COLLEGE ATHLETICS. 449 



to the student-mind. In boating, the object is a victory over a crew 

 of a rival class or a rival college. In lacrosse, base-ball, and foot-ball, 

 besides working for the ultimate object of the chanapionship, the mind 

 of the player has continual occupation in the game itself. To secure 

 a victory in any of these sports, good brains in the players contribute 

 quite as much as good muscles. In fact, it is the skilled muscles 

 rightly directed by good brains which win, and not the players most 

 skilled in the use of their muscles. Mind as well as body has to be 

 considered by the successful captains in the selection of their men. 

 Then there are minor considerations which keep students in steady 

 training, and help to induce more men to work than finally appear in 

 the great contests, such, for instance, as the ambition to secure an 

 office or position in one of the university organizations, and thus an 

 honorable standing as a college man. These various considerations 

 not only accompany the men into the field or at the oar, but also, 

 when they are prevented from taking out-door practice, send them 

 into the gynmasium to prepare for the later work. 



The following brief account of the exercise taken by the students is 

 offered in ord3r to insure a better understanding of the system of col- 

 lege athletico : 



Almost as soon as the college opens in the fall, the various class 

 nines begin their games for the college championship. At the same time 

 the class crews, the foot-ball and lacrosse teams put their men into 

 training. This means regular exercise in the open air from four to six 

 weeks for about one hundred and forty men. Quite as many more are 

 benefited, some by actual participation in the games, in order to fur- 

 nish opponents to the teams in practice, and others by training for 

 the Athletic Association contests. After the class base-ball champion- 

 ship is decided, and the Athletic Association meetings have terminated, 

 fewer men exercise. The interest of the college then centers in the 

 Foot-ball Elevens, one selected from the whole university, and the 

 other from the freshman classes of the academic and scientific depart- 

 ments. To give these teams practice, all the college is urged to go to 

 the field and play against them ; and though, of course, the invitation 

 is not accepted as extensively as it is given, yet it does induce quite a 

 large number of men to exercise. But this is not the only good effect 

 of the existence of these teams. Catching the enthusiasm of the sport, 

 often the men of different dormitories and of different eating-clubs 

 send out teams for matches. The foot-ball season terminates at the 

 thanksgiving recess. The two or three weeks intervening between 

 this recess and the winter examinations see very little exercise taken 

 by the students, except by the few who regularly use the gymnasium. 

 Immediately on the opening of the winter terra activity in athletics^ 

 manifests itself again. The captain of the University Crew, the cap- 

 tain of the University Base-ball Nine, the captains of the different 

 class crews, and the captain of the Freshman Base-ball Nine, call 



TOL. XXIT. — 29 



