The Irish standard., 1891-01-17
VIGOROUS ATHLETICS A. |. ! q I, I I s
Break-Neok Sports Which linden
ger Human Life.
Disastrous Results Of the "Gentle and
Joyous" Football Fight and tho
Festive and Fetching Basc-
Ball Battle.

Sir Walter Scout, In summing w eA0
list of casualties which resulted from
the tournament in which lvanhoc car
ried every thing before him, says III er-
feet that, because only few knights
were mortally wounded and several
others dangerously hurt, the tonrn;s-
ment passed into history and rhyme rs
''thc gentle and joyous passage-at-arnss
of Ashby de la Zouche."
This mildly ironical expression Is re-
called, says the San Francisco Chron-
icle, by the accounts of the recent foot
ball game between Yale and Princeton.
We read that one player moved down
half dozen Princeton mem that IN
:, rush King Vas badly hurt, but re-
vivcd sufficiently to 60 on with the
game;'' that another player was re-
tired on account of injuries" and that
several of the players had to be car
ricd off the field at the conclusion OF
the game" Surely this will pass into
the history of American sports as the
gentle and joyous football match be-
tween Yale and Princeton
In the National game, too, the list OF
a seasons casualties is by no means a
short one. Broken fingers, cracked
heads, bruised legs, spiked hands and
spl.ained ankles are some ct the most
common Accomplishments Of baseball,
and it seems impossible that the game
can be played well or scientifically
without them.
1t is not intended to throw cold water
upon athletic sports or games OF any
Sort but only to suggest that any game
which results in personal injuries and
often in Disagreement for life can be
called ''sport'' only by an extremity OF
courtesy which amounts to positive
missioner. The injuries are not in
tlicted Intentionally, it is true, but they
are none the less injurious; and ali the
apologies in the world will not mend u
broken leg or cure Il sprained ankle
With all our boasted civilization we
are not much better in these matters
than were the Greeks or Romans.
Their games were not merely rough,
but in many cases cruel and brutal
They seemed to have very little regard
for human feeling, or even for
human life, as every reader OF Greek
and Roman history knows. Whether
this callousness was only an incident OF
the dccadence of Athens and Ronc, or
whether it was an integral part of their
downfall, is matter for argument It
has been claimed, with much earnest
ness and plausibility, that the so-called
sports of Rome under the lesser Caesars
were an index of the disposition and
habits of thought of the people and q
forcrunner Of the destruction which
that we are showing signs of the same
decadcnce which Slapped the Imperial
city and destroyed the mistress of the
world.
But this is not logical deduction.
On the contrary, our growing fondness
for athletics is a favorable sign, the
only danger being that we should over
do the matter. We are like a child
with new toy - we can not get
enough of our field games and open-air
sports At the same time there is a
happy medium between the gladiator
and the "Miss Nancy;" between puss-in-
the-corner and combats with the ces-
tas. TO show our manhood we do not
need to knock somebody down every
time we go on the street, nor to show our
proficiency in manly sports do we need
to play football in such way as to
leave majority of each eleven Grip
pied at the close of the game. There
must be ways and means of playing
football which do not put the player
into the category of what life-insurance
people call extra hazardous risks, 2 and
it is time that new rules be found or
made which shall eliminate the per-
sonal danger from the game without
diminishing it's interest.
The question is certainly worth con-
sidering. Fun is fun, and working
people like the Americans can hardly
get TOD much of it, but when fun is
Synonymous with wounds and bruises
and fractures and the like, it l.; time to
devise some other kind of fun and to
put some limits to the Extravaganza of
our athletic youths.
Rightly Named.
The Bad Lands of Dakota are COM
posed of white clay, which, by the
action of rains, has been cut into hill
ocks. They are not high, says the Chi
cagO Tribune, seldom more than forty