THE HOCKEY CIRL

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2595, 1 September 1909, Page 7

THE HOCKEY CIRL

HER PECULIARITIES AND HER CHARMS.

ON AND OFF THE FIELD. The hockey girl looks her best in the . street, and of late the Napier .streets' have been seeing ,a good deal of her,! says the “Telegraph,” The. Hawke’s; Bay Hockey Association have had no; reason to extensively advertise a colon-! ial hockey tournament in flaming post-1 ■ ers or adopt other theatrical measures to catch thel public eye. The best ad-? vertisement that the game could have has been the Girl 'herself. The Man on the footpath takes off his hat to her.. The girl does not bow. She nods. It is a healthy, vigorous “Hullo-old-chapi how-are-you’ kind of a nod. It is just the nod that the Man might expect from such a Girl. \ The Hockey Girl is just about the latest things in girls. The Sandow Girl /helped to bring her out and! probably induced her to put a pretty face and “a superb, figure” into a stylish costume. The costume is a great inducement. It looks well in the street—the dainty knitted cap on thd back of a bunch of hair, the tight-fit-ting blouse with a cluster of club .rib; bons, the gymnastic skirt, and the neatly-shod understandings. The club goes with it; in fact, the hockey cosj -turn© would be nothing without the club, athletically flung over her should! er. Some girls carry their clubs effe! minately under their arms. For the sake of “The” Girl they ought to be made to stop it. Such a thing is infra, ‘dignitatem. Girls should remember "that a club is a club —not a parasol, j When the Hockey Girl goes on to the 'field she “bullies-off.” That is the ’■first thing she does. No one would ■dream of telling her to “girlie-off.” •“Hit-off” might be more euphonic, but •it would not be such a masculine mouthful as “bully.” That rough chip of athletic nomenclature, transforms the Hockey Girl. She gets into the , game and stretches herself. The club ■comes off her shoulder—quick. The pretty face flushes and probably the Man on the line doesn't recognise it. The tight-fitting blouse and the gymnastic skirt cover a quivering figure -that looks well, if Nature has made it ; so. The girl shows a quick ey© and a strong arm, and the idol of the hour dashes past the crowd with fleetness of foot. It is Girl against Girl and the eoveted goal lies beyond the circle where each hopes to score with a winning hit. The end of the play shows liockev beauty unadorned but triumphant. The Girl can still cheer and she takes a shrill soprano top note with staccato suddenness. Dr.. Thomas, the judge of the Napier Musical Competitions, said that the sopranos 'that came under his notice were poor in their top notes. He should have heard ■ the Hockey Girl. \ The Hockey Girl is; worth meeting ; after the game. She is then like any other girl—she changes her manner with her clothes. She plunges into enjoyment with, zest (and fights her bati ties direr again between the dances. She ’has choice vocabulary that gets beyond the grammatical border-line, but she is the girl who "lays the game. She • doesn’t look at it. Kippling’s poetical *tannt of souls content with gazing at the “flannelled fools at ttbe-jyieket and the muddied oafs at the goal” would not- be required if the masculine bapracker would get into the game with - the zest of the Hockey'Girl. 'She is a -great girl and —as Mr. Dooley .would • say — she knows she is. i