The San Francisco call., 1907-02-10

Simeon Stylites. His mode Of living
was highly conducive to solitairs--in
fact, he could not have INDUCED IN
any other pastine. How Ideally the
time. the place and the man At for the
game.
Three years lived upon pillar. high
Six cubits. and three years on one Of
twelve:
And twice three years crouch'a ca
Twenty by measure: last Of ali. I grew
Twice ten long weary. weary pears 70
this
That numbers forty euSits from shs
The uninterrupted hours that might
have been devoted TO making cards 50
into the desired four little pilesl He
was truly solitaire personined-
Evidently the dictionary men dfdn't
think much of the game OF solitaire
The word is closely. allied with "her-
nit and ''recIuse." One authority
says:
"solitaire-A hermit or recluss. (s)
One of many games played by one per-
son only. Specifically. IN card playing.
usually a game in which the player.
taking the cards from the pack an
they come, endeavors to arrange them
according to some system Patienes
(absolute), a game played with mar
bles moved in hollows. or pegs In
holes, on board arranged usually IN
the form OF Greek cross. The player
jumps the marbles or pegs one over
another at right angles. removing
those jumped, and endeavoring to leave
only one at the close---or several ar
ranged in q pattern. (3) One OF several
birds. An American bird OF shy and
retiring habits, ETC.
Doubtless the ancient game OF pa
thence IL responsible for the modern
orA d..
the name of patience" to solitaire. It
certainly takes patience to follow up
this game
1t is very interesting to watch the
development of soIitaire player. He
watches his frieEd Jones trying to do
one of the many kinds with bored In
terest. Soon he is telling him he can
put the FIVE spot OF clubs on the six OF
hearts and in that way clear the four
Of clubs so 1t may be played on the
three of clubs, which he is building
up Jones is a trifie slow about seeing
moves, and the oalooEer becomes the
guiding force in the game The ambf-
zion to try q game all by himself IL
strong the next time he Is alone with
pack of cards. It proves harder TO
do than he imagined. and all the COM
Dativeness ofehis nature Is aroused He
declares it's quite game" Perhaps
as a reward for his efforts he Hnally
succeeds in doing ia satisfaction
short lived. for the thought comes,
Gould ] do IL again?" And the war
against his@invisible opponent 10 on,
Henceforth solitaire hll5 In the chinks
Of his spare time. He learns several
other ways OF playing. and sits I'D late
trying TO do justice to all OF them
The average man prefers the kinds
that come out right often. though he
likes to try those that come out once
In a lifetime The glory II he should
do it! Men who are strictly honest IN
every other respect will slip a card IN
game Of solitaire now and then. This
we'll known tendency makes his friends
incredulous when he airily declares
he has worked II out successfully.
Another strange feature of the game
Is that IL makes the most practical OF
men superstitious. Solitaire becomes
his oracle. He accepts as a favorable
omen the successful game. while he ~
correspondingiy detected II luck is
against him. "Tomerro= will be a
lucky day for me--rvs done this game
twice." he sxcl2ims radiantly. There
has always been q fascination and cer-
tain mysticism about the way cards
run. and the experienced player falls
under the spell The business man who
will undertake no business deal with
out consulting clairvoyant places
implicit confidence in this every-man-
his-own-fortune-tsIle game
There was once a man whose mind
was turned by too close application to
solitaire and he would put up enormous
sums on game. and finally he lost
his entire fortune to himself This
was an instance when relatives con-
graduated themselves that his fancy
had turned to solitaire instead OF poker.
Solitaire has other uses. toe. To the
aged it Is comfort. furnishing enough
mental exercise to keep the mind from
rusting- The invalid finds 1t more di-
verting. while Gagged up In one room.
than counting the hEures IN the wall
paper.