Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-27
BFlTAlN'S POSITION
IN THE WORLD TO-DAY
Continued from page eight.

anouiu neatftAte 10 enter tHe liHsss
II In not question Of woman's
ability to play tents. golf. polo or any
other game to which she may act her
hand. II IL purely a question of tenn
permanent. Women make remarkably
good athletes. They can develop
| strength and there is no question Of
their skill. but l do not believe tnnt
the average woman has the nerve
equipment TO sustain her In important
championship matches.
There are. OF course. exceptions.
Cecille Leiteh. British woman golf
champion. IL an exceptional woman
who appears To be capable OF standing
any nervous strain which the Entne
may entail In fact. she has no more
nerves than has a trained male ath-
| lete.
| Molla Mallory, the American wiz
ard Of the tennis courts. is Of the same
temperament She doesn't know what
nerves are. and whether she is play
| ing To victory or defeat, and no mat
ter what are the stakes, she Is all cool
ness. and elf-possesslon.
| have read In the newspapers some
criticism OF Mile. Suzanne Denglen
because of the fact that she defauited
after losing her first set to Mrs. Mai
lory. | am emphatically of the opin-
ion that auch criticism Is unjust. Were
n man 20 act in this manner, undonbt-
csiiy he would be open To criticism,
but Mile. Lenglen Is a highly strung,
entirely feminine woman with SEN
sitive woinan's nervous equipment ana
temperament. IL Ia no sign of lack OF
courage that she broke down and was
unable 90 continue her match. 1t was
purely natural feminine phenomenon.
| And this reflected no diEhonuf OF
France--no more than did Carpenter 8
gallant defeat and a moral victory
Miss Alexa Stirling Is another ex-
annie of a splendid sportswoman who
is not teinperamentally equipped Tor
| championship competitions or TO par
| ticipate In sport spectacles. She Is
remarkable golf player, but she Is not
great championship player, as niea-
suresl by her performances in England
and France against Miss Leitch.
Women are essentially emotional
and they react in n different manner
ID the shouting and the noise and the
excitement OF crowd than do men.
Your male athlete. whether the game
apired by the presence of thousands
of spectators, by the color and clanor
of the enthusiastic onlookers. Many
women would be nervously wrecked
by the excitement and psychological
effect OF the crowd even though that
crowd we're friendly to them.
Even i'm average circles there is still
A great deal OF organization to he done
In sports. And among the chief needs
in this respect is the organization Of
sports and games for school children.
All the public schools, and nearly all
middle schools give quite as much at
tention to games as TO science or let
ters. The same is true of certain uni
versities. And the defence of this
policy is that games have such high
educational value, both morally and
physically.
1t IS strange that the persons re-
sponaihle for the welfare of Britain
persuaded aa they are Of the afore-
said high educational value of games
have never provided for sports In the
schools of the people. Lately the col
leges OF oxford have been lending
their grounds to oxford board schools
and also helping TO flt the schools
out with games apparatus.
Here is one example that might well
be followed elsewhere. not because II
is good that the proper education OF
the mass Of the young should depend
on the charity Of few units here
and there. but because such efforts
provide an object lesson for the nation
at large.
II is a scandal that every school
in the island has not it's own sports
field with full equipment. And IL
would be equally scandal IL at the
present moment a group of educational
madmen got hold of the House of
Commons and insisted upon such
sports fields being established in
stantly and universally regardless of
cost. But then the high priests of
state finance have returned to reason,
and the budget has ceased to look
like the dream Of a lunatic who Is
convinced that two and two make
fourteen-then something serious will
have TO be done about the systematic
teaching and practice of games i'm the
schools of the people.