Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-12-30

Al - clock Yesterday afternoon thS
forty first annual meeting of the Wis
cousin Teachers association was
opened in the assembly chamber of the
capitol There was Il very fair at
tendance, with prospects of an un-
usually large gathering today.
The session was opened by President
r. h. Pray, Of Milwaukee. with an out
line of the program
President Adams of the Wisconsin
university, read paper on The Place
of Athletics in Our System of Educa-
ton, which was as follows
The great interest recently taken in
competitive collegiate games is but one
expression of the general demand for
making physical culture more dis.
tinctive part of education.
This demand is as reasonable as
it is unmstakablc Twenty years ago
there was not wcll.equipped gym
nasium connected with any university,
college OF secondary school in this
country. Today no institution of the
higher grade regards itself as complete
without facilities for systematic physic-
al exercise and even the prominent
secondary schools begin 10 feel obliged
TO make similar provisions.
The necessity, or. If Won please, the
propriety of such provisions rests upon
the firm foundation of universal cN-
pethency, The Justification of educa-
ton at public, or even private expense,
is the fact that it promotes efficiency.
For efficiency in a comprehensive sense
a sound body is as necessary rs a cul-
tivatcd mind Physical soundncss is
partly a matter of hercdity, but it is
also very largely a matter Of training,
1t Is demonstrable that in the period Of
youth n feeble body is even more Ca
pable than feeble mind of being
moulded into health and efficiency
THE proper physical development of
a pupil is the result of neither chance
age college girl and the average col
lege- boy prepared from measurements
by the professor of physical culture
lat Harvard. and exhibited In the an
thropological building of this world
fair. told story that was full of
meaning No one could look upon those
statues. especially the statue of the
average girl without seeing in it an
indication Of future fceblencSS and in
efficiency Last summer nj the Madi-
son meeting Of the American AsSoci-
alton for the Advancement of Science.
one street boy said to another: Who
are all these men walking about with
umbrellas and erip-sacks| Why don't
YOU know said his friend, III tell you.
They are lot Of fellows whose knowl
edge has all run TO their heads.
Now it is somewhat so with vast
number Of pupils in school. especially
with ambitious girls and young women
While believe investigation has shown
thar the health of young women at the
time of graduation is quite rs good as
at the time Of admission to college 1t
is undoubtedly true that at the time
of admission they are often a really
feeble folk Their knowledge has of
ten all gone TO the head In real Of
ticiency the center of gravity is not
in the brain but somewhere about the
heart or lungs or stomach. Twenty
five years ago it was a common saying
that the college valedictorian was sell
dom heard Of i'm after life. His marks
had been acquired deyoting his days
and nights 10 narrow lines Of brain
work; and by so doing he had trans
ferrcd his center Of gravity from the
fifth rib to the base of the brain
Another class Of men yielded TO a
tendency in the opposite direction.
Physical eXuberance would assert it.
self There was no gymnasium or ath-
letic field where the floodgates Of super
fluous animal spirits could be opened
with impunity Thu result was all
that boisterous law geSsness that char
acterized college life a generation ago.
It has often been matter Of surprise
that the turbulent spirits have after
wards had so large a share of the
genuine successes Of life, while the
men who were scholars and nothing
elise have accomplished so little The
explanation is easy. Red blood is one
Of the elements Of success. Without il
there would have been no Caesar no
Luther no Cromwell, no Washington
no Franklin, no Webster, no Lincoln,
no Gladstone no Bismarck. IT is not
easy to think of any one Of these men
as keeping off the athletic field through
fear Of a sprained ankle or a broken
nose With less difficulty one could
imagine them all as inhicting their
irrcpressible energies on the night air
on the sidewalks and gates Of inoifen
sive shop-keepers, and on the stables
and lecture rooms Of inoffensive pro
( fcssors. But the temptations TO such
methods are nearly gone The infiu
ence Of the gymnasium and the ath
letic field in promoting and preserving
good order is measurable And vet
there are stiH respectable men Of good
intentions who think that a turn pike
( is good enough for an athletic field
and a saw-buck for gymnasium
THE physical training to which / re
+ fer. and which | would advocate. can