The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 28, 1903, Page 10

THE SUNDAY CALL, HE lacrosse beom is on. San Fran- cisco is at last talking about the game that Eastern athletes have caught, who in thelr turn were a tacked by the contagion from Can- For lacrosse is & Canadian game, e most entirely American game in all a, for it originated with the In- ans themselves, and for many a long r it remained all their own. When sropeans came to their continent they edopted their game along with other k and, after many years of slow growth, it has et last come to the day of its fashion. San Francisco has waked up and s be- i ug to take notice. We hear mur- s of & lacrosse league, we see plo- neers of the sport carrying their long, gut-string snowshoe-looking sticks to- ward the open fields in our outskirts. The fever is on. he lacrosse hero omises to be & new the golf and the football hero. The last hever be supplanted—any girl ny football man will confidently chuckie it. But he may have & hot rival who wil him upon man has in some points of the bushy-haired hero t they are few and there seem to near by. The men will tell ou can't play it; that you ercollegiate football. You have come try them basket- the pride of breaks bruises and blood, you have torn other's hair and thumped each oth- e seems no ason not offer the same 3 1 ed to remain whole, n't you modify the game? No need in the murderous fashion of You can go into it as & nd sport and Hockey is popular among some of the y girls and has now been intn into San Diego. It is a fine, rol king game, very nearly hoydenish at t brings out magnificent phy- nt, but hockey unfortu- no besuty. It is said to nds and feet in a way r loveliness e game of curves, 5 ¢ t is fatal to th But lacrosse is t It all kinds of arcs of all kinds The long stick is swung through the air in Delsartian rhythm, end although it sometimes descends on somebody’s head in & way not Delsartian, nine form e some grumbling among t u girls take up the sport. You must be prepared for that. They will very likely do something louder than grur are inclined to feel that lacrosse is ir own te property, nt any proposition of girls ir fingers in the ple. But what o have been brave enough to do in Canada more girls are likely to do in the United States. And if some are to set the fashion, hy should not those be our own Cali- fornia giris? Where can more indepen- dent, spirited, healthy, athletic, breezy, out-doorsy and original ones be found than in this Western State of ours? It is worth th Itisas uous game that even in its mfldest form would probably go basket- ball one better. The costume must be prepared with reference to this fact. But it need not be 1 for all that. A short ekirt would be required for run- ning—it ought to be shorter than a golf ekirt. The jersey can be as charming as you choose. You will have to play bare- headed or in & close fitting cap and you must be ready to be tousled. Here is chance of her life for the curly- haired girl to look bewitching. Canvas ar to tennis shoes are brought ame. the crosse itself! What fas- & poses it calls forth as it swings ps cinat d swoops through the air, seeming to ms high above your head as pulling of them. It describes it flashes. It is far prettier ne than a tennis racket and it ven more gra js not a muscle of the body that sleeping while lacrosse is being t keeps every one of them work- eck muscles, the trunk, the he legs—all of them have to re- to the variety of the game. s the Indians originally played it it certainly was very much hike a battle. T would meet to hold contests and was the importance of winning. tfit was primitive—so was their laying. The simply-made stick you was strung with roots or with deer- skin. All this was before the day of sporting goods stores, ‘wholesale end . retail, served by great factories. Nowadays the stick is & larger well 25 & better made affalr, which costs $3650. And the men that play—they are different, too. They play several degrees less with thelr bodies, but many more with their brains. Not only the sticks, but all the Test of the outfit was primitive. The ball was made of stuffed deerskin he goals were such simple and conven- fent things as na ture provided — a tree or & .shrub or a boulder. So for elaborateness of out- fit the modern game would mystify an eboriginal Indian, but for physical dis- we can never him His game was like & lendid bat in which hundreds of men engaged. Sometimes as many as 50 men would play on a side, all working to drive ward the goal of the other side. ere were fewer rules than in the mod- game; the difference was very much e same as between old-time and modern prize fighting. Strength has given way to skill. Not but that strength is needed now to back up the skill. It takes hard trained muscies to put up a good game of la- crosse. A man must have his muscles in good condition to go Into the game in the first place, and y will be much better before he has played A . A team, since the days of the hundreds of painted and feathered warriors, has come to be made up of twelve men. These twelve occupy positions carefully marked out between the two goals, which, in a neral