Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-11-22

IL Is right tnat we should admire the
deeds of vigorous youth and the words
and thoughts of wise maturity; that we
should like to see or hear or read the
best that is visible. audible, or legible,
whether i'm sport or i'm art, in science or
letters or politics; and there is no law
of morals or manners that can guide
the feelings elected by splendid phys-
cal achievements into the channels re-
served for the usually quieter senti-
ments of appreciation that are the need
OF the scholar.
True Cratory, to be sure, can excite
and Infiamc as well as the most thrill
ing athletic contest, but how often is
that excitement hysterical and eX-
travagant. The fact is that eXag-
geratiOn and disproportionate eXalta-
ton, when shown by large bodies of
people, are not peculiar to football or
to athletics, nor are they typical of
race-especially not of our race, as
Professor van Dyke believes. They
commonly result from sudden and
fOrcible pp,alS-visual or auditOry-to
the emotions of crowds. Football
throngs cannot be expected to be less
susceptible or more stolid than others;
nor can the interest excited by a first
rate exhibition of physical skill and
strength and pluck be subordinated in
degree to that evoked by what is, at
the best. relatively much inferior
mental achievement.
4. The abstraction from proper col
legiate pursuits of multitudes of under
graduates during the football season"
is an evil in the abstract; but to me its
gravity seems lesSened when certain
limitations, existing in all the uni
Versities, and embracing at least the
"mutitudcs,' are recalled. The "big"
games take about two hours on Satur-
day afternoons for not more than four
weeks. The whole football season"
does not exceed seven weeks. The
''practicc' is daily, but usually only
from half-past three or four o'clock to
six. Some of it is secret" that is,
even the undergraduates are not adj
nlitted. At the lesser games, and at
practice Except on the eve of very i'm
portant contests), only d small fraction
OF the student body is present. The
obstruction" referred to is obviously
the absorbing interest taken by many
of the students in the fortunes of the
team rather than their actual presence
IL
doubtless does in many cases, inter-
fere with mental concentration and
studious habits; but something has
thus interfered to greater or less
degree ever since there have been
schools and colleges. Some emotional
outlet for boys and young men seems
usua,-almost inevitable-under all cir
cumstances, and this appears to be es-
pecially desirable when they are gath
cred together in large numbers. | am
convinced that, whatever the explana-
ton may be, the average college stu
rent today, in this part of the world, is
inclined to lead Il cleaner, more whole
some, more manly life than formerly,
and that both quiet Individual dis
sipation and boiSterous collective
"sprees" are much rarer than they
used to be. This improvement-re-
peatedly testified to by head masters of
schools and by colleges and university
professors-has occurred during the
development of the Intense" and dis
tracing" interest in intercollegiate
athletics. including football. The
two phenomena may have no other Re-
lation than one of coincidence; and the
moral Improvement, if it be admitted
to exist, may be attributed to other
causes. But / have for twenty-five
years been in close touch with large
bodies of college students, and feel
justified in my belief that there has
been shch an Improvement, and that il
is due partly to their participation III
athletics and partly to the diversion
(produced by interest in athletics) of
normal cXuberant spirits and energy.
And by so much l am inclined to eX-
cuse the doubtless excessive interest
shown during four or five weeks in this
particular game. 1t must also be said
that the other sports. especially row.
ing and baseball in their respective
seasons, are inferior only to football in
the crowds which they attract, the in
terest they excite. and the abstraction
they produce. The Indictment as 10 all
of these alleged evils should. i'm fact,
TEST against competitive intercollegiate
sport generally. ii there is ground for
Indictment at all; but in deciding this
we should not. like Thales the Milesian,
so fix our attention on things in the