men at first consider as merely innocent deception--if any deception may
be considered as innocent. Many parents of Chicago school
football-players objected this year to the game, and signified their
unwillingness to have their sons take part in it. A number of these
boys, however, disregarded these wishes, and played football under
assumed names. In fact, it got to be quite a joke among Chicago
high-schools that a number of boys had two names--their real name, and
their "football" name. Of course, a few months of this sort of business
hardened the unscrupulous players, and was no doubt indirectly
responsible for the deception practised by Hyde Park upon Madison
High-School.
Four of the members of the successful Madison High-School team graduate
this year, but a good nucleus is left to start in with next fall. The
average weight of the eleven was 143 pounds, and the average age, I am
told, was 16-1/2 years. This seems very young to us in the East, where
boys remain at school until they are considerably older, or, perhaps, do
not get to school until they are more advanced in age. With teams
averaging between sixteen and seventeen years there is no necessity for
an age-limit rule, apparently; whereas in Boston and New York there is
always an altercation when the age standard has to be decided, a strong
faction regularly demanding that men of twenty-one shall be admitted to
school athletics.
My opinion is, and always has been, that no one twenty-one years of age
has any business being at school, unless he is extraordinarily stupid,
or unless illness or a weak constitution has made it impossible for him
to keep up with his studies. In either case such boys had better keep
out of athletics, except for necessary light exercise, and devote all of
their time to learning enough to get out of school with credit. All this
is aside, and I find that I am again wandering far from the Madison
High-School.
The Madisonians, to take the subject up again, did not meet any team
this fall which was not considerably heavier than their own, and it is
plain therefore that their victories were largely due to their
team-work, and, doubtless, to the agility of their ends and the
swiftness of their backs. Their eleven scored during the season 135
points to their opponents' 46.
[Illustration: GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, HIGH-SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM.]
The interest in football in Michigan has increased greatly of recent
years, and this fall, out of five hundred boys attending the Grand
Rapids High-School (many of these, of course, far too young to be
allowed to play the game), fifty-two were candidates for positions on
the football team. As finally selected, the average weight of the eleven
was 149 pounds. Of nine games played eight were victories for the
High-School, the one defeat being administered by the University of
Michigan eleven.
The Detroit High-School team was likewise a strong one but, as it did
not meet the Grand Rapids H.-S. eleven, the question of State
superiority is left undecided. I hope that the lads of both schools will
come to see that this is a matter of very small moment, so long as they
have derived benefit from their sport; but unfortunately we have to face
the condition that unless one aggregation can write "championship" all
over its record, there is dissatisfaction in every camp.
[Illustration: BANGOR, MAINE, HIGH-SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM.]
The football season in Maine has closed in a muddle, the schedule of the
Interscholastic Association not having been properly played out, and two
or three schools are now lifting up their voices to claim that they are
the best the State ever produced. It seems to be largely a case of a
fear of defeat on the part of somebody, and a great lack of that spirit
which should prompt the young men to go out on the field and play for
the sake of playing, and not for the sake of winning the game.
Among the Hudson River teams which played good football this season was
that of the Mohegan Lake School. They closed the season with a record of
four victories and one defeat--losing to Riverview Academy,
Poughkeepsie. The success of the eleven was largely due to the good work
of Captain Kendall, who coached and looked after the eleven without the
assistance of more experienced advisers. The Mohegan team had a very
effective system of offence, but they were not strong in defensive work,
doubtless because their second eleven was too weak to afford them hard
enough practice.
[Illustration: BROOKLYN LATIN SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM.]
Further up the river the Albany High-School took the laurels in its
neighborhood. It won the championship of the Northeastern New York
Interscholastic Association, and was the strongest eleven the school
ever put forth. The chief feature of Albany's play was its team-work,
which proved effective against heavier opponents.
Little progress has been made by the managers of the Knickerbocker
Athletic Club Interscholastic Games, which are to be held in the Madison
Square Garden this winter. So far, at the meetings of the executives
many questions have been left undecided, and the events that are to be
contested have not even been announced. Neither is it possible to
announce as yet the names of any of the prominent athletes whom we shall
see come together there, but as soon as there are any developments we
shall take up the subject again, as this meeting will undoubtedly prove
the most important interscholastic athletic event in New York this
winter.
