The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-01


 popular and promising young men by their classmates, did not rank high in class. As a result of his investigations Professor Lowell announced at recent Phi Beta Kappa dinner that the man who is a successful lawyer. teacher, rail- road president banker or other partici- pant in the activities of the professional and commercial world, is he who made a record in scholarship at his college. He holds that 90 per cent of successful col 1ege graduates were conscientious stu dents.
 Having solved this question, Professor Lowell determined to trace the distin- guished athletes, the champions in track and water sports, tie baseball and foot ball stars, the men whose athletic dis tinction wins them the class-day honors. This inquiry, he asserts, has established the fact that the great athletes do not as rule become the most successful men of affairs Many of them, through the advertising of their feats do often secure better start than the more scholarly graduate but Professor Lowell says his statistics show that they do not make good as generally nor as decidedly as do the honor men in their classes. He finds a larger proportion of failures in the class of great college athletes than In any other type of college man.
 Almost a Great College Athlete.
 Yet while at college Abbott Lawrence Lowell came near beng great athlete. He says that the reason he did not em- ploy his talent in this direction to the full was his determination to prepare for educational pursuits. In truth, as an undergraduate Prof. Lowell was not popu- lar at college, and even after he was dis covered" as an athlete he made 'break" that was discountenanced by most of the student body.
 The occasion was the first track games ever held at Harvard. The sports took place on old Jarvis field, which is now occupied by college buildings, in the spring of 1875. Young Lowell was then a sophomore, having entered Harvard with the class of 1877. About 400 par ents and friends of the students attended, and in the stand were Mir. and Mrs. Augustus Lowell, the father and mother of the future president of the university. The son was a contestant in the mile run and though there was a large field Lowell led the procession the entire dis tance. Racing across the tape winner, the young athlete turned aside after crossing the line and bounded into the grand stand where he boisterousy em- braced his mother and kissed her in ex- tolerance of spirit. That show of emotion almost cost Lowell membership in the
 
 affected his standing as an athlete, es- pecally among the men who were promi- nent in directing student competitions.
 By birth educational associations and social standing, Lowell had the qualifiea- tions for admission to the Hasty Pudding Club. His grandfather John Amory Low ell, who founded the Lowell mills and was one of the pioneer cotton manufact- urers of New England, had been a mem- AL. T d .Nuft ion Ifr ternal grandfather, Abbott Lawrence, also a wealthy cotton manufactures, had given $50OOO to the Lawrence scientific school at Harvard. and he had also been minister to the Court of St. James from 1S49 to 1852. A. Lawrence Lowell had been to school in Paris and prepared for college at Noble's school in Boston The young man enjoyed entree to the highest social circles in Boston and Cambridge, for even President Eliot himself was under obligations to the grandfather of this student for his election to the presidency of the university. But this did not avail against the prejudice caused by the incl dent at the end of Lowell's first race.
 Later young Lowell redeemed himself in the estimation of his college critics The next fall, in the annual games, he won the one-mile, the two-mile, and the three mile runs. He took all the cups and medals offered as first prizes for the long-distance running events. On May 10, l1S76, at big meet at the old Beacon Park race track, Lawrence Lowell won the mile run against the leading amateur runners of Boston and vicinity. In the meantime he had deported himself so modestly that he was immediately favor ed with election to the Hasty Pudding Club and also to the Institute of ITO.
 It Is one of Professor Lowelrs intimate qualifications that he never lost a race. He has preserved his cups and medals, and when he entertains the students at his home he exhibits the trophies and lives the contests over again in reminis- cence.
 Prof. Lowell on College Activities.
 Speaking of athletics at college Profes- sor Lowell recently expressed these con- victions:
 "There are men who come here and devote themselves-except so far as the Dean doesn't permit tito athletics. There are others who devote themselves to social fife. There are others who de- vote themselves almost exclusively to study Each of these things ought to be 6pne, but any man. l believe, is an idiot who does not do them all. In other words, any man who devotes himself en- tirely to books and doesn't know men, and lets his body shrivel up, Is an ass. He misses a great deal of college life.
 You can never measure yourself up consistently, be 1t physically or mentally, except in putting yourself in competition with other men and seeing whether you can do it and how well you can do it compared with somebody else.
 And mind you this: if your object in playing tennis, let us say, Is to play the largest number of games in a year, or your object in running is to run as many races in a year as possible, don't run with somebody else-it will impede you-just run In the same way if your object in coming here is knowledge, simply acqur- ing knowledge, don'f compete with some body else-just stuff it away-and it will do you as much good, just as much good, as it would to run around the race track with a pedometer in your pocket
 Professor Lowell does not betray much interest in intercollegiate athletics. He does not attend the baseball or footballl games but he is always a spectator at track events. As a member of the facul- ty. he was heard in all the discussions in favor of a strict control of the spectacular college sports. His influence is against football except under prudent regulations But his succession to the presidency is not expected to change the present ath- letic policy at Harvard
 Nowadays, besides pedestrianism for exercise, Professor Lowell's physical rec reation is yachting. He has a summer home at Cotuit, Cape Cod, where several of his relatives maintain sea shore eslates He idles on board cat boat. He has accomplished seamanship by degrees. First he bought small craft which he learned to sail. Successive seasons found him possessing larger yacht until
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