accidental contemporaries, and that for many who regard college notoriety as nothing to future fame, class politics have about the same interest as the mysteries of "Theta Nu Epsilon" or the froth on the beer-and in the conversation at "our metallic

host's."

"If the alternative of porch and garden were the bull-fight, or the mill between the Tutbury Pet and the Whitechapel Bantam, or a main of cocks or a dog-fight, which would the ingenuous college public select?

"The rules of some games guilelessly betray their tendency. Choking and slugging are positively forbidden. Manly sports! School of the gentleman and of honorable courage! Let us hope that reckless profanity and insults to the ladies are earnestly deprecated." Easy chair, Harper's magazine, Feb. 1890.

"It took 51 serious accidents during the last season to put and keep 77 football players in the field for seven colleges. Kidneys, knees, heads, broken noses and spiked eyes were among the worst."Tribune, Dec. 14, 1889.

"Football of every description has been prohibited at the University of Heidelberg."- Sun, Nov. 18, 1890.

"Football has to be constantly watched lest it become brutal."Report of the president of Harvard, 1886-87.

"In football the foul plays, technical and literal, are very difficult to detect and to prevent; the unfair or bratal player has more than an even chance of escaping detection; and at the worst, he will only be disqualified, and a fresh, unfatigued player takes his place."Nation, Nov. 20, 1890.

"I desire to record my individual opinion in deprecation of the game of football, in which I have been able to discover no form of exercise which may not be gained quite as satisfactorily in other pastimes less objectionable.”— PROF. H. S. WHITE, Era, Jan. 27, 1888, p. 176.

"The characteristics of football that are particularly prominent and the general success of the game might suggest that if gladiatorial shows were allowed they would be enormously profitable."- Era editorial, Nov. 29, 1890.

"There is a rowdy element in the eleven, and the slugging should be suppressed at once. In the game with Rochester a Cornell man was seen to deliberately hit a man in the face with his fist. Cornell has a reputation for slugging among all the college teams with which -he has played."-Sun editorial, Oct. 23, 1889.

The following definition is based upon the most favorable descriptions of intercollegiate football accessible to the writer:- A generally accepted test of the relative merits of educational institutions, performed by those who are commonly noted for muscular development; it is also alleged to materially improve the health of the entire student body, but the few actual participators are already in superb physical condition, while many of the spectators, sadly needing systematic exercise, merely stand in the mud and take cold.

The logic that perpetuates this sort of thing may well be mated with the following:

"A-Come, now, you must own that you have gone partly mad on the score of gymnastics.

B-Mad? Why, gymnastics means strength, health, long life. A-That may be, but the fact is our forefathers knew nothing of gymnastics, and

B-And they are dead, every man Jack of them!"

As to the common claim of the self-confessed small minority that all this is for the advantage of the university, the completest parallel is the "inspired" declaration of the male Mormon that polygamy has for its end not his own pleasure but the salvation of the other sex.

Among 1000 intelligent and well-disposed youths, many of whom mount a considerable hill once or twice daily, the encouragement to regular and moderate exercise no more calls for set contests between champions than does the encouragement of good living for intercollegiate eating matches.

Eliminate the players themselves, those who have been persuaded (or bullied) into subscribing, all who have staked money or property on the result, and last those who are willing to be amused without paying for it, and there will remain perhaps a small minority of thoroughly disinterested persons who can declare their sincere conviction that intercollegiate athletic contests are essential to the welfare of Cornell.

"But one tenth of the students of this university have subscribed anything to the support of the football eleven."- Sun, Nov. 7, 1888. $4,000 is an absolute necessity for the crews; numbers of men have refused outright to contribute."-Sun, Feb. 11, 1890.

"There are over 800 men who have not subscribed a cent to the crew fund; this disgraceful fact can be glossed over no longer."Sun, April 23, 1889.

Upon another occasion the same journal declared that "every one of those non-subscribers ought to be ashamed of himself." The date

has been lost, but the words are not easily forgotten. Were the advocates of foreign missions to adopt this style would it not be suspected that they either cared more for their own bodies than for the souls of the heathen, or that they had staked money upon the number of converts their special band should make within a given period?

"There are over 1000 students in the university who have not subscribed a cent for football this fall. What is the reason? We will deny most decidedly that Cornell students on the average are stingy or mean."- Sun, Nov. 6, 1889.

In the Sun of Feb. 11, 1890, those who decline to subscribe to the "crew fund" are condemned editorially as manifesting a "mean and disloyal spirit." In reply to the writer's request that such denunciations be discontinued on the score of good taste, the editors restrict (Feb. 15) the application to the proper class, "those who take to themselves credit for the achievements of the teams to whose success they have in no way contributed," and concede that "it is no more just to require those who are not interested to subscribe to the support of athletics, than to require a gravedigger to be versed in the fine anatomy of the brain."

