New-York tribune., 1919-08-18
Books
BY Haywood Broun


1onnd' however. that one particular hi,
banter in "Joan and Peter" (Nac,.;,' u
was nothing like so broad as we had ;,,.-
when we read it. Perhaps you NAV
Der the lawn tennis which Troon n,or..
Joan. Troop was a prefect in me, -,
he was "a youth almost incredibly mai,
in his manner" and he brought t,sd;.,' d'
with him 70 the tennis court. whore /.
forever commenting on things which 4...'"
done" whenever he was fooled bv
return '''
Troops idea of tennis" writes w.r.
"was to play very hard and very s,..s.,
close over the net but without cn,,;.., /,
On the other hand, "Joan's tennis xas ,,
ably tricky" and it is recorded tb.. ~.
defeated Troop "by doing unexpected .b;.-s
Troop consoled himself by remarking ,b..
He did not mind beng defeated b,. .r.'
he was shocked by the spirit Of JoanS n.
1t wasn't 'sporting'"
We regarded all this az amusino l..
rather exaggerated fooing until
months later we suddenly discovered ~
York sporting writer seriously preacbins =.
doctrines of Troop. We were first at.rso,.s
by the head Of this story by Charles pn..
Sawyer in "The Evening POST Il r..1.
"Soft service and cut stroke in tennis
have no part in the game when sportsman.
snip Is considered trickery in con.
tests should be and IS dscouracedp q.
course we went on to read the article wb;..
was in part as follows:
II have been asked many times ~ H..
whether it is legitimate to win BY tr;ck.,-
in tennis, and my reply has always been y.
same-in gentlemen's games trckery bss
place. Lawn tennis, like golf, is and ,bo,ls
be above suspicion, and the gentleman ANA.
tour will stoop to nothing resembling in n.
slightest degree an approach to unspor,.
manlike conduct, and the principal abonina.
lions Of the game on private or club cour..
where men are supposedly out for frjendv
game, with nothing at stake. are this cs.
stroke and the soft service. both INTENDED
20 deceive and 10 win the point by trckerv .
After developing the point little nor,
fully the article continues:
IL have seen just such people in neiehbor.
hood courts and have had in a long period
Of years, only two or three on my own cosr,
but none has played there more than once.
One, in particular, was good deal better
player than any of Us. and could easily have
won by ightforward play He had yery
fast service, for which. the striker would
have TO stand FAR eut Of court in order 70
handle the ball al all. He would step I'D 10
the service line and send the bail flying Owe,
the net more often than not for an s,s
After couple of fast ones ne you'd drc,
the bail just over the net and then grs
when the striker found himself six or eigl
feet outside OF court. twenty ieet shor; 0,
the ball. That sort Of thing is not tenn:
1t is the trickery Of the professional. who
should be allowed 10 practise sucn things
only in the company of MS own particular
brand of cattle
Now, this is almost identical with the
theory which Troop states 70 Oswald in
Joan and Peter and Oswald says: "No.
The way to play a game is 20 get all over
the game and to be equal to anything in Il.
If there is stroke or anything that spoils
the game it ought to be barred by the rules
Apart from that, a game ough, 70 be worked
out to its last possibilities. Things oughtnt
to be barred in the interests Of few cen.
ventional swipes.' Oswald further explains
that much OF what is called good form in
games is mere laziness. designed 10 make the
=
Troop remains puzzled Oswald vas Y. c.
Yet he looked a games Ike Ike an Amer
ican-he played TO YIN: IL was enough 70
perpleX any one
1t was Dean Briggs, we think, who .old
IN one OF his essays about the parent o.
d Harvard student who wrote 20 he college
authorities asking them 70 see that his son
did not play baseball. He expla ned that 4
was not gentleman's game. because he
understood that the pitcher frequently used
a curve IN order TO deceive the batter.
In reading Leonard Merrcks The Pos
ton of Peggy Harper" T.. T. Dutton ne
were struck by one of the fac-ors IN hi
novels which may have something TO do witt
his having had so small a public mere unit
the present revival To be sure, ne IS reals
enough not to attempt TO convince his reader
that everything which happens IS for TN
pest. but he has an ample fund OF Sentlmen
which he does not hesitate 10 use npo'
occasion. No, we rather think that thos
readers who follow the line of least resist
ance have kept away from Merrick becaus
ne is so singularly impatient witn such
his characters as have no sense He i
never good humored about The addc-pated
and that is no way to win huge following
Speaking Of popularity. the .irst printn'
Of Harold Bell Wrght's new novel, The he
Creation OF Brian Kent wiM be 75OOo
copies.