In my wanderings around the: different lawn bowls greens, I have always been struck with the great variance in the ages of the players, ranging from a score of years to four score and even more. It is often said that lawn bowls is an old man's game but that is not. strictly true, for the majority of players now~ days are young men, which speaks well for ihe future of this great summer sport, The fact is tha: whilst there is an age limit for all other sports, there is none for lawn dowls; It is popular with young and old alike, owing to its good fellow. ship.
The Real Old Hands Amongst all these "hundreds of players locally, 1 thought there must be some. with interesting memories of the old days. 'The younger pla ers did not interest mo; it-was the' old hands—not youngsters of sixty—but the real old hands of three score and ten, to four score and more, Im~ mediately there came to my mind such hale and hearty old players a3, Col.
Trueman, "Wullle" Thompson, Archie Sinelaix, Archie Sharp, Gavin Wallace, W. J.'Edwards and a number of others with forty. or Atty years' residence or more in China, hhunted around. and came across' record of seventy years' residence in the Far East, which made my own forty-five years, look like a dog watch, The record holder is William James Edwards, a popular member of the Shanghat Lawn Bowls Club, who sUll enjoys his regular evening games, W. J Edwards is a real China hand, the eldest son of the late James Edwards of the then Imperial Mari-ime Customs, he was born in Kiukiang on August 11, 1967. Yesterday marked his birthday, we all wish him, a day belated "Many happy returns.' He was the first white male child to! be born in that Port, as his sister was the first female child, She has' been dead now many years but lett number of strapping sons to carry' on, The British Consul at that time was Mr, Hastings, afterwards Sir Patriele Hastings, Telals of China's Fiest Train Brought by his parents to Shang-thal in 1870, he was about one of the rst boys' to attend St. Francis Xavier's College, which opened six years later. It was in that year 1876, that he rode in the frst train ever to run on rails on Chinese sell, when. the Chinese, with great pomp and ceremony, inaugurated the first rail service from Shanghai to Woosung.
distance of about nine miles, This railway says, Mr, Edwards, was not very successful for several reasons. The boat people along the river did not like this competition on land 40 they bribed the country people to the rails, had two engines, and the stop of run over them and there were always big claims from someone oF other.
'Also in that your he met General U, S. Grant—aflerwards President of tthe United States—when he visited China. General Grant was jintroduced to his father, who in turn me wodueed hig nine year old son, one of Edwards' proudest recoilections that General Grant shook hands with him and called him a "fine lad. That year was a momentous one for the lad and he re-called several other incidents and wondered if an other white man. was living who could remember them. One unique event was when Captain Tipp or Tapp of the Consulate climbed the British Consulate flag-staff for a wager, to be given to charity. He talks of another hart raising sight. We was only 50 fect away, when the brother of the late 'Sydenham Moutrie, of Moutrie & Ca, taking part in a Fire Brigade procession before General Grant, was disembowel: ed by the explosion of a tin of gun powder, 'The top of the tin missed Edwards' head by inches and imbedded itself in a tree, in the British Consulate compound.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.