Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-09-06

harm resultant from college sports has
had its effect In cheapening the prestige
Of the great educational institutions OF
the country as well as in preventing
many youth from getting finished
education. because many parents have
been brought to believe that any effort
would be failure through the life
warping and demoralizing influence of
athletics.
One of the epochs in the career of a
young man is when he leaves the priv
ilcgcs and the protection of home to
enter upon a college course. He starts
out with purpose to develop his
mind. and development OF his body
should keep pace with his mentality.
Excessive work and excessive play are
equally dangerous to the body and the
mind, aud idlcnoss rs the twin sister
of dissipation should he rcpudiated at
the start, If success is to be achieved.
In this primal period of life the qucs-
ton Of work, waste, and supply bo-
comes matter OF most vital import to
the mental and physical organism.
The best development of the human
mechanism calls for at least n fair
amount of disciplined exercise.
So salutary and emphatic has been
the good moral tendency of athleticism
that number of prominent university
presidents have placed themselves up
on record as encouraging sports. The
fact that players of games and rowers
Of boats dispose of their supcriluous
energy in a style that is beneficial and
legitimate accounts largely for the
abatement Of the rampant energies of
rowdyism that were displayed in the
''cane rush" or "hazing." Thus while
the inspiring effects Of manly sport
leave their impress upon the mental
and moral tone of colegians, they
build up the body and blast the stories
that men of muscle do not live AS long
rs those who neglect ordinary bodily
exercise.
The records of sporting circles and
the stigma that frequently attaches
itself to the semi-inebriated profession
al have to a certain extent, and most
unjustly, darkcned bright picture
with dingy shadow distasteful and
forbidding to all true lovers OF sport
and athletics. Owing to these con-
spicuous side-issues and many misrep-
resentations number of writers en-
tertain the idea that good head and
muscular body can not dwell together
in harmony. DIR. Morgan, the eminent
English authority, in speaking of Ok
ford and Cambridge, says: If then
we view the two universities rs one
body, and compare generally the
academical distinctions gained by the
old oars with those obtained by men
never decorated with the blue ribbon
OF the river, we find that in the num-
Der, and still more in the importance
Of the honors. the rowers have decid-
edly the advantage, and many of these
men did not content themselves with
slaking thirst of the early ambition
while under the fostering care of their
alma mater, but they exhibited in after
life the same superiority over their fel-
lows-the same aptitude in working to
the front"
Captain John Ostram, an American
whose authority in college aquatics is
standard. says in the same connection:
1T is just as impossible for lazy man
to become great one as it is for him
to become a great scholar. 1t would
be the best moral discipline for any
under graduate addicted to the many
college vices if he could be placed in
the shell and kept there until gradua-
ton. for so long as he rowed he would
perforce live temperately."
lntemperance in any direction may
be fatal A mind of culture is power
less TO accomplish its best mission un-
less it has sound body to sustain it,
and its acme Of usefulness is attained
when mind and muscle have a healthy
ratio of balance. From long line OF
testimony the truths of the case are
conspicuous, and those who continual
ly contribute to the encouragement of
college sports are not tho friends of
the student, and they fail to see the
best effects that can be gained from Il
college course. Chicago Inter- Ocean.