TAK' THE GREEN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13733, 24 October 1908, Page 3

TAK' THE GREEN.

illy \V. .J. Gatenby in the "New Zealand '-"•" ' (Auckland) News.")

Of all the gamts invented for the competitive recreation of mankind, there is probably none that provides more infinite variety and exercises greater fascination over ihe mind than the apparently simple and senile game of bowls. Yet bowls is a game that engrosses the minds of men who have played, and played well, the games of childhood, of youth, and of early manhood. On a bowling grevn one meets men of all nationalities, of all trades and professions, of . nil. creeds ; youth hobnob* with age,

arid is the better and the steadier for the association; jnaturity and Tefineinent. without condescension, welcomes inexperience and comparative baibarity; differences and inequalities are forgotten, for all ate absorbed in the one idea, that- life exists only for the purpose of playing the glorious old game. The Religion of Humanity, so well enunciated by Dr. Giles in these columns, is the only creed of your bowler.-and right- well he "acts up to it." Whether you are Pagan, Jew, or Ohristlian, if you can play the game, there k a set of bowk as well as" a pair of shoes awaiting you in every pavilion in the Dominion and beyond. A ""bowler's welcome" is no mere fashion of speech, but has become the recognised standard of bonhommie, good fellowship, anil freemasonry among m«n. Should a man, unhappy in his marital relation*; or from any other cause, be thinking of suicide, or should he have a weak heait, or a sluggish liver, or be dreading the approach of old age. let him join the bowling club in his district, and his troubles will vanish, and he will take a new lease of a new life, in which he will never become old. For there are no old men on a bowling green ; there are many weighted down with yeafs. and perhaps not "too sure on their pins,"' but they are veritable schoolboys when they are "toiling up." The man who goes on to a green for other motives than to play is not given a .hearing; for while the »un shines, and often long after, with the aid of sundry friendly matches, the. game proceeds on the- mathematically levelled sward, the minds of all being fully occupied with the one idea of getting "on the jack." In the summer time, when the days are long, men's minds are fertile in producing •-xcuKri to leave their offices before tlie close of the businss day, so that they may have a "roll up," or perhaps play one of their garms in the many competitions arranged by their club. "The evening dinner hour passes unheeded and unthought- of, and the eager and delighted gam.stem give up rolling only -when reluctantly compelled by absolute darkmsw. The belated bowler wends his way homewards, unlike the nocturnal clubman, uuafdieted with doubts as to his reception by his bett-r half, who. though unable to understand "what those men can see in such a game," knows full well that her good man w the younger, the lustier, the more goodnatnred, the more content with his lot, jnst because of that couple of hours rolling up after the turmoil of a day in the city. Also, with pardonable pride, she will display on her sideboard the silver trophies, suitably inscribed, that her lord and master has brought home as the spoils of the tournament, the rewards of his prowess on the green. The popularity of the game in Auckland is strikingly t>hown by the fact that, though it is essentially a summer pastime, there are many enthusiastic bowlers—experienced and cunning players thi.se—who. providing against the damp with goloshtw over their boots, may be seen revelling in their beloved sport on the winter green ol the Carlton (.Tub. lVihaps no other outdoor game, not even excepting tenuis or golf, can claim such devotion trom its worshippers throughout the four seasons.

To a non-bowler the game simple and childinh in ihe extreme; there is a little while ball, the jack or kitty, near which it « the object of the pla'wm to make their bowls roll. That is all, "to get on the jack. - ' The bowk, however, are expressly so made that they will notmn in a. .straight line, and the greater the eccentricity ot .{lie bowl from a sphere, the greater the curve it will du>cribe! Were the jack place.) always at the same distance from the bowler it "would not Ik- a wry difficult matter to master the game, but as the "head - ' constantly changes in length at, the will of the leading player, bo the game increases in diflicullv and in variety of shots. The peculiarly" graceful curv.ii described by the bowl's, which, biubsed a» they are, eeeme to pontes* an instinct or will of their own. are thus ever li rigtheixd or hhortened, or at times made, to approximate to a straight line, and herein lies the charm of the game. 'J he player has always before him a speculative I calculation; delivering each bowl as if essaying bomething new, he follows its couiue, sometimes with intense delight, bometimes with ill-concealed disgust, but always with the interest of a father in his child, and, running half-way down the green after it. his body riw'ayis this way or that, as in billiard*, in a futile «iideavonr to attract the itvolving wood into the path which he had planned for it. The mode of delivery ic<pjir<r. great caiv to prevent the bowl Jrom wobbling in an utweeinly manner, most, detestable to a bowler, and likely to bring upon him the unveiled contempt, not only of his opponents, but also of hk> disgUMcd fckip, under whose direction he in playing, and whf*e approbation he is ever striving to w»n. .A windy day on the green ii the cause of great iierplcxity and .-peculation to the bowlers, for all their [>rt. theories a* to "gte'ii" and '"bias' are upset. Mr Rankin tells a good story o! the liil'licultia, of an Auckland team on the MountVictoria green in Wellington. The wind was w> strong that unlesv. tlie playen, stood on the mat it w:w> carried high aiiove th-ir heads; the bowl* pulled up short in the middle of th-ir career, and then, caught by another gust, they continued th.-ir course, peihaps ending up near the jack or as likely a.; not in the ditch. The player* were utterly at oea, and one wag j among them. Ik-fore delivering, took the precaution to call out to h*> j.kip. 'How's i th- wind at your end 7" i There are ..kips and skips; the most ] l>opular srein to be rhu*: who. not only I j«)SMiv<.ing an intimate knowledge of th.j j game and the ability to play the i4i<>: ie- i <|Uir-d. are also able to inspire their team* j with coulidence by woidr. ot entourage iiteiit and approbation. These ate ail- j <ire«t».'ti generally, not to the bowler-, but I to tin* bowl*. and ale accompanied by I much waving of hand,, ami other gesiieti- j lation. In the same breath one «.ll civ. "( ouie on. you beauty '. I like you, I j love you.' O.h. you'i-- away to'hiel:" i iTh*. la.-t when the'hou] fails "to fulfil the j gr-at piomj— of its early career, l ' "Tak' the gicn, lnon ;'' is a piece of : a'h'iif so of;, n b'-ard that one won.|.-n. j whether Caledonians have a mouo|Mii\ nv.-r ! th- r.t.jx.nsili]e and decidedly in:-r-Ming ' pu-i:ion of skip in a full nnk gam-. Ci j lain it is that Smii hnieii. ln-s-id.-s knowing ! how "to keep the Siwb.ith and a' things j e'r-- they lay their h»nd"« on." are a\,o ; particular to kerp Saturday afternoon-, a: l-.K-t .(or the gam- of bow!-. That the ! iannv Scot prefi rs l»,u!< r., ali other i gam-ii i- again another proof of its pre iininelii''- :n :he realm of h-.ihiiv i.j-ui: