Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-09-03
THE FIELD CLUB.



Baltimore Gazette.
An almost extravagant fondness for out.
door sports is a national characteristic of
our English cousins, both of tho sterner
and the gentler sex. The beneficial re-
suits are seen in their robust strength and
"staying" powers, their bright eyes and
rosy faces. As a rule the English are q
healthy, vigorous race, capable of enor-
nous expenditure of physical strength and
possessing a fund of energy and self-reli-
ance upon which they are able to make
almost unlimited draughts. Their expert
ence for centuries proves that a taste for
athletic sports is one of the best inheritances
that can be transmitted in q nation from
father to son, and it is therefore especially
gratifying to note the marked growth in the
popularity of outdoor exercises among our
selves. During the past ten years the taste
for the different OIen-air sports has IN
creased with great rapidity in every part
Of the country. Baseball not only shows
no signs of waning, but is if anything
more popular than ever. Cricket is gain
ing ground in the Eastern states, while
rowing has everywhere developed amaz-
ingly in popularity. Bicycle riding is also
destined to have in short time a large circle
Of devOtecs, while indoor gymnastics, rs
we'll as athletic competitions in the open air
swimming, walking, running and many
minor forms of physical exercise,
have each their special advocates and fol-
lowers. The colleges, where young men
arc thrown together in large bodies and
where special facilities for practice are af-
fOrded, have naturally been the nurseries
of the athletic spirit, and must continue to
be SO. AT some of them the effort has
been made by the authorities to curb if not
to break down the new tendency which
they accuse of being detrimental to tho
pursuit of knowledge. Undoubtedly,
when carried to an extreme, the taste for
athletic exercises become injurious, but the
fact should not be overlooked that the
country needs healthy rs we'll rs intelligent
men and that the youth who goes into the
world strong in body rs we'll rs fairly in
formed is dOubly armed for the struggle for
existence. The young women, too, are reap.
ing great advantages from the new order
OF things. Lawn-tennis, walking, riding and
other forms Of exercise are as popular now
among the girls rs fashionable languOl
was some years ago. The great reprOacll
of American women in the past has been
that they arc too delicate, too ailing, too
weak, to meet the exacting demands OF
| WltchOOd and motherhood. Their lowell
ness has been conceded on all hands, but
in too many cases it has been the lowell
ness of the fragile, dropping flower. Now
all this is being changed. At the seaside
women arc often better swimmers than
the men, the result of constant and INTEL
igcnt practice ut the swimming schools.
At the country and mountain resorts the
average young lady thinks nothing of a
five or even tcn-mile tramp over the rough
est paths. In the Catskills or the AdirOn-
dacks, for instance, it is common thing
to see troops of young ladies in their trim
walking dresses and squarc-sOle shoes
climbing tho most prccipitate mountain
sides quite rs nimbly rs their male escorts.
All this cannot but be beneficial to the
young people, and it's favorable effect
upon the physique Of the coming genera
tiOns Of Americans must inevitably he
very marked.