The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-02-23


lof weakness, to desire to abolish q
game because tendencies show them
selves, or practises grow up, which
prove that the game ought TO be re-
formed. Take football. for instance.
The preparatory schools are able to
keep football clean and TO develop
the right spirit In the players with
out the slightest necessity ever aris-
| ing to 50 much as consider the ques-
tion Of abolshing It. There Is no
excuse whatever for colleges falling
to show the same capacity, and
there is no real need for consider.
ing the question of the al
os the game. If necessary, let the
college authorities interfere to stop
any excess or preversion, making
their interference as little officious
as possible, and yet as rigorous rs Is
necessary to achieve the end But
there is no Justification for stopping
a thoroughly manly sport because it
rs sometimes abused, when the ex-
perience Of every good preparatory
school shows that the abuse is in no
shape necessarily attendant upon
the game.
We can not afford to turn out CT
college men who shrink from phys
ical effort or from little physical
pain. In any republic, courage is a
prime necessity fer the average cit
i2en If he Is TO be q good citizen;
and he needs physical courage no
less than moral courage the cour-
age that dares as well as the cour.
age that endures, the courage that
VIII fight valiantly alike against the
fees of the soul and the foes of the
body. Athletics are good, especial
" in their rougher forms, because
they tend TO develop such courage.
They are good also because they en-
courage u true democratic spirit;
for in the athletic field the man must
be ntlged not with reference to out
lside1ond accidental attributes, but to
lthat combination CT bodily vigor and
megat quality which go to make
up prowess.
! trust l need not add that in de.
Tending athletics, would not for
one moment be understood as ex-
cusing that perversion of athletics
which would make 1t the end of life
Instead Of merely means In life.
L. Is hrst-class healthful play, and
is useful as such. But play is MOI
business, and 1t is very poor business
indeed for college man to learn
nothing but sport. There are ex-
ctptional cases which | do not need
TO consider; but disregarding these
can not with sufficient emphasis
say that when you get through col
iege you Will do badly unless Won
turn your attention TO the serious
work OF life with devotion which
VIII render 1t impossible for you to
pay much heed to sport in the way
In which 1t is perfectly proper for
you TO pay heed while In college
RAY while you play and work while
you work; and though play is n
mighty good thing, remember that
yo'p4 had'better never play at all
lnMtto get into a condition OF
mlndbwhere you regard play as tn
serious business of life, or where
you permit 1t to hamper and inter
iere with your doing your full duty
IN the real work OF the world.
a word also to the students. Atb-
ietics are good; study Is even bet-
Ter; and best of all is the deyelop
meht OF the type of character for
the lack OF which, in an individual
Ia' IN nation. no amount of bril-
nancy " mind or of strength of
nody VIII atone. Harvard must do
more than produce students: vet ar
tef all, she will fall immeasurably
snort OF her duty and her opportun-
ny unless she produces a reat mum.
Der OF true students, of tue schol-
ars. Moreover, let the Students re-
Gember that in the long run in the
held OF study, judgment must be
rendered upon the quantity of first
olass work can atone for failure I'm
the college TO produce this frs
class work. Il course of study Is os
li'tle worth If 1t tends to deadtn
Individual initiative and cramp
scholars SO that they only work in
the ruts worn deep by many prede-
cessors. American scholarship will
/" judged, not by the quantity of
routine work produced by routine
workers, but by the small amount
o. hrst-class output of those who.
ia whatever branch. stand IN tho
first rank. No industry in compila.
ton and In combination will ever
take the place of this first hand orig
inal work, this productive ana Gre
atiye work, whether In science, In
art, In literature. The greatest spe-
cial function of college. as dis
tinguished from its general function
OF producing good citizenship. should
bc SO to shape conditions as to put
a premium upon the development of
productive scholarship. of the crea-
tive mind. in any form Of intellec-
tual work. The men whose cb
concern lies with the wcrk of the
student In study, should bear this
fact nypr lQfOrp tIam