The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 15, 1903, Page 6

THE SUNDAY CALL E WOMENMOREAGGRESSIVE & MEN2- o spoil x, Ladies, please don't all speak at once! I know that man will wax gnant at the mere sugges- but let us go calmly ! clubs tem- women's women’s ind tion, over ground At this writing the Daughters of American Revolution, the fighting daugh- rs of fighting sires, are holding a coun- Washington, the reports of ached me, but T'll staxe ter outfit that it will little warlike the n in which have not r the price of my t end without the usual trat dies figuring in these individually organiza- have claim birth, education and environment and graces that go hood and why to maintain the wysteries of capricious every ment to the spites bring officers ding 1y her womsz eful thi; the yman’s ¢ of mean candi nasty, sp! nervo tension something dreadful and one would suppose that the sum total of a woman's happiness depended upon the paltry empty honor of presiding over a few other women. After i are all in, in election- eering parlanc the successful can- didate is announced the chances are that the defeated one leaves in a huff and the varfous cliques do not speak as they pass months, if ever after. Every woman belonging to a woman's lub feels personally aggrieved if the amount of considera- imagines due herself, her lineage or her purse. A man cares very little for club honors, in fact be trics to avoid them, fearing that he cannot devote, the time that would best subserve the club’s Interests. It the popular man who reigns over the destinies of a man’ club. It is the ambitious, pushing woman who pilots herself into the club or the 1 world The winter months after society settles into something like Lenten calm the season when the woman’s club bursts into actlvity, and if you note the headlines of the papers at going into th story find that the dove peace its pin feathers when the women get down to business. g are m pre social whose under th Women arc other, ar om rn , and she does not receive that she tion en witi vou will lots proper, ioses of lovely women cial life There mi- wnt in and o whele natures seem te change influence of club affiliations. d are n be kind naturall mor 1 5 A m very w of any wants to rule or to have her chosen friend rule, that she may shipe in the reflected light. Then, too, women are egotists; if they erjoy the faintest scintilla of power they guard it with a morbid jealousy that brooks no questioning or " suggestion, much less advice. The congress of these same Daughters licld in Washington last year was noth- ink more nor less than a series of petty squabbles, that were disgraceful, and many éf thc women returned to their homes complete nervous wrecks. “Blood will tell,” and the fighting blood of which these ladles so proudly boast told on that occasion through a megaphone attach- ment. The a wonen<bi sociation of .women with other s always a .deteriorating-effect. Women scem‘to have the unhely knack of bringing out the worst: tnstead: of the best qu ies of other women, 1 have known husbands to bribe their wives with gifts and promises. of the most extravagant nature provided they would sever all club affiliations.. There may be husbands who approve of wom- en’s clubs, but I confess that I have never met them, and*it cannot be,dented that the fad is somewhat on the wane, women~ themselves having Become disgusted with " the developments that such association untolds. Intercourse between women of a purely social and somewhat formal ¢l ~cter is the only channel tor ~oman’s friendships. The moment it assumes the relative positions of presiding ofticer anu safe mere membership, from that moment there is sure to be friction and rebellion in the camp. A woman cannot stand power, any more than she can stand in- dependence; she becomes too self-asser- tive and aggressive to the verge of in- tolerance, and after having once pre- sided over a body, if she fails of re-elec- tion, she cannot step down and out tq fill a less conspicuous role gracefully. She is hurt and aggrieved that she has not been again chosen, and sums up the time, toil and self-sacrifice to which sife has subjected herself in the work of placing the club on a creditable footing, and feels that her work has not been ap- preciated and her followers have been un- grateful. She chews the cud of wounded pride until she feels that every woman who preferred her opponent has offered heir a personal affront, and in her own mind she makes all sorts of comparlsons, personal, social, educational, and finan- between herself-and her successful rival, and wonders why the® women . of the club could not appreciate the sub- -stantial advantages accruing from. her leadership. She becomes soured and em- bittered through brooding over the fan- cled slight. She hashes and rehashes the story to her husband, who will either be very sympathetic while mentally re- joicing in the hope that the experience has cured her of the' club mania, or he will’ be brutally frank, and say that he is —— glad.if it will only teach her a lesson." , Husbards: with few with delight the row clal hail woman's club exceptions n a that severs a wife's connection, with it. If rows or squabbles of any nature occur in a man’s club, there is an inter- change of fistic compliments; friends in- terfere, the matter is explained, the dis- putants shake hands, and that ends the matter. But In a woman’s