The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1869-11-04
Physical Culture.

As THE season for outdoor sports is
| about closing, the present cannot be
thought an inoppOrtune time for few re-
| Elections upon the subject of physical cul-
ture, induced by the TRADE in which GER
tain melancholy dyspeptics see fit to in
| dulge their spleen, whenever opportunity
| offers, against any movement which tends
| to make physical culture honorable, or
which strives to loosen the coils Of brutal
| ity and evil association, too long suffered
to encompass it.
We remember having heard it suggest
ed, some weeks since, that in future "in-
| tellectual regattas" be held. Without at
tempting to explain the sOlecism, we
would readily concur in any such plan,
but cannot see the necessity for any con-
flict between ethics and aquatics Limited
as are our opportunities for recreation, let
us have them as far removed from the in
tellectual as possible. The impression has
too long prevailed that physical vigor is,
in some mysterious manner, connected
with the morals and rules of prize ring"
that the tendency of athletic sports is not
only to brutaliZe, but to draw the atten
ton from the more serious affairs of life.
Can we not, with better reason, maintain
that neglect of physical laws sows the
seeds OF such diSeaSe-tO rlpen in future
generations-thatt the enervated body finds
it impossible to support or carry out any
designs which the more active mind may
have prepared for it? Those who argue
that the same labor might, to greater ad
vantage, be applied to useful productions,
seem to forget that most of our diversions
necessarily partake of the nature of labor.
Our physical powers, as well as the intel
lectual faculties, are the gifts of PrOvi-
dence, and the full development of one is
necessary to healthtul state of the other
When either is allowed to usurp or tres
pass upon the domain of the other, the
result is confusion and disorder. Man full
fills his chief end and duty when he cul-
tivates to the highest perfection all of his
faculties, and fosters no one to the eXclu
sion of the full exercise of another.
Many selfstyled moralists, seeing the
evils which too often ensue from an undue
attention to the bodily energies, to the neg
lect of higher mental attributes, seek every
opportunity to decry physical culture.
Were mOiety of the time used in this
endeavor employed in the effort to regu-
late the alleged abuse, we should soon see
many athletic sports dignitied and en-
nobled, whose exercise society now frowns
upon Did these same nOralists bestOw
upon their own bodies a portion of that
Solicitous care which makes the glory of
man his strength, a larger, stronger and
healthier soul would not descend to those
cavils, every repetition of which only
serves to increase our faith in Juvenal's
" mems sund "a maxim, the force of which
age has not diminished in the estimation
of those who seek To find "good in every
thing" and who do not think that the
diam md loses luster from the rare purity
and beauty of the setting. IT it is the
duty of man to neglect no means for the
preservation of his body by aiming at the
highest physical culture, and if we have
thus far left those means in the hands of
creatures who debase all athletic exercises,
do not let us longer carp at those who
would elevate and refine them.
1t is objected that such associations eX-
pose the young TO temptation" We re-
ply that it is from the struggle between
offered and the nobler impulse
to resist that true morality results. Is he
of the fine physique, clear eye and pure
blood, more prone to yield to such tempta- |
tion than his pallid, nerveless brother
Rather is he not better prepared to resist
it? Without stronger evidence we can
not admit the truth of the random asser
tl0n lnaJ III our ColltSCS Soou Synundsts
are poor students" for we believe that
physical strife for success in one particular
is not incompatible with excellence in the |
cultivation of the intellectual or moral
faculties. The same energy with which
the youth labors to increase his physical
stamina, fulfilling at the same time his
daily duties, will not be found enervated
when the more serious affairs of life de-
mand its exercise Cincinnati CtrOR5cSe.