unday Bee.
P.RT THREE
HALF-TONE
PAGES 1 TO 4.
A PAPER rOR THE HOKI
OMAHA DEE
BEST IN THE WEST
VOL. XXXIX-XO. 11.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, AUUUST 2 1909.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
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WHERE VISITORS GET A CHANCE TO GET INTO THE GAME
Other Things Than Tennis May Be Seen and Enjoyed at the Field Club When the Racquet Experts Get Together for the Annual Mid-West Competition During August's Wannest Days
Fhe Omaha
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TENNIS TOURN
A which they plaj
sary, of course,
in a while a ma
TENNIS TOURNAMENT la a tournament at
play tennis. The tennla is neces-
but It la quite Incidental. Onoe
man cornea In from some obscure
town who expects to put In a full week playing
tennla, but he alwayi gets fooled. If he la anything but
a whirlwind at the game he finds himself benched after
the first performance bo that he has to quit, and If he
really can play when he arrives hp usually finds other
things more amusing before ho got3 through.
For a week before the annunl Middle-West tournament
at the Omaha Field club thc-o are si?ns of unusual ac
tivity. The committee, which is chosen from the mem
berg of the club noted for jooJ fellowship and entertain
ing ability. Is bustling with preparations. Every night
in t;:o week must be carefully prepared for.
A man comparatively a stranger to tennis men and
their wavs made a trip to the Field club lust a few Uajs
before the opening of this year's affair. The first place
r, WPtt to was the office. Hero ho found a member of
the roT'-in-l'tpo. He was drawing money out of the safe.
"' 'hfit that for?" he naked, innocently.
""ornh tournament coming." answered the commit
teeinnn. "This reserve fund is to buy prizes and furnish
entertainment."
He came to the dining room and there was another
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ARENA AT THE FIELD CLUB DURING THE POLO MATCH AND THE DULL FIGHT.
scribed this discussion of the game is more' or less off the
subject. The full and complete program of a good tennis
meet goes something like this:
Monday Morning, greetings; afternoon, discussion of
last year's tourney; evening, Ak-Sar-Beu.
Tuesday Morning, a few socinl calls on last year's ac
quaintances; afternoon, calls; evening, dance to form new
social acquaintances.
Wednesday Similar to Tuesday, only worse.
Thursday Everything called off for tho burlesque
games.
Friday Morning and afternoon, getting ready for the
evening smoker; evening, smoker.
Saturday Goodbyes.
The athlete who can live through a program like that
for several consecutive weeka every summer for four or
five years is In shape to get a job and go to work. This
does not mean that what was Bald about tennis being a
strenuous game was not Just so. This refers only to ten
nis tournaments.
The real event of the tennis week is, of course, the Fri
day night smoker. Nobody knows Just why it is called a
smoker. There is some smoking early in the evening, but
it is soon forgotten in the Joy of other things.
One of the surest marks of a good tennis player is the
knowledge that he can sing. The tennis player is always
sure, no one could dissuade him he knows. So whea
they get together in congenial crowds as they do at the
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-THE FOREIGN LEGION" POLO TEAM.
committeeman. He was directing waiters in placing new tables in
the corners.
"This," explained the committeeman, "is for the tennis tourna
ment; we must have more room tor the accommodation of the vis
itors and for entertainment."
Out in the dancing pavilion was another committeeman.
"This floor will have to be fixed up a little," he remarked, "tennis
tournament coming, you know, and we must provide for entertain
ment." The ri-Bl of the committee war found In the buffet in earnest con
Hultatlon with the dusky chlef-of-atafT. "Tennis tournament," they
explained, with an air of Importance, "we must provide a sportsman
like entertainment."
Ti e visitor hired a golf caddy to lead him down througtf the
locker room lulo the tennis courts. There he found one big, busy
Swede, who wan sweeping the courts. The Swede thought there
might be going to be a tournament he waan't sure of it.
That is why when the tennis player from Yale or Princeton comes
Into the Field club Monday morning of the tournament he heads for
the buffet, spends three hours there getting well greeted,
and then borrows some tennis clothes so that he can play
a few games.
