The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 25, 1906, Page 10

arrangement from the ditch he bett i bowls our own beautiful Stars and $trip playe: Lus @ set of four bowls of fite hardwood turned, as ex- quisitely polighed as surface of a boudoir table, and with e silver or vory disk set in b he name or inittals of the own inscription f they are prize bowls. The bowls are appare: t not. They as to exce not to g Gut of the true gphere in each cas only sharp eyes can discover the differ- This departure from the sphere is for the purpose of giving them a “blas,” £0 that they will roll with a curve when thrown, for there is method in the fdlo- syncrasy of form, @ sort of characteristic Scotch canniness In construction, In addition to the bowls there is a ack ball,” that looxs like a china mest egg lying on the green. It is the aim each player to send his bowls as near jack ball as possible. is, indeed, is the game. jack bull is thrown upen the rink, must be, according to the “laws,” at least two yards from the ditch. Then the two on each side, try to send bowls as near the jack ball as pos- This 15 where the canniness of ha¥ a bias to your bowls comes in. otch folk have a way of saying, when telling a bit of news that is not the exact tale, “Weel, if 1 didna knock it down I staggered 1t.” And in the same way they play their ancient geme so that if the bowl cannot be sent direct to the jack t can curve its way around to it. Ju see, there nere elther und hedge he Nttie flutte; re used in zr the *rinks ne ers, eved American c American quest: side a chapter is a prefty g and meas ame of bowling on tk So, is somewhat of Scotch buman pature in thelr game. But the blas & bowl may have is not a matter of choice entirely with the player. The Ecottish Bowling Assoclation takes date much to it is its the CA R SUNKY SATVRIRY AFTERNOON ~ THE LINE-UP OF JOST ONEJIDE ™ 7 ° Ned ¥ L L e, o0 QR COUBT 7AHING A THROW « PEELIDENT TICHNEE WAITING ZAM TURN < = PN XL L AL LEIA el bl £ L AL FUDEE ' H AV OF THES VREBIOR. DECIOIN G S ANOTTY FOINT <~ 778, T IVING AND S EIPY: STHCIONALD JMEASYEING PIES SRS DUNCEN; FOREM N AND SCLERVISER DEASLY UITPIEIN care to regulate that so that no player may take an undue advantage of another. There may be a little leeway in the blas, but beyvond that Jeeway there must be no more and no less, and if a player Is caught infringing this “law” in a tourna- ment he must conform to the standard or forfeit the game, Therc’s a deal of skill and fincky’care and many fine points involved in bowling- on the green. First of all the green itself is looked to with jealpus eye, and woe to the player who plows 1t up with his heels or toes or dents it or tears it with his bowls, Just what shali happen to him is not set down in the laws, but it is no doubt some dire punishment fitting to the crime. First of all, at all times and seasons, the player must stand on a Tubber mat when making his throws, in order to pro- tect the precious green from his vigor. The “laws" provide that he “shall stand with at least one foot on the mat,” and the mat serves as well—or perhaps pri- merily, to mark the place to play from. Secondly, if it is at all “soft” a strip of canvas must be stretched upon the rink at least so far as where the bowl strikes the turf when it leaves the play- er's hand. And thirdly, if any visitor to the green be s0 absent-minded as to punctuate it with her French heels, she forthwith suf- fers ostraclsm, a mental ostracism -at least by the members of the 8. F. 8. B. C. —and justly! Bowiing on the green is not a game of large allowances and loose ends. Precision is punctiliously insisted upon and whether one player's bowl is a half inch nearer or farther from the jack ball than ap- other's is no mere trifle to be left to guesswork. It means careful, exact meas- uring and the giving of the point to whom the point is due, and one of the most fre- quent features of the game that most in- terests the spectators who hang on the fence is this declaing of knotty pdints with the tape measure. v oo Another thing punctiliously observed and considered is the form of each player. There are about 100 members in the club who play on the park green, and the measure of every one has been taken— not as a matter of club gossip In a gen- eral way, but with a closeness expressed in figures. That is, each playet’s “handi- cap” as compared with any other player 18 accurately known, and his game is kept within it. or example, J. C. Moffat holds the club championship and in the handicap singles of the annual tournament that will begin on the first of April and run until the middle of August, Mr. Moffat is the only player who plays at “scratch,” who doesn’t start off with some allowance of points. Judge haw of the Superior Court, who makes for the park green whenever he can' escape from his court-rocom, is reck- oned a good player and is allowed only five points in the same contest. Rev, A. C. Bane, who finds relaxation THEY ABE RALZOVER 70.