The skating races this year in New York are to be sanctioned by the
Interscholastic Association, although they were not so sanctioned last
year. Arrangements have already been made, and I hope to be able to deal
with the subject more fully next week. It will be remembered that last
season Morgan of De La Salle carried off all the honors. His records
were as follows: 220 yards, 23 sec.; quarter-mile, 50-1/5 sec.; 2 miles,
6 min. 36-2/5 sec. He was also a member of De La Salle's winning team in
the 1-mile relay race. This year undoubtedly there will be a greater
interest in these skating races and surely a larger number of entries,
for a number of skaters are already in training for the several events.
I believe that arrangements have been made to hold the contests at the
St. Nicholas Rink instead of at the 107th Street rink, which is no doubt
a change for the better.
The Cook County League has adopted a schedule for the in-door baseball
season as follows:
January 9--North Division at Hyde Park.
January 9--Austin at Lake View.
January 9--Englewood at Evanston.
January 16--Austin at Hyde Park.
January 16--Lake View at Englewood.
January 16--Evanston at North Division.
January 23--Hyde Park at Englewood.
January 23--Evanston at Austin.
January 23--North Division at Lake View.
January 30--Hyde Park at Evanston.
January 30--Austin at North Division.
February 3--Hyde Park at Lake View.
February 3--Austin at Englewood.
February 6--Englewood at North Division.
February 6--Lake View at Evanston.
February 13--Lake View at Austin.
February 13--Hyde Park at North Division.
February 13--Evanston at Englewood.
February 20--North Division at Evanston.
February 20--Hyde Park at Austin.
February 20--Englewood at Lake View.
February 27--Austin at Evanston.
February 27--Englewood at Hyde Park.
February 27--Lake View at North Division.
March 6--North Division at Austin.
March 6--Evanston at Hyde Park.
March 13--Lake View at Hyde Park.
March 13--Englewood at Austin.
March 20--Evanston at Lake View.
March 20--North Division at Englewood.
In every case the first-named team is scheduled to play against the
last-named at the home of the latter.
It was decided by the managers when they laid out this schedule that it
would not be required of the teams to play on the exact dates specified
if another, earlier, day of the same week proves more convenient. The
only stipulation is that if the managers of any two teams cannot agree
upon an earlier date they must play no later than upon the day
specified.
There is so little interest in this winter sport among the students of
English H.-S. that no team has been entered by that institution, and
South Division will prove a weak contestant on account of its lack of
facilities for the development of athletic material, there being no
gymnasium connected with the school. Englewood and Hyde Park are new
members to the League. The former's team has played some good practice
games, but the latter's has not as yet showed of what material it is
composed. Austin, the champion team of last year, has but two new men on
this year's team, so that the prospects are they will finish near the
top if they do not get the pennant. Lake View's is another strong team
that has been playing excellent ball. North Division has played several
good games, but also several poor ones, and its final make-up is
undetermined. Evanston will undoubtedly send a team that will be the
strongest ever put out by that school. From present indications the
championship seems to lie among Austin, Lake View, Englewood, and
Evanston, their chances being in the order named.
The comment upon the division of spoils in Connecticut, recently made in
these columns, has elicited a number of protests from readers in the
Nutmeg State. Most of my correspondents, however, in their arguments
have seemed to miss the main point of the evil. One argues that it is
necessary to charge admission-fees to football games because the public
interest in high-school athletics is so great in Connecticut that a
stiff admission-fee is the only barrier against a disorderly crowd. He
writes that where no charge is made a rough element lines the ropes, and
frequently creates a disturbance for which the schools are in no way
responsible, but which naturally reflects upon the management.
