New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-21

what other know even If he has learned 1t
hackneyed occupations OF a liberal education
there is little opportunity for picking up the extra
bits OF knowledge which may lead TO fame or fort
une The routine games and sports are az least
as absorbing as the routine tasks; me Ordinary
young man has no time TO think. no tlme 10 OBJ
serve. He is hurried from work to play from
planned has not grown up accidentally 1t is pur-
sued OF set purpose-it keeps the boys out OF mis-
morality Nor can its efficacy or the importance
OF its results be called into question But we must
count the cost
God never wastes his candle-ends,' Mr.. Spur
geon said or Is reported TO have said. whatever
applied to the present argument-that modern
fortunes are made out OF bye-products, and made
or have broken loose from the restraint. The vr-
cellence i'm physical pursuits (patience. sobrety,
courage, temper. discipline. subordination) make
might remark that they are all very much OF the
same type. But If cricket and football really have
good deal to answer for. They are ali virtues
which have their corresponding fauts-faults that
sonal initiative The qualities held up for our ad,
miration in the perfect athlete are such as would
rather console a good man In adversely than help
an ambitious one TO make start for success
There is no need. however, to press that point.
whole leisure of their votary and prevent him from
ever being by himself making the acquaintance
chance. endowed with powers. or haunted by as
ptaiions Wnlch are not exactly the Same as l'V }
Of all the other good fellows with whom he Is liv-
ing in a daily whlrl of unreflectng activity Every
night he goes to bed ready for the vacuous whole
some sleep that will not be broken until 1t is time
TO begin another round of task work and reeula-
ton play There is no disturbing or inspiring
Of a something wanting. no feeling about for sell
that has got itself lost in the hum and hustle OF
coItorate eAstehce ne ann Is IattI ~ o Hi ~
mark Of the established 'athos,' to win as many
prizes in the examinations and as many caps and
ribbons In the playing fields as possible, to excel
lines And so the days and the months 30 by
'ptreunt Before
found for thinking, for discovering ones own
nature the learning years are lost, and IT is time
10 go out in the world and make a lving-only to
discover that the qualities which won so much re-
spect in the little society of school and college life
have no value outside it. and that the work of self
preparation has TO he begun again-unless Wig
orols youth, accustomed TO praise and more or less
facile success. Is content to drop into some subor
dnate post without any reasonable prospects OF
proaotlon Inc sensible ones soon realize the sit-
uaton. put away childish things and emancipate
themselves by degrees from the self-ndulgent ira
dltonS oil an dhtiquated system. Inc othersTthe
maJority-they are our Gentlemanly Failures. They
are too proud. too honorable to become mere pen
sioners on Their families. SO they accept the hrst
perrin that promises bare living ana endure II in
the HOPE that something better viii turn up -
what their idea OF something better IS may be
guessed from the fact that. when the Colonial Office
10 be filled up in South African police force. twelve
times as many applications were sen; in-6y young
who despalrod. without reason of getting any
thing in England that would suit them well
work is mainly in the open air and the Qualities re-
quired are just those developed by athletic sports
what however must be- tie sG 9engg Of the father her
Of successful candidate when he reflects that he
mas spent at least couple OF thousand pounds on
Nor 6a Only 70 make policeman OF him?
enrol regiment of Gentlemen Cadets. There are
certain obvious though not perhaps nsuperable
difficulty in enlist!ng the men. In three months it
would be easy to raise, not one or two but twenty
or thirty such regiments. which would make the
basis of such an army corps the world has
never seen whether for hard fighting or the patient
endurance or hGrdships-men who would take TO
discipline AS kindly to cricket, and to whom the
honor Of The regiment would be as dear as was the
credit OF their school AS chvalrous company as
ever was sent 10 be food for cannons. But what
waste of educated manhood
MERELY PHYSICAL QUALITIES USELESS
Even in the field the merely physical qualities de-
veoped by athletic games and sports are OF little
with DR.. jameson and Sir John NVilloughby were
nor is there any doubt that roGp hey had
been decently led they would have achieved their
failed. Eut The fault did not lie with the rank
and file, or even with the junior officers The igno-
English pluck or endurance, but simply one more
proof that modern warfare is a game which should
rules that You might as well try to give violin
recital by The light OF nature as to invade hostile
territory without some rudmentary acquaintance
with the principles Of strategy and tactics Hunt
liant Leaders of cavalry. But they are not sports
men of the cut e-down-cap plain class. 1t is
tb ereaer d game so Of WaP Su tf hal Sr S
coVntry"-so rare in the hunting field which en-
a
the other side OF a hill"
1t is the same in every walk of life In the army,
duties with just the indispensable amount Of eff
cheney. and then hurry of to their polo atches and
innI r. s hr on n,t e % Ia'I me rS I b
boots or shoe their horses; barrstcrs who take mp
istry or mechanics: actors with a pretty turn for
sentimental ciocution who cannot hold a foil or
send their voices to the dresscrce, cleIgymen who
get a sore throat after three services on a Sunday,
n the city tit for nothing but adding up rows of fg-
ures and running messages about the streets jour
nalists who want 10 write leading articles without
understanding the rules of the House Of Com
mons these are but a few examples Of the gentle
manly failures whom We meet at every turn. .
men were left to themselves They might h.
trusted. those who have sense, to ind out their
mistake in time and to keep under control the
physica, energy which. in the sophisticated condi-
lions of modern civilization, is almost as danger
to success in life as sheer mental Incidence.
But they are positively encouraged in their pleas
by leaders Of public opinion; Al every aca-
demical function It has become platform commoi'
place for the distinguished person who makes the
speech Of the day TO snub the successful cand-
dates and inform them mat there is something
higher than mere proficiency in their studies. SO.
no doubt. there Is but It does not lie In the pur-
suits of the rivals they have beaten IN the class
1t + not the purpose OF the writer TO depre-
ment. 1t is well for everybody TO take as much en-
joyment as he can AFFORD to pay formwhether in
universal among Englishmen. and does not require
artificial cultivation. What is the good of one class
acy is slipping away from US. that We must fight
our hardest to retain the neutral markets of the
world that We being gradually supplanted by
more enterprsIng and sef-adaptng rivals, If
other sect OF preachers go about eXpounding a more
agreeable gospel. and insist the merit of getting
all the fun we can out of life? The national need
Is all for longer hours and closer application while
the popular cry Is for short hours. more holidays
and plenty OF recreation; In many parts of the F
country in occupa lions that permit the artisan to
do his work in his own way. very little is done be-
tween Friday night and Tuesday morning; The /.
middle class have not yet risen TO that apoaustic 7
ideal-they cannot afford take a solid slice from
[ ne week That is reserved for the worker" Bur
they are progressing in that drection-on their BIZ
cycles.
A USEFUL DUCHESS.