86 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



He sold his books. 



If they refuse to take a snub, they are quick to 

 take a hint. There is an authentic story of a poor 

 lad who approached a famous millionaire and asked 

 for twenty-five cents (a shilling), wherewith to buy 

 a meal. 



" A meal ? " exclaimed the great man. " Why, 

 my boy, twenty-five cents will buy you five meals 

 — of bread and water. And a healthy lad like you 

 can live on two meals a day. I 've done it. Here 's 

 your quarter." 



The boy took the coin and the advice. Years 

 after he sought out the millionaire and thanked 

 him. 



Since I first crossed the Kocky Mountains, an ex- 

 traordinary stimulus has been given to all athletic 

 exercises. In 1882 baseball was the only game. 

 To-day the muscles of the youths are hardened 

 and expanded by football, polo, golf, tennis, and 

 bicycle riding. And yet the physiology of bodily 

 exercise is entirely misapprehended, even more so 

 than it is in England. In no country do the young 

 men " scorch " as in the West. You may see them 

 any Sunday upon the highways and byways. Their 

 faces are streaming with perspiration ; their eyes 

 are popping from their heads; their brows are 

 seamed with anxiety. Doubled up above the 

 handle-bars they always seem to me the most piti- 

 ful notes of interrogation. They are asking for 

 health and strength. What are they getting? 



I hold with Walt Whitman that "in man or 

 woman a clean, strong, firm-fibred body, is more 



