Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1910-08-26
The Educational Value of the
Show Room

Sport Is word that appeals 70
every healthy normal person from
the school boy To the professional
ball player or the race track enthusi-
asst. There is much that is good as
well as much that Is evil in snort.
II is both the handspring of pro-
gress and the bane of good morals.
10 illustrate: When the lover of
horses after wears OF careful breeding.
and months of careful training, sue
ceeds in making new world :
mark on the track, or i'm the exhibit
ton hall, he has given a iii. tinct for
ward lurch To the wheels OF progress,
even though his work be done under
the name of sport. But along with
the magnificent trials Of speed on
the race track comes the bookmaker.
menace To morals, and clog to
progress. But gambling is not true
sport. Pity that the thrilling con-
tests OF the tuIf should be marred bv
the stencil of trickery and knaverv
under the rame Of sport. True sport
is legitimate, inspiring, uplifting,
for true sport must be fair. The love
OF sport leads you TO the woods AMI
streams but never takes unfair adj
vantage OF the quarry. So the love
of sport leads you to the race track
and show room, but true sport don't
bet or bride or take unfair advantage
III 1T were not for this natural, this
normal love of sport there would be
no contests; and il no contests. no
comparisons, no progress. Field
sports, as fishing and hunting are
contestS-contests between human
skill, cultivated acquiIement, and
animal instinct and cunning. The
match is usually an unequal one
but the closer the contest the keener
the sport. So with horse shows. the
sport of showing lies in the cIoseness
OF the contest. So it is with the
ball game, horse racing, the exhibit
ton of animals in general, of agri-
cultural products, in fact the exhibit
ton of any product in comparison
with other products OF the same
kind. So, if it were not for the love
OF sport, we would have no Faris, no
horse shows, no races, no athletics.
no contests of any SOFT, perhaps, for
1T is yoIr true sportsman who leads
In all contests of skill, or endurance.
or speed, or contests of form or color.
or whatever excellence is attempted.
But while we seek the show room
for diversion and amusement, while
the Zest with which we enter a close
contest is keenest enjoyment, there Is
n deeper meaning TO ii all. Contests
are the birthdays OF ideals. The con-
test of today may achieve the ideal
OF Yesterday; but a new ideal springs
into birth. y world 5 record is made
today only 10 be broken tomorrow.
The noble animal that stood easily
champion Of the world a wear ago
may have dozens of superiors now.
Even the winner must pursue n
fleeing ideal or be left behind. Con-
tests educate. The educational value
OF closely comparing one object with
another is not different and not less
In the show room than in the school
room, or on the world tour. Are not
your children taught almost entirely
by comparative processes? The teach
er must have her type problems, twp
zeal battles, her apperceptive for
give the big word and look it up)
and then the pupil works
forward and forms judgments bv
comparison. 1t is the principle un-
DERIVING the modern socalled labra-
tory methods so much used in the
modern school So, TO come to the
point of this article, the educative
value OF fair or show room of any
kind is inestimable. Aside from The
lover of sport, the desire for amuse-
ment, the satisfying of an idle curios
Ity, with which we visit an EXPOSE
ton or county fair, whether we
realize ii or not, We go away with
new ideas and ideals. Such exhibit
ions are fertile fields for the earnest
the seeker after better re-
suits In whatever line he is interest
ed. All the great breeds of cattle
md other live stock have been built
Up by process of evolution made
possible only through shows and
contests. How could it be done other
Nlse| There must be comparison
INC ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS both
defects and merits might be over
ooked and no progress made in The
attempts. Criticism is
helpful even when unjust. If unjust,
t only strengthens The excellence of
he thing criticised by raising ND
blenders. If just, it certainly helps
he honest seeker after something
etter by pointing out defects.
Now to apply these generaliza-
ions to our county fair. The Taze-
'elI Fair Association is not "A money
baking institution. 1t ought not to
e and it is not. Whatever divi