THE MODERN GLADIATOR.
[To Tun EDITOR OF 'TOR "SWIM .TOR."J Rudyard Kipling's fiery lines in the' Times of January 4th throw into bold relief some of the ominous portents of our day. But though " flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals " is a fine slashing piece of rhythmical sarcasm, it does not point to a true source of national danger. Our victories are still won " in the playing- fields at Eton," but not in the stands at Lord's and the Oval. Forty years ago no self-respecting young man or boy would have been content to be always a mere onlooker at any athletic sport; he was not happy until he held the bat or the ball, however clumsily, in his own hand, and himself took a part, however small, in the fray. The invertebrate fashion of to-day is to gape and shout at a game—whether of cricket or football or what not—contested by professional or semi-pro- fessional players, to many of whom the contest is a mere money-getting business, and then to go home complacently hugging the notion that one is an athlete—by proxy ! This is not the true sportsmanlike attitude. Instead of doing things for ourselves, we are more and more growing into the habit of looking on at other people doing them for us,—very much the condition of the Roman loafers who shouted Panem et circenses," but carefully shirked the labours and the risks of the arena. This is without doubt a morbid con- dition of the body politic, enfeebling to the individual and perilous to the State. It is for the people themselves to pre- scribe and ap]y„a remedy.—I am, Sir, &c., •
•
Previous page
