The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-01
PITCHIN' HORSESHOES
A Great and Historic Game That De-
 serves to Be Cherished


 In the present day-a day somewhat given over to lackadaisical sort of re- flection-a question agitated in quiet moments has to do with the best form of pastime for men. This is admittedly d stern age, calling for unwonted stress of mind if one is to keep in the front of the race. All the more incumbent it is, therefore, that the hours of re- taxation should be devoted to peaceful and soothing pursuits.
 Much favored in high circles is the game of golf, which. half century ago, was scarcely known beyond the bounds of the land O cakes and ale. But so far has it gained supremacy within that period that other and, in the opinion of some, far betterSports have all but been allowed to fall into oblivion.
 Among these is the honored pastimN ' of pioneer days and later, known to the rude spirits of the time as "horseshoes. If, as Kiplings future Mrs. Gadsby said and she stole it from the Arabic-'kiss- ing a man without a mustache is like eating an egg without salt" then boy hood that contins no fond memories of ''pitchin' horseshoes'' Is one bereft of the superlative charm that makes any boyhood really worth while.
 The origin of horseshoe pitching is lost in the womb of time. A baser make shift for the noble game is found in the discuss throwing of the ancient Greeks. The country, too, that gave us golf con- tains the earliest mention of ''quoits"- much like horseshoe" but more molly coddish-which are spoken of in the bor- der Scatch histories of the early fifteenth century. In all probability, however, "horseshoes'' was coeval with horses, and it's origin, no doubt, came through those natural and instinctive processes that lie close to the wellspring of being. As Charles Lamb in his profound and scholarly dissertation on Roast Pig" laid bare the discovery of spareribs as an article of diet, so must 1t have been with the original game of ''horseshoes." Far back in the primeval, when the first Old Bess cast her first shoe, the trailing youngster may have picked 1t up, tossed it idly toward a bit of scrub watched it whirl and curve and land. Then. ecstatic with the mellow joy of 1t, he ran, picked 1t up and tossed again. After that comes another boy with another shoe-and the game was on!
 Not until the middle eighties of the present era and past century, however did the game reach it's height In that day it was not so much of a pastime as an institution. No crossroads meeting place or village commons was without its contesting champions. On Saturday evenings, as the dusk came creeping on, the workmen and the idlers would con- gregate, usually in front of the old black smith shop. where the cinders from the forge had been scattered to make a per- feet ground for the.~ .~game. Some one dared the opposition. No one took a dare those days. And there was argu- ing and picking for sides. The distance was paced off and the iron stakes driven into the hard earth. And shen they pitched Bob Summers "hefted" the shoe in his right hand, shifted his ''chaw to the left cheek grinned at the audience, unwound himself and pitched. Twisting and twirling went the shoe, striking the ground, sliding and scraping and then stopping at the edge of the pin. "Runt" Allison followed, five foot four in height and 95 in weight during roastin' ear sea- son. One tango swing and his iron was over the linchpin. "A ringer, a ringer." was the cry, and not in the days of chivalry did "A Montfort to the rescue!" mean more. So the game went on, with contested points, much good humor and chaffing. until nightfail called halt.
 History has made much of rails split by Abraham Lincoln. as, though that constituted all of life More pleasant is it to feel assured that he solaced the toil-worn spirit of the busy day by a turn at "horscshoes' in Happy Valley in Tennessee, as all other generous, lov- able natures must have done wherever they were born and raised.' Could Forbes Robertson have played 'horse- shoes" as we'll as he plays Hamlet he might not have been knight, but bet ter fame would have been his portion from Georgia to Indiana. And had Ham, let himself have known the blissful, peace restoring game there would have been no Shakespearean tragedy of noble nature, upright in it's promptings. but warped Qnd withered by an unconquer- able irresolution. For ''horseshoes" was a mans game. if there ever was one played-played by men in days when men were bred.