Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1915 — SOME ANCIENT BALL GAMES [ARTICLE]

SOME ANCIENT BALL GAMES

People of Mexico and Brazil Knew Sport Centuries'Ago—Pastime Calls for Much Skill. “Pla-a-a-y is n<?t as new an expression as some people may think. Neither is playing half for a living a strictly modern invention. In fact, hundreds of years ago, way down in Yucatan, impatient crowds eat around in ball parks and yelled them* selves hoarse in the enthusiasm of the moment just as is done throughout the country today, the New York Times states. Of course, the game was not exactly baseball. But the point is that it was a ball game; that there Vere regular ball parks or courts, and that there were professionals who played the game for what there was “in it” to them. Another form of game is played by the Indian tribes of the Cuduiary river region in the wilds of Brazil. A care* fully leveled field lies in front of the large communal houses, and daily at five o’clock the men returning from the. day’s fishing or hunting indulge in the sport, not a complicated game like that of the early Mexicans, but one calling for a high degree of skill, as two balls are used by the players, who drive them with the hands'toward their opponents. Yellow tail feathers of the Yapoo.birds are aflixed to the rubber balls for aecuracy. The Araucanian Indians of southern Chile play an ancient game with wooden balls driven by wooden clubs. In a clearing 300 by 75 yards, inclosed by cut branches of trees, these Indians play chneea, which greatly resemble® la crosse or field hockey.