In support of these contentions he cites the disturbance at New Britain
a year ago, when a number of the town rowdies destroyed a Hartford
banner. If the conditions, therefore, are such that it is necessary to
make the spectators pay an entrance-fee, purely as a means of
protection, I believe by all means in retaining the box-office and the
turnstile. My suggestion to do away with the sale of tickets was offered
merely as a means to cut down the accumulation of an unnecessary
surplus, not because there is any objection to the system. On the
contrary, if the box-office keeps out the undesirable element, by all
means let the box-office remain. But the fact that a rough element
compels the Connecticut schools to charge an admission-fee to their
games has no relation to the subsequent spoliation of the treasury.
Another writer states that some of the schools in the League are unable
to raise money for athletics, and so must depend upon the Association to
help them out financially. There is no objection to this either, so long
as the money drawn from the Association is used strictly for the purpose
of promoting that branch of athletics by which the money was earned. It
is only natural that, in a League whose membership is scattered over so
broad an area, some schools should incur greater expenses than others.
For this very reason, if for no other, there should never be an equal
division of profits.
Those schools that have heavy expenses should put in their bills to the
Association's treasurer, and receive payment for their necessary
expenditures. Thus one school will need $125, perhaps, while another
will find it necessary to spend but $50. The latter should therefore
only receive from the central treasury just that amount, and not a cent
more, "to be devoted to athletics." The root of the evil is the _pro
rata_ division. Aside from any ethical question, this promotes
extravagance, and leads to a loose financial system. Money earned by
athletics should be handled most judiciously, or it will prove a very
insidious and complicating element in the economy of sport.
"FOOTBALL FACTS AND FIGURES."--BY WALTER CAMP.--POST 8VO, PAPER, 75
CENTS.
THE GRADUATE.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER]
ROYAL Baking Powder is an absolutely pure cream-of-tartar powder,
analyzed and recommended by the Health Officers of London, New York,
Boston, Chicago, etc., who praise it highly for its marvellous purity
and leavening strength. Its use is a safeguard against the alum baking
powders of which the market is full and which are known to make
dangerously unwholesome food. Royal Baking Powder makes finest flavored,
lightest, sweetest, and most delicious food, and imparts to it
positively anti-dyspeptic qualities.
ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK.
QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.
ON ATHLETICS.
There was a time when the college man who joined an athletic team felt
that he must train hard for a month or two before his great match came
off, and that then his duty to his college and his team ended, and he
could go out of training until the next season. "Training" then meant a
somewhat barbarous plan of eating half-cooked meats, drinking limited
quantities of water, taking physical exercise almost all day long, and
doing little else. Since those days we have all discovered that training
consists in eating normal food that is well cooked and taken at regular
times of the day, going to bed at night by nine or ten o'clock, and
rising to half past seven or eight o'clock breakfast. That part of the
matter has been pretty well settled, but perhaps the most important
defect in the old training system has not been corrected, though every
one will acknowledge that it is a defect the moment he thinks it over.
This is the absurd idea that you can get ready for a big athletic game
in one or two months. A very long time ago it was discovered that if you
want to do anything well you must practise at it day by day for many
more months than can be crowded into one year. Nobody ever made a great
success at anything by working night and day for a month or two. And it
is precisely the same with baseball or rowing or football as it is with
studies or law or the ministry.
You may have been eating all sorts of things during the summer, sitting
up late at night, and getting up late in the morning. Do you fancy that
on the 1st of October you can begin an entirely new life, and make a
good football-player of yourself by Thanksgiving day? Not by any means.
If you want to be the member of some college athletic team, begin before
you get to college. Begin by eating carefully, not by eating food fit
for wild animals, but by eating good meats, and so on, and not filling
up on candies and sweets day after day at meals and between meals. There
is a reason for this. A man whose stomach is weak has no courage, and if
he has no courage he carries himself through a game on his nerves, and
is completely exhausted at the end of that game. No one can give himself
a strong, vigorous digestion in one month, nor in one year if he is at
all weak there. It requires years of normal living to do this, and it is
the most important part of all training. Probably the famous story about
Napoleon is quite true, that he thought more of his soldiers' food and
shoes than of their guns, for he maintained that no man could fight in
pinching shoes and on an empty stomach. In the same way you cannot train
your muscles, to do extraordinary things in a few short weeks. It
requires months and years of gradual work. If you start in late and work
hard every day you will ruin your muscles instead of improving them, and
as a matter of actual record many a good man has been lost to his team
for this reason alone.
