THE SPORTING BACHELOR.
_Driving._--Driving really comprises coaching as well as the tandem.
A man who has any pretensions whatever to keeping his own horses or
driving should be judged by the appearance of his traps. He submits
himself to what one, to-day, might call the X-ray of criticism. He
enters a field, and he must be weighed in the balance and his position
defined by the standard of his associates. I know of no other city in
the world where there are better groomed horses and better turned out
equipages than in New York. The American in Hyde Park is shocked at the
appearance of the traps in that famous driveway of fashion, and his
national pride is gratified by observing that the smartest are of
American makes. As to Paris, it is simply beyond the pale of criticism,
the private turnouts, such as they are, being almost lost in a sea of
dirty, disgraceful _fiacres_.
In the first place, your horses must be well groomed, their hoofs
blackened, and their tails properly banged. I do not intend here to
enter a discussion concerning the cruelty of docking horses' tails. The
social law is without exception. Horses with long tails are impossible.
I believe banging is not accompanied by any physical pain.
The harness, the trap itself, the coachman, and groom or grooms should
be as immaculate as the horses. There should not be a single item out of
gear. Every detail must be perfect. Choose some individual color for
your traps, and never change the colors of your stable any more than you
would your liveries. I have discussed fully in the chapter on Servants
the duties of coachmen and grooms, and I refer the reader to that
section of this book for information concerning liveries and the human
_personnel_ of your trap.
As to the color of your horses you should consult the fashion of the
moment. To-day grays and bays are matched, and a person in half mourning
recently appeared on a leading thoroughfare with a black trap and
harness and white horses.
A bachelor, however, should court simplicity, and I do not even approve
of an equipage with two men on the box for an unmarried man. In fact I
do not know of a single bachelor who has such a turnout.
A coach, a tandem, a drag, or any of the array of fashionable carts, or
a private hansom should limit the list.
Coolness and absolute confidence are the requisite virtues of good
driving.
The driver salutes always with the whip; those on the coach with him or
in the trap bow.
Dress for driving in the city is usually that of afternoon, and a high
hat is indispensable. Sometimes the huge gray coats with large buttons
and a gray topper are worn. Dogskin driving gloves and driving boots
complete the costume. In the country one wears tweed or Scotch cheviot
and a Derby hat. The man who drives mounts last, his horses' heads being
held by the groom. His whip should be in its socket; the reins loosely
thrown over the horses' backs. He should spring into his seat and start
immediately.
There is a certain smartness in driving, in the way you manage your
whip, your horses, and the many other details, which it is the province
of a good master of the sport to teach you.
The fashionable hour for driving in New York is from three to five, and
the drive the Park. At Newport one drives both in the morning and
evening.
Remember, however, that the secret of your mastery over your stables
should be your perfect knowledge of every detail. If you are a novice
you should begin by learning the name and use of each part of your
harness. You should be able to tell at a glance if everything is right,
and you can not be too severe if anything is out of gear or the animals
are not properly groomed. The best position on the box is a firm seat
with your feet close together. Drive with one hand and keep the whip
hand free, except for its legitimate use in touching your horses now and
then, and in saluting.
A man always sits with his back to the horses in a Victoria, or any
other four-seated vehicle, when there are two ladies with him. When
there is only one he sits by her side. He alights first with a view to
assisting the ladies. He gets in last.
It is not good form in New York for unmarried couples to drive together,
unaccompanied by a chaperon. It is permitted at Newport and the country
and seaside resorts, but a groom always sits on the back seat. In this
case the woman is frequently the whip.
A man and a woman may drive together in the city in a hansom, although
this is considered unconventional. Buggy driving is not in vogue in New
York.
_Riding_, since the advent of the wheel, is not as fashionable an
amusement in cities as formerly.
Riding classes, which meet two evenings during the week, usually in the
Lenten season, are still very popular. These gatherings take place at a
riding academy, and a competent riding master is in charge.
When riding with a woman, a man should always be at her right. A woman's
riding habit falls to the left and she is mounted from the left. In
assisting her to mount, which, even when a groom is present, is the
gallant thing to do, a man should grasp the bridle with the left hand
and hold his right so that she can step into it. The woman puts her left
foot, therefore, in a man's right hand, and holds to the pommel with her
right hand. The escort gives his arm a slight spring, and with a
corresponding action on the part of the fair equestrienne, she is
lifted into the saddle. The man faces the near side of the horse, or the
left. He takes the reins in his right hand and with it grasps the pommel
of the saddle, shortening the reins until he feels the mouth of the
horse. He inserts the left foot in the stirrup and springs into the
saddle.