- W7Z. WATSO. A . FOREIAN. G € TATT2RSON A K MACTONRLD. I DUTICAN = B - - - e X LA A L LLLD N . SRIC TR V¢ - irom his religious dutles om theé green, gets his eight points. Supervisor Jeremiah Deasy, who bowls with enthusiasm, gets an allowance of seven points, and Mr. McLaren, the park superintendent, who is scheduled to play against him in the tournament, plays a shade more skillfful game and is given only five points as a starter. Principe] MaeDonald of the Lincoln Evening 8chool, who is In the seventy- year-old-and-upward group of bowlers— when a Scotchman gets too old to bowl upon tne green is a secret never discov- ered—is #till too busy a man to practice at the game on Wednesdays and Satur- days both. The privilege of playing on ‘Wednesdays is one that only the lucky ofies who have retired can enjoy regu- larly. As a result Mr. MacDonald gets thirtecn points in the handicap to begin his score with: Dr. J. W. Hamilton ranks next to the oL (. JIOFFAL WFO HOLDS THE CRAPIPIONSHIE LMIAKING A T/ oW L champlon, Mr. Moffat, and gets the meager allowance of two points only, and H, L. Tickner, who is popular enough to be the club president, plays a game that gives him six points to the good when he goes In for tournament honors. And thus it runs up and down the line— each member's skill is estimated to a fraction, and there are no “dark horses™ to upset expectations. At one of the corners of the greem, THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. ’ — P.oe . facing 2 gap in the hedge. is the }vin.y clabhouse of the & F. & B C., a 1x1? mansion with a Wttle windew. and walis lined with racks for holding”the prec ous sets of bowis. Each member has a rack with & bar scress. a staple, a padiock and a key, and the value of ‘the bowls maks thesé precautions well worth while. The rubber shoes d Scotch ars stuck into the cacks any oid way, but the shining bow!s are put in carefully and securely padlocked. Most of them are im- ported and cost from 355 to 825 a set land- ed here. The imported ones are given the preference, for 'he American made ones are seldom so true as the Scotch, and as meldom of, well ‘seasoned wood. Fach man has his spécial faney m bowls that hiy hand has grown used to, and would e as grieved at the loss of them as the smigker who has spent his years in coloring his meerschaum would be by the asstruction of his laving labor. Perhaps tho finest get of bowls, and at any rate the most prized by their owner, locked away in the little clubhouse, are the set tha: Principal MacDonald plays with. They are beaut! with a polish as shining as a mirror, black with age, of wood so frs grained and well seasoned that not the faintest sign of a crack is visible, and on the little silver plate set in each is this in: 5 “Presented by MacIntosh ‘ Glasgow to Coupar Angus Bowling Club Won by Rev. F. R. MacDonald, 188." They came as a legacy from his brothes to Principal MacDonald. The membership list of the S. . 8. B C. reads like & lesson In Scottish nomen- clature: Henry L. Tickner is president, John Reid vice president, R. Dundas Colquhoun secretary and treasurer, and the members are: Thomas G. Aitken, Charles Adams, James Addison. William Balnaves, Joseph Black, Paul Barblere, John Boye, Henry Adams Brown, Rev. A. C. Bane, R. Dun- das Colquboun, D. Edward Collins, George L. Center, Alexander Craig, J. W. Coch- rane, Robert Dalzlel, James H. Duncan, John M. Dunean, P. Livingston Dunn, John T. Dare, Jeremiah Deasy, Willlam Henry de Bell, William R. Eaton, J. al. Barsman, James W. Elder, Rev. George G. Eldredge, Andrew Foreman, John M. Forsyth, Rev, W. J. Fisher, Joseph Gray. James Gorie, Rev. W. K. Gu James Gray, James Gilichrist, Dr. George Gunn, V. W. Gaskill, E. E. George. Alex S. Gar- diner, Joseph Goss, Major Gerard. James Hatchison, Alexander Hay, Dr. J. W. Hamilton, James S. Hutchinson, George D. Hazen, W. B. i.amilten, 4. B. Hodge, Dr. J. Henderson, Samuel Irving, Y. C. Lawson, Mr. mond Logan, A. B. Maguire E. C. Meda Gilvray, And A . MacViear, Thomas McNaught, Richard McBean, P. A. McRa MacDonald, James McKinlay, Noble, David O'Brien, A. R. Patt George C. Patterson, Robert Park, Thom~ as Rolph. James Rolph Jr., Willlam Ren- nie, John Reid, John D. Robertsom, Alex Rannte, Rolin Rintoul, W. J. Randall, Jo- seph Stott, W. H. Stewart, Charles Stew- art. Judge Luclen Shawn, Rev. E. K. Strong, James P. Taylor, Henry Li Tlek- mer, John S. Thomas, Willam Watson, Andrew Wilkie, James 8. Webster, T. J. Weleh, W. .. Watson, P. J. Weniger, Dr. George W. White, James H, M. wal- liams.