club, every other woman must have her say ds to whom she thinks either right or wrong, and the whole aggregation must mix up in a warm and feverish argument until hysterics a la mode, and tears and re- crimination a la pousse cafe are served In order. And the pitiable aftermath ap- proaches a climax when the wife insists upon her husband taking up the cudgels of warfare where she lays them down. She tells him the story in spasmodic sec- .tions and if he says: “My dear, I should pi no more attention to it,” she in- dulges more spasms, and thinks he is taking the other woman’'s part and does not care for her. Meanwhile the poor man knews that it is all a silly woman's row, but what is he to do? A little power spolls a woman, and it a man is swayed by her it will in time militate against him. A woman'’s temper- ament requires more repose than aman'’s; her nervous and vital forces suffer under toew great mental or physical strain, and her disposition and temper will evidence its effect. Clubs are all véry well for isolated old maids, who have neither husband nor children on whom to ventilate their spleen garnered in the petty squabbles of club- dom. Childless widow 1d maid widows ou might call them, may also safely figure, bécause poor Jones or Smith be- ing very dead he snugly against the hysterics and the what this, that or the other woman said or did, but the every day normal woman with a htisband and children is very much better off if she stays at home and minds her own business and keeps her nerves insured against the harrowing incident of club life. One has only to look Into the faces of these club habitues to read the lnes discontent, and many a woman, amiable, loving and companionable, has become, after a few months or years of club a fihation, so deeply imbued with scrtment of frea be totally out of place in the home at mosphere. No clique of women can be peaceably assimilated for any length of time. The woman presiding over such a body soon loses much of her graceful womanl charm and becomes in time a pronounced egotist, who wants to rule every potically. This self-assertiveness and love of power becomes the bane that polsor not only her own life, buf the lives of those around her Club life and home life for a woman n _never become reconciled. Club difies and hardens a woman. It ma broaden her views, as many assert how? If she is wealthy, by making offersive; if she is poor, by rendering 1 jissatisfied, and the club woman honest must acknowl that per has not been improved by affiliations. is harbored an fads and fancles as to one de who 1 her tem- her club Dors 1rnr AuUusTRALIANWHITE AN T ENANCE CALIFORNIA to me al examin- abt that the are really nk California has a her fair share of domestic ar pests to learn that this climate favorable to their deve t remains, however, er of them are here creatures ibtable wo that a and ex- vely at that presence of one of their nests'in the ege town was discovered by Mr. Wil- naval ofiicer, Mr. of th, a retired Dwight way lots in another par Smith wn WHAT Brcomre st BLARE of trumpets d a babel of cheers d a waving of bar ners surrounds sllege athlete—whil.: is the coilege ath lete. And afterward? That the great lifficulty. Perhaps n is in greater Ganger of not having an afterward. All for the reason that man stands In greater ger of wrecked health. You can't believe this when you look at him, buge and brawny and lithe aud weather-beaten and tingling with the oodness of being alive. He is buiit cither like a bit chipped off the side of Gibraltar or like a flexible and unbreakable young willow He looks to face anything that comes along of life. You would say that is absolutely invulnerable. he is the easiest the man in college no large ready in the wa his physic As a matter of fact, ! ute t and Blind. these rge eucalyptus trees have rs. This winter he decided it and use them as firewood. He had trees brought to his home on Dwight °d in the back yard. He s white ants Dumb On the yon trees. Ir Mr Jar his career as an engineering officer Smith has spent many years in China, n and other Oriental countries where he at once the white ants abound struck by ants in his eucalyptus wood and those he had abroad. ‘He fully ga d up a handful of them, put them in a glass r, with a bit which they were feasting when discovered and was the resemblance between seen care of wood on i car- 1 them over: to a neighbor who brought my ‘“4éboratery. The were easlly identified as A ants. 1 not serious menace to theiy hem to specimens tralian white do consider their 1 as the climate ingrea This esence a is not fa- vorable is proved vietim 1 the with disease can find is And the thletes »ut unless he at trouble is that they on out rican not on the 1 iis s Ou all becau young s.they go im to of the Americans into ‘eve It that appeals to them Too m “strenuous ) into ath- vihing else, Is often the not the love of our best foot- 12 at all about foot- the outdoor They are looking team exactly why they drop ath- the moment they have folded their in their pockets. They made the team, they have m ed what they set out for, their ath life is completed. The same cager- anxiety ambition that ciused them up muscles that look like a ship's framework, now cause them to take up a business or profession excel of the sport vall vali men care noth for its exhilaration and that “make the ow this is letics cxercise it gives only to epsking away have Wl