All the world loves to play, and the characters in Isabella’s novels were no exception. Come springtime, many of Isabella’s characters headed outdoors to engage in some kind of sport for fun and relaxation.
Ester Randall and her friends played tennis in Ester Ried’s Namesake.
In What They Couldn’t, Professor Landis enjoyed neighborhood baseball games until his few leisure hours were overtaken by the duties of his profession.
On the other hand, Irene Burnham was a lady of leisure in Ruth Erskine’s Son. She had plenty of time to play tennis and golf.
By the time Irene Burnham appeared in the novel, lady golfers had been swinging their clubs for centuries. Mary Queen of Scots was said to be an avid golfer.
Legend has it Mary coined the term “caddie.” She also incurred the anger of her church and her subjects when, in 1567, she hit the links within days of her husband being murdered.
When Isabella was young, golf was a game of leisure and skill that few women could afford to play. But with the advent of public golf courses in the early twentieth century, more women began to take up the game.
In 1897 the first 7-hole tournament for ladies was held in Morristown, New Jersey.
In 1895 the first women’s amateur tournament was held in Hampstead, New York.
There was plenty of advice available for women who wanted to learn to play the game. That advice often focused on what women should wear on the golf course:
Other advice centered on women’s conduct on the links, as in this article from The Philipsburg Montana Mail, on Jul 22, 1898:
Isabella’s friend and fellow author Margaret Sangster published a book of etiquette in 1904, in which she included a chapter on how women should behave on the golf course.
One of Ms. Sangster’s comments suggests she may have thought golfing an unfeminine pastime. She wrote:
Now, we do not presume to dictate, but we must observe that the posture and gestures requisite for a full swing are not particularly graceful when the player is clad in female dress.
Ms. Sangster also worried that male golfers might see their scores suffer when there were women on the course:
If women choose to play at times when the male golfers are feeding or resting, no one can object; but at other times—must we say it?—they are in the way, just because gallantry forbids to treat them exactly as men.
Are you a lady golfer, or know someone who is?
What do you think of those determined lady golfers of bygone years who risked their “graceful” femininity to play the game—and the “gallant” men who played with them?
You can read Margaret Sangster’s book, Good Manners for All Occasions, by clicking here.