The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-11-13

exertion is brutal. 1t is not brutal
however, under the rules, in the sense
| in which the cavaliers use that much
abused term, 1t is, indeed, a game
calculated to excite the angry pas
sions of all those who have themselves
well in hand, for the contest is hand
to hand. There is actual physical
contact, real pushing and tackling
Your opponent hurls you to the
ground, and when you try to get up
he and his comrades fall on you and
keep you pinned to the earth. 1t i:
difficult under these circumstances fol
any but the best bred boys and men
tie keep the necessary control over
themselves.
There used to be unseemly slugging
matches in some of the intercollegiate
football games. But the day for that
sort o. thing went out when two ref
erees were appointed, one to keep
watch of the ball and the play-and a
sharp watch it must be-and the
other to look after the ethics of the
game. Moreover, the mere playing of
matches breeds and fosters self re-.
straiIt. This years games are notice.
ably better nature1 than those of pre-
ceding years. Some men will hurt,
of course. Men are struck and hurt
in the conflicts of life; struck in spirit
and mind by Universities, and by the
evil deeds of enemies. Very few are
seriously hurt in The game of football.
Broken bones are soon mended, and
severe training enables the players to
withstand falls that would kill or seri-
ously cripple softer men.
1t is the greatest game of the time. 1t
develops every muscle of the body. 1t
expands the lungs with the fresh in
MIGRATING air of autumn. 1t makes
the mind alert. 1t exerts a most
beneficent moral influence. No cow
ard can play football. 1t requires alb.
solute courage to take the chance of
the field The youth who starts with
the ball to rush for the goal at the
opposite end of the field understands
perfectly we'll that he will be tackled
and thrown before he has gone many
feet. That fall is likely to hurt him
not seriously, but more than the man
of ease would like. The player doesn't
care. He wants to win, and to
win in a contest which the actual
physical encounter Of the players
makes exciting. He will carry that
ball as far us possible. He will use
his utmost epdeavors to dodge
through the opposite rush line. His
fellows will aid him by catching hold
OF and interfering in every allowable
way with the movements of the
players, who are intent on defeating
his object. He will shake off all who
come in his course until some one
tackles him successfully and he is
thrown prone on the ground. On top
OF him are piled hundreds of pounds
OF living humanity, while he works his
way forward as best he can, striving
for every inch of ground.
Then there is the careful plan for
moving forward once more. The study
of the enemy. The attempt to con-
fuse him as to the designs of the centre
rush. The signal for a prearranged
plan OF attack. Football has no use
for man who cannot keep his head,
and the successful quarter back must
be one of the most alert intellects in
college. He must see every oppor-
tunity at a glance, and the captain
must have his own men so we'll in hand
that he will be able to throw the right
players into the breach IN an instant.
Football, with its opening moves, its
grand strategy and its tactics, is to
athletics what chess is to club and
parlor games.
And we will repeatit, for the signifi.
cant fact cannot be too often reiter-
ated, that none but we'll bred men and
boys, self-commanding, fair, kindly
and courageous can play this game,
50 that as our youth becomes more
and more accustomed to it its SEEM
ing barbarities will disappear.
And when the game is over what a
a triumph is there for the victor. For !
one OF the virtues of the game is the
hard fighting for ground, the stub
born contest by which inch after inch
is won. And what delicious fatigues
bless the relaxed limbs of both teams.
The appetite and sleep that crown a
game OF football are such as old gray
heads who sit on the bleaching boards
or the grand stand would give
fortunes for. They are the appetite
and sleep of sound and healthful
YOUTH New York World
L..