Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-02-27
A Gymnasium Would Be Good Thing.

Stop, you busy man, and forget
your money making for just mo-
ment. Think of the boy; the Lam
caster youngster who will some day,
and perhaps that day isn't very far
off, take your place and work for a
''Greater Lancaster" Yes, and
think of yourself and your friends.
What do you need most of all, ply
sically and socially?
Isn't it nice big club house, to be
known as the Lancaster club, equipp-
ed with big gymnasium, a reading
room, a billiard parlor and perhaps
bowling alleys?
Why, of course, that is just it.
Strange you haven't thought of 1T
before. Leaning over your desk,
hurrying about your office or store,
you neglect to exercise properly and
only when 1t is too late Will the
terrible inconsistency of this fact
strike you with full force. And
then there is the small boy and the
young man. Anything that is for
the boy is good and grand. When
you help the boy you help the man
and you help Lancaster and all the
world. All, yes, it is big thing
What Lancaster needs more than
anything else is a club house for the
boy, the young man and the middle
aged citizen. It's chief feature should
be the gymnasium. All else would
beipci2ental and detail; the gym
should be carefully equipped, and
placed under the direction of an eX-
pert and man who likes children.
Glasses should be held on Saturday
for the little folks. And the scheme
might include the girls. Evening
classes for men would be immensely
popular. The gymnasium should
be kept open all day and until 1870
or thereabOuts in the evening. In
the winter, basketball teams should
be formed and a regular schedule
carried out. Shower baths, of course,
should be part Of the equipment.
Think how wonderfully popular
such a place would be!
Did you ever stop to think that if
you were as inconsistent about your
business as you are about your
physical welfare that you would
soon be a fit subject for the poor
house?
Just now Lancaster and all the
world is waging q fight against the
white plague" tuberculosis. Make
people healthy when they are
Young, develop weak lungs, straight
en- round shoulders and we will not
have to give SO much thought to
bad milk. Your doctor will tell you
that.
How could such a gymnasium be
built and conducted?
Very easily. One way would be
to form a stock company. A gener-
Gus contribution from some rich
Lancaster man would solve the
question. 1t might even be made
a municipal institution, but the
stock company idea appears to be
the most feasible.
"A successful club and gymnasium
must have no religion attached to
it. That alone would make it i'm
possible, Another thing to be ac-
solutely forbidden is drink. That,
too, would spoil all. Make 1t big
and democratic.
There are many local organiza-
tions composed of right thinking
men fighting the saloons. One way
to fight this evil successfully is to
compete with 1T. Make your argu-
ment attractive. The young men
of this city would much rather visit
a club house and pass their time in
a gymnasium, either hitting a
bag or exercising in some
other way, than lounging around a
billiard hall or the saloon. But the
club house is lacking and there is
no gymnasium for the young man.
You know, as we'll as we do, that
they all won't remain home to read
Victor Hugo.
But now is the time to furnish
such an institution. There is cry