Tetic ness, restiess to buiid Ly the fact that it has been known for a long time that they exist here, although.T have never found a nest of them before. But I have often seen them in the fiying form. Tt was a very long time ago that I discovered the first—so long ago that they would pave had plenty of time td-repro- in great numbers and do a’great amage if they had beén en- ged by the conditions he trees in which I found these ants at least thirty years old,” said Mr. Smith in discussing the matter. “Btill, a fact that struck me forcibly as soonm as'I recognized the ants was that they were in the ltving as well as the dead wood. They were eating out into the green, outer T gathered up as many as 1 could but, as is their habit, came into the light, they urrowed away from it into the cracks of he rotten woqd, and the only way I could destroy these was by pouring coal oil into the cracks. There are plenty left for the purpose of study, however, as I have not unt of were wood and burned them: as they and work at Whe tri ness, it in that “strenuous’” way. man leaves his alma mater and for a goal in the world the steadi- determination and that him so well in athletics are called help him on in the new work. They are all good qualities, to be sure. He goes to work carly; he stays late. He sees only one thing before him—his work. He must succeed. He concentrates every energy upon that. It is very likely work in an office. He shuts himself up within four walls, neglects exercise, careless about his diet. courage stood upon He can’'t stand the strain. He goes to The college “dig” wh Iways was accustomed to four walls 1 bad diet and lack of exercise can stand it far Letter. He is trained to it. He has never built up a great amount of tissue which going to waste if uncared for. The grind of constant desk work is nothing new to him. To this sort of life he hardened, while the athlete is a mere pleces. is is PiNo PoNG Papr Copyright, 182, by D, __ LTHOUGH of late we have heard very little of ping-pong. it must not be sup- posed that the game is dead; naturally, during the summer months, its place has been largely taken by cricket, lawn tennis and other outdoor sports—at the same time we could speak of numerous spots where ping-pong has been the means of passing enjoyably many an otherwise weary hour during wet summer days. Ve have seen many a game played on the awninged upper decks of up-river house- boats, and no doubt a large number of seaside boarding-houses and hotels could testify to its usefulnfss in engaging the attentions of otherwise discontented visit- ors. Tt is now quite an exception to en- ter a hotel or boarding-house that has not got its ping-pong room and table, and visits to Continental cities disclose the fact that the game has considerably ught on” on the Continent. We our- selves saw a full-sized match ping-pong table in the Kurhaus at Hombury in Stockholm the game is much played by the Swedish aristocracy and good so- ciety; and in Paris and other parts of the Continent ;some most successful tourna- ments have been heid. A short account of the wonderful way T. Pierce in which ping-pong and table tennis have caught on to the public taste may not be out of place here. The game appears to have originated in about 18%, but with book covers in place of racquets, and a cork ball in place of the celluloid article now in use; the writer has had the pleas- ure of talking with one of the gentlemen who played the game under these condl- tions. Improvements were bf course very soon made, but the great dificulty was to get a ball light enough (rubber balls were most used), and, with wooden racquets, a sort of progenitor of the present game was installed. R. 8. Jones, an old Cam- bridge blue, and captain of St. John's Ccllege, Cambridge, and Leslie Jones were among the'first to play the game at all seriously, but it became quite lost sight of until 1900. Then the Nondescript cricket team on tour experienced a con- tinuously wet season, and in order to pass the time one of the team introduced some battledores, a net was rigged up across the table, a ball of some light de- scription obtained and the game found such favor among the players as an in- door pastime that on returning to town a club was formed to play it. This was the nucleus of the Cavendish Table Ten- nis Club, which may be looked upon as the forerunner of the table tennis clubs now so popular all over the country. Their headquarters were at Armfield’s Hotel, in Finsbury. Following their in- corporation several other good clubs were ‘astituted and club matches arranged. The more the game was played, so did it increase in popularity by leaps and bounds. The next important incident was a public tournament held at Chiswick, which attracted a large number of play- ers and still more spectators, anxious to see what the new game was. Following this the first really well-known tourna- ment took place In the galleries of the Royal Aquarlum, and the excitement it created and the enormous crowds who visited it are facts.too well known now to need recapitulation. Ping pong in England is now far more cosmopolitan than it was some months ago, but such a result is to be advocated, not deplored. After a record season of popularity such as the game has enjoyed a calm must be expécted, but there are not wanting signs to show that it will be played more than ever in the forthcoming winter. Ping pong ‘will be