And then talking about the difference between British croquet and American
croquet:
“The point might be made: is not such American exuberance, and the harsh price it often exacts, preferable to what Max Shulman has called the “awfully finicky, nit-picking type” of British game? Woolcott [an American], who cunningly laid out his grounds beside a lake, thought nothing of knocking a guest’s ball into the water. The British contrive to win points; but an aspiration to wholly destroy the opponent lies at the heart of the American strategy.”