CHAPTER IV[ToC]
AN INDOOR SPORTS FAIR
They are still talking about the Indoors Sports Fair that the Welfare League of Ashton gave last spring, and ranking it as the best thing the town ever did to raise money for their united welfare funds.
When the doors were opened on the first night it was not surprising to see a crowd all ready to push in and enjoy the sports prepared for them. No admission was charged, but each sport, exhibit and event had its price plainly marked in black on a bright blue sign at the entrance.
That first evening it seemed as if the golf course was patronized as freely as any of the sports. It took up one large corner of the hall, where a miniature nine-hole course had been laid out on dark blue denim. The "holes" were marked out with rings of white paint, and there were a few hazards of sandbags and a very low brick wall. For the most part it was a putting game, a putter being handed to the player after he had paid his admission to the "caddie" at the turnstile gate.
They say the boys had the time of their lives at the baseball diamond, and some of their fathers too, to judge from the receipts. Back on a large piece of canvas Bill Simons had "dashed in" with cold water paints a baseball diamond, with trees in the background and bleachers on each side, all in a queer perspective which didn't hurt the game any. In the curtain Bill had cut holes just a little larger than a baseball, so that throwing the ball through these holes was not any bush-league business. On the diamond he had marked under the holes, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, and Home Run at the plate. Back of the plate were two holes quite close together, one marked Strike and the other Ball. Two holes in the outfield and two "over the fence" were also arranged in pairs to make pitching difficult. Regular baseballs were sold, four shots for a nickel. The ruling of the game was simple: Three strikes out, four balls a chance to try first base, or one of the "over the fence" holes for a home run; after first base, second and third had to be hit successively before a home run could be scored, and to make it harder there was a "grounder" hole near third base which put one out of the game; balls which merely struck the curtain were counted as fouls, four fouls being out. Back of the curtain Bill had hung an old mattress against which the balls bounded to the floor. This was covered with a black cloth to make the holes in the diamond visible.
Seeing the Old Home Town
Down the line next to the baseball diamond came the bowling alley, where everyone who was not a fan or a golf fiend was taking a hand at the sport. This alley was laid on a long board table, and the game played with tenpins and small wooden balls. Six balls for a nickel they sold here, and because the sport needed something to speed it up a bit they linked it with the food table next door. The best cooks in town presided over this. You paid your money for your tenpin balls, and proceeded to run up a score by counting the numbers on the pins you knocked down; the pins were set far apart to make it difficult. Then you took your score to the food table, where certain numbers of points brought you a glass of jelly, a can of mince-meat, a box of cookies, or a jar of mayonnaise. That bowling alley certainly did appeal to the women!
And if there was ever a more successful grab bag for the children than the quoits game, the Ashton Welfare Committee wants to hear about it. They called it a Good Luck booth for it had a horseshoe-shaped opening with a row of numbered pegs across the back. The kiddies bought the quoits, little wooden horseshoes cut from cigar-box wood, and tossed them over a peg. The number of the peg corresponded to a numbered tag which was handed out to be redeemed at the parcel-post window near the aërial mail plane.
This aviator, by the way, was an official of the Cupid Airline, so he advertised on his aëroplane, which was painted on a large curtain with a hole cut out where the seat would be, and the wheel of an electric fan poked through at the front and set going for a propeller. His mail bag hung over the side of the car inside of which he stood in aviation uniform, and for ten cents you could get your fortune in a small white envelope out of the mail bag if you were a man, or in a pink envelope if you were a girl.