The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-09-28
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HEALTH AND ATHLETICS.

athletic" and healthy" The former
may be dismissed in word or two. By
an athlete is meant the trained"
man, he who undergoes special prepara-
ton for certain object OF course, an
unframed man may be an athlete, but
the word is generally used in the more
special sense, Therefore under this cat
egory will not be included those who go
in for exercise" as distinguished from
athletes" And now what is it to be
healthy 1t is easier to say what it is
not than what it is. A man may be
fleet runner, fine oar, splendidly mus
cular and agile, yet need not be
healthy as the writer understands the
word. 1t sounds like a paradox, but
| man may be able to lift tremendous
weights, to put on terrific squirt at the
end Of long and Furnishing race, to
send in his left with amazing force
and rapidity, and yet be absolutely del
| icate. In short, physical strength and
health, often as they have been consid
| cred synonymous, have very little to do
| with one another
| What then do we mean by being
| healthy" Briefly, it may be said that
| the healthy system is that of which all
| the parts work in perfect harmony
Such system requires very great
shock, indeed. to throw it altogether out
of gear; it has great reeuperative pow
ers, which tend to make UP any defcien-
cy caused by acarelessfass or disease.
| The healthy system possesses, moreover,
great elasticity, and works vigorously
to throw off any evil germs before they
| have got secure footing Health is a
good deal more than the absence Of dis
ease; it is emphaticaily an active condi-
ton. And its distinguishing sign is
adaptabilty. The really healthy man Is
/ he who, after catching a slight cold,
goes to bed, sleeps soundly and wakes
up perfectly well in the morning; who
easily RECEIVERS from any unusual strain
| upon his organiza ton; who can stand
extremes Of climate, privation and hard
| ship; who is not permanently upset by
even a violent departure from his ordi-
nary course Of life; who does not trou-
BILE much about what he eats and
drinks, so long as 1t is wholesome; this
is a healthy man. He may or may not
be what is rather enormously termed
strong" that is trifling matter.
Whether he is strong in another and
truer sense of the word may be judged
by those who know how often your
great strong athletic fellow succumbs to
a complaint which the so-called weak
ling" manages to struggle through.
To return to the athlete. Can any one
who has any real knowledge of the sub
ject deny that, judged by the standard
| which has been laid down, the athlete
| will, as rule, be found wanting? Let
us take the oarsman as typical of the
amateur athlete. To look at the young
varsity oar is to get an impression of a
man thoroughly hardened to wind and
| weather, to whom such things as colds
and chills We're unknown. But is it so?
Most emphatically, no! How often dc
We hear of his being temporarily inca
pacitated through some trifling mishaI
or indisposition? How often is he laid
up? How often "off COLOR" How often
down with something serious? And es.
pecially is this noticeable when he is a
little olderand has left off training regu-
larly. If one casts ones memory back
through the years, how many once bril-.
liant athletes can We call to mind as
having broken down and died untimely
deaths?
We can think of many, but the name
of those who have not died, but have
just managed to keep alive after strug
Cling through long and painful illness
is legion. Allusion is not here made tt