LONG-DRAWN-OUT CONTESTS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9642, 17 January 1903, Page 6 (Supplement)

LONG-DRAWN-OUT CONTESTS.

A % cricket match which will lust 22 years would try even the patience of the enthusiasts wlio throng English cricket ♦grounds every summer, but such a game is being steadily fought out »it Avondale Park, Galveston, England, between two rival elevens, every member of which is over 60 years of age. It was begun eight years ago, and on the 4th of June every summer the two teams meet and continue to play until a single wicket falls, when stumps are immediately drawn until the following summer. The possibility that death may claim some of tlie players before the match is over is of no account, for tlie team which^ can place tlie greatest number of survivors m tlie field 14 years hence is to be declared the victor. Equally remarkable was the cricket match of two years' duration, which was brought to a close not lonf ago at Apia, m, Samoa. Each side, consisted of 100 players, and as the game was being played m aid of the Building expenses of the- local church, every batsman was required to put a shilling towards the fund before going to tlie wicket, and when bowled he was at liberty to go m ugain. on payment of a similar amount. - The financial result of this protracted contest was over £3000, sufficient to liquidate the church debt. A game of draughts lias been played under very peculiar circumstances between two Cornish families for tlws last 40 years, and is not finished yet. Whenever a member of either house diets the relatives meet at the deceased's home as soon as the funeral rites are over, whereupon the twov oldest members continue the game until one of the players loses a man. Tlie positions of tile draughtsmen on the board are then recorded, and the game postponed until death gives the signal for reopening the tussle. Altogether nine different players have so far been concerned m the game. During the Franco-German war* two lieutenants m tlie latter army . were enjoying a game of chess m a French farmhouse liear Thiomville,' when suddenly a shell came through the window, and, passing between the two players, scattered the chessmen m all directions? but without doing either of the officers,; any injury. So miraculous was their escape tliat they there and then vowed meet on November 2— the date of the battle^— annually at a well-known restaurant m Berlin and play a lengthy game, each oppouent to have only one move every alternate year. I ¥or 28 years the game was .continued, ; but four years ago only one #f tine officers put m an appearance on the day appointed, and, having waited for the rival for some time, Tie called "Stalemate !" and packing up the chessmen, left tlie place, knowing nis comrade was dead. In the same way a game of chess has been m. progress between, the chess club of Malveni, Texas, and tliat of Riclievilk 1 , a small town m. the south of France, for the last ten years, and may be said to have only just begun. Each club is allowed one move, which is flash-, ed by cable between the two continents every alternate year on Christmas Day, and as both clubs are well-matched there is every prospect of the game being left -for the next generation to decide. The most remarkable game on record, however, has bjeen m progress for over I 100 years. In 1793 Count Francis of Bourbon, who was noted for his skill at chess, made a wager with an aristocratic rivul that he would beat Mm at six games running, one to be played on the anniversary of the birthday every year. If he did not live to carry out his boast lias descendants would do it for him, the money to be the reward of the side which accomplished the feat. Although thestruggle has been drawn out to such an unexpected length, there is every prospect of its being shortly terminated; and the prize, which lias vastly increased m value, won, for last year the Count's descendants suffered their fourth consecutive defeat. — Chicago Inter-Ocean.

A new stamp is about to delight the Shilatelists. It is that of the New Hebries,. and as it will only circulate m the archipelago it will be all the. more valuable.. ' • ' Another man who was "born tired" has turned up, this time m the police court.' When" the t clerk of court began to" read over the list of previous convictions against him, he said m a bored voice— "l wish you wouldn't, I've heard it all before."