Matchmaker

“ One of the former partners stated that, if the American people would show any desire for the matches, he could furnish them much cheaper than the matches produced in this country, as in Sweden the materials are provided at a very trifling expense. But, as he expressed it, "an American prefers to put his hand into his pocket, take out a match, and strike it on his pantaloons or shoe, to economizing by carrying them around in the box in which he buys them. And you could never get the Irish servants here to use safety-matches unless you had the priest on your side." ”

“ Request some one to select one end of the row and to take one, two, or three matches from it, you having the same privilege at the other end; and you guarantee he will be compelled to take the last match no matter how he may vary the number he takes.
The secret is to remove four matches each time between you. For instance, if your opponent takes three you take one; if he takes two you take two; if he takes one you take three and so on. It is obvious if four matches are taken six times one match will be left on the table, which your opponent must take. ”

“ Are they loose in a drawer or on a shelf, or are they in a covered box or dish of metal or earthenware? Sometimes uncovered matches are ignited by the sun's rays shining through a lens-forming bubble in a window-pane.
Do you carry matches on your person? A child should never be allowed to do this. He may be careful, but some careless child may ask him for a match. Always be on the safe side. A grown person should never permit himself to carry loose matches in his pocket. The State Fire Marshal of Iowa says:
Some men, especially smokers, are in the habit of carrying matches around with them. ”

“ Some may not yet be convinced that the striking of matches is suggestive and immoral. To me nearly everything is suggestive, but there are some stupid persons in England. I will be patient with them, and give them more evidence.
A wax match is called a vesta. Who was Vesta? But this is too horrible. I cannot pursue this point in a periodical which is read in families. I can only refer you to the classical dictionary, and remind you that everything must infallibly suggest its opposite. Again, there are matches which strike only on the box. ”

“ When my form is espied near the links, the players shirk off as if I were a leper. They are afraid I may want to make a match with them, and there is no falsehood from which they will shrink, in their desire to escape me. Even Ladies,—but this is a delicate theme. Beginners breathe themselves on me, and give me odds after two or three engagements.
Yet I don't know why I am so bad. True, I am short-sighted, never see the flag at the hole, play in the wrong direction, and talk a good deal on topics of academic interest during the round. ”

“ Matches do not think with their heads. When you use them, your head has to do all the thinking. Do the thinking! Put them out!
Safety Rules for Buying Matches
1. Purchase by brand, and always avoid brands which break, lose their heads, or glow after being blown out.
2. Look for the label of the Underwriters' Laboratories.
3. Give the preference to strike-on-the-box, or safety matches, but, in case of buying the strike-anywhere match, get one that has a protected tip.
Safety Rules for Using Matches
1. ”

“ So it seems that the best match-book should rightly be a strictly private thing; if it were meant as a book for the table or any other place where it might be exposed to the gaze of the curious, there might at some time come a reluctance to the owner to state in full the truth of the day’s play, since the honest criticism of a partner in a foursome or of an opponent, to some who did not understand, might not appear so necessary as was actually the case. ”

“ And why do not men buy their matches in a businesslike way? Every man should ask to see them before making a purchase. He should compare the brands, take note of the length and thickness of the sticks, examine the size and quality of the heads, test the durability of the sides of the boxes, compare the numbers in the various boxes, test the breaking strain of the matches and the strength of the flares when struck, and time with a stop-watch the burning of a certain length of match. ”

“ To light this, you had to pinch the ball and the acid that was thus let out acted upon the other chemicals on the match and kindled it—or was expected to kindle it, which was not always the same thing.
Making matches is a big business, even if one hundred of them are sold for a cent. It is estimated that on an average each person uses seven matches every day. ”

“ Naturally, each one plays for himself and for his own advantage, therefore there is no partnership as in whist; and yet in the course of playing one has often to form a sort of alliance for a moment with a second player in order to prevent the common calamity against the probable stratagem of the third player. I may also add, that as each one plays on his own account, he has the option of standing out for one game, as I have already indicated, in which case, however, he has to pay a certain penalty. ”

“ In other words, while the safety match, as a rule, is safer than the kind first mentioned, a poorly made strike-on-the-box match may be more dangerous than a well-made strike-anywhere match. Therefore, we ought to know something about what a match is, as well as how to use it. ”

“ This is a good selection to outline. Perhaps your teacher will have some of the best outlines put on the blackboard.
The match is one of the most valuable and one of the most dangerous articles made by man. It has been in use for less than one hundred years, but think of trying to get along without it!
Suppose, for example, that you were camping far from any houses, and discovered, when the time came to cook dinner, that you had lost your matches. What would you do? Would you rub sticks together like the Indian or make a "bow-drill" like the Eskimo? ”

“ There are several kinds of matches,—brimstone matches, parlor matches, bird's-eye matches, and safety matches. Safety matches can be lighted only on their own box, and are, therefore, the safest match to use. Parlor matches, so called, are dangerous, as they break easily and the blazing head flies off, lodging in clothing, draperies, or furniture. ”

“ It is said that more matches are sold in the United States than in all the rest of the world. More than seven hundred million matches are used in the United States each day. You can hardly imagine such a figure. If a factory made just one match for every minute, night and day, it would take nearly fourteen hundred years for it to produce as many matches as this country uses in a single day. ”