When the tennis players meet at Omaha they have usually been
apart from each other about two days. They saw each other the
Saturday night before a Sioux City, and when they part at the Field
club they expect to meet again at Kansas City the next Monday. The
younger men who form the nucleus of the visiting players at every
tourney in the west travel
travel around from place to
place on a regular circuit.
Those who don't have to work
do this and most of them are
limited in their tennis travels
only by the beginning of tho
college year.
The first day of the tourna
ment always sees some tennis
playing. There Is always a
referee wjiose only idea is to
get more scores posted up on
the bulletin board and he in
terferes seriously by insisting
that the schedule must not fall
behind. And then there are
some men who must play ten
nis. They are the real en
thusiasts. Whether they can
play or not has absolutely noth
ing to do with their enjoyment
of the""game. Tennis Is not
much of a game for speculators.
' It is about as exciting as sv.
base ball game played in the
look at the board once in a
But to the man who is playing
i 5 1
next town where you take a
while to see how. the game Is going.
it with some understanding of what he is trying to do it is real sport.
The dub never realizes his own dubbiness if he can get another of
the same sort to play against. He is always highly amused by his
own attempts to play a good game. But these real enthusiasts are
infrequent and not at all necessary to the success of the' event
itself. Tennis Is a peculiar game, anyway. The average, man puts it
down without a thought as a lady's game, or at least fit only for
young and otherwise inconsequent men. It can be played well by
anyone who has been playing it every summer for the last five or six
years and by no one else. Practice Is the whole secret. The strong
armed man who spends his leisure hours hoisting pianos and safes
would usually last through about half of a stiff tennis match. ' The
real tennis arm in made of wire cable and Is capable of constant ex
ertion for hours without tiring.
It has been said that no one has ever been tenuis champion of
the United States who was not a millionaire. Only a man of Inde
pendent fortune can afford to play all the time, and that is what
makes a champion in thiu sort of a game. For that reason the Call
fornlans who have tennis weather nearly all the year round are great
tennis players.
Most of the matches In a tournament at the Field club are
watched by a gallery of femininity, with a very sparse sprinkling of
men more or less ashamed of themselves.
Tennis spectators are of two kinds, those who know nothing
about the game and those who know very little. The first-class is
more numerous and more volu
ble. The first and foremost ac
tivity in watching a tennis
match Is talking. At a base
ball game or a foot ball game
people root, or hop up and
down and throw away their
new hats, but all the time they
are watching the game. If they
have anything to say It is di
rected at the umpire. But at
a tennis match it is different.
The excitement of the game Is
flavored with a mild mixture of
salad ideas, or somebody's new
voile. Once in a while some
one takes enough Interest in a
player to ask where he is from.
Occasionally there is a round of
dainty applause when a good
looking boy strikes a fine atti
tude. No perspiration; no hur
rays. Nearly everyone gives or
attends a bridge party at least
once during the week at the
Field club. The hostess usually
thinks it necessary to explain
to her guests that the men on the courts below them are playing ten
nis. "Having some sort of a tournament," she remarks. Isn t
that beautiful flannel that young.man is wearing?"
Once in a while a man comes to the gallery who hefted a tennis
racket in his hand the last time her was in a sporting goods store to
buy a fish hook and he does the critic. He watches the nearest
match for a while and then asks, doing his best to conceal his con
tempt, "This is not a regular tournament match, is it?". No matter
if a point is contested for five minutes by a series of brilliant returns,
he will wait desperately for the end and then mutter, "Rotten, rot
teu," and chew his mustache. The tennis game is easy for this kind
of a grouch because everybody loses his points the same way. There
are only two things a man can do to lose a point, and these are to
drive the ball into the net or out of the boundary line. The grouch
knows that he could do the same things the expert finally doer, and
do them a lot quicker.
"'' It is only on the last day that there is ever any real interest in
the gallery. On Saturday afternoon, when somebody has emerged
from entangling opponents for the ninety-third time to establish
himself as champion, with only one lone fighter clinging to him for a
last fight, then the gallery is scattered slightly with men folks and it
assumes something of the proportions and manner of a crowd. The
play is watched with intense Interest for five or ten minutes, after
which the talk Is resumed with fervor. A championship tennis
match lasts for nearly three hours sometimes; at least that Is said
to be the case. No layman ever was known to hang around and find
out. But, as we said before, when a tennis tournament Is to be de-
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"HAPPY HOOLIGAN" POLO TEAM.
tournaments, and everything Is supposed to be for them and by them,
they take advantage of the committee.
