FOREST AND STREAM. 



9 



The newer era of athletic sports is manifested by the care- 

 ful attention and fostering care given to them by men of. 

 wealth and education. To Mr. James Gorden Bennett, who 

 has offered prizes for foot racing, a sport rarely if ever 

 practised in the United States, our gratitude is also due. It 

 is another step taken in the true direction. Its apparent 

 exclusivensss, that the reward shall be given to non-profes- 

 sional winners is its merit. Professional runners can always 

 find their proper spheres and can win their laurels, and Avill 

 learn that their services as trainers will be even more called 

 into play. Our aptitude for athletic sports, it should be re- 

 membered, cannot exist on the reputation of any particular 

 runner or boatman. It is not because the Japanese breed a 

 single race of men, huge as elephants and strong as bulls, 

 as wrestlers, that we accord to this peculiar people any athle- 

 tic excellence. What we want is, that our sons should revel 

 in these sports, that their every muscle and fibre should be 

 drilled and trained, not for the vain-glory attached to the 

 concmest of a cup, or the sporting a knot of ribbons, but 

 that^they should feel that inatc pride of perfect manhood, 

 which should urge them to excel, and to improve the phys- 

 ical qualities nature has given them. 



The last collegiate boat race, was another notable advance 

 made in the annals of American atheletic sports. If due 

 applause has been given to the contestants, conquerors and 

 conquered who pulled through that notable race, the highest 

 commendation should be accorded to the administrative 

 heads of those seats of learning, who have at last given this 

 most important subject of physical development, not only 

 their earnest attention but their hearty approval. Our Am- 

 erican College Faculties have but acted according to the pre- 

 cedents laid down, by the Dons of those venerable Alma 

 Maters on the other side of the water. They have discover- 

 ed that instead of frowning down a most natural aspiration 

 of youth, that desire to excel in healthful sports, that it 

 was wiser that they should give it its proper bent; they have 

 learnt, too, that instead o* grudging a reluctant assent to what 

 they could not prevent, it was better to even cherish and 

 foster it. The aid and encouragement given to the collegians 

 by our leading Faculties, is what every sensible man has 

 been asking for, for the last twenty years. The boy now in 

 his preparatory school, will learn to run, to leap, to row, to 

 develop all the life God has given him, with the hope that 

 when he enters his collegiate life, in addition to classical 

 honors, the double prize .of the athletic conquest may be 

 awarded him. Slowly perhaps will parents and guardians 

 learn that the masters to whom they confide their sons, do 

 not think now as they did even ten years ago, that a hale, 

 hearty youth, ready to race his mile, or pull his boat from 

 sunrise to sunset, cannot be made quite as great an ornament 

 of learning, and just as fitting for the highest collegiate honors 

 as the more weakly boy, whose sick and rachitic tendencies, 

 through want of physical culture, showed that he has scarce 

 vital power enough to carry him through his course of 

 study. 



How long indeed it has taken us to understand, that there 

 is nothing incompatible in a man's throwing a summersault 

 one moment and the next translating Euripides. What 

 strange conventional portraits we have drawn for ourselves 

 and kept repeating the outlines, depicting the possessor of 

 high mental acquirements, with haggard face, deep sunken 

 eyes, and generally emaciated contours ! It is the physique 

 of a Tyndall, the power to climb the glacier, to scale the 

 Alpine heights, to even tire out his guides, which give to this 

 greatest of all modern scientists, all his scope and vigor. 

 The intellectual life of Gilbert Hammerton tells us the same 

 story over and over again. '"Even philosophy itself, owes 

 much to mere physical courage and endurance. How much 

 that is noblest in ancient thinking may be due to the hardy 

 health of Socrates." It has taken even a century, for statis- 

 ticians to find out what was the most natural of God's laws, 

 — that physical and mental culture must go hand in hand. 

