The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-12-08

Vigorous advocacy of athletics in
schools as a means of keeping boys
from the formation CT bad habits was
made by Judge R. c. S.. Drummond,
of Auburn, n. Y, at the closing ses-
sion of the State University Conven-
tion at Albany, n. Y.
"It is the football field. the dia-
mord, the track, against the party,
the dance, the pool parlor, n the
saloon" he said.
Judge Drummond advocated syste-
matte athletics for the secondary
schools-in which the teachers should
have supervision and show sympathy
and competition among the SCHOOLS
with proper regulations to prevent
evils from creeping in.
81 find increasingly a disposition
on the part of parents and teachers
to deprecate and decry athletics
said Judge Drummond. The advent
of each succeeding scholastic year
seems to call forth some new express
sion from high educational authority,
in terms or by implication, condemn
ing or discouraging athletic sports,
especially those of a competitive ma
ture. In it's weakest form the sentl-
ment voices itself in a pious wish that
our athletes would play for the love
of the sport more, and to win less.
''The view is foolish. because it is
so contrary to everything else taught
in both society, business, and schools.
What do we teach boys and girls for
In anything except that they may
swin'-win bread and butter, homes.
success, the respect of their fellows.
honor among men? These things
should be won h%onorably, of course,
and so should match games: but it is
no more difficult to teach the import
ance Of winning honorably in athletic
competition than it is in the struggle
of life.
t'This antagonism to athletics pro-
ceeds from the workings of certain
destructive elements that are under
mining our race and our institutions;
i~aziness, the pursuit of temporary
pleasure, and s%elfshness. We are
paying too much attention to dollars
and too little to men.
"In that profession which I follow
T know that the men who shrink least
from a contest, who do their fighting
in the most open. ~aboveboard. honor
able fashion, and who are the most
generous antagonists, are the college
bred lawyers who have been athletes.
With the other professions the same
rule holds. For a preacher give me
the athlete every time.
+ Boys Will Be Savages.
e"The necessity of working together
with others in an athletic team to
gain a victory for school or college
accomplishes wonders for every boy
who does it. Lounging with cigar
cites and cards in the rooms of a
prep. school frat flirting and canoe
ing with the girls, Swelling round
in a dress suit, and shooting pool
don't beget such sturdy m%anliness as
: does the putting forth Of energy on
gridiron, track: and diamond. and I
believe that the majority of school
teachers are beginning to recognize
this fact.
"Boys will be boys, and this mean
that to a certain extent they will be
savages. There must be a attrac-
tive. healthful outlet for their leaping
physical energies. If you do not per-
NIT them to enjoy the benefits Of such
a system as I am advocating you will
find them playing cards and pool, o
must expect to see them drinking beer
and smoking cigarettes to excess, and
you know that you will be driven to
distraction in your schools by the de-
moralizing influence of social dissi-
patton in and out of school.
"Calf love will be rampant. Callow
passions will run their riotous RI
D., through recitation, study hour, and
the quiet hours at 'home-what
mockeryi Flirtations in the halls,
on the stairs. on the way home, on the
way to school, canoeing parties, high
school dancing parties, sleigh rides,
straw rides, moonlight excursions will
be doing their deadly work, and you
will have nothing to take their place,
or to affect a cure. The tendency of
these social diversions to absorb the
attention and energy OF all but the
exceptional high school boy or girl
~concededly forms one Of the most diff
ficult questions the authorities of Sec
ondary schools are compelled to meet.