Skips & Stones
In 1854 the good people of Boston were mystified by the sight of men in mufflers chasing ponderous stones across frozen ponds, furiously sweeping the ice with kitchen brooms. Last week the average U. S. citizen was still mystified by that same strange game: curling.
In curling, a "rink" is a team, a "tee" is a goal, a "skip" is a captain, a "bonspiel" is a meet. "Dead end" is a scoreless inning. Scots have played it for over 300 years, with so much enthusiasm that they once enticed Queen Victoria herself to try it on the polished drawing-room floor of a Scottish palace. In the U. S., there are only some 4,000 curlers, all in a few areas where the game has trickled down from Canada. Although outnumbered 7-to-1 by Canadians, U. S. curlers are challenging Canadian preeminence* and U. S. bonspiels are becoming worthy of notice.
"Brithers of the Broom," Last week at Utica, N. Y., the season for Eastern U. S. curlers came to a climax with the annual competition for the Fred Allen Memorial Medal. Because the game has not been publicized nor professionalized, curling fans are almost as select a fraternity as the "brithers of the broom" (curling players). In the spacious indoor rink of the Utica Curling Club 150 addicts (admitted free) gathered to watch the final match between the Caledonia Club of New York City and the Schenectady Curling Club.
Equipped with rubbers, a tam-o'-shanter, earmuffs, and a flask of whiskey, a curler needs no other paraphernalia except a pair of stones* and an ordinary kitchen broom. Each side has four players, each player two stones. Object of the game is to propel the stone, weighing about 40 lb.. down the ice to stop as closely as possible to the tee--the centre of four concentric circles forming a target ("house") on the ice. While each member of the team in turn plays his stones, the other three help by "scoping" (sweeping). The skip stands at the tee, directs the other two. running along the ice. to whisk or not to whisk their brooms in front of the gliding stone--then he himself sweeps the ice furiously to increase its distance. A game usually consists of 14 ends.
Although good sooping is part of a curler's art, the essence of curling is to curl. With a delicate twist of the wrist a good curler can control his stone--as expertly as a billiardist a billiard ball--for an "outturn" or "in-turn" (curling around opponents' stones to reach the tee), a "wick"' shot (a simple carom), "drawing the port" (making a stone squeeze between two guarding stones to knock an opponent's well-placed shot out of the house).
Grand Old Men. Because 14 ends of curling provide about the same amount of exercise as 18 holes of golf, the game is popular with oldsters. Every sport has a Grand Old Man. But in curling every team has one. He is the skip, a venerable player whose role during the game is tantamount to dictator. Last week when Caledonia faced Schenectady at Utica, Caledonia was led by grizzled James Whyte, 75, who thinks nothing of playing 42 ends in one day. Septuagenarian Whyte, aided by his teammate. Septuagenarian A. P. Roth, outplayed the comparatively young Schenectady team, beat them 15-to-14, took the Fred Allen Medal. Then with ear-splitting song, the hardy curlers shouldered their brooms and paraded to the bar for refreshment.
* Last month a U. S. team won the Gordon Medal (since 1884 the symbol of Canadian-U. S. superiority) for the 13th time. *Early stones were natural waterworn boulders. Modern stones are quarried tinder water in Scotland, have