SOCIETY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. Z93 



ment of quick perception, the al)ilitv to instantly comprehend a sit- 

 uation, no matter how exciting or complicated the attending circum- 

 stances, then, with judgment as quick and accurate, to act promptly 

 and decisively. 



I make lio (juestion but that all these equalities are the direct re- 

 sult of long and careful training in the national game of ball on both 

 college and professional diamonds. 



Now, here are the conditions of purely scientific training greatly 

 exaggerated. There is the stimulus of si)ort which holds every men- 

 tal power at high pressure, and in this condition its susceptilulity for 

 (juick couiprtdiension is at its height, and itsychology as well as ex- 

 perience will say that only when the mind is thus attentive is it re- 

 tentive and impressible. 



Hence the danger is. that in the physical athlete we have mental 

 litheness only under ))ressure of excitement or the stimulus of an 

 absorbing interest. \Ve do not say this campus training is without 

 value; indeed, it would almost seem that some of our eastern schools 

 have so magnified its worth as to allow its existence as a sort of special 

 course for anv so inclined. While its merits and attractions are not 

 spread out in the annual catalogue, it is none the less fostered; has 

 its corps of instructors, a goodly number, who may be presumed to 

 have registered in that department, and as a result, we must admit, 

 many who complete the course with honorable mention and a good 

 record in the sporting column of the newspapers. But these are not 

 students, nor is it education in the broader use of those words. No 

 more can science, pure and simple, make students, or in itself consti- 

 tute the sum and substance of thorough education. 



And now we come to our other theme, '" The Farmer Boy." 

 '•What are his needs?" has been one of the foremost questions for 

 many years, and still it seems almost discouragingly distant from 

 settlement. But why so much interest shown toward the farming 

 community? Why has it been given so prominent a place among 

 the educti^tional problems of the day? Because of the very great and 

 ever-increasing majority of those who till the soil. Because of the 

 very great and ever-increasing demand for the highest intelligence in 

 in this most worthy calling. Because of the deficiency, the misun- 

 derstandings, the failures in attempting to supply that demand. Be- 

 cause from the farms — if we accept such authorities as Washington 

 Gladden, to say nothing of our own every-day observations — come 

 the great majority of men whose enterprise and vigor in business, in 

 study, in council — everywhere — keep the world on the move and 

 scatter the seeds of an ever-renewed civilization. Out in the fields, 

 the place of pure air and sunshine, spring the fountains which 

 freshen and invigorate every trade and profession. Who will say 

 that this fountain of so much that is worthy can be too greatly 

 elevated ? 