What is the most critical time in a baseball match or a football game?
When does the oarsman's great test come? Certainly not at the start, for
we all do well then. But at the very close of the game, when, after all
the players have become exhausted, the real nerve of the contest
arrives. That is the time when the man who has been slowly and carefully
training year by year will find that he is better than all the others,
and that he can put in the extra pound at the oar or the extra speed at
the long football run which carries his team to a closely won victory.
Athletic training, therefore, is nothing sudden, nothing to be "taken
up" at any one time for a short space, but a general self-control and
guard which the boy or man keeps over himself in summer and in winter,
keeping himself healthy, in good hard condition, and ready for anything
he may be called on to do. Any one will tell you this is quite in line
with the best methods of study, of work, or of business in after-life;
that it is the steady, careful man that wins. But as we are not
preaching here, this must be left for fathers and older brothers to do.
* * * * *
THE COST OF ROYALTY.
Here are a few statistics lately published that will doubtless prove
interesting to the reader. The royal family of England costs the British
government, in round numbers, $3,000,000 annually. Of this sum the Queen
receives nearly $2,000,000 a year, besides the revenue from the Duchy of
Lancaster, which amounts to a quarter of a million. The Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland receives $100,000 a year for his services and expenses, and
the Prince of Wales $200,000 a year. The President of France receives
$240,000 a year for salary and expenses, an enormous salary when it is
remembered that the republic is sweating under a stupendous national
debt of over $6,000,000,000--the largest debt ever incurred by any
nation in the world. Italy can have ten thousand men slaughtered in
Abyssinia and still pay her King $2,600,000 a year. The civil list of
the German Emperor is about $4,000,000 a year, besides large revenues
from vast estates belonging to the royal family. The Czar of all the
Russias owns in fee simple 1,000,000 square miles of cultivated land,
and enjoys an income of $12,000,000. The King of Spain, little Alfonso
XIII., if he is of a saving disposition, will be one of the richest
sovereigns in Europe when he comes of age. The state allows him
$1,400,000 a year, with an additional $600,000 for family expenses. We
are said to be the richest nation on earth, yet our President's salary
is only $50,000 a year. It was only $25,000 from 1789 to 1873.
* * * * *
NEW USE FOR A WATER-CART.
Two countrymen were paying a visit to the city of Edinburgh recently,
when for the first time in their experience they saw a water-cart
employed in laying the dust after the orthodox fashion. They had been
warned by their friends before leaving home not to be surprised if they
saw many wonderful things, and, above all, not to give expression to
their astonishment, as they would probably only be laughed at for their
ignorance. Hitherto the clodhoppers had attended fairly well to these
instructions, and so far at least had not made fools of themselves. But,
alas! a water-cart was too much for them. No sooner did their eyes
alight on it than Jock, the more enthusiastic of the two, rushed off
towards it, shouting to the driver:
"Hey, mon! hey, mon! stop, for guidness' sake; yer scaling a' yer
watter!"
Jim, his companion, was not so easily deceived, however, and, vexed to
see Jock make such an exhibition of his ignorance, ran after him, and
seizing him by the coat tails, reprimanded him as follows:
"What for are you makin' such a fule o' yersel' for, Jock? The man ken's
brawly that the watter's scaling. Lo'd, man, if ye had ony sense you
could easily ken that it was only a dodge tae keep the laddies aff the
back o' the cart."
* * * * *
A neat little correspondence took place between David Roberts, the
artist, and a friendly art critic with whom he was in the habit of
hobnobbing. Roberts had painted a number of pictures into which he put
all his genius, and upon placing them on exhibition, much to his
surprise and mortification his friend the critic severely attacked them.
In due time, however, a note arrived, addressed:
"MY DEAR ROBERTS,--You have doubtless read my remarks upon your
pictures. I hope they will make no difference in our friendship.
Yours, etc., ----."
