Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-23
REFORM IN BRIDGE.
Charge That Game Makes Some Men
Drink Too Much.

From the New York Sun.
Some persons who are fond of bridge are
beginning to believe that there ought TO be
reform in the way of playing the game
Bridge has had its share in making din
ners shorter" said Il man at one OF the
clubs in which the game is most played.
and the time the game occupies has been
utilized by a good many men to take an
amount Of liquor they would never before
the great vogue of the game have had a
chance to drink after a dinner.
Before L-idge came into fashion man
sat for three-quarters or half an hour after
dinner and then went home. 1t rarely hap
pened that a drink was passed around or
that guest got one.
But bridge has changed all that. Tie
minute some men sit down to play bridge
they feel the necessity OF having a drink.
With a glass on the corner OF the card ia
BILE they sip it at intervals
Then they want to smoke well. I have
seen men smoke one cigarette after another
while they We're playing bridge with women.
How many drinks of Scotch they may take
depends on their OWE conscieuces and the
amount of nerve they have.
''Of course, with this drinking and smok-
ing going on the game Is going TO lose some
of its best points. and to persons vino really
want to play it the Interruptions OF those
who make 1t an occasion for drinking ana
smoking much as they can get hold OF
are not very diverting. For that reason
there is cal for REFORM
There are other effects of bridge which
have aroused more opposition than the habit
of drinking all that one wants. One OF
these used to be called In poker the post
norton habit. Women are more addicted
to 1t than the other sex.
IF you had only led that spade" one OF
them shrieks at her husband even when he
was s. other woman's partner, you
would have drawn out her black ,ards and
would have been able to go out.
11rl- hzan "a fo
SO used to this kind of discipiining that he
has ceased to retort. As matter of fact
he is a much better player than the woman.
but she continues to tell the table how
much better she plays than her husband.
There is never any gathering for bridge
in which the voices Of women. usually in a
tone of complaint are not lifted in the
room. Men are less addicted to telling an
other player than their partners what mis-
takes they have mada
Another Objectionable effect of bridge Is
the result of the rule that Arrows one side
to take a trick when the opponent played
out of the wrong hand, That rule has prac-
tfcally been abandoned because it Is TO
longer the fashion to take tricks in that
way. When observed it gave player mean
by nature endless opportunities to be srur-
.aThat trick is ours. I think would be
the form used by a person of gentle dis-
position.
. The other type, however, used no such
soothing language.
.Nothing about the game of bridge used
to give me such a shock. said a woman
who has played from the first and with The
hest kind of players. ''as the occasional
habit of some people OF reaching out and
taking a trick from under my nose without
saving word. have met only few men
tlat 49,. that. but it remains the meahest
stunt of a disa greeable player.
"Of course the player that plays out or
the wrong hand Is absorbed in studying tie
lay of the board when he or she makes the
mistake To put down a card and think
YOU have made the best possible play on!y
to learn that you have done just the re-
verse and lost the trick is I'm itself shock
to the person playing.
Then to have the trick suddenly snatch
ed from under your nose Is the utmost dis
courtesy that bridge permits. Luckily that
bad habit has gone with the disappearance
OF the rule"