more popular than ever for one reason, because a rec- ognized set of rules has now been formu- lated by the Table Tennis and Ping Pong Assoclations, these associations being composed to a great extent of some of the best players, and those who have been conversant with the game from its con- ception. We have heard some people say that so soon as hard and fast rules are made for such a game as ping pong then its attractiveness and fun for the family circle at once diminishes and consequent- ly its days are numbered—but such a line of reasoning is mot justified. A game, to split all the wood, and I suppose some of the unbroken pieces have the insects in- > of them. There {s little danger of their getting out of this wood, because, as I said, they dislike ‘the light, and had I not sent the ax-ibto the heart of the nest, would have retreated before I reached them.” They arc most destructive creatures, In ‘the' Oriental countries, flourish. if they get into a buliding they literally honey-comb it, eating always from. the inside, until there will be left of 'a_joist or girder nothing but a shell, that «callapses at a touch. So great is their d ke of the light that if they have to, fravelgfrom one piece of wood to an- pther vet some other surface they build ‘4 ‘outside tunnel or covered way, push- ing #t ahead of them as they go, and thus pass to the desired point” without coming at all into the open; They build fast and have usually, passéon by the time their bit of englneering work 13 discovered. Those who are acquainted with the hab- where they novice. A considerable per cent of the ex-col- lege athletes are in professions and are leading sedentary lives. It is compara- tively rare for them to get their lungs full of fresh alr during the day's work. They neglect such a little thing as exer- cise. What is the result? The muscles of the football and the sprinter and the hammer-thrower and all the rest of the heroes of athletics be- came hypertrophied, that is, increased to a large extent while they were keeping up their sports. Now if the man retires to a life without exercise those muscles are allowed to atrophy, which is bad enough. . Still worse, if he dissivates tion sets in. There you have atrophy, plus degeneration. This causes a far worse physical condition than if there had never been any hypertrophied muscles to be wasting in the body. Under these S BY ™M become popular and remain so, must offer unlimited scope for the exercise of skill so that the tyro, by assiduously practic- ing, may continually better himself, and thus hope to arrive eventually at cham- pionship form. Now it must be admitted that ping pong is a seductive game which grows on one the more it is played, and in which undoubtedly practice begets skill; although productive of a tremendou amount of fun and vigor in the drawing- room after dinner when not played too seriously, no sooner does the player begin to appreciate the possibilities of the game that it becomes his ambition to improve. The establishment of a set of rules to be universally observed both in tourna- ment and practice play is an’ important factor in the increased devotion of the players' time and energy to the game. Ping pong in its readvent under these favorable circumstances will present at- tractions not possessed by any other in- door game, billiards not excepted. In the first place the implements are now to be obtained anywhere In England, and at prices to suit every purchaser; tables, bats, balls and nets are mow made in regulation sizes and great improvements have been effected In the manufacture of all the articles; also installing and play- ing the game is effected with little altera- tion of existing arrangements, and no spe- cial room is required as 4t billiards. The game is played as well by gas or lamp- light, and to crown all it is a game in which ladies can meet gentlemen o2p- man degemera- B> PROF. C.W.WOODWORTH ™MTS UNIVERSITY> OF.CALIFTORNIA its of the pest say that when developed in numbers they are so destructive that in many parts of India and Egynt rallway ties laid in infected, districts have to be of metal, as otherwise the ants would eat them. They honeycomb the founda- tion of houses, eat away floors and door and window casings and perform feats of destruction simply amazing in com- parison with their si The ants sent to me by Mr. Smith are of a yellowish white color and of varying lengths, from an eighth to over half an inch. Most of them look like fat white grubs; but two of the largest are armed with formidable pincers, not unlike those of a crab, as long ,as the body itself. These are two of the “soldiers” or “over- seers,”” whose duty it is to drive the other ants to work; they were probably in the performance of their duty when captured by Mr. Smith. All the ants seem annoyed by the light that streams in through their glass prison and hurry nervously up and down the piece of rot- CoOLLFGENTHLET conditions disease has a far better field to work in. There is only one way out of the dif- ficulty. The athlete must keep up his regular exercise. He has set up a stand- ard for his body; that body must live up to it This may not appear an easy matter for the busy young doctor or lawyer, who gives the best part of his day to the courtroom or the hospital or the office. Tt is not easy. Good exercise takes a great deal of time. But the thing must be done. Of course, it will not be possible