New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-07-17
the superseryiceable friends of the Admins
tration undertook in this instance.
TIE RKGhTTA.

wo dare say when Plato lectured In the
NJ 80 .ho Albanian Academy of Physical
Training. and Aristotle taught philosophy ~
Tho Ivceum of tho wrestlers ana quot
tbrowers. there wero numerous exceiient oiu
gentlemen in Greece who grpmbied great
doaI over the mischievous interference Oh
manly sports with intellectual culture ana
wanted 10 Danish athletic exercises OF all
Linda from association with studious pur-
a,it. Rut somehow the wrestlers ana rum
,,oro had their own way, and we have no
reason Ia believe that the curriculum OF the
schools was seriously interrupted by the
training of the athletes. The Olympic
games became in time the greatest popular
gatherings of Greece. They showed to an adj
miring world the fullest development of that
manly beauty which has been the admiration
of all subsequent times. They brought to-
gether the flower Of the Grecian youth from
all the Hellenic States. The prize OF victory
was more highly valued than almost any Other
honor the public could bestow. And stimuli
taneously with the universal popularity of
these games grew the splendOr of Grecian art
and learning, and that elegant culture winch
still inspires the enthusiasm of historians.
The lesson is obvious but some people in
our day have not learned it. We hear now
and then protest against contests ike that
which to-day engrosses the attention OF so
many hundreds of students on the banks OF
the Connecticut River; and well-meaning per-
sons bewail the bOatiDg-fever" which draws
these young men away from their books and
keeps them browning their skins and stretch
ing their muscles on the riveR when they
ought to be bending their backs over the
Greek Lexicon. 1t is q noteworthy fact, how
ever, that these complaints do not come as
rule from the authorities Of the colleges IL
it is true that the boating men during the
past Six months have Systematically abandoned
the lecture-rooms and thrown their books
ont of window,-if it is true that q
largo development of the biceps Is
fatal TO literary distinction, and that the
forearm grows only at tho expense of the
brain,-professors, and presidents, and dons OF
all degrees have kept singularly quiet about
il, and some of them have even given large
sums of money to the college boat-crews. In
deed il is stated-and our own information
tends TO confirm the assertion-that majority
of the boating men rank high in their classes.
i
body is an excitement to activity Of mind.
The model scholar is not pale young man
with round shoulders and weak eyes, but a
lusty fellow in whose veins the blood courses
freely, whose brain is clear whose lungs are
sound. whose digestion is hearty, and habit OF
life regular who breathes plenty of fresh
air, and invigorates his nervous system
with abundant bodily exercise. He does
not sit weary over the midnight lamp,
but he goes to his work with zest.
And after all, is it certainly an evil If
boating does take the students away for
awhile from their booksP Is scholarship so
much better than strength, is a full albeit
aching head so much better than broad chest
and a glowing cheek, that we can afford to
put athletic exercises so very much lower than
literary studies in the scheme Of young
mans education7 Our national fault is neglect
of tho body far more than of the Intellectual
faculties; and though an American college
training may not be the most thorough IN the
world, we could afford to throw off little
Greek and Latin from the scanty load of the
average graduate if the result would be to
give us a stronger set of men.
The danger of the Regatta, we believe, is
not so much to the studies of the students as
to their physique. The result of the match
between Ward and Bigln the other day Illus
trates the peril of over-exertiOn or of unwise
and excessive training, to which the students
at this time are especially liable. The men
are comparatively new to this sort of labor;
they have not the precepts Of college tradition
to guide them; most of them probably have
not been much accustomed to physical exer-
ton of any kind. We shall feel that we have
unexpected cause for congratulatiOn if the
day pass by without disclosing the serious
breaking down of some ambitious oarsman.
All this may be an argument against re-
gattas, but it is not against boating. On
the contrary, it points to the necessity for
a regular system of physical training in all
our institutions of learning. The danger is
not in the steady pull. but in the "spurt."