The Good Templars were a temperance brotherhood which combined the principles of tee-totalism with certain mysticrites, imitated more or less from freemasonry, having secret signs, passwords, and insignia peculiar to itself. It originated in New York in 1851, and extended to Britain in 1868. The organization consisted of local 'subordinate' lodges, county 'district' lodges, national 'grand' lodges, and an international 'right worthy' grand lodge. A 'juvenile order' was also attached; and the Templars founded an orphanage at Sunbury, near London, at a cost of 10,000 pounds. Research Good Templars
Curling or the Roaring Game is a Scottish national game akin to bowls played with large smooth stones having somewhat the shape of a flattened hemisphere, weighing from 80 to 45 lbs. each, with an iron or wooden handle at the top, from one mark to another on the ice. Curling is said to have been introduced from the Low Countries in the 16th century.
The space within which the stones move is called the rink, and the hole or mark at each end the tee. The length of the rink from tee to tee varies from 30 to 50 yards. The players are arranged in two parties, each headed by a skip or director. The number of players upon a rink is eight or sixteen - eight when the players use two stones each, and sixteen when they use one stone each. There may be one or more rinks according to the number of curlers. The object of the player is to lay his stone as near to the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner which has been well laid before, or to strike off that of his antagonist. When the stones on both sides have been all played the stone nearest the tee counts one, and if the second, third, fourth, etc, belong to the same side, each counts one more, the number played for being generally twenty-one. If a player's stone does not cross a line, called the hog-score, at some distance in front of the tee his shot goes for nothing and the stone is removed from the rink. The set matches are termed bonspiels. Since the 19th century the game has been played in England, Canada, the USA and elsewhere. Research Curling
Golf is a game played with clubs and balls over large commons, downs, or links. It is said to have originated in Holland, and the word golf itself is doubtfully derived from the Dutch kolf, a club. It has been played in Scotland for centuries, and there are several references to the game in Scottish Acts of Parliament, as in one passed in 1491 under James IV, which classes football and 'gouff' with 'uthir sic unproffitable sportis'. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that the game really began to take root in England, although the golf club with the oldest records is that at Blackheath, founded by James I, or his Scottish courtiers. Apart from this, the first English golf club was started at Westward Ho, Devon, in 1864; and gradually this was followed by other clubs all over the country. The Royal and Ancient Club of St Andrews (founded in 1754) is the recognized head-quarters of the game in the United Kingdom, and long laid down the law for the golfing community. Towards the start of the 20th century a Rules of Golf Committee was formed; but all its members were members of the St Andrewsclub, which
thus practically maintained its supremacy. Other well-known golf courses or links are at North Berwick, Prestwick (near Ayr), and Muirfield (Haddingtonshire), in Scotland ; Westward Ho, Hoylake, and Sandwich, in England; and Portrush, in Ireland. A golf club was founded at Calcutta in 1829, Bombay and Pau (in the south of France) coming next in order. The game spread to the United States, through Canada, about 1890, and quickly become amazingly popular there within the next fifteen years.
A golf-course of full size is divided into eighteen sections by a series of small round holes, 4.25 inches in diameter, sunk in the turf at distances of from 100 to 500 yards from each other, so as to form a circuit or round; many courses have only nine holes. The ground between the holes must be varied in character, being diversified by obstacles, whether natural or artificial, such as sand or other 'bunkers', hillocks, ditches, streams, etc. Round each hole a grass-grown space, known as the 'putting-green', is kept perfectly smooth. The object of the game is, starting from the first 'teeing-ground' (or place from which the balls are driven off towards each hole), to drive the ball into the next hole in as few strokes as possible, and so on with all the holes in succession, the side which 'holes out' on any occasion in the fewest strokes being said to win the hole. The match is decided either by the greatest number of holes won, or by the aggregate number of strokes for the whole round. In medal play, and in some championships, the score is always reckoned by strokes. Often what are known as 'Bogey' competitions are held. 'ColonelBogey', who is a kind of 'Mrs. Harris' of golf, has a fixed score allotted to him for each hole, this score being approximately that of a good player who accomplishes the round without making any bad blunders - the term par later being applied, thus a hole which should be completed in four strokes is known as a par 4 hole. The competitors contest each hole with this mythical opponent, and the winner is he who finishes the greatest number of holes 'up', or more generally the least number 'down', on 'Bogey' (under par).