For years the favorite selection at the Omaha Field club related
how,
Around her neck she wore a yellow ribbon.
She wore it for her lover, who was far, far away.
It is asserted that when this song first came out it had a plot,
but if so it was the author's reason for writing it. This year a news
paper editor from Des Moines who happens to attend tennis meetings
offered a ditty that went like this:
Some folks say the Fleld'club, she ain't got no style,
Why, she's style all the while, all the while.
This song went big. At the smoker it was sung no less than
700 times. It was reduced long before morning to a pleasing uni
formity of tune which made it distinguishable among the others. At
the smoker everybody sings. That Is why the big events of Saturday
the next day are all put off until the afternoon.
A man came into this year's tournament from Doniphan. He
probably never attended a tournament before. It is possible that he
was never out of Doniphan before. He played a good game of tennis
and he played hard the first day. After that first day he was lost in
the melee of the entertainment. Saturday morning he went home
with a headache. He sat on the street car going toward the depot
and drummed on his hat rumlnatlvely. "That tennis," he remarked,
"That tennis surely is a great game." Then he went away, humming
sadly: ,
Around her neck she wore a yellow ribbon.
She wore it for her lover, who was far, far away.
Governor Shallenberg-er's Invasion of the Northwest a Social Success
to
NCE again has a Nebraska chief executive ana nis aimrav
staff visited the great northwest on a mission of pejice
and 'good will, and returned heavily laden with good
cheer and good words that tend to knit closer the bonds
that unite tw great sections of a great country.
The visit of Governor Shallenberger and his staff of colonels to
the Seattle exposition Is the fourth invasion of this region by Ne
braska executives in the last eight years. In fact, it has become a
habit with Nebraekans to send their chief executive to the northwest
every blcnnium, and the great reception given them is evidence of
the appreciation of the peorle of that section. Back In 1902 Gov
ernor Savuge and his Maff made the trip und the governor drove the
first rivet in tho battleship Nebrask. Governor Midcey and his
staff were present on the occasion of the christening of the mighty
battleship two years later. Governor Mickey also went to the Port
land exposition. Then Governor Sheldon and his staff visited the
battleship at San FrancUco last yeir when tho state presented the
ot fleers with a silver service. In the meantime, however. Governor
Sheldon heiided the Ohialia business men who visitei the northwest
two years ago.
So by tills time the people of the northwest are acquainted with
Kebratikani. which probably in counts for the elaborate entertain
ment they furnished.
Of couise, the feature of the Shallenberger trip was Nebraska
day at tho exposition. Here the governor and his staff not only met
many hundreds of former Nebraska citizeus and Nebraskans who
vtore visiting on the coast, but were entertained and did entertain
from early morning until late at night. So inspiring was the occa
sion and such were the heights attained by Governor Shallenberger
iu delivering an address that Congressman Sulzer of New York
formally nominated him for president on the democratic ticket In
1912. and the Seattle Daily Times had tils to say of him:
"For half an hour this morning hundreds of former Nebraskans,
packing the auditorium of the New Ydrk aiate building at the expo
sition, listened with rapt attention to th" most scholarly, powerful
oratorical effort delivered since the opening of the fair., The speaker
m Governor A. C. Shallenberger of Nebraska, an orator of excep
tional power and pleasing personality. During his masterful address
on the greatness of the agricultural resources of hts state, a pin
could have been heard to drop, so entranced were his auditors with
his words. Exposition visitors and officials who have heard many
speakers at the expositlou unanimously declared after the address
the fair began."
ernor and his staff
Just gives an Inkling of how they got off on the right foot at the
start. From that time on the Nebraskans "were doing rery well."
