The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-12
THE TRAGEDY IN THE FORD FAM
 lLY.

l should De deeply Stllfeu pS d tlaSSuS possessing the high dramatic contrasts | of the one which has come to the Ford l family of New York. There is no hope
 of avoiding publicity when life tenden- ces finally expire in the crack or pistol shots The present case is tremen- l dously moving not alone for it's extraor- dinary darmatic power but for its ! mournful demonstration that the finest l individual minds and souls count as nothing when entangled in elemental | tragedy. Yet if nature seems to make
 cruel sport in her ruthless crushing out
 of the life of Paul Ford, 1t remains true that she again teaches the universality
 of law and that like causes will pro- duce like effects everywhere, in what ever circle of life. forever. Ones thoughts turn to the murderous
 brother. at such time, in the effort to find some working explanation of his
 terrible deed. Into family history and family troubles no one would pry. It is difficult. however, to avoid the feeling that the roots of the tragedy are to be found in phase of educational train ing which is not without it's relations with certain marked developments of our modern life. Malcolm w. Ford was, in his line a widely-known man, He had very unusual powers as an athlete, and these he took the keenest pleasure in developing from the earliest years of activity in boyhood. This was his spe- cial gift from nature, asN much as the gifts of music or drawing are to others highly endowed. It was as natural for him to run, and jump and wrestle as for a duck to swim Under the circum- stances of his life, the special endow
 ment that Malcolm had received was perhaps his greatest misfortune. The family was highly literary and scholarly
 in it's atmosphere; and the father a very learned and cultured man. There was no sympathy. it appears, with Nal con's passion for athletic prowess, in the family circle; nor were his superb physical powers rated as something that might in the absence of con- spicuous tastes leading him in other di- rections. open up to him special work in life. At 15 the lad was taken from school by his father and placed under private tutors in order that his athletic tendencies, already so manifest, might be checked That the hoy, in the years that followed, persisted in pursuing this bent, proved bitterly disappointing to the father with the final result of a breach between them and the humiliat- II. Ia fathers will
 There appears in this history of the educational training of Malcolm Ford problem Ought such youth to be al- together discouraged from developing in athletic lines if his tendencies that way are so conspicuous as to really dominate his nature? II may be that t1e mod Tn empha is placei upon ? ysi- cal training as a part of education. in all schools and institutions for learning, would have modified the course of the elder Ford toward the athletic son had been In touch with it. The great de- velopment of athletics in these days. so unforeseen by the generation of half century ago, has opened up large field for physical instructors and spe- ciaiists in schools, colleges, clubs and associations. and the work which they now perform Is highly valued. It would therfore, be nothing unwse, or wasteful of future career. if a youth exceptional powers for sports and a consuming interest in all forms of bodily activity, were intelleently and sympathetically guided into the profession of instruction in athletics and physical culture.
 The great danger to youth SO pow erfully inclined toward physical culture and competitive sports as was Malcolm w. Ford is that he will miss the nobler phases of this line of development and fail to grasp it's higher possibilities of service to ones fellow-men. Any man of Ford's position in life, so splendidly endowed and so finely developed that he may at an early age become famous and unrivaled as an athlete, or an ex- ponent of any prominent sport, is in pe cular peril of sinking into mere com mercial professionalism or finding a level at last among class of sports" who touch nothing without degrading it. Our leading college athletes face this danger constantly. There are many in stances of university players who have injured their lives by entering profess sional arenas under the great allure ments of public notoriety and high sal aries On the other hand. the young man who, being drawn in this direction by exceptional powers, pursues the | course which MT, Stagg, now the physi- | cal director of Chicago university, fol- lowed-such youth, instead of vast ing his energies upon unsubstantial l things devotes himself to a high voca- !! ton in life.
 These reflections which are merely i by some apparent aspects of ! the tragedy in the Ford family, indicate the supreme importance of proper ed | ncation for youth of special types and [ the vital need of parental sympathy 1 with conspicuous talents rin children, and an intelligent guidance of the and natural development of | those talents be they largely intelec- tual or largely physical in their basis There are few honest gifts from the AL mighty to mankind which cannot be put o good use. But if the attempt be made, with however good intentions. to .hwart nature the ultimate results up- m innocent persons may be shocking beyond all expression.-Sp Springfield Re- 
 
 GRIP IN EAST HAVEN.
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