CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
CONTENTS
THE ROYAL GAME OF GOLF.
FROM DAWN TO SUNSET.
CHARLES DICKENS' MANUSCRIPTS.
THE ADMIRAL'S SECOND WIFE.
THE GUACHO.
THE GERM THEORY AGAIN.
OCEAN-VOYAGES IN SMALL BOATS.
| No. 724. | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1877. | Price 1½d. |
THE ROYAL GAME OF GOLF.
For ages golf has been pre-eminently the nationalgame of Scotland. As its history emerges from themists of antiquity we find football and it linkedtogether as representative games, in fulminationsagainst 'unprofitabill sportis,' unduly distractingthe attention of the people from more seriousaffairs. But our game far exceeds this old rival ininterest; and if it were not for the popularity ofcurling in its season, no rival pastime could pretendto vie with golf in Scotland.
The mode of playing golf is so well known inthese days that it may suffice to explain that it isa game played over extensive commons, or 'links'as they are termed; that the implements used arepeculiarly constructed clubs, so weighted at thecrook or 'head' of the shaft, as to give greatimpetus to the small hard gutta-percha ball to bedriven along the grass; and that the object of theplayers—either as single antagonists or two againsttwo—is to endeavour to vie with each other as towho shall drive the ball towards and into a seriesof small artificially made holes, in the feweststrokes. From hole to hole the party proceeds,sometimes one winning a hole, sometimes another,and occasionally (by evenly contested play) halving:until the whole round of the green has beentraversed; when the party who has gained thegreatest number of holes is declared the winner.The links ought to be of considerable extent,and the holes several hundred yards apart, soas to give opportunity for skilful driving andother niceties of the game. To those unfortunateswho have only read of the pastime, it may appearhard to believe in the reality of the enthusiasmshewn by its votaries; but whenever they areprivileged to come under its influence, even asspectators, they will find it is one of the mostfascinating of pursuits. How can a man describein fitting language the subtle spell that bringshim out in all weathers and seasons, and makeshim find perfect pleasure in 'grinding round abarren stretch of ground, impelling a gutta-perchaball before him, striving to land it in a successionof small holes in fewer strokes than his companionand opponent,' as the g