Governor Shallenberger delivered his address on the morning of
Auguft 17. and that night he was given a banquet by the exposition
managers, to which was Inivtt?d his entire partf and Governor Oll
chrUt of Florida. Governor Veesey of South Dakota, Congressman
Sulier of New York, with whom the governor served In congress;
4 Mayor Pratt of Seattle, President Cailberg and the director! ef thr
exposition. At the banquet the governor made another hit, but he was
not the only one. James E. Kelby, general counsel for the Burlington
railroad, who, with Mrs. Kelby, was visiting the exposition, accepted
the title of colonel for the evening and therefore was a guest at the
banquet. His fame having preceded him, he was naturally called
upon for an after-dinner talk. He spoke for Omaha, the toastmaster
announced, the last city to hold a successful exposition. Among
other things Colonel Kelby said, speaking for the benefit of the sev
eral governors present:
"I am impressed with the sovereignty of the state. I never como
under the win of a governor but what I am reminded of the strict
observance of the statutes of the several states. So It
pains me that one of the most prominent laws of our state has been
bo ruthlessly violated tonight the 6 o'clock closing law."'
Which also indicated that the governor and his staff were "still
doing very well."
In his talk at the banquet Governor Shallenberger referred to
the nine battleships which had been seen In the harbor that day, and
which had been such a treat to ill the visitors. In speaking of the
huge affairs, the governor said there must be men behind the guns,
men of good material, and he was proud to announce that the "bacon
which gave the men courage and staying qualities came from Ne
braska." Which statement was literally true, for the governor in
vestigated the commissary and discovered the. bacon had all been
bought in Nebraska.
The governor and his party reached Seattle on Sunday afternoon
and Private Secretary W. J. Furse, who had charge of the colonels,
at once notified President Chllberg of the exposition officially of the
that they had never heard so pleasing an effort since
f 1 That little excerpt of tho doings of the governc
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GOVERNOR SHALLENBERGER AND PARTY AT TBS ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.
arrival of the party. The announcement to President Chllberg was
the signal for the city to turn itself over to the Nebraskans. The
exposition management left to Mr. Furse the matter of the program
for Nebraska day, Tuesday, and in the meantime presented to him
the right-of-way over everything on and off the exposition groundB
for every member of the party. The New York state building was
turned over to the Nebraskans and on Tuesday the' entire party,
headed by the Clan Frazer pipers, marched Into the grounds and to
the building, where the exercises occurred. Then guides were fur
nished and every member of the party was given an opportunity to
see the exposition.
Following the banquet in the evening an informal reception was
held, during which Governor and Mrs. Shallenberger were presented
to hundreds of wandering Nebraskans who still carry in their hearts
a great love for the prairie state.
A feature of Nebraska day was the meeting between John Hart
man, now one of the most prominent attorneys on the coast, but
formerly of Kearney, and Colonel Marshall of Omaha. These two
had not seen each other for twenty-five years, when they were school
boys together. They fell on each other's necks at sight, and as the
lid was off there was no end to the remlniscenses they told each
other. All of which was thoroughly enjoyed by the remainder of
the party. Mr. Hartman presided over the exercises in place of Pres
ident Chilberg.
The first important stop made by the governor's party was at
Spokane, where the irrigation congress was in session. Here a re
ception committee met the party at the station and marched to the
convention hall, where seats had been arranged on tho stage. As
the governor at tho head of as gallant a lot of colouola as ever drew
a sword In defense of the right, and as beautiful and stately women
as ever crossed a continent, entered the audience forgot for the time
the PInchot-BalHnger differences and the applause paved the way
for the harmony speoch delivered by the governor. The chief ex-
ecutive scored here when, after listening to the governors of half a
dozen states tell of their products and resources, announced that
nono of them had produced the floods while he brought "Eper-imens"
with him, and he waved In the direction of his party. The audience,
so the papers said, showed Its approval by prolonged applause.
That night tho Commercial club of Spokane gave a dinner to the
Nebraskans and tried to get them to stop and live there. Among the
distinguished outsiders at this dinner were: Governor Brady of
Idaho, Governor Norrts of Montana, Governor Vessey of South Da
kota, Governor Gilchrist of Florida and Governor Hay of Washing
ton. Governor Hay addressed tho party on behalf of the state of
Washington nnd Governor Shallenberger responded on behalf of the
visiting executives.
But that was not all the entertainment furnished by the Wash
Ingtonlane. Hohert Jones, a relative of the governor of Nebraska,
who Is married to a niece of Mrs. Shalleberser, felt It doubly In
cumbent on himself to do sometHng for the visitors, so he and Mrs.
Jones took the party on. a trolley ride to Prospect lake, where a
(Continued on Pago Two.)
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