RETIRED GOLF 141 



at an even earlier age; Indian Civil Servants 

 acquired the fatal bath-chair habit while still 

 in their prime; and few pensioners survived for 

 any length of time to enjoy the £200 or so a 

 year with which a grateful country rewards 

 those who have devoted the best part of their 

 life to its service. 



This sad state of affairs has been mercifully 

 put an end to by the discovery of a game which 

 not only prolongs the span of human existence 

 and reduces the ranks of the chronically mori- 

 bund, but also invests the lives of the aged with 

 an interest that unquestionably enhances their 

 domestic happiness, and renders many of them 

 quite tolerable husbands and fathers. 



The victim of advancing years, of senile decay, 

 of incipient dota.ge, may find in golf a panacea 

 for, a palliative of, almost every mental and 

 physical disability under which he happens to 

 labour; the martjn: to that nervous irritability 

 which too often accompanies second childhood 

 is supplied with a fresh channel for the expression 

 of those thoughts which, if unhealthily re- 

 strained, cast their shadow over home-life and 

 bring discord into the family circle. 



I knew a retired Army Colonel who at one 

 time used to make his wife's existence a posi- 

 tive burden to her by abusing the cooking; 

 who habitually sat at meals in a gloomy silence 



