HARPER & BROTHERS,
Franklin Square. N. Y.
WEIGHING THE BABY.
[THE GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF CROQUET.]
BY G. B. BARTLETT.
As summer dries up the moist paths and lawns, the boys are eager for new out-of-door games, and we will hunt for them, where most good things come from—in the distant past, the games of which are the new ones of to-day.
The boys of 1881 are advised to reproduce one of the first games ever played in merrie England, one in which kings and princes delighted to join, and in honor of which a celebrated avenue still retains its ancient name. Very little can be ascertained about this game and the manner of playing it, as the only authentic record which we can find consists of a picture of one of its balls and mallets in the Bodleian manuscripts. A hint has also been discovered in another book, from which we have gathered ideas enough to describe a game full of novelty and interest to both boys and girls, in addition to its deep historical and literary associations. From the form of the simple implements preserved in the picture, Pall Mall may certainly be considered as the ancestor of Croquet, for the idea of a ball driven by a mallet was doubtless derived from it.