The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-11
SECOND SECTION
FOR REFORM IN BRIDGE.
IT MAKES SOME MEN DRINK TOO
MUCH, THEY SAY.

yost-mOrtem Recrimination and its A.
tondant Ills Attributed to tho Game
Also Bridge Accused OF Bringing
Ont tho Mean Traits Of Mankind.
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 a man ut one Of the clubs
In which the game Ii most played, a the
time the game occupies has been utilized by
a good many men to take al amount OF
LIQUOR they would never before the great
vogue OF the game have had q chance TO
drink after a dinner.
Before bridge came into fashion q man
sat for th~ree-quarters or half an hour after
dinner and then went home. II rarely
happened that a drink was passed around
or that a guest got one.
But bridge has changed all that. The
minute some men sit dow 60 play bridge
they feel the necessity Of having a drink.
with a glass on the corner OF the card table
they sip it at intervals.
Then they want to smoke as well. I have
seen men smoke one cigarette after another
while they were playing bridge with women.
How many drinks Of Scotch they may take
depends on their own con~scienoes n the
amount Of nerve they have.
'Of course. with this drinking and smok-
ing going on the game is going to lose some
81 it's best points, and to persons b really
want to play it the interruptions OF those
who make 10 an occasion for drinking and
smoking az much as they can get hold OF
are not very diverting. For hat reason
there is a call for REFORM
49, H - IL. -AlAL
have aroused more opposition than the habit
~ drinking all that one wants. One OF
these used to be called in poker the post
mortem habit. Women are more addicted
10 it than the other sex.
IF you had only led that spade one OF
the m shrieks at her husband even when he
was some other woman's partner, you
would rave drawn out her black cards
and would have been able to 60 out
The husband looks patient because he is
so used to this kind Of disciplinine that
he has ceased to retort. As a 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 hus-
hand.
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 another
player than their partners what mistakes
they nave made.
Another Objectionable effect Of bridge
IN the result Of the rule that allows one
side to take a trick when the opponent
played out Of the wrong hand. That rule
has practically been abandoned because
it ts no longer the fashion to take tricks
in tn at way. When observed it gave a
player mean by nature endless opportuni-
ties to be Rruff.
THAT 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 best kind Of players, sas the occasional
habit Of some people Of reaching out and
taking a trick from under my nose without
saying a word. l have met only a few men
that did that, but it remains the meanes
stunt Of a disagreeable player.
"0f course the player that plays out OF
the wrong hand is absorbed in studying
the 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 only to learn that you have done just
the reverse and lost the trick is in itself a
shock to the person playing.
Then to havet the trick suddenly snatched
from under u nose is the utmost dis
courtesy that bridge permits. Luckily that
bad habit has gone with the disappearance
Of the rule"