The herald., 1922-08-17


prepared by the National Geographi
Society, Washington, D. c.
Now that vacation days are brin;
Ing play to the fore for old and youn,
Ii is worth recalling that sports an
games ever were magic touchstones I
geography and 70 those allied science
which provide the sureSt clues TO hoy
peoples live. and work, and think.
In countless ways science ha
learned about climates, and products
and customs. and peoples of the pas
from toys, games and sports. An en-
IRE new field Of investigation wa.
opened by the discovery that back
CANNON. as played in Burma. also WAS
known to the pre-COlumbian Mexicans
A new light is shed on an ancient
civilization when we learn that there
was a law amnog the Persans by
which all children were to be taught
three things, horsemanship, shooting
with the bow and telling the truth
Carthaginians and Phoenicians owed
something Of ther maritime glory to q
love OF swimming. the sport by which
they first mastered their fear of the
sea.
Equally significant in the history of
nations is the decline Of their sports.
While the Persians observed the rigid
regimen OF the chase, as prescribed by
Cgros, their armies were victorious,
While Spartan youths followed the
rigorous discipline Of Lycurgus their
city was inviolate. Led by Alexander
the Great In ways Of abnegation and
exercise, the Macedonians were in.
vincible. The Romans extended their
civilization so long as their gymnasia
prepared youths to endure Long
marches and bear crushing burdens.
II Is fairly obvious that coasting is
q sport OF the zone where snow falls,
and reasonable that those peoples
most generally proficient in swimming
should be found in the equatorial
Islands, where limpid waters invite |
surcease from the scorching sun, but
less well known, perhaps, that card
and board games developed In south.
ern Asia, where zest for play is Just
as keen but temperature dampens the
ardor for exertion.
Inc reactions Of geography and
sport are mutual. To the Netherlands
are traced the silt and the skate.
which even yet have their work-a-day
use In flooded and frozen areas, but
are playing for the rest of the
world.
sometimes sports spread beyond na-
tional boundary lines and express the
common Ideals Of an age. Thus the
tournaments Of the middle ages were
the normal symptoms Of the adyen.
furious spirit reflected in the quests
FOR the Holy Grail.
Games and the Individual.
Games invariably adapt themselves
to the individual need for a balanced
life, mental and physical. This fact
vas illustrated by comments of civilian
writer's in the fighting zones during
he World war, who told how English {
men and Americans sought diversion :
n active play, while Frenchmen re-
Gxed In more quiet faxhi0n-smoking r
reading, or day-dreaming by the side
u welcome fireplace. Many noted "
ms as contradiction, In view of the I
sprightly temperament of r
bur Gallo cousins. ?
But as a sporting writer, In an v
'rticle printed years before the World c
var, put II. the Englishman, phleg.
matte during his work, seeks excite G
nent as relaxation, while the more O
minated Gaul needs quiet during his |,
eisure." .
Just as the individual adopts games q
mich meet his bodily need, SO II T
Gems that national pastimes are modi- h
ed to foster and fortify the peoples o.
no play them. W
Influence Of EnoIand's Sports. g.
Right up to 1914 1t was almost "a
romidic to laugh at the Englishmap
r putting his recreations in his W
Who's Who" alongside Of matters m
nsidered more weighty, and for pub gi
hing massive tones and cyclopedias bt
sport. Now the world knows that In
e Derby at EPSON. the cricket at Al
lgby, and the fox-hunts Of North be
lptonshire had everything to do with to
bulldog determination with which Co
carried on" one heartbreaking
inner after another against vicious att
n onslaughts In Flanders. II
'ut even the sport-loving Britons an
said to have admired and won. ott
ed at the American dough-boy. w.
acking out three-baggers amid the ha,
ming Of Big Berthas. issuing oc- did
onal rain-checks In mid-inning the