New-York tribune., 1905-08-26

ones which have gone into the sport extensively;
but their systems are models In the first
school TO take up rowing more that % per cent
OF the boys are on the water during the season.
The Older boys maintain six eight-oared and two
six-oared crews, while their younger brothers
paddle around in pairs and fours The long win
ter gives the boys only about a month the
water, for hour each day, but they develop
excellent form in that time.
The oarsmen are divided between two clubs
each OF which turns out three eghts and half
a score of smaller boats. When Mr. Lehman
visited this school a few years ago he gave the
crews high praise, when he said:
These boys. the whole, show very fair
form, though in this respect they cannot equal
an Eton crew"
AT the other school rowing does not fill so
large a place, but the interest is sufficient to
maintain two rival lighthouses. Instead of being
the chief sport there, it is only part of a general
system to keep every pupil outdoors and en-
gagged in healthfuI sport. The value of the
preparatory school training is shown when
nearly every member of the school eights who
goes to either Harvard or Yale is almost sure of
a seat in either the varsity or class crews.
OF the other sports. baseball and football at
tract the greatest attention There is not a
single school in the country with more than a
dozen pupils that has not both baseball or foot
played for the sake of the game. but in few Of
the bigger and better known schools it is ap-
rarently being played largely for the sake Of
winning, although a saner view of the sports
question is steadily being adopted.
Track teams and other field sports play i'm
portant part in the athletic life of the larger
schools, although there are few, even among the
smallest schools, that cannot turn out at least
one credit able sprinter jumper or vaulter. Most
of these athletic features, excepting some of the
track events, call for the employment and de-
veopment of one special set of mucles and or
gans, to the 1etrnent or neglect CT the others.
For this reas many schools have failed to give
much encouragement to these sports. fearful OF
excessive strain upon youthful muscles and
bodies.
Well known runner and general all around
1 athlete said the other day:
Don't overwork the boys They need all
| their energy and vitality for physical growth
! and development, without making the demands
| on their system which they forced TO do in
sprintng, long, hard runs. hammer throwing and
| that sort of thing. Too hard work between six
| teen and eighteen years by ambitious boy
will appreciably shorten his athletic life"
1t is not in the school itself that the danger of
| professionalism has most threatened the ath-
| latic standard but il has come from the higher
| institutions-the colleges and universities. The
| influence of the visiting scouts and coaches
| looking for material is the most perniciouS that
| the preparatory schools have to face. If the big
colleges will wink at a ball player getting score
| card. advertising peanut stand privileges in
return for his services, the average undeveloped
| youth carries the reasoning to its logical con-
| clusion. and finds justification for playing on
| the ball nine of a summer hotel or an out-and-
| out professional team He is apt to no harm
! in 1t so long as he is not found out. The ethics
! of the game are something which, if they do
| enter his mind, are instantly dismissed BY
putting stop to the system of Offering all sorts
of privileges to the desirable athletes of the pre-
| paratOry schools the friends of a square deal in
| sports believe that the strongest blow against
| professionalism will be struck.
| The secondary schools and small colleges have
I for the most part been making n strong fight
against professionalism. and with no inconSider-
able results although the battle is far from won.
| The faint of professionalism, however. can be
removed only by forcing students and faculty
and alumni to recognize that interscholastc
games should be played for craftsmanship, and
| not merely for victory. Take away the feeling
| that victory and not the game in itself is the
| reason for athletic strife, and the only logical
| pretext in the world for professionalism in any
| institution is wiped out