 A book is just fresh from the press on this very subject, 

 which shows to an astonished world what they should have 

 known long ago, and this is, the sapient fact, that the college 

 oars of England, the famous boatmen of the Universities, 

 live not only quite as long, but even longer, are less prone 

 to disease in their older age, than those who have never 

 pulled an oar. Strange to say, even novelists have gone 

 out of their way to decry physical culture, and Wilkie Col- 

 lins wrote a book, where^ the hero, from an over zest in ath- 

 letic sports, perverts alibis nobler qualities, until he becomes 

 a drunkard and a murderer. But what is more absurd is, 

 that there are found readers to believe such fiction. To-day 

 it is quite questionable whether the morbidity of some men's 

 minds, that inclination to suicide, to injure others of the 

 human race, docs no,t more usually occur in individuals 

 whose physical condition has been most neglected. Con- 

 sciousness of power — the knowledge of possessing strength, 

 by one of the wisest of God's provisions, mostly tempers the 

 passions of one blessed in this way. It is a slander on all 

 mankind to suppose that physical prowess engenders brutal 

 instincts. Strong men are proverbially good natured. 



The question of money wagered on athletic contests, as 

 appertaining to this subject, has been replied to time and 

 time again. It is ever a narrow, bigoted argument, which 

 tries to settle this gambling disposition on athletic sports. 

 Is it to be supposed that because A. cannot outrun the writer, 

 that from this fact A. must combine with his fleetness of 

 foot, more decided gambling proclivities ? It is not the 

 race-course that turns men into gamblers, it is the blacklegs 

 who corrupt the racecourse. Unfortuately there are few 

 human events, bringing together concourses of men, not 

 marred !>y litis vice. Must we to follow up this orgument 



abandon our privilege of freedom, and not vote, because a 

 gambling pool is made up, to be decided by the hap-hazzard 

 of an unknown event ? 



We. do however commend in the highest terms the strin- 

 gent measures adopted by the Springfield authorities, on the 

 occasion of the late boat-race, to crush out> the gambling 

 spirit, and perhaps it is quite worthy of comment to record 

 the fact, and one we should congratulate ourselves upon, 

 that the amount of money wagered on this race was quite 

 insignificant, Though somewhat difficult to encompass, we 

 see no reason why the rowing clubs themselves should not 

 introduce some stringent rules, forbidding members from 

 betting. If our memory serves us rightly, we have we 

 think seen such rules as above suggested, incorporated in the 

 regulations of certain clubs. Of course it not within the 

 province of the Forest and Stream to become the censor 

 of public morals. But did we know any method by which 

 all betting or lotteries could be abolished, we would willingly 

 give such a plan all the help in our power. 



One fact not to be overlooked, is the exceeding good taste 

 and judgement evinced by the religious press of the United 

 States, on their departure from former preconceived notions 

 in regard to rational athletic sports. Clergymen playing 

 croquet are no longer excommunicated as miserable sinners, 

 to be excluded from grace. Theological students are no 

 longer held up as solemn warnings because they can pull an 

 oar. 



The sound and wholesome advice given by these particu- 

 lar journals, has done more to fully establish athletic sports, 

 to place them on a sounder basis, than all the weaker stuff, 

 produced ad nauseam, by the so-called sporting organs. 



It is, then, to the schools and colleges that we look for the 

 thorough propagation of all athletic sports, for certain are we 

 that in the excercise of them comes the sense of manly 

 honor and right. The time has passed away when a billiard 

 room or a bowling alley in a college gymnasium are con- 

 sidered as lures of the evil one. Human nature and students 

 are much the same all over the world, but we believe that by 

 fostering the natural inclination for exercise inherent in 

 youth, they will not only be the more scholarly, but the 

 more christian. 



COLLEGE BOATING. 



