130 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



the following story is told. Long before 19 14 

 the Germans had gone to Wei-hai-wei to see 

 what fortifications had been put up by the new 

 owners, what work had been done in the military 

 zone, and whether the big guns had been mounted. 

 They were warmly welcomed by a British officer, 

 who pointed out proudly to them the only work 

 his men had done was to make a cricket pitch. 

 Yes, indeed, there is more in sport than recreation ; 

 it is a philosophy of life. Probably not many 

 people give thought to the fact that what we 

 call "sport" is the putting into action of an in- 

 clination to gain recreation and to break away 

 from social habit, to taste again the pleasure of 

 a healthy struggle with opponents, to come into 

 touch with nature, to obey an instinct inherited 

 countless ages ago from our ancestors. 



Few people realise that primitive man was just 

 as much interested in the problem of invention 

 as the civilised population of the world at the 

 present day. But the primitive man was most 

 closely in touch with nature. The joy of his life 

 was the hunt and the fight. I quote from Sex 

 and Society, by William Thomas : " The man of 

 science works at problems and uses his ingenuity 

 in making an engine in the laboratory in the 

 same way as primitive man used his mind in 

 making a trap." The man who is successful in 