Ordinarily the ball may not be touched otherwise than with the club during the game, except to take it out of the hole and place it in position on the teeing-ground (the 'tee' being a little mound of sand, on which the ball is placed for the first drive to each hole). Sometimes, however, the local rules of a club recognize certain places on the course from which the ball is practically unplayable, and if a ball lodges in one of these places the player is allowed to take it out and drop it behind him under penalty of one stroke.
The varying nature of the ground on a golf-course, and the different obstacles to be surmounted, necessitate the use of a number of different clubs. The chief clubs are the driver, brassy, deck, mashie, iron, niblick, and putter. Of these the first two have wooden heads, the rest iron, though the putter is often made of aluminium. The heads of wooden clubs are made of beech, persimmon, or logwood, weighted with lead behind, and protected with horn at the bottom. The shafts were usually of hickory and were spliced to the heads and bound with strong twine - later carbon fiber became common place. The driver is the club used for the first drive from the teeing-ground, but may also be used for other strokes if the 'lie' of the ball is good. It is the longest club of all, and has an exceedingly springy and supple shaft. A good driver will send the ball, if accurately hit, more than 200 yards. The brassy is a somewhat similar club, but is shorter, less springy, and is shod with a brass plate. Its face is laid back somewhat, so as to 'loft' the ball, and it is used in fairly good 'lies' on grass. The deck, an iron club with a flat face, is used for drives of from 100 to 150 yards, or where the lie of the ball is such that a wooden club cannot be used. Both the mashie and the iron are used for lofting the ball out of bunkers or over obstacles, or for short 'approaches', and accordingly have their faces laid back, the mashie having the shorter head of the two. The niblick has a very short spoon-shaped head, and serves to extricate the ball from deep sand, small holes, and formerly cart-ruts, etc. The putter is used on the putting-green for coaxing the ball into the hole from short distances.
The ball, which was originally of feathers covered with leather, was latterly always made of gutta-percha, and by 1910 usually consisted of a core round which india-rubber thread is wound, the whole being cased with gutta-percha, later balls were very similar, the outer casing being plastic however. These balls have been found to be more springy, and can be driven farther than the older gutta-percha balls.
As early as 1905 golf was a popular game with women, competitions being played among both men and among women seperately. The popularity of golf with women caused a great deal of excitement among Victorian society.
A tee shirt is a unisex, short-sleeved shirt generally made of cotton with a crew neckline, but sometimes a V neck, and either plain or printed with a pattern, picture or slogan. The tee shirt developed from the vest worn as an item of underwear. Research Tee Shirt
A tee shirt dress is a short, loose dress made from a light jersey knitted fabric with a ribbed collar similar to a tee shirt, but longer. Research Tee Shirt Dress
Tea is a drink made from the infusion in boiling hot water of the dried leaves of the tea tree or shrub (Camellia sinensis) which is cultivated in China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka and other parts of the world. Tea may be drunk with a little added milk, or with a slice of lemon, or on its own, and there are various varieties of tea including: black, green, gunpowder tea and white teas. When making tea, it is important to use fresh water and boil it once only. Repeated boiling removes the oxygen from the water and impairs the taste of the tea subsequently infused with it.
The drinking of tea was first introduced to England during the mid-17th century from China, when it was then known as 'tee', drunk by the cup, and described as a drink from China.
On June the 29th, 1767, at the instance of Lord North, the British Parliament passed an act levying a high duty on tea imported into the colonies. In 1769 the citizens of Boston, Massachusetts sent vigorous resolutions to the King denouncing this act. It was partially repealed in 1770, but the East India Company was later assisted by the Government in shipping a surplus quantity of tea to Boston. On December the 1st, 1773, the citizens of Boston held a meeting to consult concerning the most effectual method of preventing the landing of this tea. Another meeting was held on December the 10th, and parties of citizens disguised as Mohawk Indians, made a raid upon the vessels and threw the tea overboard - an event which has since become known as the 'Boston Tea Party'. In several of the other American colonies the landing of tea was prohibited and the cargoes sent whence they came. Research Tea More information about Tea
A tope (stupa, chorten) is a structure erected by Buddhist monks for the preservation of sacred relics. Topes are built of solid masonry in some cases, and of loose stones in others; have sometimes a spherical base, in other instances a polygonal one, though a few are circular, and are generally crowned by a finial called a tee.. They abound in Central India, in Kashmir and the IndusValley and in Sri Lanka where they are called 'dagobas'. When a dagoba has a definite commemorative purpose, it is known as a Stupa. Topes are generally enclosed within a stone railing or other barrier. Research Tope
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