Huntsville gazette., 1889-03-09
ATHLETIC EXERCISE.
It's Effect on College Students Discussed b,
3 Harvard Professor.

It's Effect on College Students Discussed by
Harvard Professor.
In some institutions of learning it
appears to have been noticed that ath-
letic contests have served to diminish
the interest of the student body in per-
sonal exercises. 1t is supposed that
the interest of the individual student
in his own physical culture is in some
way diminished by the success of his
comrades, who by virtue of their nat
ural parts or long-continued training
have attained to perfection in the art.
Thus, in the report made by COM
mittee of the board of overseers of
Harvard College, the ground was taken
that competitive athletics had served
to lower the physical condition of the
students, few taking part in such
sports. for the reason that they could
not attain distinguished excellence in
their work. My own experience as
student and teacher in Harvard Col
lege, which extends altogether over a
period Of thirty years, does not sup
port this judgment. | note in the first
place that poor physical condition
is at present matter of re-
proach to an individual, and he
feels that he has to justify his
bad state to his comrades by some
kind of plea in extenuation. | notice
furthermore that, in teaching geology
in the field, set walks which twenty
years ago surpassed the pedestrian
powers of quite one-half my students
are now entirely within their abilities
That the reader may not be led to ex-
plain this difference by the fact of
growing intirmity on my own part, |
may say that not only the distances,
but the times involved in the journey,
are the same now as of old. There
can be no doubt in my mind that the
physical condition of the average stu
dent at Harvard College is vastly bet
ter than it was a score of years ago.
Along with this improvement in
Experimentation of youths has come
a decided gain in certain moral quail
ties. Thus between 1864 and 1870, it
was not uncommon to find students in
Harvard College seriously the worse
for habits of drinking. can recollect
in those years dozen cases in which |
felt impelled to expostulate with young
men on this subject. At least as
as many persons were known to me to
be what we may properly call drunk
ards; but from about 1870. when the
athletic move began to develop, and
particularly since the foundation of
the new gymnasium, and the conse-
quent wide development OF field and
house athletics, this vice has bee,
rapidly diminishing. At present | dc
not know in my acquaintance with the
students, which extends perhaps to
half the members of the university, a
single case in which the young man
man can be called drunkard. | be-
lieve this gain to be due in large
measure to the sense of pride in a
physical state which affects by far the
larger part of the students. Their ex-
perience in training, which is under
BOliC III OiC way VI dlOtucT Dy d very
large part of the young men, gives
them by experiment a clear under
standing as to the science of hygienic
conditions. In similar way the use
of tobacco has diminished. Between
1865 and 1880 it was not uncommon to
find men SO soddened with tobacco that
they were unpleasant subjects to have
in small lecture room. In this decade
] have found but two or three persons
affected to this extent by tobacco.
Even the use of tea and coffee, on the
whole undesirable with youth, but ex-
tremely common in former years. has
remarkably diminished. l am informed
that only about half the students who
take their meals at Memorial Hall in
dulge in these beverages. In fact, the
ways of the trained men in a college,
like the customs Of an army in State
where the military men have great
Importance, are effective upon the
body of the folk. Reasonable living
is necessary to athletic success, and
the habits of those men become in a
way pattern for the school life.-W.
S. Shaler, in Atlantic.