The New York herald., 1876-09-13
International Contests-The New Order
OF Olympic Festivals.

| lighter and brighter and, to congenial
minds more congenial themes suggested by
the great events of this athletic age. Never
since all Helias gathered at the Olympic
games to witness the contests for the wreath
| of olive has there been such interest in
manly sports as has been shown in the last
half of the last decade. The Pilgrim
Fathers were cast in too stern a mould for
their children or their grandchildren or
their great-grandchildren to promote such
amusements as are the delight of their more
distant offspring Think OF old Governor
Winthrop and Captain Miles Standish as
| the champion athletes of their day,
or of Roger Williams as stroke OF
n tour-oared shell. The idea is pre-
posterous, and yet even Mr. Longfellow
might sing in his graceful and well-trained
verse the hearty praises of college crew.
Mr.. Tennyson certainly has found many
meaner theme for his laureate muse than the
rifle contests at Creedmoor or Dollymount
What the saints disdained the sinners have
converted into Il creed, and muscular Chris
| tianity has become something very like u re-
| ligion The stern tenets OF the olden time
have given place to milder pfecepts and u
brighter and happier ideal of existence
1t is no longer q sin to dance in the moon
| light of summer night, or even in the
misty mazes of the german 10 walk and
run, to box and wrestle, to row and shoot,
are all thought worthy Of the prize of popu-
lar arapplause. The world is gay, but the gayer
| it gets the better it becomes. The champion
Of the hour is not always the popular preacher
or the successful soldier or the silver-tongued
orator or the party leader. We have i'll turn
the victora in our Olympic games Columbia
or Cornell on Saratoga Lake, the Beaverwycks
on the Schuylkiil, the American rifle team
fetching home prizes from Dollymount and
| from Wimbledon, and the New York Yacht
Club asking the world to come and get
the Americas cup, and we bear them aloit
as proudly as the Greeks bore their Olympic
! heroes and decorate them not less nobly
than the ladies OF the Medieval age honored
the knights who wore their colors in the
lists The hard corners of hard grained
world have been soitened by the warm light
which has crept into the cold cares and du-
ties of everyday existence, and all the world
is more akin by contests like that at Creed
moor to-day, which test the skill rather than
the prowess OF friendly nations striving in
friendly rivalry.
Such an occasion as we are now cele-
brating ought to be scene only of good
feeling and good fellowship There is no
room for little spites or petty jealou&es. AS
Americans we like to keep the greater honors
at home, Of course, but whoever wins we
shall honor ourselves in honoring. All the
contending teams have hearty welcome to
America, and the honors they win will not
be grudgingly accorded The Irish rihemen
are especially welcome, because they come
again to contend for prize which even skill
such as theirs failed to give them either at
Creedmoor or Dollymount We do not for
get that the Scotch team is here in spite Of
obstacles and difficulties which would have
we'll excused their absence. We hail
the Australian team because its pres
ence is proof that our modern archery
is equally popular Mt the antipodes as with
the parent stock from which two new worlds
have sprung. We shake hands with our
Canadian neighbors and assure them that
American rihemen believe in complete reci-
procity. For the moment Creedmoor is
the Ellis of the world new Hellas, and skill
alone is the Hellenic test of the modern
Olympia. new tie has been found to bind
the nations together, and as the Olympic
games promoted spirit of union among the
Greeks, exceeding even the influence Of the
In
that which is now in progress unite in
bonds of friendly interest, not kindre d na
tions only but all the scattered remnants of
Aryan and Semitic brotherhood.
1t is easy to find philosophy in such
events as the Creedmoor shooting, but its
humorous and rollicking side is too apt to
escape us in the earnestness Of the occasion.
There can be no brotherhood without fun,
and we are sure the visiting teams must have
found plenty of amusement in America.
We took them to the theatre and showed
them an Assyrian ballet probably from the
River Lee or the bonny Dundee. We exhib-
tied to them forty millions of dyspeptics
who talk through their noses because they
have no stomachs-the European seat of
speech. We carried them down the Bay to
show them Notifications which could not
withstand the attack of thirty-two deter
mined rihemen. We introduced them to
Mayor Wickham, and asked them what they
thought of Governor Tilden. We are going
to take them to the islands to see the late
residence of .'Twid Autelme' and be grinned
at by the lunatics. If all this is not fun
enough for four rifle teams We may, perhaps,
invite them to the City Hall and ask them to
become the Board of Aldermen at all
events we shall put them aboard an
outgoing steamer and accompany them down
the Bay with tugboat and brass band
l,,l ha ~k,Ii