This had a tendency to slightly increase the painter's wrath, and he
couched the following:
"MY DEAR ----,--The next time I meet you I shall pull your nose. I
hope it will make no difference in our friendship. Yours, etc., D.
ROBERTS."
It is not recorded whether they met afterwards, but it is safe to say
those erstwhile friends hobnobbed no more.
[Illustration: STAMPS]
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin
collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question
on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address
Editor Stamp Department.
Three important measures have just been agreed upon by the House of
Representatives, and probably will be accepted by the Senate. The first
bill introduces the principle of responsibility on the part of the
government for the delivery of registered letters and parcels.
The proposed law provides that senders or owners of registered matter
lost in the mails may be indemnified to an extent not exceeding $10 for
any one letter or package. This will do as a beginning, but the American
public is entitled to at least as much as is given to the citizens of
European nations by their respective post-office departments. For
instance, we pay 10c. for a registered letter, and by the proposed law
may collect up to $10 if the letter or parcel is lost. In England a
registered letter costs 6c., and if lost the owner can collect up to
$25; if 10c. is paid, the indemnity is raised to $75.
The second measure is one permitting the use of private postal cards to
which a 1c. stamp is affixed, provided the same be approximately of the
same size and weight as the officially made card. If passed, there will
be some very handsome and many very humorous cards sent through the
mail, and interesting collections could be made at a very little cost.
The third measure is one providing for the appointment of
letter-carriers in small places, who shall collect 1c. for each letter
or parcel delivered. This is practically applying to small villages the
system which fifty years ago was common in New York, Philadelphia, and
other large cities. If the charges are collected by stamps, it will
revive the collecting of U. S. Locals.
B. J. JONES.--The old Anti-Surcharge Society was organized about
six years ago through the efforts of Mr. C. B. Corwin, but it soon
went to pieces, as the great body of collectors refused to
discontinue the collection of the innumerable and uncalled-for
varieties. The evil has abated of late years, from the fact that
the burden grew too heavy for all philatelists excepting a small
body of very rich men. The "Seebecks" are declining in price
rapidly.
J. LEARNED.--The collecting of entire U. S. envelopes should be
followed where possible. Discard all varieties of water-mark paper,
shapes, sizes, gums, etc., collecting simply by dies and papers.
A. A. WEILMAN.--It is claimed that the first envelope in modern
times used for prepayment of postage was the New South Wales for
1838. A genuine copy would probably bring $250.
W. H. CARR, JUN.--You can buy the Philatelic button of C. W.
Kissinger, Reading, Pa.
H. F. KING.--The Japanese wedding stamps were issued in 1894. The
red is sold at 4c., the blue at 5c.
O. LEWIS.--You do not state the paper, or whether used or unused.
On white paper it is worth 20c.; on amber paper, 25c.; on blue
paper, $5; on fawn paper, $15.
% %.--The half-dime, 1856, can be bought for 15c.
J. P. WILTON.--The stamp-dealers are offering $2 Columbian stamps
at $1.75. They are used for postage by the large banking houses,
chiefly for prepayment of postage on packages of bonds, stocks,
etc., sent to Europe.
G. R. D.--I do not know what dealers pay for stamps. Their selling
prices are quoted in the stamp catalogues. Your Agricultural
Department envelope bears the seal of the department. No commercial
value.
C. C. RANSOM.--It is impossible to give values for long lists of
stamps. Any catalogue will price the stamps both used and unused,
give the date of issue, and much other information. The standard
1897 catalogue costs 58c., but good catalogues can be bought at
5c., 10c., or 25c. each.
PHILATUS.
[Illustration]
The price of good things oft is high,
But wise housekeepers tell
That Ivory Soap is cheap to buy
And best to use, as well.
Copyright, 1896, by The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti.
Two Popular Writers!
* * * * *
KIRK MUNROE
=RICK DALE.= A Story of the Northwest Coast. Illustrated by W. A. ROGERS.
Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.
Lively and exciting, and has, incidentally, much first-hand
information about the far Northwest.--_Outlook_, N. Y.