Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-09
VALUE OF OUTDOOR SPORTS.
Americans Are No Longer Nation of
. Dyspeptics.

From the New York Herald.
Not SO very long ago we were a nation
of dyspeptics, cartooned as pie-eaters, bolt
ers of food, lovers of indoor life in super
heated rooms in winter-our men as a rule
devoid of adequate muscle and he2ltny
digestion, our women physically frail specl-
mems of hot-house beauty at twenty, who
speedily collapsed when one of the bed
rooms became a nursery. great change
has been worked in the last decade or SO.
Nowadays almost Everybody and his
neighbor'' go in for outdoor sports, and the
result in the bettered health ,of the people,
women as well as men, Is apparent on every
side and rejoiced In by every one except
the family doctor and the drug compounder
at the corner.
True there are still some of the typical
Americans of our grandfathers', even our
fathers, dayS-men who tumble out OF PED,
eXcitedly swallow their breakfasts in a rev
gulps, rush on a mad gallop for the street
car as though time, tide and business walt
for no mans digestion-and on reaching
their office idly dawdle away an hour that
might have been passed In slowly consld-
ared morning meal and little healthy ex-
ercse in walk to business. But these
men have happily, decreased in number,
and the average business man of the pres
ent has learned so well the value of muscu-
lar exercise that today in New York busi-
ness mems training and exercise rooms
have been successfully established in the
heart of the financial and commercial d's-
tricts. Isn't that sign of the times ath-
letically?
In every part of the country the love of
outdoor sports is increasing marvelously
among the women as well as the men. The
Miss Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square
can do something nowadays besides waltz
and instead of coddling herself close to the
fire in winter there is not an outdoor game
under the sun of summer or in the days of
Jack Frost that she does not play and
play well.
AS for the men, they have become such
II hot hnx va
wrested what is admitted to be the worlds
amateur single scull rowing championship.
the Diamond Sculls from England: given
the best field athletes of Great Britain a
beating; made Scotland. and incidentally
the United Kingdom, weep over the loss
of honors in Scotty's own particular game,
golf. AS for rifle and pistol shooting, they
hold worlds honors; on the turf their
horses have won the Derby and the Grand
Prix, while in yachting-well, everybody
knows that story, and, by the way, is glad
to hear that Sir Thomas Upton may make
another try at lifting" that coveted cup.
One does not have to look backward,
however, to realize that America is up and
doing in outdoor sports. The present sea-
son gives example of 1t on every hand.
There never has been so delightfully."- busy
time as there is in these summer days
afied and afloat. Racing, yachting, golf,
tennis, base ball, rowing and any sport you
choose to mention, even cricket, draws
thousands ana tens of thousands to the
field stream or open sea where contests are
held. And never has money amounting 10
fortunes been so lavishly and willingly eX-
pended as it is today to encourage any
sport such as racing and yachting, which
demands immense expenditure in its devel-
opment.
All this is of vast benefit to the country
at large, for it is constantly drawing the
people out into the open air for their
amusements, and the physical improvement
observable in the present rising generation
will be further emphasized in the one of
the near future.