ALTHOUGH the great excitement in boating conse- 

 quent upon the Springfield regatta has somewhat 

 subsided, rowing men will read with much interest and no 

 little profit an article In Harper 's Magazine entitled "Ten 

 Years Among the Rowing Men," by William Blaikie. This 

 paper is an eminently sound one, and treats in a rational 

 way the much vexed question of training. Mr. Blaikie has 

 no faith in those empirical rules in use some few years ago, 

 when the least possible amount of common sense was em- 

 ployed. Men in training arc free to partake now of every 

 kind of food and fluid ; all that they should be debarred of 

 is the use of stimulants. Human beings arc no longer to 

 be considered in the same light as horses, to be restricted 

 to two or three kinds of diet only, in order to get them up 

 to the highest pitch of physical excellence, The antiquated 

 formula for bringing up the system was not only absurd, 

 but injurious, as it commenced by reducing it. Mr. Blai- 

 kie says : "This barbarous custom came from such wis- 

 dom as one found in Boxiana and works on training in 

 by-gone days, and perhaps for the men it was meant for— 

 prize fighters, sporting men, and their associates— it was 

 well enough ; for a hearty felloAv, long used to loafing 

 about bar rooms, and by his unrestrained appetites adding 

 daily to his weight a puffy, beer-soaked sort of flesh, might 

 find his body none the worse for, and his sensual nature 

 cooled by, heavy sweating between feather beds, and by 

 long walks and runs with top coats wrapped about him." 



The old fashioned method, as described in the books of 

 twenty years ago, never fails to start off with the neces- 

 sity of preparing the man for his work, no matter whether 

 he was well or ill, by first giving him a strong purge. This 

 was supposed to remove all the bad humors, and to give 

 him a new foundation to build upon. The natural reduc- 

 tion of the system, the dispersing of the extra quantity of 

 fat, should be induced solely by the exercise, always re- 

 membering, however, that a certain amount of it is abso- 

 lutely necessary for the human organism, and* that to train 

 too low down, or "too fine," loses more races than the op- 

 posite. 



What a comfort it is, too, for the lazy ones to know that 

 contestants for athletic distinctions sometimes err by over- 

 work. "We hold that even to-day men in training are 

 prone to do too much work. When the Harvard crew 

 was in Europe, preparing for the struggle that created such 

 profound surprise, at least among all Englishmen — for the 

 latter had expected them to be beaten from the start, in- 

 stead of leading probably the best crew Oxford ever had 

 for two whole miles — they would, beside a little walking, 

 paddle about over two or three miles in the morning, and 

 generally go over the track from Putney to Mortlake (four 

 miles and three furlongs) at a racing pace in the after- 

 noon ; then, after lying on their oars a little while, till they 

 recovered their breath, would starL back easily, and often 

 swing into a stroke that gave ;he horsemen on the tow 

 path something to do to keep up. And for this they 

 were pronounced by the English press perfect 'gluttons' at 

 work." 



With the wide extent of country we have, and its climatic 

 differences, to lay down any positive rules governing the 

 amount of exercise to be taken is. we think, impossible. 

 A trond onrsmnn in prime condition on the Charles River 



might take his spurts of speed over and over again with- 

 out inconvenience, whilst an individual of equal physical 

 stamina in attempting the same thing on the Savannah 

 River, w r ould only be the worse for it. Perhaps the heavy 

 amount of labor the American boatmen impose on them- 

 selves arises from the fact that the generality of them have 

 not in younger years inured themselves to the task, and 

 their ambition induces them to somewhat overtax their , 

 powers by endeavoring to make up for lost time. There 

 are, however, reasons why the work cannot be distribul ed 

 over as long a period in the United States as in England. 

 Taking a wide extent of country, from Portland to Balti- 

 more, where boating may be supposed to have the most at- 

 tention paid to it, our rivers are, on an average, only practi- 

 cable during six months at the farthest, while in England the 

 boating season is of fully ten months' duration. 



One most important question not to be overlooked, and 

 one which we shall use our utmost efforts to solve, is this : 

 Is it found that the regular course of study is interfered with 

 by boating ? Mr. Blaikie's comprehensive article touches on 

 this topic. He says : "The English students usually, if we 

 are rightly informed, do nearly if not quite all their severe 

 rowing at a season of the year when their studies exact 

 comparatively little of their time, and thus the achievement 

 of even the highest rank and honors are not, as has been 

 more than once proved, incompatible with prominence on 

 the river. But the American who wants to row a race, if 

 he is yet a student, is very apt to find numerous examina- 

 tions coming on at just about the time most convenient for 

 the racing ; while, if in business, he will attempt to prepare 

 himself for his task after business hours, when he is of ne- 

 cessity more or less worn down by the labor and annoy- 

 ances of the day." 



