The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-05-10


growth as people we may count the hearty
will and happy facility with which we take
to field sports. Hardy, bold and energetic
races of men have been distinguished in
every age for their love Of vigorous sports
that taxed at once the endurance Of the
physical frame and the nicely of the senses
upon which depend the acquisition of
skill, and we prove our blood in our
Characteristic fondness for these manly exer-
cises. In the fullest degree we have this
instructive love for the indulgence of the
power of our muscles and for their applica-
ton to our entertainment in whatever
games may present themselves-an instinct
that comes naturally from our British an
cestry, and is rather fortified than otherwise
by our original draughts on those races of
men from the earlier commingling of which
the British race arose.
Despite the objection that the progress Of
civilization has very justly excited to any
sports that tend to brutal results, the two
greatest nations of the earth were but few
years since absorbed in the deepest degree
over the results of gladiatorial combat
absorbed in pure love of sport that lost sight
of the offensive features of particular form
of sport. With what anxiety the same ma
tons have dwelt on contests in which the
point at issue was a test of the respective
strength and skill with which their sons
could WELD the oar or the rife With what
epic carnestness they have gone into
the struggle to prove that they had on
either side a better breed of horses and bet
ter horsemen, and how the sailor descent
and maritime tastes have come out in sports
that tried their crnft and their seamanship!
Every great sport racing, rowing, shooting,
riding. wrestling, boxing and oil the games
that are contriving to produce or to exhibit
proficiency in these sports, are the common
property Of the British and American peo-
pie, as, indeed, they are Of nearly all the
then some new form of one or the other Of
these is brought from some obscure district
into general notice, or an old form is revived
with new impulse under the influence Of
some accidental circumstance. They may
possess no absolutely new feature, yet they
give variety. So an inventive genius in the
kitchen may startle the palates Of whole
city if he fall into the right hands, and yet
he must do it with the same old mutton and
veal and beef that has palle1 on every
appetite for generations.
1t is thus with those happy recent intro
auctions, coaching and polo. To drive
stage is not new, and as for polo it is made
up of ball play and horsemanship-old
enough, as all men know, both of them. Yet
polo and coaching are both evidently des-
tined to have the greatest success with our
people for good reasons Mr.. Kane, for
instance, drives his coach on o delightful
excursion, and SO is enabled to charm
and please a large number of ladies
and gentlemen fond of that sort Of
refined picnic, and to cultivate and
practise very fine style of driving, which
if it have no other effect at least induces
rich men to spend their money in way that
is pleasant to their friends, agreeable to
themselves and good for improving the breed
of horses and the style of vehicles. Outlets
like this for the superfuous cash Of the
wealthy are public benefits, and he must
have but little philosophy in him who does
not readily perceive their advantage. Polo
is q game recently brought from India,
people who live in the saddle, and it has
been caught up with great favor wherever
people are interested in equestrian skill,
and consequently in any exercise that tends
to put this sort Of skill to an extreme and
severe test.
contemporary, the Sun, seems to depre-
cate that these sports are imported and to
reflect that many things adapted to habits Of
foreign people have no reason to be on our
side the water-a position which it illus
trates by reference to the custom OF banging
horses tails, which it derives from fox hunt
ing, and the influence of the fox hunters on
public tastes. But banging arose as much
from the fact that the long tails of thorough
breds become unpleasant in muddy weather,
and as there is mud in all countries and
thoroughbreds are to be found wherever there
is money to buy them, even this custom is
not necessarily local. 1t is true TINT coach
ing and polo are imported sports. So is
rowing. So is boxing. So is horse rae
ing. There are great many things
in this countrythat are imported and
it is even suspected that our very
freedom itself germs of our inerad-
icablc love of liberty and our constitutional
system-were actually brought from England
in ship called the MayAower. In short,
the American people is an imported people,
and consequently the various adjuncts of it's
civilized life came with it or followed it from
other countries. A wisc man said that he
stole from the ancients without compunc-
ton, because il he had lived before they did
they would have stolen from him. 1t need
not trouble our consciences, therefore, to
borrow our sports from nations older than