Page:Book of Etiquette, Volume 2, by Lilian Eichler.djvu/144

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
120
BOOK OF ETIQUETTE

invite many people unless she has several tables to place at their disposal.

Croquet is played on the lawn. Hidden in the forgotten origin of billiards, there must be some connection between the green lawn of croquet and the green baize cloth of the billiard table. Croquet is played with mallets and balls, very much on the same order as the game of billiards.

The game of croquet is derived from the same source as hockey. The old French word "hoquet," meaning a "crooked stick" has very much the same meaning as the word "croquet." Both are excellent outdoor sports that guests at a house party will find enjoyable and interesting.

One hostess we know, who is a billiard enthusiast, has six tables in her "billiard room," as she calls it, where she entertains several guests almost every afternoon. On the wall is a large picture showing two stately old gentlemen playing a game of billiards, and beneath it in bold hand-lettering, the following bit of verse from Cotton's book, "The Compleat Gamester":

Billiards from Spain at first derived its name,
Both an ingenious and a cleanly game.
One gamester leads (the table green as grass)
And each like warriors, strive to gain the Pass.


OUTDOOR GAMES

At garden parties, house parties, and lawn parties, there is always the need for interesting, amusing games that will afford entertainment for the guests. The hostess who knows the various games that are popular among the younger and older sets, will be able to spend many