character. The employer plays two rounds a day; this means about four and a half hours' work for the caddie, not enough to keep him constantly employed, but just enough to keep him from engaging himself in any other pursuit for the rest of the day. He is probably handling clubs and mastering the art of the game, but it is nevertheless not by any means a wholesome life, and the wise parent will not hesitate to make him learn a trade if he can get the chance. I also think it wise and right for golf clubs not to encourage the trade of the caddie for youths above fifteen or sixteen years old. The trade may be all very well for a boy, but carrying clubs ought not to be the staple occupation of a man; he is bound to take to drink, for he has so much idle time on his hands.[1] The Scotch are far more particular in the enforcing of the Education Act than the English.
- ↑ The picture of Alick, an old Scotchman who was employed by the Blackheath Golf Club for the first forty years of this century, is a poetical illustration of the old-fashioned caddie. If the honest truth be told, these old Scotch caddies could not be described as famous for sobriety, though I hope old Alick was an exception.
