The Republican journal., 1904-06-16
copyright. 1904. by Christine Terhune Herrick.

The growing interest in athletics and
outdoor sports has brought certain evils
in it's train. One of the most apparent
of these is excess.
No one who has bestowed any study
upon physical training and its results
has any doubt that it has been of incal-
culable advantage to most of those who
have practised it. None the less, when
we hear of a case of over training
which has ended in break down there
are never lacking critics to arise and
condemn physical culture. The fault
lies, however. in the strenuousness of
the individual, not in the practice of
As nation we 60 at things too hard.
We lack a sense of proportion. When
we stop thing we stop it all at once.
Take for instance, the case of the aver
age college boy,who has made figure
in the athletics of his class and institu-
ton. What does he do when he has
graduated? How does he set about con-
serving the strength he has accumulat-
ed by his training?
Well. since he leaves college at the
bly, keep up golf and tennis and rowing
and swimming during the warm wealth
er. The chances are against his doing
anything in the way of systematic train
ing. If he goes into an office it is more
than likely that he drops nearly every
thing in the way of gymnasium practice
or vigorous physical exercise. He spends
his days at desk, or ittmay be behind
a counter. All the trained muscles are
allowed to grow flabby. The over-stim-
ulated heart shows the result of the
lack of exercise The man begins to
break down and the doctors diagnose
his case as athletes heart
Everyone knows Instances of this kind
of thing, of children who have been in
jured by too much exercise, of boys who
have hurt themselves by too frequent
indulgence in the joys of the swimming
pool, of men and women who have over
done in golf or tennis or basket ball or
field or track athletics. In nearly every
instance the trouble may be traced to
the same source-a lack of appreciation
of the object of sports of any kind.
They are to be viewed as a means-not
an end. Here and there is found some
one for whom it is worth while to train
or play for championship But in the
far larger proportion OF cases the play
ing or the riding is to be taken as a
means of physical development and i'm
provement of health. And this object
is defeated if one yields to the tempta-
ton to excess.
This temptation would not have to be
reckoned with so much if the counsel
of the trainer would be needed. The
physical director in the college or school
or the gymnasium knows better than to
put pupils to hard work at once. He
begins with them gently and makes
them exercise in the gymnasium for
form before he puts them on the track
1 He discourages over vigorous begin
nings, knowing that a rapid beginning
means lost time later on. 1t is the eager
amateur who does not understand his
own strength and weakness who makes
trouble for himself by going at work OF
play with an energy that is bound to
exhaust his powers at an early stage of
the proceedings.
| | speak as though it were only the
men who did this sort of thing, but we
women know better. We recognize the
i fact that in our enthusiasm lies both
our strength and our weakness. With
out it We could never accomplish all that
falls to the lot OF the woman who
marries and has home and children
to look after. But this very enthusiasm
leads us to under estimate our powers
and over-work our capabilities. We
! need to preach moderation to ourselves
quite as much as to our children.
/ For moment leave the men to them
selves and look at the other side of the
family. See the girl who is so absorbed
in her tennis or golf championship or
her bicycle record or her canoeing that
she is in danger of injuring herself by
undue attention to one thing. The in
! jury will not be physical alone, but will
affect her mental attitude as we'll. She
, will grow one-sided and unsymmetrical.
This is the girl who should be intro
duced to domestic matters. Her mother
should do everything possible to make
training is as important as physical
culture She should strive to interest
the girl in all that goes to make house
keeping and home making important.
The girl should have her lessons in the
chemistry of food as we'll as in cookery,
should know something of domestic
sanitation as well as of washing dishes.
Once she is infected with enthusiasm
in this direction she will be better able
to strike balance between indoor oc-
equations and out door sports.
While the mother is doing this she,
too, must not overlook the chance she
has for her own symmetrical develop
ment. If the girl needs to be taught
the Importance of indoor pursuits, so
the mother needs to learn what there is
for her in active physical exercise
Probably she, belonging to an earlier
generation which did not see the advan-
tages of athletic sports, has been too
much given to staying at home or going
out only when business called her for a
small round of domestic or social duties
Now is her chance to learn something
OF the JOY there is in living when the
body is in good trim. If she does not
feel up to golf or tennis, she should, if
possible, ride Wheel Or if she does
not do that, she should cultivate the
habit of taking long walks-not leisure
ly strolls, but hard, rapid walks, that
send her home tired, but in glow
The same rule of faith and practice
should be followed by the man of the
house with his boys, When his son
leaves college or school and drops the
active physical sports, the father should
see to it that the lad does not immerse
himself in business to the injury of his
health. The parent will be weaned from
excessive devotion to business if he has
to aid his boy in learning moderation.
1t the latter cannot afford to keep up
the gymnasium practice which has
hrlnpht him into ronH condition ho