The sun., 1903-11-04
A Great School OF American Poetry.

Mr.. HENRY l.. HOLLYWOOD, an Evanston
high school principal, has been startling
the Western educators by a fierce attack
upon college athletics. Apparently he is
an old fogy, who clings to outworn no.
tions of the functions of universities. He
wars against the modern improvements.
He is blind to the softening effect OF
learning on undergraduate manners. He
discharges his bile upon "the rowdyism,
vulgarity and theft of college men and
insults the Olympian calm Of the inter-
collegiate competitions:
"A college athletic contest Is too often made the
excuse for gambling. drunkenness. theft and often
robbery. plunderng restaurants. defrauding rail
roads, interfering with the rights Of the travel.
ling public. breaking up theatres. and mobbng
lecturers"
1t is useless to argue with hot box.
Intercollegiate athletics are justly priced
fessions; and fine furies Of youth and
triumph are regarded indulgently by all
philosophers. Mr.. HOLLYWOOD is prosaic.
He lacks Imagination. II for no other
reason than their service to literature,
college athletics deserve all the ardor
which is given to them. They are the
nurse of American poetry, From them
come the grandest chants and highest
hearted hymns of the new century. Many
Of these masterpieces are known to our
readers. The collection which we offer
to them to-day comes from new fount
If oopr tha We IA b,,r,, TN; varsity az
Topeka. Old Washburn struggles in
football array with old University of Kan
sas, whose wild cry Of Rock chalk Jay
Hawk !" and 80 on is in all the anthologies.
This fall, old Washburn exhibits a rich
sheaf of song. Admirable as 80 much Of
the work of the athletic school is, it has
seldom exceeded the explosive euphony
OF these lines:
Hobble .Gabble Razzle Dazzle. Zls Boo .Ah I
Washburn College. Topeka
Football leven! Baseball nine.
Hot stun! Hot stun Hit EN- evry tlme!"
"Zis-Boom-Ah' is a "reminiscences or
unconscious plagiarism, the one flaw in
the diamond. Here is perfect stone:
osky wau .waui
Skinney wau .wau!
Wsshburn wau wau!
W.A-U-W-A-Ui"
The Urabunna, the Aulnta, the ved-
dahs themselves have never raised
chorus more original, simple. filing.
This is no scholastic affectation. This is
primal savage strength. One moro Of
these sharp and terrible poems, live
battle odes, whose lines are steel and
fire:
Hold en-! Hold EN- Hold EN- down!
Tear en- up. Eat EN- up! DO EN- up brown!
Washburn College. Topeka town."
The second line has the mysterious
charm Of evocation. Arboreal ancestors
howl in rapture from the branches of the
genealogical tree and sic" the dogs of
war on the ground. After immeasur-
able ages the dogfight has found its
PINDAR. Now for the ironic, taunting
cry Of defiance to the foeman:
"Eejaja! Eejajai
K. U. wants her ma ma MAJ
CThree timeS.
Finally some bold young singer writes
upon the heavens the name of the Topeka
Mighty Mother:
"omy! o my! Why Why, Why
Look Look In the sky.
wASHBURN."
The historians Of poetry in the twen-
tieth century, the future WARToNs and
CoURTHoPEs, will do justice to the
effect of intercollegiate athletes upon
that poetry, an effect in itself sufficient
to refute the insolencies of Mr.. BOLT
WOOD and all other spoilsports.