Indiana daily times., 1921-06-20
WOODROW READ
POEMS; WARREN
PLAYS QUOTTS
Harding Is Member National
Association of Horseshoe
Pitchers.
REVIVAL OF OLD GAME
By FREDERIC j. HAsKIN.

BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN.
WASHINGTON, D. C-The facts hav
ing gone forth that President Harding
is very fond of the game of quoits, or
horseshoe pitching, that he has Joined
a national association of horseshoe
pitchers, and that he may pitch horse
shoes in the White House yard to re-
cuperate from the strain Of running the
country, the friends of this fine old
American game hope that it may achieve
a new popularity.
There is a tendency in this country to
follow the lead of the President in mat
ters Of sport. Mr.. Roosevelt undoubt-
edly did much to popularize the study
Of birds and he probably also helped by
his example to swell the army of Amer
lean hunters. On the other hand, it is
not of record that Mr.. Wilson, whose
favorite diversion is said to be reading
aloud the poems of Wordsworth caused
any heavy sale of that bard's works in
America.
The American mind does not take
easily to Wordsworth, but it should take
easily to horse shoe pitching For, al
though played in England and Scotland,
the game is indigenous to the United
States, and may confidently be regarded
as 100 per cent American. Furthermore,
it smacks strongly of that America of
yesterday, to the spirit Of which we are
now trying to return the America of
peace contentment, "normalcy," America
supremely self-satisfed in the belief that
it is the greatest and most perfect ma
ton on earth, America doing in the
warm sun of prosperity untroubled by
its relations with the rest Of the world.
ORIGIN OF
HORSESHOE PITCHING.
Horseshoe pitching had it's origin in a
thousand little crossroad towns, where,
on summer evenings, well-fed farmers
gather under the tree in front of the
blacksmith shop. For the most part they
sit and smoke and talk. They are not
restless men. They never play tennis
or golf or anything else strenuous, be-
cause they get Ilenty Of exercise Itch
ing hay and digging potatoes. But Il W
and again the spirit of play strikes them
in Il mild and friendly form. Ola horse
shoes are lying all about. Two pegs
are driven into the ground, and soon
game is in progress. 1t is good-na-
tured, easy going game. ConteHted
points are decided finally by an umpire
armed with a straw. There is no hard
feeling, no perspiration. no excitement.
] is the typical sport Of a well fed, easy
going. complacent folk. You can imagine
a man with revolutionary thoughts in
his head playing n fiery game of tennis,
but you cannot imagine him playing
quoits.
1t is not, in fact. a game calculated to
appeal to any man who is leading an
exciting life, whether its excitements are
chiefly intellectual or chiefly physical.
It's pleasing but monotonous movements
and mild crises are diverting only by
contrast with daily tasks even more
monotonOus. 1t belongs in the same
school of things with the old swimming
hole. the country fair, the church So
ciable. 1t traces its ancestry even far
ther back to the days of husking bees
and quilting frolics. 1t is associated vI-h
the smell Of wet black earth and grow
ing corn, with the long still country
evenings when frogs and crickets sing,
with simple tasks and neighborly feel
ings, with a fried chicken dinner on
Sunday and 4 good soothing sermon, and
long nap in the hammock on the -rOut
porch. 1t belongs TO .the good old Ameri-
can school of philosophy which holds
that God is in his heaven and all is
right with the world, that civilization
began after the revolutionary war, that
every American boy has a chance to be
President if he will just lie on his belly
in front of the fire and study as hard
as Abe Lincoln did.
Such is the environment that produced
the game of horseshoes, and. it still flour
ishes in what is left of that environ
ment. You do not see it played much
in New York of Chicago, or any other
big city. 1t does not 1T in with the sub
way rush and the roar of lower Broad
way. Men and women who struggle
with straining nerves for life and love
aud money who shimmy in jazz racked
caharets and pack the follies and the
movies are not horseshoe pitchers. They
would vote horseshoe pitching n deadly
bore. Nor is it in tune with the mental
life of the new metropolitan America.
which is so self conscious and worried
the America that reads Mann street and
patronizes British high brow lecturers
and tries hard to guess what is going
on in Russia. Antebellum, horseshoe
pitching America had barely heard of
Russia, regarded Main street as the best
place this side Of Heaven, and gave to
all foreigners a rich and condescending
pity. Can America be led back to the
sweet and placid contentment, the beau
tiful faith and ignorance of the early
horseshoe pitching days?
RULES OF
THE GAME.
But it must be added that horseshoe
pitching has, to a certain extent kept up
with the times. The game of quoits
properly sO-called, is a sort OF urblnized
horseshoe pitching. in which iron rings,
especially made for the purpose, are
used This is an international game and
has its tournaments and champions.
Horseshoe pitching proper, as far as
we can learn. is purely American game.
REFE RE