The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-06-25
A Suggestion to College Preachers.

A Suggestion to College Preachers.
Tho sermons which 1t Is customary to
preach to the graduating classes OF colleges,
have now for the most part been delivered.
They are words OF counsel and warning ad-
dressed to the young men usually by cler-
ical college Presidents; and from year TO
year they are about the same.
Their burden Is that the training OF the
school Is only the beginning Of education;
and PROFESSIONALLY this Is 80. Some things
can be learned best In boyhood, when the
mind is most docile; but the great mass OF the
knowledge possessed by men Is acquired
through experience obtained only by long
wears OF living In the world, and by continu-
Gus study and observation. There Is no doubt
about that. 1t has been said since the days
of JOB, and the college preachers can only
vary the form OF the statement. STILL we
have no objection to its repetition every
summer, though 1t Is doubtful whether
the boys profit to any great extent by the
iteration. They will have to learn the les
son for themselves in tho competition OF
life and under the flashing and squirting OF
the race upon which they will enter; and
they will learn it in no other way.
But as our colleges now are, the young
men are getting a preparation for the strife
which is not less valuable than the spiritual
and intellectual training upon which the
preachers lay 30 great stress. 1t comes as
the consequence Of their own initiative, and
because of their youth and abundant vitality.
It is apart from the regular college curric-
uum, and has been maintained in spite OF
tho early opposition Of college facul-
ties, continued On some cases to this
day. While professors, clergymen,
and philosophers have given exclusive
attention to the development OF their minds
and hearts, the students themselves have
bestowed more Of their enthusiasm on the
development Of their bodies. They have ele-
waited the athletic hero to the first place in
the college world. and put mere intellectual
accomplishment in very subordinate rank.
| II the two go together, as they often do, 30
much the better; but II intellectual prowess
is attained at the expense OF physical
strength, or in disregard Of 1t. the result eX-
cites pity rather than the hearty admiration
provoked by physical strength.
That is the rule In our present college soci-
ETY.; and it is we'll that 1t is so. Thence this
standard OF estimation has extended to
young men generally; for in this country
physical training received It's first impulse
| from the colleges, so that now there Is no
subject in which youth especially Is 80 pro-
foundly interested as tho subject OF manly
sports and exercises. Consequently radi-
cal change in the habits and ambitions OF
young men has taken place during the last
generation. This republic begins to resemble
ancient Greece in devotion to athletic
exercises and its rejoicing over physical de-
velopment and muscular perfection. The
strong, enduring man has become the hero.
As result OF this newly awakened senti-
ment, the type Of the race Is much higher
physically than it used to be. and the i'm
provement shows itself In both men and
women. They are both growing taller and
OF more symmetrical proportions: and yet
the athletic movement Is IN Its beginning
only. 1t will tell more on the generations
succeeding, for 1t did not extend through 30
ciety generally until within very few
years. Now there is not a schoolboy who Is
not infamed with emulation for athletic
superiority. and whose chief heroes are not
champions OF strength and endurance.
Therefore the college preachers pass by q
subject OF prime interest and Importance
when they neglect TO speak OF the influence
of colleges in developing higher type OF
manhood In this country, higher not merely
physically but morally also. For athletic
training necessitates self-control, sell-denial
abstinence, correct habits. and the subjec.
ton of vicious tastes and propensities. l,
also generates self-respect, the conscious
ness OF power seli-reiance, fortltude. cour
age, persistency, the habit OF facing Difficult
ties, and the capacity OF outstanding every
resource for a supreme effort. 1t fits a mar
for the struggle and strife Of life, besides
making him more valuable to society as
progenitor OF the race AS his body
strengthens, his mind also gains vigor.
Here Is q subject for tho clerical Presi
dents OF colleges to preach upon. themselves
30 often suffering from the absence OF such
training In their student days. They know
very we'll that athletic exercises are the very
life of college at the present day, and tina
instruction in them does more than ever
scholastic renown to fiji its classes and swell
its power Why, then, should they not give
to such theme the commanding importance
in their sermons to which 1t is ent1tledH Be
sides. they might say something freshel
about 1t than they are accustomed to Say
about difficulty and slow progress that ar'
met with In climbing the ladder Of learning
Confiscation.
On Saturday last the Senate passed with