The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1903-10-22
THE SEASONS FOOTBALL.

At least ten thousand American
youths. says Golfers Weekly, are now
hammering at the practice of foot
ball in such daylight hours as are not
requisitioned by the theory Of educa-
tion.
Respecting foot ball, it is probably
true that the strong public sentiment
against the game, few years ago,
has been materially modified More
of the amenities of civilized sport
have been observed in playing the
game; it is more of an athletic exer
else, has less of the element of actual
battle. To meet the demand for a
less brutal sort of a contest the laws
regulating the playing of the game
have been amended, with the result
that there is far less danger of MAIN
ing or other physical injury. 1t is a
rough and tumble sort of a sport, and
in this respect it is not unlike the
battle of life to the great majority of
youth. Unquestionably the play serves
to steel a young man to the sturdy
endurance of physical strain, educates
him to vigilance and alertness in &C
tion, mental as we'll as physical, tends
to develop resolute spirit and cul-
tivates the quality of courage, things
that may stand him in good stead in
the conflicts, tho emergencies and cri-
SEES on Life's broad field of battle.
Commenting somewhat pungently
on the general public estimate of the
game, Golfers Weekly takes ra-
tional view of the exercise and disci-
pline young men acquire when foot
ball is played within the limitations
good sense places to its antagonisms.
Protests against roughness" it says,
are an accompaniment of each au-
tumn's football. 'Rowdyism' is one
of those stereotyped terms, easy to
throw, requiring no brain-power in
the protector, and not likely to injure
the recipient. Brutality is another
phrase always kept in stock. Editors
turn out these expressions as mer-
chants delivers soup in cans. Foot
ball is, in some degree, rough game,
but roughness is not in itself an evil.
The spirit in which the colleges play
is virile friendliness, audacious,
hardy, not hostile or vindictive, and
meanness or cruelty is one part in
hundred of the whole feeling Talk
about bull-fghts and gladiators is the
violence of empty thought and studied
emphasis. Many u vacuous scribe,
who honors horse racing with edito-
rails, photographs, and first page
news, racks the attic of his brain for
handy missiles to hurl at game al
most without faint of gambling, and
eXuberant with bodily and mental
dash. Moreover, in censure of inter-
collegiate games. it is often forgotten
what diffused play follows in their
wake Glasses have their first and
second elevens, one dining table chal-
lenges another, one society meets a
rival, and there are scrub elevens
enough to accommodate all who have
the spirit. Perhaps few play exces
sively, but we notice that many a
star of ten years since is now la
borious and earnest. He seldom leads
his class in brillianoy, but he is
healthy and honest, little addicted to
neuritis or ace suicide. Ee is likely
to be a good ancestor, as we'll as a
harmless citizen. An easy butt for
jest, he deserves genter treatment.
We must keep the virile spirit alive,
and football hero, even if he fails
in calculus, helps the race to keep its
strength"