552 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Freshman year. I enjoyed the sport, became a 'good oar,' and rapidly 

 recovered my strength and vigor. From that time I joined regularly 

 in the sports of the seasons as they came round. I have a set of heavy 

 Indian clubs which I have used for forty-five years. 



During my Senior year in college a vacancy occurred in the uni- 

 versity crew and it seemed to be necessary for me to pull an oar in the 

 'Harvard.' There were special reasons for hard study in a particular 

 direction on my part, and I was very unwilling to abridge or inter- 

 fere with my hours for work. Moreover, I was a member of a cricket 

 club which had been challenged to play by a lower class, and I could 

 not refuse to meet with the club during practice hours. 



Meanwhile, I had, of course, my daily lessons and exercises to 

 prepare, and the regular recitations and lectures to attend. With 

 reason, I said that my hands were already full; and yet the case was 

 so urgent, and I loved rowing so much, that I concluded to try the 

 experiment and see if, with more regular habits of eating and sleeping, 

 and a steady, hard pull of eight miles per day, I could not do as much 

 work in the time that remained as I had been accustomed to. I drank 

 neither tea nor coffee, used no tobacco, and indulged in neither wine 

 nor beer; I ate neither puddings nor pies, strawberries nor ice cream. 

 My diet was chiefly beef, mutton, potatoes, oatmeal, bread and milk. 

 I went to bed at ten o'clock. To my surprise, I found I could do 

 about two hours' steady work in one, my head was as clear as a bell, 

 I was as strong as an ox, and I had never felt so gloriously in my life. 

 I should add that I have never had any reason to regret the decision 

 I then made. 



My own experience thus confirms the statement of Dr. Mitchell, 

 and I have no doubt that your experience and observation point in the 

 same direction. One conclusion then seems to be reached: To be able 

 to perform our intellectual labor successfully, we must alternate it with 

 active exercise which is intense enough to absorb the attention without 

 taxing those areas of the brain that need rest. Such active exercise 

 as a general thing is found in the manly sports. Therefore, our 

 intellectual well-being demands as a general thing that we participate 

 in them rationally and regularly. 



The Moral Influence. 



But there is more in athletics than mere physical and mental 

 health. There is a moral training which is of equal if not of greater 

 value. One acquires from successful athletics as from gymnastics 

 a mental dexterity which is of infinite worth. In an emergency, one 

 must not lose his head or forget his hands. Be it a shipwreck, a 

 midnight fire, a school panic, a summer camp — the man of brain and 

 brawn is a saving help. 



