Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-06-22

| track meet is won, or a baseball or
| football championship is obtained as
when one Of their learned number has
| achieved success in intellectual lines.
| When the freshman new from his
home descends into the unknown body
| of three or more hundred it is the
athletic team alone that gives him his
| first sense of cooperative interest in
the institution that is to shelter, pro-
| tect and educate him. His first ends
are thus identified with others; now
he at least receives a temporary feel
| ing that the interests of others, are his
| own. The early class games serve to
unite the class and make each man
a more powerful and united unit of the
whole When the football team is
struggling for victory or doggedly
fighting against sure defeat, his heart
leaps and bounds with the spirit of
| personal interest. Your team is his
team and the old spirit Of fellowship.
the old solidarity and unity OF feeling
is strengthened and renewed. This
spirit and feeling that the interests Of
| others are the interests of his own
natures the WOrGly man. He comes as
| though instinctively to be conscious OF
| himself as a being who of course pays
| regard to others. IT is this feeling of
unity this spirit of fellowship that
| cings to a man through later life,
| about which all college ties arc bound
! and which is finding itself and be-
, coming stronger in a new center of in
| tnrests which arc found upon the ath-
| letic field.
But while fellowship plays an i'm
rortant part in the social development
of man there are two other phases
which are of more Importance and
these are the perfection of mans men,
tai ard moral nature. If athletics
contribute to these then indeed they
have righteous place in the life of
a college man. The mental stimulus
received from athletics is bi-natured
quality: one which acts as a mental
recreation and allows "A man to be
spurred on to still greater efforts. and
| the other into which mental effort it
| self ccnters. The first is of acknoWl-
edged value, for every boy educator
has agreed that "All work and no play
will make Jack a dull boy but the
second is slowly finding its way into
more and more prominence. If any
opponent always attacked the way we
have been coached to defend football
| would lose its greatest advantage. but
| it is in the process of matching brain
against brain that victory finally
comes Beef and Drawn are welcome
assets. but uncoupled with little gray
matter they amount to practically
| nothing. The mental effort which is
| used in doing the unexpected is what
| always wins the games. In the his
| tory of the sport we read where time
| and time again certain defeat has been
| turned into sudden victory merely by
| the lightning like rapdity of some
| ones thoughts. The objections raised
| against football come directly from the
| attempted suppression of individual
| work. This is what is of real advan-
| tage and shows the CaIiber of the man.
But while football has its advantages
along these line S. there is probably no
sport where the personal equation and
| the ability to think enter so strongly
as in the American game of baseball.
1t fascinates the thousands and why
simply because a man cannot play the
game without thinking. The rudi-
ments are easily mastered but the de-
| tails which call for the exercise of the
mind are infinite. No two plays are
ever the same and no artificial con-
|ditions can be made by which the de-
tails can be mastered. 1t is here that
| a man may receive a training that will
last him through later life Studies
lmay teach a man to think, but the
practice of thinking with rapidity of
q meteor's flight is the practice that
a college man gets from his athletic
games.
But the most important question to
ask Of athletics is do they contribute
to mans moral advancement? Instead
of going into distractions | shall SIM
ply cite few examples and let you
draw your own conclusions. In a foot
ball game we find the determination
to do things despite the consequences
forever springing up. The small man
is matched against the larger and the
| effective blocking shows the determi-
nation which will lead a man to sue
coed in later life. 1t is courage by
will that is the prime secret of the
struggle that we call life. Probably
nowhere else than in a football game
can a man find better opportunities to
carry on underhand work. 1t is the
restraining from such, the power and
desire to play clean, to play fair, but
above all to play hard, that will en-
able a man to reach the goal of sue
lcess. This respect for the rights OF