In speaking of a pommel, I wish it understood that the English saddle is
used, which has no visible pommel, but that part of it is still called
by the name in lieu of another term.
A good rider should never mount from a horse block or a fence. The
English mode of riding is fashionable. The smart pace is a short canter.
In trotting, a man may rise to the trot. Squaring the elbows is a trifle
vulgar and obsolete. In meeting acquaintances, a man should bow. A man
accompanying a lady should always keep pace with her, and never either
go ahead or let his horse fall behind. A man riding alone should never
pass or catch up with a woman unattended.
When one rides in New York it is only in the morning. Afternoon riding
in the Park is not the vogue it was. The New Yorker dislikes to dress up
in any special costume, so that for years the fashionable afternoon
riding costume was a black cutaway or morning coat, ordinary trousers
strapped under the ordinary walking boot, top hat, and gloves, but the
present riding costume for the morning in New York and the country
consists of whipcord or corduroy riding breeches and jacket, brown
leather waistcoat, brown Derby hat, boots or leggings, and dark gloves.
You can wear this in the afternoon, but the ordinary costume is
considered smarter and more convenient. Men in New York only ride in the
Park, and many of them do not belong to riding academies or have
lockers. A complete change of costume is not convenient, and you never
see a New York clubman on the streets in riding togs. The evening
classes always end with a supper and a dance. The woman's habit is
easily changed, but to appear at night in riding costume or with boots
in a drawing room is certainly absurd. To wear evening dress on
horseback, even a Tuxedo coat, is also outlandish, and thus the
compromise has been effected, and the old black diagonal cutaway brought
into use.
_Riding to hounds_ requires special knowledge as to the rules and the
etiquette of the different hunts. These vary. The meet is generally at
some farm or country house, and you are expected to appear in the
regulation hunt colors. The orthodox costume is morning coat, white or
fancy waistcoat, riding breeches, top boots, crop, top hat, and hunting
scarf. The master of the hounds should wear a red or scarlet frock coat
and hunting cap. After the hunt there is a breakfast, and several times
during the year a ball. At the latter festivity, members of the club
should wear their scarlet evening coats.
_Coaching_ is yet another of the intricate arts. I will give a few
points to the novice. The place of honor is the box seat and should be
given to a lady, when ladies are of the party.
If a bachelor is a good whip, a coaching party is an excellent way for
him to entertain. The start should be from some fashionable locality in
town, and eight or ten is a large party. It is needless for me to call
the attention of a whip to the importance of his drag and horses and
appointments being perfect. During the progress of the coach the guard
who sits in the rear blows his horn at regular intervals. A bugle or
cornet is not good form, although I have heard it in small towns.
It may seem elementary, but for the requirements of those who have never
coached I might as well state that the guests sit on the top and not
inside the coach. A neat and serviceable team may be made with two
browns as leaders and a brown and a bay as wheelers. To the novice the
names of these will indicate their position.
A coaching route should be about ten to fifteen miles. A halt is made at
a country club, of which the host is a member, or a hotel, where
luncheon is served. The _menu_ consists of the usual comestibles with
plenty of champagne. Two hours altogether are allowed for rest, and then
the start homeward is made. The whip should wear driving costume, with
gray or black high hat. The men guests can be dressed in morning
costume, tweeds, and Derby hats, unless the occasion is one of
formality, such as a coaching parade, when one should don afternoon
dress. The general etiquette of driving applies to coaching.
_Wheeling_ is the popular and fashionable amusement at present writing,
and it bids fair to continue so until quite late in the twentieth
century. As yet there are no special rules of etiquette for this new
sport, except that which would govern its dress. Otherwise there are the
rules of the road--keeping and turning to the right--and the extending
by gentlemen of those civilities which they should never forget to the
fair sex, and consideration for their fellow-men. A man should always
wait for a lady to mount, holding the bicycle. He should ride at her
left, keeping pace with her, and sufficiently near to be of assistance
in case of an accident. He should dismount first and help her to do so
if necessary. The present fashionable costume for cycling consists of
tweed knickers and short lounge jacket of same material, brown leather
or linen waistcoat, colored shirt, with white turn-down collar and club
tie, golf stockings, and low-quartered tan wheeling shoes. A cap of
tweed to match the suit completes the rig. At cycling clubs black small
clothes with dinner jacket may be worn, but as yet it is not the
prevailing fashion.
