20 INFLUENCE OF FIELD SPORTS ON CHARACTER 



Formosa, such is not the case in real life. There 

 must be no pleasant chats over a social pipe for the 

 rowing man, no dinners at the Mitre or the Bull, 

 no TccherM breakfasts with his friends ; the routine 

 of training must be strictly observed, and every- 

 thing must give way to the paramount necessity 

 of putting on muscle. In the race itself, too, what 

 a desperate strain there is on the powers ! How 

 many times has some sobbing oarsman felt that 

 nature must succumb to the tremendous demand 

 made on her, that he can go no further ; and then 

 has come the thought that others are concerned 

 besides himself, that the honour of his university or 

 his club are at stake, which has lent a new stimulus 

 and made possible that final spurt which results in 

 victory. 



The habits taught by rowing, whether during train- 

 ing or after the race has commenced, lead to regu- 

 larity of life, to abstemiousness, and to the avoidance 

 of unwholesome tastes, and their effect is seen long 

 after the desire for aquatic glory have passed away. 

 Such are some of the most prominent influences of 

 English field sports, and as long as amusements re- 

 quiring such energy, such physical or mental activity, 

 and such endurance as fox-hunting, stalking, and 

 cricket, are popular, there is little fear of the manly 

 character of the English nation deteriorating, or its 

 indomitable determination bein.gj weakened. 



