ENGLISH GAMES THROUGH AMERICAN GLASSES.* A NOVEL was written—some twenty-five
years ago—by a distinguished English writer, to show that the grossness and brutality which he considered to be spreading amongst his fellow-countrymen was mainly due to the craze for athletics. Mr. Caspar Whitney, the author of this handsome and entertaining volume, has no sympathy with the views of the late* Mr. Wilkie Collins. On the contrary, he is inclined to recognise the lessons of the playground as having " most lasting and beneficial effects." The motive with which he undertook his sporting pilgrimage to England is clearly set forth in his preface, and the words are worth quoting : " Until comparatively recent years, we of the United States have been too thoroughly occupied with the work of building up a great nation to give much thought to play. Now, however, that sport in America is fast developing, it is essential to an in- telligent understanding of this development and its purpose, to turn for our precedents to the country which cradled nearly every game we have."
The last sentence sufficiently indicates the thoroughly sympathetic spirit in which Mr. Whitney has approached his task. He is no indiscriminate panegyrist, but his criticisms, even when most severe, are expressed with conspicuous mode- ration, and in the interests of true sportsmanship. Some of his impressions are summarised in the opening chapter, and are worth recording. To begin with, he confesses to an inability to decide which is our national game par excellence, and takes refuge in the conclusion that every pastime is the national one in its season. As an American, he was struck by the widespread practical interest in sport shown by all classes of the community. He was immensely impressed, as he well might be, by the way in which the London 'bus- drivers handle their reins, and by the good looks of their horses; by the enormous amount of space devoted to sports and pastimes in the press ; and the keenness of the spectators at all public meetings, horse-shows, sports, and matches. Strange as it may seem, we have it on the express testimony of Mr. Whitney that sports and pastimes are organised and pursued in a far more democratic spirit in England than in America. " There is no sport out of doors, so far as I have • A Sporting Pilgrimage to Oxford, Cambridge, and the Shires. By Caspar Whitney. London : Osgtod. MaIlvaine, and Co.
been able to discover, where the people' are not welcome." And again :—" The great secret of the universal interest in all kinds of sport in England seems to me to be the publicity of it all : the opportunity every man so inclined has of being a spectator if not a participant : the taking, as it were, of the public into their confidence by the sportsmen."
Of the curious atmosphere of jealousy, secrecy, and com- mercialism which pervades sport at the American Uni- versities, Mr. Whitney gives us many striking examples.
The cost of maintaining an American University football team is nearly six times that expended on a similar purpose at Oxford, with the result that exorbitant prices are charged for the privilege of attending the inter-collegiate matches. Pastimes in America are conducted on oligarchical principles.
No attempt is made to interest the average undergraduate in the doings of hie 'Varsity crew or team. Mr. Whitney was surprised and delighted at the mutual relations of the Oxford and Cambridge crews in training times. " Whatever one crew does at Putney the other may see,—if it likes. There is no attempt at stealing away, no substitutes sent out to watch and report " The men do not eye each other askance, and there is none of the embarassment that attends the annual Harvard-Yale visitation when the crews are in quarters at New London." Mr. Whitney dined with the 'Varsity football teams on the day of the match, and adds, " Although Cambridge had won a victory that every one—before the match—had given to Oxford, I could not, at the tables, distinguish the victors from the losers." He had a similar experience after the boat-race, when he was " the happy witness of that same thoroughly sportsmanlike spirit that makes no distinction between conquered and conquerors.
