During the 1860s croquet swept across the Atlantic into America, where it was immediately embraced by most as a truly elegant and fasioinable sport and, above all, a great civilizer. The New York periodical Galaxy declared in 1867 that "croquet is an essentially social game, provocative of good humour, wit and fellowship, one in which old men foreget their gout, young ones their bills unpaid; in which old ladies trip gayly across the sod in the chase of an 'enemy'...in which the young ones blend duty and enjoyment so evenly that health blooms in their cheeks, lustre in their eyes, and renewed life throbs in every elastic step." One manual of croquet went even further, claiming that croquet was "a protection from evil influences by keeping all members in the household ranks ... [since] with rational amusements at home, no-one will be inclined to seek irrational ones abroad." Yet not all were so enamoured. In 1878, the American Christian Review listed the inevtable disasterous consequences of social activities such as croquet (see diagram). In 1867, the Commissioners of New York's Central Park made a generous exception to their normal prohibition of active adult sports. Splendidly, they allowed young girls to play croquet in secluded areas--away from main thoroughfares--on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
a social party
social & party play
croquet party
picnic & croquet party
picnic, croquet, & dance
absence from church
imprudent or immoral conduct
exclusion from the church
a runaway match
poverty & discontent
shame & disgrace
ruin
- Ben Schott, Schott's Sporting, Gaming, and Idling Miscellany
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