The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-08-31
THE COMING RACE.


at hand as far as Honolulu is concerned.
The crews are in rigid training at Eva
and everything is pointing to brilliant
sport upon regatta day.
The getting ready for a race in this
country is very different work to the
preparation for a college of varsity race
on the mainland. Our young athletes
have to work double tides. We have no
leisure class which can devote itself to
sport The days work in office or store
has to be faithfully accomplished and
only when that duty has been fulfilled
can the athletics be attended to- 1t
requires then considerable force of cha
racter and much self denial to under
take the training for the Hawaiian blue
ribbon of Craftsmanship.
Some employers do not look with
kindly eyes upon their young men who
take up boating. They think it unset
ties them for business and is too great
a tax upon their time and strength.
Such view is erroneous. Your clerks
must have amusement of some kind,
and it is very much better for them to
obtain it in a healthy and manly form,
than to seek it in unhealthy forms. 1t
is far better for young men to take a
spin on Pearl lochs morning and even
ing, that it is for them to sit in a heated
atmosphere, reeking with the fumes of
drink and smoke, and risking their
money at cards.
The advantage of athletics is that
clean men are produced. A man to be
a successful athletic must lead a clean
life, and habits of order and sobriety
are formed which last life time. The
good athlete is a living sermon in tenn
perance. Not only is he a benefit to
himself but he is a benefit to others
The force of example is very great, and
the example of a healthy, clean living
man is of incalculable benefit to many
who come into contact with him.
The interest of the community then,
does not lie in the boat race but it lies
in the advantage to be reaped by the
youth of the Territory through the puIi-
flying influence of athletics. We may
consider athletics as a moral force of
great weight, and it is in this light that
the faculties of Universities and Cole
BeS regard them.
Any one who has made study Of
youth knows what an effect athletics
has upon character. It is true that
athletics may be over done, that they
have been over done, but there is no
good thing that cannot be misused.
Eating is good thing but there are
those who habitually overeat and mis-
use the good food which nature pro-
vides. Study is a good thing, but a
man may sometimes study to the detri-
ment of his health. Money, though
sometimes called the root of all evil is
a good thing but a man can make
god of money and sacrifice all noble
aspirations to the amassing of it.
In the Universities now athletics are
not overdone. A man cannot take pro-
minent part unless ne is we'll up in his
studies and the result is that a man
who pulls in his Varsity crew, is liable
to be foremost in the schools as well.
The sound body and the sound mind go
together.
We should be we'll satisfied that our
young men take such an interest In
athletic sports as they do. 1t is the
custom to say that the tropics are too
enervating. But one does not notice
that among the youth of this Terri
tory. They keep up the traditions Of
their race here, and when they go
abroad they show to advantage along
side the youth born in the more rigi-
rous climate of the mainland. They APP
pear in football teams, in baseball
teams, in crack racing crews, wherever
hard sinews and good judgement are
required you will find the Hawaiian
boy to the fore. We have inculcated
the love of sport here, even though it
is tropical country, and the love of
sport does not leave us.
Another thing which ought to satisfy
us is that our young men go into sport
for sports sake. This is a country of
amateur sportsman. The professional
sportsman does not exist here, or if he
is here he is merely an exotic. Our
sports are conducted in clean, healthy
manner. The influence of university
bred men is strongly felt in this direc-
tion.
1t is to be hoped that the interest in
sports by young and by old will long be
kept up amongst us. If is has a bene6-
cial effect upon the sinews of the youth
1T also has a beneficial effect upon the
minds of the middle aged and those who
are in the "sere and yellow" The race
that will be rowed shortly at the Pearl
Lochs will test endurance of a few, but
1t will fire with pride and the desire of
emulation in many. The Star has no
preferences as to crews and welcomes
the winner, which ever it may be. But
The Star takes pride in the fact that
out here under our ever blue sky and
upon our opal tinted waters the sturdy
scfons'ef our race can compete against