True Sport and Sportsmanship 7 



The attainment of health is the most priceless of all 

 things earthly to be attained. Courage and nerve are the 

 outgrowth of health, of the power to govern and to be 

 governed, and of the practical, every-day training in that 

 most Christian-like virtue of the Golden Rule. There is 

 still another characteristic of men who never forget how to 

 play, and that is longevity. Who can estimate the value a 

 man would place, in certain circumstances, upon an exten- 

 sion of time ? Ask the millionaire who finds his race run, 

 his bolt shot, at fifty. All the time that is spent in outdoor 

 sports is, I believe, in the numbering of our days, so much 

 clear gain. And when at last age may rob the true sports- 

 man of active participation in the chase, the sight of a 

 horse under saddle, a hound puppy at walk, will send a glow 

 through his veins as the touch of a blacksmith's bellows 

 quickens a smouldering fire. He is helped on by a cheer 

 that gladdens his declining days as nothing else can. To 

 what do old men most lovingly look back as they near the 

 "mellow " ? Not to the greatest sermon, the ablest plea, the 

 most skilful operation, the stroke in business that made a 

 million in a single day : all these things have long since ceased 

 to charm. It is the games and sports of youth and man- 

 hood that live to the end. These glow with fervent heat. 

 The blood once thoroughly inculcated by true sport and 

 sportsmanship will gambol healthfully to the end. No 

 man, be he king or peasant, can carry to his grave more 

 agreeable recollections than those of the chase, the gun, or 

 the yacht. These live within him, a well-spring of joy to 

 cheer when all that is earthly fails. Speak to any man of 

 his favourite game of sport or skill, and how pleased he is 