way, resemble the goals of a foot- Il field. A game is played with captain, goal, point, cover point, first and second defense, center, first and second home, outside_and inside home and each side; besides these are referee and umpires, field captains and timekeepers. A game could hardly be conceived that would call for greater quickness of ac- tion. The player of to-day alms to keep the ball moving as fast as possible. It is passed with a lightning swiftness that makes it impossible at {imes for the spec- tators to follow. Long throws are out of fashion and it is popular to make short and frequent ones. A pecuilarity of the game in Canada, where it is played with authority, is that both hands are used by g *home,” and no one is considered a good player unless he can work with them interchangeably. This art has never been perfected by players in the United States and Eng- land. As he is near the goal it is up to him to catch the ball and throw it on its final flying trip that lands it in the baggy net between the goal posts. The object of the game is to fet the ball between those posts; formerly it was enough to let it pass, but the up-to-date goals have a net arranged to keep the ball from going on one of its long filghts that made its re- covery unfcertain, for a skilled player learns to throw with terrific force. The form of the stick aids him in this. As he reises it for the throw the ball slides down to the little pocket-shaped point near the handle, and upon giving the powerful swish of the throw the ball trav. els along the stringing of the crosse, gain- ing great momentum. The ball must be handled entirely with the stick. It is picked up from the ground with the stick. ¥f{ the player fx standing he can raise it by the Iittle back- ward and, forward motion known to tennis players; If running he cannot stop for that and must scoop it with one short motion as he runs. The hands may never touch a ball in play. Enthusiasts say that it is a kame full of tricks and finesse, and has this fascina- tion 4n addition to the crude physical cherm that goes with it. When a player has the ball on his crosse it is his object to throw it in the direction of the goal, and it is the object of his opponents to spoll that throw. It is a fair sight tq see a lithe runner polsing the ball on® his level stick, which he carries as high as possible, while men make vain strokes to knock his crosse and send the ball at ran- dom. Checking is the act of stopping a throw of the ball, and it is done in an in- finite number of ways—-hitting the crosse while the ball lies on it is the famillar one. The technique of the game is not diM- cult,” but to play it! That is another thing. However, why should we be be- hind the Ojibways? Some time California may send a team out to meet one of the crack Canadian twelves, and—then! “Doses Ry Mss FL1ZARETH JTERRY LACROSSE SET *rem H-E SKINNER & C° THE GRACIOUS WOMAN — By Colonel Kate. T would seem the race were growing obsolete, but there are times when we do meet such a one and the ex- perience is most refreshing. In these busy days of women filled with fads and fancies for the betterment of this and the suppression of that and the general officlousness that impels them to thrust a finger in every hashed up ple, social, civic, political, economic, educational or otherwise, whereby to reg- ulate everything and everybody, there is Lo time left for real old-fashioned polite- ness and that gentleness toward Inferiors that crowns a woman queen of-her wee small, world. The wealthy woman of the day consid- ers it an Infra dig to speak politely' or to hold any trifling converse with one of her servants, and to this deplorable lack of anything like regard or affection between servants and empioyes is directly traceable the many breaches of confidence that lead to thefts and crimes needing the whip of the law to punish. The superb dignity of the butler of the day, his wooden calm and prevalling frappe alr is enough to freeze the appe- tife of a Mississippl River stevedore, and even the invigorating 'tizer loses some- thing of its divine effulgence when taken under the glare of that cold stare. ‘The society matron waives him off with an air of supreme scorn and the factotum who would so far forget himseif' as to smile or betray a séintilla of ordinary in- telligence would be in danger of losing his Job. There is a stone wall hedged in by a mighty barritade of ice floes between the woman of the day and her servants that robs the one of confidence and the other of affection. In the good old days when the famlly servants loved the very ground ‘“mah people dat riz me” trod on, as well as every inch of the old homesteads, a hap- rier state existed, while there is no deny- mg that such love and affection as char- aglerized old-fashioned servants can never be purchased in fealty and devo- tion by all the hoarded wealth of multi- mlillionaires. The Southern woman cherishes these old traditions and is more graclous to her servants and receives from them a great- er devotion in return. The Northern woman is a colder propo- sition in the main at @il times. She is more selfish and puts greater value on Ler pride and the prerogatives of wealth than does her Southern sister, whose temperament is more fervid. 