In summer very natty wheeling costumes are made of linen or crash.
One word more as to wheeling. Owing to its popularity, many have sought
to make it vulgar and common. An idea that a man has the privilege of
addressing any woman on a bicycle is most erroneous. You would not offer
such an impertinence to an equestrienne, and you must remember that a
"wheel" is only a metal horse. To catch up with or pass unchaperoned or
unescorted women wheelers is as much a breach of etiquette as to be
guilty of the same vulgarity toward an unaccompanied Amazon.
_Shooting_ deserves a few words, although shooting parties in the
acceptance of the foreign and British entertainments have as yet but few
counterparts in this country. Men chase the aniseed bag or an imported
fox when riding to hounds, and when they take gun in hand it is for the
purpose of hunting big game, such as one would obtain in the
Adirondacks, in the Rockies, in the Southern swamp lands, and in the
wilderness of Canada. In England you may be invited for the shooting.
The start is in the morning, in a party accompanied by the gamekeepers.
The birds are flurried, the guns are loaded by your special attendant,
and you only pause in your work of destruction for luncheon, which is
served somewhere in the woods or on the moors. You are expected to be at
the house about four, where, after changing your clothes, you appear in
the drawing room for tea. You are cautioned in these parties, in order
to avoid accident, before crossing a hedge, gate, or any other obstacle,
to remove your cartridges. You are to be unusually careful in the manner
of holding your gun, and should certainly not flourish it around or
point it at any living thing, save that which it is intended to kill.
Guns used as walking sticks or props to take flying leaps or other
extraordinary purposes are the assinine diversions of some idiots. In
England a position is assigned to you. It is etiquette to remain in it,
shooting in a liberal and sportsmanlike spirit, accepting shots as they
come. The gamekeepers expect a tip at the end of the visit. The correct
dress is loose jacket, knicker corduroy breeches, stout ribbed
stockings, and box-cloth leggings. Heavy russet boots and a cloth
shooting cap are also worn.
_Bowls_ is a favorite game in the country, and during the Lenten season
in New York, where there are a number of clubs formed for its enjoyment.
Although the sessions are in the evening, the men dress at clubs in
_mufti_ or _neglige_, the golf or cycling suits being the favorites.
When you are asked to play bowls at a private house, and when there is a
dance to follow, or when you are asked to a "bowling party," it is
perhaps better form to wear your dinner jacket or Tuxedo, as there will
be supper and dancing afterward. The presence of ladies will not deter
you from wearing on an occasion like this demitoilet or dinner jacket,
as there is a certain informality about all athletic sports. The same
may be said of _badminton_, another favorite Lenten game, played
somewhat after the manner of tennis. The difference is that instead of
racquet and ball, battledore and shuttlecock are used.
For _skating_, even at a rink on artificial ice, golf costume or _mufti_
is good form.
_Polo_ has likewise no code of etiquette not connected with the rules of
the game. The dress for polo includes buckskin knee breeches, flannel or
madras shirt with low turn-down collar, top riding boots, and polo cap.
YACHTING, BOATING, BATHING, TENNIS, AND RACING.
A yacht in commission is the most expensive and luxurious toy a man can
have. No one but a millionaire can afford it. True, as in other
possessions, there are degrees, and consequently there are yachts and
yachts. Only large schooner or steam yachts, however, are adaptable for
entertaining. A man's yacht is indeed his castle, and the host has only
to follow the rules which govern social functions to be perfect in this
delightful method of entertaining. Yet there are a few little details of
which it would be prudent to speak. The proper entertainments for a
yacht in harbor are luncheons, dinners, dances, and short cruises. None
of these should be elaborate, the yacht itself--a thing of joy and
beauty--being alone a great attraction.
Your sailors should meet the people invited at the dock in the cutter,
and row them to the place where your yacht rides at anchor. You should
be at the gangway ready to receive them. The same order should be
observed on their leaving.
During a club cruise there are several formalities to be observed. You
are then as if under military or naval orders. The commodore should be
treated with the same consideration as an admiral. You should not appear
before him except in the uniform of the club, and you should always
salute him on passing, and he should have precedence at all
entertainments.
Yachting dress for men consists in either blue flannel or serge suit, or
weather pilot or pea-jacket of rough cloth or "witney," or blue serge or
flannel coat with naval white duck trousers. The cap, blue or white
cloth or duck. White flannels are also worn, but they are not so
appropriate. In the evening, usual formal landsman's costume.
