To the Editors of the Crimson:

I should like to call attention to the strange neglect of the fives courts in the Carey Building. During the winter months the demand for indoor exercise at harvard has always been very great; the gymnasium and bowling alleys are often crowded, and every blank wall available is in demand for handball. That so good a game as fives should be ignored is a matter not only of regret, but of surprise. A careful enquiry has convinced me that not one man in three knows that the courts exist; and even those who do know it have never expressed their desire to use them.

The courts were built to give the baseball men a chance to keep in training during the winter months. Certainly no game is better adapted to cultivate agility and endurance. During the present winter, however, I have never found anybody in them, though I have used them almost daily; and it does not appear that that they have ever been used to any extent, except perhaps in the spring. Even those men who do use them apparently do not understand the game. The so called "pepper boxes" which add so much to the interest and excitement of the sport have recently been torn away, so that as the courts stand they are merely bad hadball courts. Even at this, however, there is no reason why they should stand idle during the season in which there is most demand for vigorous indoor exercise and recreation.

The only obstacle in the way of throwing open the courts to the student body is that this would require the presence of an attendant four or five hours a day. That the advantages to be gained amply justify the required expense no one, I presume, would deny. If, however, the funds of the University are insufficient, the undergraduates could easily form an association the iniation fees of which would cover all expenses at a very moderate cost to each member. If, as seems likely, the game becomes appreciated in the course of time, other courts could be built at no great expense. At Eton, where the game originated, a body of a thousand students finds constant use for fifty courts, even during the football season. At Harvard, where there are no out-door games to detract from the sport, its popularity should certainly be equally great. I can not believe that men take to pulley weights, dumb-bells, rowing machines, and Dr. Sargent's wands by preference.

The rules of the game may be found in the Badminton volumes on Tennis, Lawn Tennis, Rackets and Fives. The history of the game, in the same volume, should convince every intelligent sportsman that the "pepper boxes" should be restored. In England the stone "pepper box" court is gradually superceding the plain court. At all events, if there is any love of sport here as distinguished from galley slavery, the Carey Building should be thrown open during the winter months.

J. C. '92.