Of course this is unfortunate, but there is no help for it. 

 Though we are the greatest advocates of athletic sports, we 

 hold that boating must be subservient to study. We are not 

 sure, however, that any ill effects have yet been noticed by 

 those most competent to judge of such matters. A very able 

 letter, referring to this and kindred subjects, will be found 

 at the conclusion of this article, from Professor Hitchcock, 

 of Amherst College, addressed to the editor of Foeest 

 and Stream. 



The arguments advanced by us somewhat at length in the 

 article on the New Era of Athletic Sports, as to the neces- 

 sity of varying our sports, we deem to hold good in this 

 particular case, where possibly the training for boating 

 might interfere with collegiate duties. The supremacy in 

 boating in England does not arise from the fact that they 

 row only. Other exercises are in vogue. Of course the 

 exact and elegant methods of rowing, under a" good coach, 

 take a certain amount of time, but this time is a limited 

 one, and is secondary to the question of their muscle and 

 endurance, which can be acquired by a thousand other ways 

 than by being seated in a boat. The preparation, then, for 

 the water contests in the United States must have its origin 

 in ball play, foot races, cricket, the use of Indian clubs and 

 all gymnastic exercises, which have to be carried on all the 

 year round, 



A true enthusiast, somewhat even of a Prussian as he is 

 in his ideas of the superlative excellence of physical train- 

 ing, perhaps the most important portion of Mr. Blaikie's 

 article is that devoted to the subject of having proper men 

 to take charge of gymnasiums. Harvard, it is stated, had, 

 not very long ago, an instructor, "an ignorant negro, who 

 found his stipend so paltry that he was obliged to eke out 

 an existence by giving boxing lessons and keeping an old 

 clothes establishment in a neighboring cellar." Mr. Blaikie 

 urges, and most properly, that in order to gain the respect 

 of his pupils he who teaches in the gymnasium should have 

 a moral and mental calibre sufficient to command the re- 

 spect of his pupils, and should be conversant with the anat- 

 omy and physiology of the human body. "If gymnastic 

 institutions were made compulsory and regular, the results, 

 under the teaching of such a guide, would be swift and 

 most gratifying." We are somewhat afraid of the cumpul- 

 sory idea, at least for the present, as far as regards exercise. 

 But who knows ? Compulsory education may, in time to 

 come, so thoroughly instruct us as to the other wants of 

 man, that what might seem strange to-day may perhaps be 

 considered as a necessity some fifty years hence. 



Amherst College, July 31, 1S73. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



You ask me for my " opinion " upon the following questions : "What do 

 you think is the effect of constant boat practice in colleges during term 

 time upon the ambition of students to excel in the paramount objects of 

 a collegiate course ? Does not the encroachment operate injuriously ? Are 

 Professors impelled by public clamor to wink at it against their private 

 conviction?" 



Of course I can only answer for the students of Amherst College, and 

 express my own opinion. 



Of our students, not more than twenty have' had more than a general 

 interest in this matter,'so that the great mass are unaffected in their ambi- 

 tion to study, and of these twenty, fully one-half are (have been) of such 

 high intellectual ability, that their rank has probably not been in the least 

 affected by it. Five or six of the remainder have no doubt suffered in 

 their intellectual standing, and that mainly because they had poor pre- 

 paration before entering college, and now need more time to prepare their 

 recitations, than those who are quicker in their intellectual perceptions. 



But of all our young men who have engaged in boating, there have been 

 none who have dissipated in the exercise. If they have suffered at all, it 

 is because required to take so much time for a few weeks of each summer 

 term in their long journey to the water to practice in their boats. 



I am sure Lhat none of our Professors are impelled by popular clamor 

 to favor this measure against their private convictions. But at the same 

 time we all know that there is never a time in college when the students, 

 many of them, are not deeply interested in something only gennain to the 

 intellectual work of the college course. If it be not secret societies, it is 

 chess playing; if not ball game, it is theatricals; when the concert and glee 

 club fever runs low, then a moot court or squabble over parliamentary 

 tactics; is sure to make some popular excitement outside the regular col- 

 lege oimkiUnm, And neve In where a collet Faculty need the most 



