Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-07-03
The Active Element in Play.

in play, and children and grown per
sors must not get their sport too easi.
ly, nor enfeeble themselves by seden-
tary amusements. Here the impor-
tant distinction of the active and pas
siye voice opens upon us. In base
ball, in cricket, in billiards, in bowling,
and in quoits and football, there is
wholesome stir of the limbs and the
blood, and also good exercise for the
perceptions and judgment. Spinning
the top and flying the kite, playing
marbles and battledoor, are milder
sports, yet they have their use for the
mind as well as the body, and they
have place for physical education too
important to allow any sensible man to
despise them. Wetend generally yyery
much, however, away from all these
outdoor active plays, and we like to
get our amusement as easily as posi-
bic, with the least loss Of time or cost
Of effort. Hence the great prevalence
Of the sitting plays, the sedentary rec
reations. These are Of various kinds,
according as they quicken the percep-
tions and the understanding at the ta-
bic, as in the case of draughts, back
CANNON, or the less Objectionable
forms Of card playing; or as in the
case of riddles and charadcs and CO.
nundrums, they stir the wits or in
the play Of girls with dolls and pup
pets, which start the fancy; Or, lastly,
in the games of chance, that move
hope and fear without calling out any
worthy action of mind or heart, and
which are of doubtful service even in
their mildest forms, so ready are they
to encourage the accursed passion for
gaming. Now we certainly need to
bring out the more active class OF
plays, and men Of business and the
professions would be much better ev.
cry way if they would keep the usages
and the spirit of their youth by going
with their children and young peo-
pie to the base ball ground or the
bowling alley. 1t is the merest drive
to speak Of any of these wholesome
sports as bad because they are some
times abused. A billard-table, and q
bowlng-aley, are no more evil in
themselves than a dining-room or a
bath,housc, for each Of these may and
have been perverted to monstrous cor
ruptions.
1t is becoming very practical ques-
ton how far the active sports should
become SO intense and personal as to
excite emulation and influence parti-
sanship, as is so often the case with
our rowing matches and ball-playing.
Here a second distinction, based upon
emulation and its absence, presents it
self. Too often these contests cease
to be plays, and when the victory Sc
cures either a valuable prize or a sub
stantial honor, the sport is too serious
a business, and sometimes it brings
health and even peace Of mind into
peril. 1t is fun to see Harvard and
Yale or Oxford and Cambridge row,
ing for the mastery, but the brave fel-
lows who are straining their muscles
to win the day for their color are not
especially jolly, and no work is harder
than theirs. Young men must, indeed
be manly, and not mind roughing it
sometimes, but the boat race is Of a
piece with the scramble of life, and
one must not be overdainty in play
when we are to try our hand and take
our chance in the rough-and-tumble of
the world. 1t is best, however, to
give to manly plays as much genialty
and harmony as possible. We cannot
ask young men, indeed, to be content
with dancing all the time with ladies
in sympathetic round and party regu.
lation. Nor can we hope to contlne
them to the routine Of the gymnasium
and its feats of turning and climbing.
Military sports meet their active tenn
per very well, and marching and coun-
termarchlug with banners ana music
are better and more friendly exercise
than the everlasting fight for suprema-
cy, whether with the oar, or the foot
ball, or the cricket bat, 1t is well to
calm the pulses of youth, and even of
children, by adding plays ofrepresen-
tation to active sports, and finer
quality of fellowship goes with hear
ing music, seeing tableaux and pic
lures, walking in the fields, or rowing
or sailing quietly amidst pleasing seen
cry, or joining in social party with
its constant change of scenes and per
sons and recreations. We ought to