to go into training and consecrate one's best efforts to any game as was done at col- lege. Nor Is this necessgry. Probably, for the good of the game, it is best that a busy man should not be allowed to play football, for he cannot give enough time to it to keep it up to the mark. But there are any number of forms of exer- cise that such a man can gef even in - J.RITCHIE TS o ponents on edual terms, for strength of arm and body are of small account in ping pong. We are not all of us great athletes, sighing for cricket, tennis and football flelds to conquer, and ping pong seems to give us just the right amount of exercise to be beneficlal—that is to say when the game is not played too ener- getically. For those who want something severe let them play the best of thfee sets at ping pong against a really good player and they will get probably all the severity they want. One frequently sees at ping pong tournaments the competitors in flannels, and even then sweating from every pore, and after a long and severe match there is no doubt the game be- comes somewhat of a strain on wrist and eye. It is a fact that shortly after the ping pong craze took its hold on the pub- lic the players got into a rut of safety play, most of the best exponents making safety their alm without any brilliancy in strokes. This was made a great point of by detractors, who %Wverred that such monotony in the y would Kill it—it was in fact not uncomthon for “‘stonewallers’” to have rallies of several hundred con- secutive strokes. Ping pong enthusiasts may congratulate themselves that the style of play has now altogether altered. At the conclusion of last season the best players were putting on an amount of spin and varying their strokes to an extent that would have been considered almost impossible earlier in the history of the game; probably the introducation of corrugated rubber bats has had a good deal to do with this, but there is little doubt that thg brilliancy of the strokes as now played by the cracks ten wood, seeking a place of hiding plece of wood is eaten into numerous ridors and in which m the ants have taken refuge, while less fortunate, seek their fortre: As T have said, it does not seem able that they will ever develop here enough numbers to become a pest have already had a chance to tr climate and see whether it was to their liking. But if they should grow ous then there would be trouble for Californians. There is very little to do except to re- build what the ants have destroyed. They work so rapidly that a wooden structure will be crumbling almost before one thought of providing against its destruc tion. Strips of metsl can be placed in such a way in building a house that they will shut off the ants’ access. Or pos- sibly they could be killed with carbon bi- sulphide. This has recently been used for the slaying of other ants. I do not think, though, any danger. runways, otk to oust them that there is J.B. _FRANKEN = HEIMER MD the city. A game of handball a wonderful “pracer.” A walk is good. Riding and swimming are within reach of us. And the cccasional days that can be spent in the country can be turned to good adva tage. Climbing, hunting, fishing, all ‘the out-of-door amusements that appeal sturdy manhood are possible now then. We are Americans and glad of it, but we must not be afraid to learn from others. The Englishman knows the trick of keeping up his health in this way far better than we do. Look at the middle aged Britisher who is a devotee of golf— there are many of him. He takes life 2 goes into sports during uni- y days f6r pure love of the sports themselves and he never forgets to love them while he lives The American athlete has accomplished wonders. But he must learn to hold what he gains. to and his (% ¢ » s £EERRRRNS adds very much to the interest of the game from the onlooker's point of view and as the game progresses it is probable that further innovations will take place We shall hope to see volleying introduced very shortly and there are other varia- tions on the tapis. We have seen one ping pong table fitted with a sort of arti- ficial bunker, this being Invented with the idea of stopping the interminable ral- lies: should the ball bounce on the bunker it would generally count to the maker of the stroke, the ball usually bouncing off right at a tangent: to get the ball J bunker, however, would, of course cessitate a good shot. Another idea i that of fixing up a sort of wall round op- posite sides of the table, and making it into a kind of miniature real tennis court It is probable that these suggestions will not be acted on to any great extent. but they serve to show that the game is quite capable of developments in other ways besides strokes. A considerable amount of amusement may be caused by experimenting in different directions when the orthodox game becomes a little tiresome. In conclusion, there will many public ping pong tournaments this forth- coming season that all classes in all parts will have an opportunity of competing for prizes. The experience gained by the original promoters of ping pong tourna- ments has been handed down, and com- petitors cah generally be certain that everything conducive to good play and sportsmanship will be catered for. There is probably nothing that helps the gume along and makes it more popular th: well conducted tournament, so we be glad to see plenty of them all England. be so an a shall over