The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-07
Charge, Sir Knight r

A flourish of trumpets, cheer from the stands, furious clattering of hoofs. Down the lists headlong gallops the Knight of the Golden Star, his lance sharp and steady, his eyes fixed upon the goal ahead, writes Donald Howe Kirkley in the New York Times.
 No. gentle reader, you have not been carried back to the Middle Ages; you have not been transported to the gen. tie and joyous passage-at-arms at Ash by de la Zouche. The lists mentioned above may be found any Saturday or holiday these summer weeks in say Bel Air, Md, and the Knight of the Golden Star is probably sophomore at Johns Hopkins University.
 Political conventions may come and go, revolutions may brew and bubble, the younger generation in the great cities may fly into the face of Provi- dence-in the quiet green heart of Maryland, in the northern part of Vir- ginia, chivalry survives in all its out ward forms.
 The tournament survives, is popular, is growing in favor. In Maryland they hold them in the southern hill coun- try, in the mountains of the north, in the flat expanse of the eastern shore. One is held each year in town thirty minutes drive from Baltimore.
 This curious persistence of an ancient sport and an abandoned code may sur prise many who live north of Mason and Dixon's line. Before seeking the causes and describing the modern aspect of the tournament it may be well to ex- anime briefly its origin and develop ment.
 Introduced Easily.
 Tournament, as applied to the mod ern sport, is a misnomer. What is meant is tilting or running at the ring" The tourneyAin itsprimitive state was invented in the ninth cen tury. Running nt the ring was an outgrowth ,and was first practiced, it is believed, at the, beginning of the sev- enteenth century. Used as means of training for the more strenuous and exacting joust, tilting at rings lapsed into a rural pastime in England and died, out elsewhere with the fall of chivalry.
 Just when the sport was introduced into the American colonies is uncer- tain. Some historians are of the opin- ion that it vas established by the cav alters in the earliest days of settle ment. One vague account is given of a tilting held in Charles county, Mary land, early in the seventeenth century.
 The seanty data Ito be had on the subject are hard to explain.' There is evidence that the tournament was the favorite outdoor amusement in all parts of the south for a long period. Yet it is barely mentioned in only a few of the many books which have been written on social life and GUS toms in the south.
 The two decades preceding the Civil war were the halcyon days of south ern chivalry, and it was in these days tliat the tournament, flourished. The southern gentleman was constantly on horseback, and it was natural that he should patronize sport which required the greatest skill in horsemanship. He valued highly the prize of victory, he trained himself to win. And the train ing helped as much as anything to make him the dashing cavalryman of the Civil war.
 Local traditions at least uphold those who assert that the tournament was brought over by the cavaliers. At Prince Frederick Calvert county, Md, they will hold this summer what is said to be the two hundred and seven ty-third annual tournament. Not a year, the wise old men of the com munity say, has been missed. At old was held nearly three centuries ago. Evidence to substantiate either claim seems lacking, but the claim is there In fact, the widespread popularity of Herring Creek church, Anne Arundel county, they say the first tournament the tournament is generally believed to have been a direct result of the tre- nlendous vogue of the novels of Sir Walter Scott. Much of the code of southern chivalry grew up as result of the ideals and ideas propagated by the romantic Sir Walter. This code las outlived the World war and may be heard today, thundered forth by country politicians and echoed at all
 uunc dinners and functions in the south.
 In 1889 the earl of Eglington staged tourney with knights in armor and