The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1900-03-23
AS GOOD AS A CIRCUS.
College Athletes Give a Notable
Exhibition in Gymnasium.
HOW DIR. ELsOM CORRECTS FAULTS.

Out of Politics.
Madison, Wis, March 20.-There
was an interesting evening at the
gymnasium recently when DR.. Elsom
and his assistants supervised an eX-
hibitiOn by young men students show
ing their proficiency in gymnastics.
DR.. Elsom is a modest young athlete
who has studied the training of the
body and is giving his life to it, He
is an educated gentleman, active in
the Baptist church, and his influence
on the hundreds of young men who
come under him in gymnaStic exer
cises is excellent.
There were exhibitions of skill on
the parallel and horizontal bars, trap
exc, spring-bOard; and the boys turned
hand-springs, walked on their hands;
and one Clay Bergman turned q
double sOmersault in the air, being
caught in a net. In short, some of
the performances were as good as one
sees at n circus. One of the students,
formerly himself circus performer,
walked on the slack wire. There was
fencing between two students, the
practice being interrupted by the adj
vent Of their teacher dressed as a
clown, who engaged both fencers at
once and speedily yanquished them,
knocking the swords from their hands.
There were pictures with the aid Of
an electric lantern, accompanying an
address by DR.. ElsOm. In it he said
that now scarcely a college in the land
is without Il modern gymnasium. The
Fayerweather gymnasium at the Uni
versity Of Virginia affects the colonial
style of architecture. Princeton uni
versity has an outfit that was good
twenty years ago. It's director, Pro
fesSOr GOldie, although so years old,
does the giant swing and back sOmer-
sault. Columbia university in New
York city has the finest gymnasium
in the world. The floor space is about
the same size as that of the Madison
gymnasium, but the building is semi
circular. Mrs. Hemenway's gift to
Harvard has been surpassed by Yale,
Columbia and Wisconsin, and is now
rather crowded. Cornell requires ply
steal exercise after the fashion of
Wisconsin and its building is beauti-
fully situated. Michigan gives up a
wing to the finest women's gymnasium
Dr. ElsOm has ever seen. Minnesota
also reserves a wing for women; it's
athletic field is close to the building.
Dr. Elsom said: "But in respect to
completeness and roOminess and gen
eral excellence, outside and inside, for
beauty of location and style of archi-
lecture, [ am prepared to say that.
taken all in all, no college gymnasium
surpasses Wisconsin,"
o.
A picture was shown of four men
finishing the last hurdle at Yale-all
four men in the air, the winner a trife
ahead. A snap shot of Clapp of Yale
doing the DOle-vault at II fit. in. fol
lowed Pictures were shown of Ma
berry and MCGOWAN, the fastest men
ever on WiscOnsir's cinder- track,
whose records for the 100-yard dash
are 40 and 10 seconds respectively.
Mr. Stangel throws the discus 1T it.
8 in. There was a picture of the Ia
dies in costume who learned to swim
last summer in the natatorium. Also
a picture of Coach Fitzpatrick, now
with Wisconsin; in 1895 he made the
worlds record Of I'm. 53 2-5s for the
half-mile run.
Pictures were shown of q young
'es lower than his left The test is Il
frame work strung with chords so as
to form inch squares. After several
months work in the gymnasium the
shoulders appear even in a second
picture. The honor of being WiscOn-
sims strong man lies between Mr..
Beymer and Mr.. Holmes This is
shown by various strength tests, one
being the grip test with the dynamon-
eter
A Penny PrOvident Fund
A number Of the ladies in Madison
are endeavoring to interest citizens
and school children in the establish
ment of a penny provident fund in this
city. In brief, the idea is to encOur-
age school children to save their pen
MES and when a sufficient start has
been made to induce them to take out
a bank book in one Of the savings
banks or building and loan associa-
lions of the city. A Penny Savings
society was organized in Chicago
nearly three years ago. Reliable, ex-
perienced business men at once came
forward to act as trustees, among
them Marshall Field. J. V. Farwell,
Franklin McVeagh. H. N. Higin-
bOtham.
The idea came from Europe and is
a basis of the English postal bank syS-
TEN. The first American imitation
was in 1885 in Long Island. Penny
provident funds are now in successful
operation in New York, Philadelphia.
Boston, DetrOit-in short, in the pub
lie schools of seventy-six villages and
cities. The plan is simple. Convenient
stations are established in different
parts of the city USUALLY in stores) and
at these stations are sold stamps hav-
ing a representative value Of 1, 5, 10
to 25 cents. The purchaser pastes
these on a stamp card provided by the
station. and the stamps may be re-
deemed at any time. The expense of
printing, cashiers salary and office in
cidentals forbid the paying of interest.
All services are contributed free in
Chicago except the cashiers in the
central office. There is no expense,
however, to the purchaser except for
the stamps at their representative
value. The funds are kept in one
bank. When the purchaser has dol
lars worth of stamps he is advised to