The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-10-20
Football Not a
Civilized Game

ideas about foot ball, and the more
my observation goes on the more
am convinced about these ideas. If !
ever had any respect for the game,
which / have not, the experience of
our young people down IN Niger
Wool Swamps last Saturday that re-
spect would have vanished like thin
air.
The question has always interested
me, especially for the reason l had
one boy to educate and have fought
the football craze from start to fin
ish, and | longfsince learned that the
college professor was always loaded
and always ready to shoot, but it is
perfectly bewildering when the
preachers of our evangelistic denom-
nations become enthusiastic boosters
for this ungentlemanly so-called
amusement, for l say it advisedly
that foot ball is not gentleman's
game.
This game reminds me of story
/ once heard of parrot and a monkey
getting mixed up and the monkey
took most OF the feathers off the par
rot. Pretty soon peacock came
along and the parrot gave the peacock
a jealous look and then said to it,
Where in the world were you when
the cyclone passed? l guess these
Pennington boys perhaps think they
have been in a cyclone, and maybe,
yet, haven't been able to realize
what has happened to them. From
what | hear of the profanity that
bunch of swampers put out, our boys
must have gotten a foretaste OF
Hades. .at
The preachers are in position, no
doubt, to give a better idea of HI
than they ever have, from what
hear of the profanity that was dished
out down there by those swampers
1t must have been embarrassing to
our flapper girls to listen to that
red-neck profanity. Not even in the
restaurants could they go in and get
something to keep the soul and body
together and get polite or courteous
treatment. This is a subject that is
not debatable with a professor, for
they will not discuss il long before
they give yolr to understand that IT is
time to head-in somewhere.
1t looks like poor economy to give
what you make to pay taxes, then
pay men two or three thousand dol
lars a year to direct the boys edu-
cation and they take them away into
heather lands to play foot ball and
get their spines and limbs twisted
and thrown out of place and injured
for life. But don't get my ideas by
theories, nor do concede that the
college professor has the exclusive
knowledge of these things. After all
has been said, theoretically and other
wise, the most ! can see in it is that
it is great big bunch of damphool-
ishness and ought to be beneath the
dignity of educated people. The the
ory that it furnishes tn physical de-
velopment so essential to the proper
mental development of the human
mind is too far fetched to look plain
ly plausible to me, besides there are
80 many that are not so hazardous to
accomplish the same purpose, if no.
thing safer could be found. You
might adopt pugilism, for in the man.
ly art you have chance to look out
for yourself, and if it came to that
you could return like for like and
these yellow ours that look for a
chance to do you dirt would consider
well that method before they intro
duced 1t. At least, make it possible
to get boy through school without
making him a helpless cripple for
life.
But, after all has been said that
I can be said about foot ball, as ar
amusement, Gospel minister is seer
going in the direction of Niger Woo
Swamps engineering a fiiver loaded
with Pennington flappers to witness
another man of God lead as fine a sci
of young men in conflict with sci
of heather swampers. believe ir
avoiding the very appearance of evii
and we were warned about this bunch
before we sent our boys down there.
Look at the courteous treatment
our boys gave Sikeston when they
were here and now look how, much
it was appreciated The heather still
RACES in Sikeston. Send the Saliva
tion Army next with armor plates.
S. R. Turley.