724 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mally. In addition to the opportunity for this uniform develop- 

 ment must be mentioned the care bestowed upon the players in 

 the way of attention to injuries received. Not only is the best 

 surgeon employed, but the best professional trainers and rubbers 

 wait on the men to second the efforts of the doctor. To this con- 

 tinual watching of the men on the university teams is due not a 

 little of the comparative immunity from serious injuries received 

 of late years, notwithstanding the rough play in the field. 



Another advantage to the players is derived from the great at- 

 tention given to the diet, not only of the players of the regular 

 team, but of any man who works faithfully as a substitute, or 

 shows any promise of " making the team " at any time in a pres- 

 ent or future season. Forty men are at times at the university 

 training table, a number greatly in excess of those at the table of 

 any other organization. The freshman team, too, with their sub- 

 stitutes, have their training table and their attendant coachers, 

 rubbers, and trainers. 



But great as are the benefits of the sport to the players in mind 

 and body, they are not to be compared with its moral effects. If 

 there is one virtue most to be desired in a manly character with- 

 out which, indeed, it ceases to be manly that virtue is courage. 

 And of the college sports there is not one which cultivates this 

 manly virtue more than football. Neither is the courage re- 

 quired entirely physical. Indeed, the best players feel and see the 

 danger which they brave. Conscious of injuries received, they 

 often continue to face plays which may exaggerate their pains. 



Then the need of self-control in the midst of strong excitement 

 is another valuable lesson learned. Self-denial is taught in the 

 voluntary abnegation of the delights of college, in the forsaking 

 of indulgence in the luxuries of life. To training in courage 

 endurance, and self-control must be added the valuable lesson of 

 obedience to authority. The discipline in this respect is as strict 

 as the strictest military discipline. Men are required to obey 

 captain and coach and to obey silently. This unquestioning, in- 

 stant submission to word of command is not the least of the excel- 

 lent lessons of a football season. It shows its effects in the whole 

 college life and college world. 



Strange as it may seem, a good claim can be made of a neces- 

 sary connection between good character and good football in its 

 best development. In everything requiring the best results the 

 best success depends upon the best men. As there is no other col- 

 lege sport which so brings out the best virtues in a man, so there 

 is no other college sport which is so dependent for its success upon 

 good all-round men. Though this statement is measurably true 

 for all amateur sports, it is emphatically true of football. It has 

 been borne out by facts. The best teams in Yale have had not 