The condition of things described by the president of Harvard is practically a partial prostitution of a great intellectual foundation to purely physical ends. It is as if the small army of the United States should put itself under the control of that element of our population which takes a vicarious delight in the fighting of other people, and unite therewith in urging the industrious and peaceably disposed portion of the community to declare and carry on war against another nation between which and ourselves should be only generous rivalry in furthering the progress of civilization.

Taking all things into account it may be that at Yale and Harvard and some other colleges, there is no escape from a compromise; but why should we copy them to-day in athletics when in more essential matters we took an independent course 23 years ago? If any just inference may be drawn from the lives of Henry W. Sage, John McGraw and Ezra Cornell, from the founder's words, and from the character, circumstances and aims of most of our students, then for us to follow the lead of the above named institutions in respect to athletics is no more creditable than the slavish imitation by Americans of manners and customs that have no other merit than their exoticism.

The writer firmly believes that the prevailing athletomania is a

passing "craze" like the now almost forgotten "Grecian bend" (really original with the chimpanzee) and like the more recent estheticism from which undoubtedly athleticism is a comparatively healthy and laudable reaction; but that it is nevertheless an extreme and hence undesirable. If those who are of this mind wish to place Cornell in the van of an inevitable movement for the athletic moderation counseled by the president of the university, let them convey an expression of their views to the governing body.

In conformity with the wise aphorism in paragraph 12 in the earlier part of this article, the following suggestions are respectfully submitted to all interested in Cornell university:

1 Let there be a director of amusements who, in cooperation with representatives of the trustees, faculty and students, shall see that entertainments of various kinds are made available under varions conditions. The incumbent would need to have a somewhat rare combination of qualities, and he would be worth the highest compensation. This proposition is based upon the idea of a “professorship of fun," put forth by the founder of the famous school known as the "Gunnery." [The reference to the place of original appearance has been mislaid, but the paragraph is reproduced on p. 72 of the Health notes for students, 1890.]

2 The headquarters of the director of amusements would naturally be the proposed Alumni hall for which ex-Pres. White has conditionally offered the sum of $10,000.

3 Billiards and card-playing should be not only provided for but encouraged, with absolute restrictions as to gambling and the use of liquor, even beer, and such arrangements as should enable nonsmokers to enjoy the games.

4 Let tennis be the leading sport in colleges and the only basis for intercollegiate athletic competition. The standards as to physical excellence, manliness, honor and true courage would speedily change for the better; further, in the event of war or other emergency calling for the finest combination of qualities useful in either officer or private, no other "champions" would equal those who had maintained superiority at tennis. (Since the writer plays neither tennis nor billiards the above specific suggestions may be accepted as free from personal bias.)

[The writer's specific recommendations for Cornell university were embodied in the followIng form of contract, appended to this paper in an Ithaca journal where it was first published.] The undersigned hereby promises to pay $ toward the extinction of the legitimate debts outstanding June 3, 1891, on

account of the football team, the baseball nine and the navy of Cornell university, upon the following conditions:

1 On or before the 15th of October, 1891, the faculty of Cornell university are to pass a resolution forbidding its students to take part, as if representing the university, in any rowing, baseball or football contest with persons other than members of this university, whether in term time or in vacation, prior to July 1, 1894.

2 The legitimacy of the debts is to be determined by a committee consisting of the graduate treasurer, the professor of physical culture and the military commandant, or of such other three persons, graduates or officers of the university, as they may individually or collectively select to represent them.

3 After the 15th of October, 1891, the sums here subscribed are to be paid to the graduate treasurer or his representative within 10 days after notice from him, and a receipt is to be given by him therefor; this payment is, however, limited by sections 1 and 5.

4 Any surplus is to be turned over to the trustees of the Percy Athletic field to be expended or invested, according to their judgment, otherwise than for the direct encouragement of the extrauniversity contests above named.

5 In case, by the 10th of October, 1891, the subscriptions do not equal the total existing debts, determined as above stated, the subscribers shall have an opportunity to express their individual preferences as to whether their subscriptions shall be canceled, or applied to the extinction of the debts on account of the football team and the baseball nine, one or both in the order named, upon conditions that, before Jan. 1, 1892, the faculty prohibit extra-university football and baseball contests, one or both in the order named. Any remnant or surplus is to be transferred as indicated in section 4.

Signed,

The signature is to be accompanied by the home address of the subscriber, and his relation to the university, whether trustee, professor or other officer; if an alumnus, by the year of graduation; otherwise by the years of attendance.

Section 1 includes a money contract between the university and the subscribers; the interdiction could not be disregarded in ignorance by any, or deliberately by one who is worth keeping as a student.

It is desirable that an extra copy of this paper should be retained by each subscriber for reference; copies of it and of an article presenting the facts and considerations which led to its preparation may