New-York tribune., 1873-06-30
THE BOATRACE.

kind than this side of the Atlantic mas you
,yitnessed More boats are TO start than ever
before; the preparation making Is uhusuany
spirited and CAREFUL one crew. at leaS1--tna'
of Columbia College, in this city, now ehoer-
ing the lists for the first time-ls already Oh
the ground (or water), and the Others VIII
soon follow With the day there will with
out doubt arrive an unprecedented host Oh
spectators, both Town and Gown, anu IL ~ Saio
TO say that whoever visits Sprlngheiu On 'no
18th of July will see a sight there which, IL
he is right-minded man, he Will deem IL
worth going good way to enjoy
Then we shall have, of course, new niSc'uS-
sion of College boat-racing. The customary
doubts and fears as to its physical, mental
and moral effects will be submitted, ana tne
regular reasons why it should be discouraged
if not prohibited, will be once more given an
airing. We shall hear about disease
and neglect of study, and betting, ana all Tue
rest of those evils the argument from which
is apt to be so perfectly convincing 10 CnoSe
to whom it does not apply. The influence oi
these well-meant presentations of truth may
he trusted to prevent the breaking out OF a
mania for boat-racing among the aged-ln 1act
among all people of fifty years old ana up
ward but mournful as the fact may be- there
is much ground for apprehendlng that there
their usefulness will end.
For-beginning with the alleged physlcai ODD
iections-who ever knew young men to be de-
terred from any kind of play they liked on
the score of its being dangerousY What eVo-
luton will bring us to cannot with certainty
be affirmed. There may come time IN the
distant future when the male youth OF our
species will affect no games but such rs arc
absolutely safe-when his baseball Will be
soft and his dumb-bell light; when he VIII
prefer the mild ecstacy of the " CONSTITUTIONAL
walk. and never desire to prove, on any
challenge, how fast he can run, how far
he can Jump, how much he can hit,
or at what speed he can row; when hls we'll
ordered mind will forbid him to incur the
risk of injury, by wound, fracture, strain, or
otherwise, to any tissue, limb or organ; when,
in short, he will wish to do nothing which a
middle-aged gentleman Of the present PERIOD
careful OF his health, would not do But,
alas, that time is not yet, nor are there any
very distinct signs that 1t is near. The human
boy as he is, and as he has been from the
foundation of the world is morally sure to
think and act in this regard as no middle
aged gentleman does, or has done since he
was a boy himself. Spite of all cautions, he
will persist in taking peculiar pleasure in
sports that are plainly unsafe; nay, he is so
unreasonable creature that the good counsel
to adopt only those pastimes that involve no
peril of getting hurt, Is pretty certain to excite
his contempt.
In view of this fact, which is more painful
to some than it is to others, the prospect Of
the abolition of College bOat-Tacing by IN ap-
peal to sanitary considerations is as hopeless
as possible especially as, after all that Is
urged against it on that score is said, the Col
lege world is still unsha1en i'll the opinion
that sanitary considerations are, on the whole,
in favor of it. The practical experience with
reference to it is, that instances of permanent
or serious injury attributable to it are ex-
tremely rare. Indeed, careful inquiry into
the subject lately made by DR.. Morgan OF
Manchester, England-himself an ex-boatlng
man-invOving very extensive correspond
ence with the ex-boating men of Oxford and
Cambridge Of the past forty years, has de-
velOped the result that, az a class, they have
been not only, as might be expected, OF an
exceptional general health, but also that they
have been as free from those special maladies
which it is said much hard rowing in
duoes, as any equal number of graduates be-
side, taken at random. 1t is not to be
doubted that if more students would undergo
the work and discipline that prepare a man
to pull in a race, the average of acadomical
health would be raised instead of lowered.
Without doubt, too, for that matter, fewer
cardiac and pulmonary disorders are. incurred
by excessive exercise, than by excessive abb
stinence from it. If any one suggests that
there can be boating without racing and the
severe training incident to it, he speaks as a
fool. The human boy being what he is, and
being distributed through neighboring and
rival schools, will, if he does any boating at
all, inevitably race. 1t is his nature to. And
Faculties will stultfy themselves by forbid
ding lin to do it.
The consequence of bOat-racing 10 the intel
lectual interests Of the Colleges which engage
in it, is by no means clearly vicious. So far as
it cOnduces to health of body, it is, OF course,
other things being equal, wholesome to the
mind, and it is unquestionably true that
among collegians there has been hitherto, and
is still, very much less study, and very much
less power of study, lost from overriding in
the matter of exercise than from underdoing.
Regarding the objection to it as a waste of
time, it may be asserted without fear of con-
tradiction that, at the worst, it is one of the
least Objectionable of the many ways of mis-
spending study hours that are in vogue-as,
for instance doing nothing But the truth
is that with the large majority of boat
ing men it does not consume more
time than should be given To Soma Sort