The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-24

more such surprises, and the nation government by wisdom will prepare for them.
 Battleships and guns and aeros
 planes and all the other machinery of war are necessary, but the best prep
 aratfbn Is in the physical training
 of the people. This, does not neces-
 sarily involve training along military
 lines. The backwoodsmen of Ken
 lucky and Tennessee a century ago,
 were not trained soldiers, but history
 records that they gave a pretty good
 account of themselves at New Or leans, when they faced the best of Britain.s veterans.
 The ancient Spartans and Greeks, the worlds models of masculine .vig- or. wers not trained to be soldiers- they were trained to be men, and
 when they were called upon to go to war they proved that their physical education had fitted them to become the best of soldiers.
 Spartan youths were educated in physical culture from the cradle.
 KrpIn the day of their birth they were rendered. hardy by exposure to sun and air. When they reached boy hood they were forced by law to take part In sports and exercises, and failure to do so constituted crime. I Their games. were of a sort to en- courage n1anliaess and develop strength and endurapce They slept always in the open. with the Bky for a icoverlet. Their minds were not neglected, and the Spartans were ne- | ted for their intellectual as welr as their physical attainmerits. They
 were sober, temperate and abstem- l fpus, and their food was of the sim piest kindi For all that, they were not a bunch of ssg1oonss. but were noted for their wit and their facility in repartee and epigraza1s. Lycergus. 1 the founder of Sparta, was no kill-joy, and he erected a statue to Laughter. The Greek boy began his formal ed- ucation at the age of seven, when he attended two schools daily. One school | was the gymnasi u1ia, where the pupils were instructed in wrestling, boxing,
 climbing. discus and Javelfn throwing, dunn bell drills, and other exercises, E1no1udfng dancing. Each year games Of competitive nature were held, and the winners were decorated with l wreaths symbolic of victory. At the
 second school the pupils received mental training and education in the arts, especially music. I The apreparatory course contin- ued until the pupil was fifteen, when he entered coIlege-a gymnasium
 oonducted by the state, whers physi- cal and mental education were com l bined although the former predom- mated. The course at this institution Icovered three years, and at its con cluston the graduates served the state 1.-two years longer in the capacity of city guards, or police. The finest Of Athens were fully entitled to that desi gnakion.
 It was this system which made lit tie Greece the master of the world just as in modern history. the boxing Land other athletic sports of England produced a, race able to make their tiny island the center of a d-wi de lempires
 T Recent events prove that the era o1 war is not yet over, and that. the na- ton that fails to prepare for war. is !. doomed. The best preparation, and the best insurance of peace, is to be found in the development of a manly, vigor- Ious citizenship.
 | Compulsory physical education 1T +t public schools and colleges is the first and most imp ortant step to bt taken. Girls as well as poys should receive this trainfng, since they art destined to become the mothers. o1
 men. Competent instructors should
 be engaged for every school ans state schools should be establishet for their training
 T Such a course would be not onl,
 the best preparation for possible war
 but what is of vastly greater. import !, ance, the best preparation for peace