Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-17
YOuDQ EnqIand.

An Oxford tutor, lamenting the
demOraliZing tendencies OF the hetflGg
mania Of the present day, writes 10
the London Press as follows:
The sad examples Of Lord Hastings
and the Duke of Newcastle will soon
be pointed at rs lights which ought to
be Stunned rather than followed. In
the meantime, so low has our dis
cipline at this moment fallen, that, for
the first time within my recollection,
the recent COmmemOratiOn was not
permitted to proceed, but was sum
marily suspended by reason Of the
insubOrdinatiOn of the undergradu-
ates.
Twenty years ago we had our fast
men, who took, some of them to hunt
ing, some to dancing at every hall
within reach, some to excessive tennis,
some to extravagant dress, and some
to unlimited boating, But by lar the
larger proportion OF our young men
supplemented their reading either for
a "pass" or for hOnOrs by cOnstitu-
tional rides or walks. What Is the
case now? Instead of merely taking
such exercise as health requires, our
Young men nowadays indulge in
athletic sports to such an excess that
all the steel is taken out Of them. In
stead of "spOTting their Caks" and
reading for three or four hours after
dinner, they languish upon a sofa,
"betwixt asleep and awake" until
the welcome hour comes when they
can transfer their exhausted bodies to
bed. These athletic sports are power
fully stimulated by the rivalry natural
to young men, but still more so by
betting. 1t is not, however, to these
athletic exercises alone that betting IS
confined. They bet enormously, con-
sidering their resources, upon the
Derby and all other public races.
They bet upon their own races, either
upon horseback or on foot, which
Burlington and other convenient
spots are continually witnessing.
They bet upon pigeen and billiard
matches-they bet upon everything.
How fatally this is telling upon the
| University may be seen in the fact
that, whereas twenty years ago our
| class list usually boasted some sixty
names or more, they have now shrunk
to no more than thirty or forty
names. 1t is, moreover, an everyday
remark among men of my own date
that eminent scholars, eminent histO-
rians, men eminent in every branch OF
classical literature, men eminent In
services are becoming rarer and rarer
among US. The betting age" Is the
worst Of all ages through which J
have seen the University pass,
II would be false delicacy, sir, If
abstaiRed from mentioning names
which have been within the last feW
years, or are now, upon every tongue
The unhappy Marquis Of Hastings
was an owner Of race horses before ne
ceased to be an undergrate. The pres
! ent Duke Of Newcastle fell, when al
Oxford, into the hands of one of the
professional racing men whose stables
are easily reached from the neighbor'
ing station at DidcOt. Within the last
few weeks another of our young
noblemen has been the owner Of q
Derby favorlte, has been publicly
\ named in the press as having giving
large sums for this or that horse, and
has been the star of his set because he
could invite his friends to accompany
him to Ilsley, and to see " his stud.'
lam in a position to state that the
authorities of his college have beer
invited to demonstrate with him, but
nothing was, so far as ] know, either
said or done.