More than anything else in all my life it brought home a vivid illustration of the charm and wholesomeness of sport for sport's sake only." On the river-bank at Putney one of the "coaches," to whom he was a perfect stranger, gave Mr. Whitney full information as to the movements of the Oxford crew,—a piece of consideration which moved the author to re- mark, "Fancy asking a Yale or Harvard coach at what hour the crew would go out, and the best place to see it at work ! Perhaps a stranger would be told all about it !—per—haps ! " Two other observations of Mr. Whitney's in regard to University athleticism are worth recording. He points out that the outcome of a contest is not taken with such desperate seriousness in England as in America. " The sight, familiar to us, of members of a defeated football team throwing themselves prostrate on the ground in the agony of bitter disappointment, would, indeed, make Englishmen stare in wonderment." The other point is Mr. Whitney's special commendation of the modesty of the athletic costumes of English University athletes. "The track athletes do not wear inappropriate and indecent rowing-shirts ; while the oarsmen do not strip to the buff as our college oarsmen do. Respect- able costumes appear not to handicap their performances." Altogether, Mr. Whitney pays a most gracious tribute to the spirit of camaraderie and straightforward dealing that characterises the pursuit of sport at the Universities.
Before quitting the subject of University athletics, Mr. Whitney draws attention to an important distinction between England and America. Whereas at Oxford or Cambridge every athlete in the University practically pays his contribu- tion toward the maintenance of the University teams and crews, contributions from undergraduates are not necessary at the American Universities, " or, at least, have not been during the last few years, because of the increased drawing properties of baseball and football, the large receipts having not only supported these teams and the crews, but aided in furnishing American Universities with the finest and most completely equipped athletic fields and buildings in the world." All the same, on Mr. Whitney's own showing, this system has serious drawbacks. The price charged for admis- sion to the great Harvard-Yale-Princeton football match is $2i, and University sport is all through far too much of a business venture. Sport for sport's sake is Mr. Whitney's motto; and his views on the subject of professionalism are calculated to amaze the Daily Chronicle. On the burning question of amateur oarsmanship, he proclaims himself a thoroughgoing supporter of the rule which excludes " mechanics, artisans, or labourers " from the amateur status in this country. His views are set forth in the follow- ing passage :— "Not only am I of opinion that English amateur rowing would not occupy the high place it does to-day were it not for this defini- tion, but, strange as it may sound to our American ideas of democracy, I believe we must adopt some very similar ruling if we ever hope to attain a correspondingly high standard No one rejoices more than I at evidence of the lower classes turning their attenticai to sport. It is a magnificent spectacle, of incalculable value to national manhood, and would that it applied to the whole world. None is more democratic than I. I am more than willing to help my labouring brother of lesser refine- ment ; to do all I can for him in his worthy efforts to attain a sound mind and a healthy body ; give him advice, time, aid, and to encourage in every possible manner his endeavours to make more of a man of himself. But I do not care to dine or play foot- ball with him This is a free country, and life is too short to waste time in fruitless endeavours. The labouring class are all right in their way ; let them go their way in peace, and have their athletics in whatsoever manner best snits their inclinations. There is no reason on earth why they should play under our rules, or why we should open our rules to admit of their more liberal understandings of an amateur. Let us have our own sport among the more refined elements, and allow no discordant spirits to enter into it."
We venture to say that no English amateur of the present day would think of publicly declaring his adhesion to the caste-system in athletics in such candid and explicit terms as Mr. Whitney has done in the foregoing passage. He does not believe, he tells us, that "athletics, like love, levels all ranks." All we can say is that he can never have witnessed.
a village cricket-match, such as is described so admirably by Mr. Horace Hutchinson in his new novel, Peter Steele the Cricketer. As regards golf, it is worthy of note that at the
last amateur championship meeting, the competition of more than one bonii-fide artisan amateur in no way impaired the harmony of the meeting. Of cricket Mr. Whitney has very little to say, and for a good reason. His book is primarily addressed to American readers, and he makes the very interest- ing admission that " in America the national patience seems in- tolerant of a game that requires three days of play to determine the winner." That is probably a true explanation. And yet the Australians, who resemble the Americans in many respects, prolong their great cricket-matches to even five days. Of Mr. Whitney's chapters on riding to hounds in the " shires" and the " provinces," and on golf, we have left ourselves no room to speak. Here he is less of a critic than a chronicler, and his account is of less interest to an English reader. The book is splendidly illustrated, and is certainly one of the most valuable studies in what, for want of a better word, may be called Comparative " Pastimology," that has yet been written.
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