There are a few rules of practical yachting which are so intimately
connected with etiquette that, although it is not exactly in my
province, I propose to give a summary of them here; they may be useful,
and may serve my reader a good turn. I take the regulations of the New
York Yacht Club for my guide. It is without doubt the leading yachting
organization of this country.
When on a cruise, all yachts belonging to a club should hoist their
colors at eight o'clock A. M. and haul them down at sunset, taking time
from the senior officer present in port, if there should be one. Between
sunset and colors they should carry a night pennant. Guns should only be
fired on setting or hauling down the colors, except by the yacht giving
the time, nor between sunset and colors, nor on Sunday, and the rules of
many yacht clubs insist on these formalities being observed whether a
yacht is on a cruise or not.
The senior officer in port should be in command, and should make colors
and sunset and return salutes and visits, etc. His yacht should remain
the station vessel until a senior to him in rank arrives, when such
senior should assume the duties of the anchorage.
Flag officers should display their pennants while in commission, except
when absent for more than forty-eight hours. In this case their private
signal should be hoisted. A blue rectangular flag at the starboard
spreader should be displayed when the owner is not on board.
All salutes should be returned in kind. Yachts of all clubs should
always salute vessels of the United States Navy. Yachts passing at sea
should salute each other, juniors saluting first. This is done by
dipping the ensign three times or by firing a gun, followed by dipping
the ensign. Arriving in harbor after sunset or on Sunday the salute
should be made the first thing next morning.
When a squadron or a cruising expedition enters a port or anchorage and
finds there a foreign yacht, the senior officer of the squadron or
cruise should send its owner a tender of the civilities of the club. All
vessels are considered foreign not belonging to the interstate squadron,
or to a club not included in the association of yachts to which your
vessel and you belong.
Of course I have only skimmed through the sailing and saluting
regulations. You are supposed to have a book of your club, which will
give them to you, and you are bound to follow the rules laid down
therein.
As a rule, the commodore of a yacht club wears on his cap an anchor one
inch and a half in diameter, placed horizontally, embroidered in gold,
with a silver star of half an inch diameter at each end of and above the
anchor. A vice commodore wears only a single star; captains two crossed
foul anchors. The dress uniform of most yacht clubs is a plain blue or
black dress coat, a white dress waistcoat, each with the club button in
gilt; blue or white trousers with cravat black or white. The undress
consists of a double-breasted sack coat of blue cloth, serge, or
flannel, blue or white waistcoat, each with the black club button;
trousers of same material, or of white drill. The commodore has five
black silk stripes on his cuff, the vice commodore four, the rear
commodore three, the captain and other officers two, and the members
one.
Your crew should wear shirts of blue flannel or white linen with wide
blue cuffs and collars, stitched with blue or white thread.
Handkerchiefs should be of black silk, caps of blue cloth without visor;
straw hats with black ribbon can be used for summer. The name of the
yacht must be worked on the breast of the shirt, or printed upon the
band of the cap or the ribbon of the hat. The trousers should be of
blue flannel or white linen duck. No braces are worn.
GOLF.
The etiquette of golf is incorporated, more or less, with the
technicalities of the rules governing the game. I do not intend to go
into these, but to give a few hints to the novice, to prevent him, if
possible, committing solecisms.
Golf has a vocabulary of its own. The "grounds" on which the game is
played is a stretch of rather rough country, abounding in hills,
hillocks, and sandy downs, and is known by no other name but the
"links."
The game is usually played by two persons, but it can be by more. It
consists in driving a ball, small and black, or painted red for the
winter snows, along a route laid out by a series of holes to a goal,
with a selection of clubs with metal ends. A small boy carries these
clubs around for the players. He is called the "caddie."
The clubs have various names and various uses. They are for propelling
or driving the ball, according to the rules of the game. They are the
driver, long spoon, short spoon, putter, iron putter, cleek, iron,
niblick, brassey, lofting iron, and mashie.
A "tee" is a small mound of sand or earth upon which the ball rests. As
before explained, the ball is propelled or driven from the tee into one
of the holes. The term "putting" is applied to the locality in which
this operation of driving the ball into the hole takes place.
The etiquette of the spectator is embraced in the common-sense essential
of being an onlooker and nothing more. Silence is golden. Advice and
comment, should you profess to know anything about the game, are brazen.