1f you go into the respective homes of the Northern and Southern women the very atmosphere breathes of a different clime. The frigldity of the one, where all is ceremonial and ceremonjous observ- ance, is offset by the cordiality of the oth- er, where with less formality intercourse is more natural. the South is proud of the fealty of old family servants, whom she would never think of slighting or wounding even by a look, much less a word of unkindliness or what might be construed as such. The well-bred woman of . The Northern woman regards her ser- vants as mere tools of a condition, having no part In her regard save as odd plsces of furniture necessary to the elaboration of her household and of how to spend money that the deepest impression may be made on the minds of her confreres. ‘When giving orders the Southern wome- an rarely omits the well-bred ‘‘please,” asking a service, rather as if soliciting a favor than issuing a command. ““Will you kindly do this for me?"” does not necessarily lessen a woman's digmty, and may be applied to her children as well ag to her servants, and I have a fancy that children reared in a polite at- mosphere instead of being gorged with a sense of their own importance are the happler for it, and will obey not only with more alacrity, but with better grace. ‘Women who preside over large con- claves of women soon lose a certain in- tangible charm and become victims of their own ov: when the graciousness of manner is lost through the assumption of power. Neither too much independence mor too much authority ever sets well on a wom- an. ~She becomes too much absorbed by it, too enthusiastic, and this enthusiasm leads her to forget the gentleness that is to a woman what courage is to a man. A man cannot love a woman who is a chronic martinet any more than a woman could caré for an unmitigated coward. It is the tenderness of a woman that ap- peals to a man, just as his courage ap- peals'to a woman. If women fettered by the arrogance of wealth could often see themselves as oth- ers see them there might be less pride of plutocracy. An apt {llustration might be made in the manner of the woman who is polite wi her servants and the one who looks upon them as wooden ornaments, to be reward- od only by a wooden stare. ‘When leaving her home for & few hours, whether it be for a shopping bout o more formal quest, the woman smiles and waves her hand pleasa. reaching the outer door to an old family servitor creates a pleasing impression on the minds of all who may chance to see her, while, on the contrary, oman who gives her orders as one w ead & death sentence, looking meanwhils at the guardian of her demesne as if he wers a something too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope, an o leaves her home with a visage o e vin- egar vintage, cannot hope that love will follow her steps. The one leaves her ser- vant with his mind fillled w happy thoughts of her, while the minion of the other is apt to sigh and turn wearily to his routine unsatisfied and longing tor even-the faintest show of apprecia: The one welcomes every chance to form & service that will bring him his mistress’ presence; such a necessity. It is an easy matter to cultivate a the other dreads through the coming and going of o whole existence, and s a charm! rogative of womanhood that should ex- tend to all alike. It is impossible for the woman who is genuinely polite and well- Lred to be discriminating. If these quall- ties be inborn it is just as natural her to be courteous and gracious to the lowest servant in her household as it is when in the soclety of the greatest mag- nate In the land. The self-assertive woman is too egotis- tical to consider either the feelings or t comfort of others, and the consequence she is always offending or wounding even when not intending to. It is one’s habits, whether cultivated or inborn, that tell their own story in both men and women, from the fact that it Is pretty difficult te don company manners as one would the glad rags of state occasions. One’s man- ners ars necessarily fixtures, otherwise they will wear off just at the time when we want to impress favorably, but when ure as fate a wretched stumble upsets the best lald plans. The Northern woman adopts the method of keeping her emotions on los, and of course they ars frozen pretty stiffly before she is aware of the transformation. The Southern woman laughs as naturally as the sunbeams dance and her cordiality of manner partakes of the warmth of the sunny clime. The idea that is fast gaining greund that good form demands & pose so placid and stolid and unemotional as to make it almost & crime against social ethics teo laugh betray either feeling or intsrest is prome to have a deleterious effsct not only on the disposition, but also on the physical being. The is kept active by the play of emotions and the heart is Tefreshed by em A graclous “thank yeu" fox & servicw tor Tendered, or to preface a request by “will you kindly do so and so?" leldo!: falls of its purpose, and makes a servant less an automaton and decidedly more human.