quickly, and with the decline of
the alley went the game, as it was gen
orally found Improbable to reconstruct
them.
Today there are ], 900, 600 bowlers in the
United States. and easily 10000 pairs of
alleys.
Game Has Revived
In the last decade bowling revived. The
revival was of the sudden variety, such
as that of the fainting demoiselle when the
bottle of undiluted hartshorn is suddenly
placed under her retrousse nose. Why did
it revive? What started it? No one can
tell. 1t is probably due to that strange
instinct in human nature which at stated
times in the year bids the small boy get
out his marbles and at another time his
pulse the youth of the land is to be seen
on every street corner engaged in the
sport that BELTS the season. 1t was thus
with bowling. OF a sudden everybody was
bowling and contrary to the expectations
of the sagacious observers who had
watched the rise and fall of roller skating,
bicycling and ping pong, the multitude
continues to bowl.
The cause of this variation from the
usual run of sporting "crazes'' can be
subdivided and ramified ad infnitum by
any bowling enthusiast. The simple in
offensive query, What is there in bowl
vestigator an avalanche of replies running
the gamut of the good things of life, all
of which are found in their fullest album
dance in the gentle art of bowling.
Even from the viewpoint of the conserv-
alive dilletante there are many things
that voueh for the game which appears to
contain the maximum of the good things
OF the sport with minimum of evils 1t
has all the allurements that come under
the generic term sport. There is room
for almost an unlimited amount of skill,
manual and mental, and withal the game
is so simple in itself that the veriest tyro
can get enjoyment out of his first game
The element of competition, always es-
sential to the American is there in plen-
ty, and there is always the leaven of luck
to add spice and fattery to the achieve
ment. In the matter of health, bowling is
a tonic that is in the panacea class, and
all the ills that flesh is heir to, directly
or otherwise, vanish in the exhilaration OF
the strike and spare.
Alleys Always Open
Morning, afternoon or evening the
bowling alley is doing business, and the
person who has any hours of recreation
at all can adjust his schedule SO as ia
include the game. The sedentary bust
ness man with the Falstaff waist and
Berkshire jowls can diminish both. and
the callow youth may lay on muscle that
viii stop the inroads of the cigarette of
the Phsroahs and acquire chest measure
ment that will make all APOLOGIES to the
tailor unnecessary.
Even the lady fair may become more
SO, and not few who have been through
all the weird acrobatic stunts advocated
by beauty doctors" have reverted to first
principles and taken up bowling Figures
nave biossomed and bloomed under the
inspiration of bowling, when they failed
utterly to respond to the secret stunts en-
acted on the Navajo run within the
sacred precincts of the boudoir.
Bowling takes into account nearly
every muscle of the body and although
at first sight one would be inclined f.
suppose that the bieeps and muscles OF
the right forearm were unduly taxed in
Vestigation will prove otherwise. The
right arm, or the left of the southpa W
undoubtedly is developed to an extent
somewhat greater than the arm which is
not used in throwing the ball, but the
same can be said of any sport or exer-
else. AS long as one arm is endowed
with more capabilities than the other il
Will always be so, and not until the race
becomes ambidexterous will any diversion
OF muscle building character be invent
ed that will treat both alike
The biceps are the muscles that aDpea
TO the youth, but in after years they be-
come a secondary consideration, with the
realization that a moderately. complete
muscular system is much preferable fol
the living OF the ordinary life than any
group of special development Here is
where bowling makes itself popular Pick.
Ing up and adjusting the ball, the run
the bending of the legs and drawins
taut of the muscles of the back an(
all necessary TO roll the ball. all thes,
are brought into play time and time again
in the course of game.
Labor Equally Distributed
There is no one part of the body sub.
3ected to an undue strain On the con.
trary the bowler becomes weary all over
and there is a unanimous cutlery from the
different muscles when they consider the,
have had enough for the time being.
AS a social factor bowling is not with.
out its weight. First and foremost il
brings many. young men together undel
manly circumstances. The proprietors o.
alleys are such for commercial reasons
and their success depends to a great ex.
tent upon. the order in which the place
is run. If for no other than mercenars
reason, the bowling alley is well conduct
ed and the effect on the players is tn,
same as if inspired by the most altruistit
motives. The game has SO far escaped
the gambling mania, SO that one may
spend week at an alley without hear
ing q DroDOSitiOn of a bet