Be considerate; do not interfere with the comfort of the players. As at
billiards, the stroke should be made in utter silence. The golf "links"
is not a place for criticism, and if you are allowed to follow the
players around, you must control your feelings alike when enthusiastic
or when contemptuous. Besides being a breach of good manners, remember
that golf is more or less an outdoor game of whist.
Golf is the easiest game at which to cheat, but as it is a sport in the
_repertoire_ of a gentleman, it would seem almost an insult to hint at
such a contingency. However, apart from the moral effect of cheating at
any game, if a man is dead to all sense of honor, he should be alive to
the fear of being found out. Such discovery means social ostracism.
The proper golf costume is based on common sense. The man who rigs
himself up for this or any other sport in what he considers the most
approved style is either a very bad player or a novice. The
championships have been won by men wearing their ordinary street
costumes or business lounge suits. The English and Scotch golf dress,
however, is sack coat, knickers without leather extensions, and a plain
tweed shooting cap. The shirt is white madras, soft, unstarched bosom,
with a golf stock or Ascot. Golf shoes or boots are of heavy russet or
black leather. The hose has a long ribbed top, which is turned over,
forming a sort of heavy band on the calf of the leg. It is made of heavy
worsted, plain or ribbed. This costume will do for winter in the English
climate, when you can not employ too heavy tweeds in the north and west.
The American costume, however, is made of lighter tweeds for the spring
and autumn, and of brown linen or holland for the summer. As yet, except
in one or two localities, golf is not generally played in winter, except
by enthusiasts.
At a match, golfers wear their club uniform coats, which are made of
hunting pink with brass buttons. The club dress uniform is full and
proper dress for all golf functions, such as dinners and dances and
receptions. For golf club evening functions, black silk or lisle thread
stockings and pumps and black knickers would be appropriate dress. This
will be regulated by the rules of the club.
BOATING AND BATHING, TENNIS AND RACING.
But a word, and this on costume. The proper dress in England, where
boating is a social amusement, is the blazer madras shirt with white
linen all-around collars and madras cuffs, same material as shirt, white
duck trousers, and straw hat with colored ribbons.
For bathing, the present ocean costume is all plain, one dark-color
two-piece suits, short trousers coming to the knees, and jersey with
very short sleeves.
For tennis, which I have omitted in the category of sports, as there is
no peculiar etiquette attached, you should wear white duck trousers, a
white madras shirt, white flannel coat, plain or finely striped, and
straw hat or flannel cap to match coat. The straw hat was in vogue last
summer.
In England many men wear gray vicuna frock coats to the races. About
this costume, however, in America, where races are but seldom social
functions, you must be guided by the season, circumstances, and place.
Of course, a top hat must be worn with any species of frock coat, but
the gray top hat has gone out of fashion.
_Gymkhana_ races are burlesque affairs imported from India. The
participants are dressed in grotesque fancy costumes, and are obliged to
race holding umbrellas, toy balloons, or some other absurdity. They are
in great favor at summer watering places.
BILLIARDS.
The etiquette of this popular pastime is possibly embraced in the
general maxim of "the extending of the utmost consideration for others."
Billiards constitutes quite an important factor in club life, and should
have been included in the chapter on that subject but for the fact that
so many private houses have billiard rooms, and the game is better
classified with the different sports of a bachelor.
At the club it is allowable to play the game _sans_ one's coat, or in
shirt sleeves. The billiard room is a place where one can be
unconventional. Order, however, in a match game especially, should be
strictly maintained. The severe English rule at clubs, under such
circumstances, requires the man who has played his stroke "to retire to
a reasonable distance, and keep out of the line of sight" (_vide_ the
Badminton treatise on the game). Orders for drinks to the waiter, loud
talking, criticism of the play, lighting pipes and cigars--the latter
being only generally allowed in New York club billiard rooms--are all
offenses against etiquette.
In private houses it is certainly a breach of good manners to bolt into
a billiard room while a game is in progress, except between the strokes,
and this period can be easily ascertained by listening at the door. The
ideal game is conducted with strict observance of the etiquette of the
room. It is, according to the same Badminton authority, a game during
the progress of which neither player smokes nor interrupts the other,
and spectators are generally courteous, silent, and impartial. In a
private house where ladies are apt to be present and to be players,
shirt sleeves are certainly not tolerated. The dinner coat is useful on
these occasions. Smoking is permissible if the hostess consents.
The etiquette of cards calls for but a word. Whist means silence. No
gentleman quarrels with a billiard marker or a golf caddie; still less
should he dispute a point at cards. Better lose, especially when women
are present, than enter a controversy.