Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1965, 28 December 1906, Page 2

Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1906.

if “a hit of nonsense now and then is relished by Llio wisest men” b> eciise they insist uj>on having a bit if nonsense to vary the monotony of “life’s dull round,” and to relieve the strain which constant serious thought imposes, tiu.ro is no reason why tlu practice should not be commended indeed, there are many reasons wiry it slum! 1 be. and if, instead of the “bit of nonsense,” something of a mental character can be substituted, so much the hotter. In sclecting-this method ot recuperating the mile there are many ideas displayed ami nmnys tastes indulged, for, accord im. to taste and opportunity, young am old employ their spare moments in doing something, even though ih u something consists of merely standi P,J at a street corner behind a small roll of tissue paper filled with dried narcotics and expectorating on the footpath 10 make punctuation marks ;n the interesting chat. That, however is scarcely the “hit of nonsense” indulged in hy “the wisest men” who, in their moments of levity, often ap i pear .scarcely no less sensible To ! (luumvate the list of 1 eerentions mental end physical, that are employed to while away an idle hour would be as voluminous as it is mi necessary, and everyone has its fascinations for its paiticular devotees; none envying the other, and all firm ly convinced that every other metkeri of adopted enjoyment is inferior t i the one adopted hy oneself. Upon that point there is no such thing as unanimity ; but the general concenuis of opinion won hi lie that to spend a fortnight’s Christinas holiday pbiyuig chess, even though the honor of the title of international champion at* | tneiies to the successful competitor, it, the least enjoya.ble of the many things that human ingenuity lias invented in the way of recreation. Far once the general opinion is wrong, and those who have taken up the game of chess as a recreation and become initiated into its never-ending att'Mctivem ss, will unhesitatingly attest the statement and prove ihe opinions formed of its real character without a knowledge of its details to he a fallacy. As a matter of fact, there is no game coinpaialdc with chess, or one that is, like it, at once a source .of amusement and instru-; tion. But it is more than that; it is

:i Itf.-tiii ixpander, nml is as i‘cn'.ssirv

to l!u> development *»1 the niiiicl as] physieal exi rcise is to Iho body. Indeed we i|.i mil luviil.iilo lo sil.V that Iho game slmulil In' taught in on" Imili lif schools ns mi ni'l to nicnl.nl culItiio; lull, lo show \\ hy it is nilv.iuIngeutis in (lull rq.spect is not mi easy ii.alcr niihss the render Inis some knowledge ol the game, anil then it would hi' cnsy. Still it may he taken lor era.ill'll that n name which possesses such fnsriuating inliicaclcs which lend the student on lo exercise his I kinking powers in a plensu rnlile

iny, cannot lie other (linn heiiclicial. t curbs his rashness, and teaches ii in the wholesome lesson that lo nake a move without first considering uliat the consi'i|iicnci'S ol that move may he is lint the host way to gain his cud, for caution is as essential in the pane of life as if is in the game iif chess, and the player .n either pane ’must observe the cardinal rules of success In both, or sueeumh\to his adversary. in both failles the conditions ale almost synonymous, and the practice of the one, though it he merelv endertaken for pleasure, invariably influences the mind to adopt and exercise those higher qualities of thought and action that coalman l success in the other.

In our public schools football' and itlier games are taught and onion raged, and rightly so; but, while <o much attention is being paid to them a little of it might well be bestowed upon tbe game of chess. There need lie no fear that tbe time spent in its study' is time wasted, and we

could quote instances wherein its indulgence has transformed erratic impulsive, and somewhat obtust

brains into active, well-balanced me talities in a way that no other trai iug would so well succeed for the very simple reason that the subjects wo:c developing those qiinMies unknown to themselves and without, a suspicion of study which in each case was distasteful. Vet it must not be assumed that all the wise and clever men ol the earth are chess players, or tlial all the chess players are all wise am clever men, for all that is claimed r'oi tlns study of the game is that those who know it are infinitely the .better for it, and that without the mental exercise which its practice affords they would not be as good men as they are. Possibly it is because of its intrinsic value as a mental educator that chess is shunned by most people because they quite unwarrantably come to the conclusion that it is too intricate to learn, and that to attempt to master it would he a hopeless task. Why, if it were so simple that it could he mastered in a week or a year its value would bo gone, and the fact that no one ever yet has mastered its enormous multiplicity ol combinations and intricacies, while mere novice can divine amusement and instruction of the highest order from it without overtaxing his brain, is surely, an evidence of its untoid value as a brain expander. Some day we hope to see the boys from the street corners and those who find it difficult to fill in the idle hours of the evening employing the time in friendly contests over the chessboard, and if they can be induced to do that they will he materially assisted to become citizens when the more serious games of life confront them in after years.