“ We have elsewhere asserted that the art of match-making requires cultivation. We are told, however, that, on the contrary, match-making is so zealously studied and skillfully pursued that it bids fair to be the great social evil of nineteenth-century civilization. ”

“ A match may be a small thing on which to practice economy and yet a great many times one wishes to relight a match either for economy or necessity. The usual method is to place the burnt portion of the match in the flame to be relighted as shown in Fig. 1. It is very hard to relight the charred end and usually burnt fingers are the result of pushing the match farther in the flame. Hold the burnt end in the fingers and place the other end in the flame as shown in Fig. 2. A light will be secured quickly and the flame will only follow the stick to the old burnt portion. ”

“ When you are a complete stranger and alone, and you beg the club steward that he will find you matches, do not hesitate when he offers you an opponent, even though the latter’s handicap is either too large or too small to give you the most enjoyable match. ”

“ Whoever mentions an object without touching it, or names one that has already been given, pays a forfeit.
The Three Matches.
With your penknife slit one end of a match, and trim that of another into a wedge shape. Insert this latter into the split end of the former, so that the two shall form an acute angle. Place [127] them on the table, the angle upward, and prop them up by leaning another match against them, the whole forming a tripod, as shown in the figure. Now hand a fourth match to one of the company, and request him to lift with it the other three from the table. ”

“ Again, the practice of match-playing is opposed to our habits, both as a consumer of time and as partaking too much of gambling. Still, it is done in the case of "firemen's musters," which are, we believe, a wholly indigenous institution. ”

“ If you deprive your partner of the information to which he is entitled, you rob Bridge of much of its intellectual pleasure. How can he know when the weak hand can “ruff” your suit? How can he tell whether a lead will force the strong hand or give it a discard? How can he count your hand or the dealer’s? How can he make correct end plays without knowing the position of the cards?
Without this help to partnership play you are in no position to combat the dealer. It is not difficult to win tricks from adversaries who neither give, nor make use of information. ”

“ May two itinerant match-vendors combine to sell matches below their value in order by competition to drive a third match-vendor from the street? In cases like these, where the elements of intimidation, molestation, or the other kinds of illegality to which I have alluded are not present, the question must be decided by the application of the test I have indicated. Assume that what is done is intentional, and that it is calculated to do harm to others. ”

“ They may be strolling in a garden looking at the hanging wistaria, or meet at a theatre, where the families are introduced, and the two most concerned have a chance to take 292a good look at each other, and the next day, when the anxious match-maker comes to the house to learn whether his choice has met with favour, they will give their consent, or the match will be broken off, and the go-between will start again the hunt for an eligible alliance. ”

“ There is no living with them, and so forth. The female match-maker comes to inform them how she is progressing in her search for a proper match for Lípotchka, and the latter declares stoutly, that she will never marry a merchant. ”

“ He who gains the move has also the choice of color. Each player uses the same color throughout the sitting. When a match is made for a given number of games, the move passes alternately throughout the match. A player giving odds has the choice of men, and takes the move in every game, unless agreed to the contrary. ”

“ You might think that borrowing a match upon the street is a simple thing. But any man who has ever tried it will assure you that it is not, and will be prepared to swear to the truth of my experience of the other evening. ”

“ The player on the dealer’s left having determined which course he will pursue, the one on his left has to decide, and so on, until the dealer is reached; he may, in like manner, stand, throw up, or take miss, provided the spare hand has not already been appropriated. If none of the players take the miss it is added to the pack, but in that case it must not be exposed, or looked at by any of the players. ”

“ The dealer’s partner is always the dummy, and either side may score toward game by making the odd trick or more. Auction bridge, in which the privilege of making the trump is bid for, the highest bidder playing the hand with his partner as dummy, regardless of the position of the deal, and his side being the only one that can score toward game, the adversaries scoring nothing but penalties in the honour column if they defeat the contract. ”

“ Before competing in any match be sure to thoroughly familiarize yourself with all the conditions. This will prevent mistakes that frequently disqualify competitors and lead to disagreeable controversies. Avoid getting into any arguments or disputes with range officers, or officials in charge of the matches, and particularly while the matches are in progress. The range officers are invariably extremely busy and it is unjust to the other competitors to usurp more of their time than is your proper portion. ”

“ Overtaking is not confined to the dealer’s play, and it is much more difficult for the adversaries to determine when to resort to this strategy. As a rule, when the dealer is apparently holding up the winning card, and when the cards of your suit are of equal value, it is safer to overtake your partner’s card than to risk his being unable to continue the lead. ”

“ Just between us, there is a match pushed far into the hem at all four corners. Each time she is supposed to be cracking the match in the center of the handkerchief, she is very careful to crack one of the corner matches instead! ”

“ But even supposing the question of the table to be settled, there is another formidable difficulty in the way of reviving satisfactory matches—namely, how to insure that the game is genuine and that each competitor is trying to win. The great games of old days were for the most part honest, the stakes were real, the rivalry of competitors was evident, and these facts added greatly to their attraction. ”

“ Any one dealing out of turn, or with the adversary's cards, may be stopped before the trump card is turned up, after which the game must proceed as if no mistake had been made.
49. A player can neither shuffle, cut, nor deal for his partner, without the permission of his opponents.
50. If the adversaries interrupt a dealer whilst dealing, either by questioning the score or asserting that it is not his deal, and fail to establish such claim, should a misdeal occur, he may deal again. ”