CRIME ON THE COURTS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It is my sad duty to report that there is a thief among us and, among all thieves, the most miserable and contemptible. He has stolen what others need and he cannot use.

Some time between June and September of this year there were purloined from the tennis courts at Soldiers Field all of the little white lines that save honest but hard-pressed players from sore temptation.

No doubt the crime has gone unnoticed so long because, during the summer, the varsity courts have been open to the entire white-shorts brigade. But now that the duffers among us have been displaced from that paradise of green clay and consigned to the asphalt limbo beyond, the crime can no longer go unnoticed and the criminal can no longer remain at liberty.

The stolen lines are not of great intrinsic value. But like the Stone of Scone, more than once snatched from its proper resting place, they are a source of inspiration and a symbol of authority. Without them, who can say what will become of moral standards on this campus? Who can foretell to what extreme and unsavory practices some will stoop? Who, indeed, can resist the temptation that presents itself to the weary doubles players as he strives in vain to return a wicked drive?

Let justice be done! Let the thief be brought to justice! Let there be lines!

Before the first snow, maybe, huh? Peter B. Kennen 2G.