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18
THE NEBRASKAN
case; Men do not go to sec horses work.
They can see that on the streets. The ex
citement of doubt as to the result is some
thing. But so the horses were well matched
their speed would be of little consequence,
were that all. A swift trotting horse is a
monument to careful training and human in
genuity, and the crowds that applaud it arc
applauding human skill and perseverance.
In the foot ball team, too, we have a trained
machine, but it is human. Where there is a
contest between two well trained human ma
chines more than machines, indeed, since
each part within its sphere has independent
will it is no wonder that such a contest ex
cites human interest.
College foot ball bids fair to render a great
service to the community. In England the
people themselves play in their athletic
games. In America they hire others to play
for their amusement. So while in England
a man of 84 is ruling the foremost nation 01
the earth with the vigor of a youth, while in
England but lately a man of So tilled the
highest and most arduous judicial position in
the world, in America men die of old age
and exhaustion in their allotted three score
years and ten. The college men of the
country are beginning to change this. Col
lege foot ball and college athletics are giving
the youth of the country frames ft for men,
and colleges are sending out strong minds
cased in sound bodies without which the
former can do relative!' little.
There is another aspect of college foot ball
which makes it a great improvement over
the once accepted vents for youthful enthusi
asm. Rows with th "town," class fights,
and college politics are well enough, nay,
inevitable, if nothing better is at hand. But
the first two are apt to be quite as "brutal" as
foot ball, and engender a vast amount of ill
feeling which does no good. College poli
tics, such as abound in small schools, aie par
ticularly demoralizing. They are for the
personal advancement of the participants
each one -works for himself. They do no
good to anyone, unless to train him for a fut
ure as "Boss" of his ward. The absence of
politics of the sort that some of the Alumni
can remember and such as still lurk about
the halls of our ama macr,h one of the dis
tinguishing marks of a great school.
The author of Tom Brown put the case of
foot ball well : "The discipline and reliance
on one another which it teaches is so valu
able it ought to be such an unselfish game.
It merges the individual in the eleven ; he
doesn't play that he may win, but that his
side may."
Those of us who could do nothing in our
day but thump each other in the name of
class spirit, toss the Lincoln police force, or
engage in petty "oratorical" contests for our
personal glory, may well envy you, who,
whether on the eleven or on the "scrub" side
can work for the glory of our alma mater
with all the enthusiasm and all the energy
we were forced to waste. And ,ve arc thank
ful that we may at least come out and cheer
for you as you win her renown a renown all
her children rejoice in, since being hers it
belongs to all of us.
Roscok Pound, 'SS.
Rah-Rah! Rah-Rah! Rah-Rah!
Nebrciska.
If the U. of N. sported an eagle he would
be perched at the top of the flag-pole stream
ing at the top of his voice. Dough, Dough,
Dough-re-mi. Fall, Fall so low. Sec?
D-O-N-E, Done ! is the present version of
Donne's yell. Of course we expected to
beat them as badly as we did. But it's a reat
relief to know that our expectations are fully
realized.
The afternoon was a beautiful one but a
shade warm fcr foot ball. The crowd was
pretty good. About five hundred people
turned out, not to mention the omnipresent
small boy, who crawled through the fence.
The University girl was conspicuous chiefly
for her absence. Either the girls have lost
interest in foot ball or the boys have lost in
terest in the girls.
