Popular Pastimes for Field and Fireside, or Amusements for young and old

by Caroline L. Smith

The ladies will very much oblige all their associates in croquet by avoiding long dresses, which are continually dragging the balls about over the ground greatly to the annoyance of the players and disturbance of the game.

To the gentlemen we would say it is no proof of skill in executing the croquet, to swing your mallet with both hands, and give a blow hard enough to kill an ox. If you want to do that sort of thing—it would be more agreeable to all concerned for you to go off alone somewhere and split wood. An easy skillful stroke will send a ball anywhere within the bounds, and a ball out of bounds may be brought in, so nothing is gained by “sledge hammering,” except injuring the implements, irritating the players and delaying the game.

In executing the roquet-croquet the stroke may be varied so as to produce three very different results. First, if it is desirable to have the secondary ball go much further than your own, strike a sharp, quick blow, proportioned in force to the distance you wish your own ball to go, checking the force the instant the mallet hits the ball. Secondly, if you wish to send both balls along together strike a more sweeping blow, (not a push) permitting the mallet to have its full swing. The difference in these two blows is much more easily discovered by the player than described with the pen.

The third stroke may partake of the nature of either of the above, but differs in the fact that the blow of the mallet is not delivered in a line with the centers of the two balls, but partially to one side of the rear ball, thus producing the splitting stroke, i. e., sending the two balls in courses diverging from each other. This is much the most difficult stroke of the three.

In procuring a set of croquet materials be sure that you know what you want, or else buy a set manufactured by some recognized manufacturer. It may seem a very simple thing to have a set of mallets, &c., made from a description, but having tried the experiment we can testify that to procure suitable lumber—well seasoned, have mallets well shaped, the handles serviceable and not bungling, the balls perfectly round, the bridges well formed and proportioned—and the painting brilliant and properly arranged is a very difficult matter. An English author on this subject says, “It was our fortune (or rather misfortune) when in the country last year to take part in a game of Croquet played with home-made materials. We only hope that it will never be our lot to play with such things again. The mallets were so large they had to be used as one would a scythe in mowing grass. The heads, instead of tapering at the center, bore a great resemblance to an ale barrel on a small scale, and were so large that if one attempted to croquet, one was sure to hit one’s own foot instead of the ball. These, by-the-by, were any shape but round. They bobbed up and down when in progress, and scarcely ever went in the direction which it was intended for them to go.... Such was the unsatisfactory result of the combined labors of the local carpenter and blacksmith. We therefore earnestly recommend our readers to eschew the use of home-made sets of Croquet altogether.”

We endorse the foregoing statement, adding that responsible manufacturers in various parts of the country are now furnishing excellent sets of implements at a cheaper rate than individuals can get up equally good sets for themselves. There is therefore no economy in using a home-made set.

Parlor Croquet is a very good substitute for the Lawn game, and may be enjoyed in a winter day or evening very much as canned fruit or preserved flowers are enjoyed as excellent and beautiful substitutes for the delicious fruits of autumn and fragrant flowers of summer. But as the canned fruit is insipid when used beside the fresh fruit of autumn, so will the parlor game seem when attempted in the season of the field sport. There are two kinds of Parlor Croquet—which may be termed Carpet Croquet, and Table or Board Croquet.

The Carpet Croquet is played exactly like the field game and with similar materials except that they are usually smaller, being reduced in size in the same proportion that the space available in a room is smaller than the Lawn Croquet ground. The same relative proportion in the size of materials should be preserved as that given for the materials of the Lawn game—assuming as a standard—a ball from 2¼ to 2½ inches in diameter. There are several ingenious devices for fastening the bridges to the floor or carpet. Each one of those which we have seen have some objections; but those which are fastened with tacks are the simplest and we consider them the best.

The Board game is played on a board of any convenient size—say five feet long and three feet wide—covered with baize or flannel, and surrounded by a ledge or thin strip projecting above the top surface three-fourths of an inch.