Physical Recreations Among College Men.

Of course in treating of the physical recreations at college, a writer has first to mention the great college sports, foot ball, base ball, rowing, lacrosse, cricket, and so on. Many question whether these can rightly be called recreations, arguing that they require (and get) certainly more physical and not infrequently more mental exertion than the regular college duties. They argue further that the demands that such sports make on the body and mind for strength and endurance have an injurious effect. Of course there are extremes in all things, and too much time and brains spent on such recreations as base ball or foot ball are badly spent. Still, acknowledging the evils of extreme cases, one can certainly say with truth that good active exercise, which calls into play the muscles of both body and mind, is extremely beneficial. The more a man is interested in, the more he sets his mind upon his exercise, the greater good he will derive from it. Foot ball and base ball require exertion of both body and mind. A successful player in either game must have a good physique and a cool head. Foot ball, to be sure, as generally played today, is conceded to be too rough and dangerous, but even foot ball helps to train a man in physical and mental alertness. Base ball, being attended with less danger, and being doubtless a more scientific game, is still more beneficial. The same general truth applies in a greater or less degree to rowing lacrosse, cricket, and tennis.

Now college men can be classified from their modes of recreation, of course the first class consists of those who belong to the 'Varsity and class teams and crews. Although, perhaps the smallest class, yet undoubtedly they are the most interesting. Their games and contests are watched with breathless interest by the entire college, and their success over any powerful rival is received with the wildest enthusiasm. The second class includes those who- men perhaps unsuccessful in their efforts to reach their destination of belonging to class 1, or others less ambitions, -engage in the different sports for the love of the games themselves and perhaps from a desire to give the regular teams as much real practice as possible. These men really deserve a great deal of the credit for college's successes in the different branches of athletics. A third class of men who exercise, not from love of exercise, but more from a mere sense of duty. Such men, unfortunately are not few. We see them at regular hours in the gymnasium, doing everything in a mechanical sort of way. They are doubtless benefited, and perhaps considerably benefited, by this gymnasium exercise. But such a thing gets monotonous; the body is active, but the mind becomes uninterested. Mechanical exercise may be very good, but it is not merely as beneficial as modes of exercise which are for something additional to merely physical development. My meaning is just this. A man might. knock a tennis ball about all day, even have a net to knock it over, and yet not bet much, if any real good for his trouble, but put another man on the other side of the net, and you see how "circumstances alter cases." Mental interest and excitement combined with the necessary physical exertion, double, nay triple the beneficial results of the game of tennis. The idea; not only that you are exercising, but also that you have a game to win makes all the difference in the world. In other words, physical exercise alone is attended with very small benefits when compared with the physical and mental exercise combined.

The fourth and last class is miscellaneous, consisting in part of men who take "constitutionals" before breakfast, perhaps because their fathers or some other great men have done the same when they were in college, perhaps the walk is really enjoyed and found beneficial. Such men are "few and far between." Others of this class are those who don't pretend to take any exercise at all, or who argue because they room at a considerable distance from the recitation halls or Memorial they get enough exercise between their rooms and these buildings. It may be that they room up four or five flights of stairs in the dormitories and argue that these stairs are their gymnasium, their base ball, and their tennis. Indeed a man at the top of Weld or Matthews is almost excusable for thus arguing. But still such little fits of exercise, that may be gotten, say between Holyoke and Sever, amount to almost nothing. They are mere apologies for exercise, and are about as satisfactory as a small piece of bread and butter to a hungry man. Men who can content themselves with these apologies for exercise make a great mistake. It is universally acknowledged that everybody should spend at least an hour each day at good energetic physical exercise. Further, everyone should seek some plan of exercise which will be pleasant and interesting, even exciting to him. A little playing with one's limbs every day and trying to see how many ways they can be moved about amounts to little or nothing. Moreover, the man who doesn't exercise at all should remember that he can't keep his physical condition at a standstill. No exercise means necessarily a falling off of bodily strength, while a comparatively small amount of energetic physical exercise each day will develop muscle and produce good bodily health. Men who seek mental superiority and neglect the condition of their bodies seem to forget the Latin phrase, "mens sana in sano corpore."

NEMO.