Basket Ball a Game for Athletic Young Women
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AIImc Stati s. Until Bryan. Mtnnie Jansu, Alice Town. Pearl Archibald, Edna
from Left to Bight.
CHAMPION CLASS BASKET HAM. TKA.M. UNIVERSITY dh' N Kill! ASK A
King. I.otaitie ( 'iiiiistuek Nanir
f S AN ADJUNCT to the acquisition
I J I of culture the necessity of the
L 1 tame of basket bull for women Is
it matter open to debate; lis a
curative for wift beating its f-
lioiency is beyond challenge. Not that the
tin riy maiilen who staru in U Mi" strtngtb
and i tin r desirable physical and personal
quilities through the lneuiuin of this
p..siimc has in view the training tf her
n.i.si li s to a point where they w ill insure
her immunity from all pending domestic
uvubles. Far from It. In the first place,
.-lie has at that period of her life no faitli
..i i..e inevitable. Again, if that purposj
were uppermost in her mind her muscles
wouid assume far more startling proportions
than thty do, because of the strong influ
ence of suggestion iu such matters. The
laborer who digs ditches all day long does
not get us large or as shapely sinews as the
athlete, because the latter is thinking every
minute he exercises uf how his muscles are
growing and what h'3 wishes them to be
cume, while the workman has no especial
interest In his bodily efforts other than
that they bring him a living. The mental
attitude counts for much in such matters.
So with the basket ball girl. Feminine
lhenumenou8 of Sandow build would become
the common product of gymnasiums were
self-defence the motive for indulgence.
There are many phases to this game as
u woman's sport and its effects upon her.
There are also vast differences in the at
titude of mothers and men toward it.
Neither of thtse latter two classes, and
more especially the men, likes the notion
of dainty white wrists and ankles wrenched
and strained, swollen and discolored. And
when it comes to skinning pretty, rounded
elbows, to bruising knees and shins that
should be Immune, to bruising heads cov
ered with pleeious ripples of hair and even
to blackening dreamy eyes and causing
piquant noses to bleed, mere thoughts i t
such calamities fail nit to elicit a sliudd r
and a prayer. And these things certainly
come with basket ball ami infrequently
even more serious woes.
firings Wtmt lllhi'm Adniiie.
Hut these same 'ond mothers and adoring
men admire nothing so much in the world
as a girl of grace and symmetry, of bright
tyes and clear complexion, with very
physical possibility fully developed, a gill
w ho walks as though hi r feel did not hurt,
who knows how to run and who is as nimble
and sure of herself as a man. Tin so char
acteristics, ti.o, come with basket ball and
probably more surely and quickly than in
any other way in which convention permit
women to cultivate them.
It is certain that basket ball is fulfilling
a mission in the development of women that
no other athletic sport for which they are
eligible has ever been able to accomplish.
This relates chiefly to the traits of self
reliance and clear-headedness. A hysterical
girl who plays basket ball is a quantity
difficult to Imagine, for the game Is the very
essence of emergencies and rapid changes,
which demand a cool head all the time and
a quick brain.
Golf and tennis are good, but a great
many very helpless and ineffective women
play both, while you do not tlnd that kind
mixing in basket ball frays. The difference
doubt lees lies in the fact that the latter
game alone contains in addition to all th
strain and agility Incident to nervous
muscular action common to the other the
subtle element cf personal contact which
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GlitLS BASKET BALL. TEAM, HIGH SCHOOL, SUPERIOR, Neb.
is so vital an inthii'iii'e in allili'tir ciiiiipili
tinti. Tins Haver is the (lie thing that
in ii K s liit lull what it is. t lie master spirt,
end liiisket bill in a mil ler way embodies
tin siiiie piil.-c ( f actual pels inal combat,
mini against man.
nutlicr of Hit- lit ii ell In.
'ombat ivencss may be offensive at times,
but it is at least always sclf-rcliitiit, and it
is only fair to presume that the women
extract the latter essence to the full with
out absorbing at the name time the mole
disagreeable feature. Anyway, it is that
personal strife that makes the basket bail
girl iuilepi udeiil . calm, quick and hardy
as well, and as a feature to be found only
in this game this component should be
given due prominence in the catalogue of
the virtues of the sport.
Modern a'sthi'tts have decided thn
physically, a woman's dignity c( n.sists lint
in commanding stature, nor in Ti mimic pro
portions, nor in habits of statuesiiie ticdatc
liess. They have determined, in the con
trary, that with a woman, from whom si
linn Ii is expected ill the way of carriage
and "front'' generally, dignity lies all in
poise. That any quality so basic nnd essen
tial iim this of dignity, which as far as the
wi rid at large knows is superiority itself,
should be prodicat.d on a feature so en
tirely external may seem strange and even
inco'. gruous, but it is so and, on the whole,
it Is eminently direct that it should be so.
For dignity is an objective mutter en
tirely, no one being dlgllilicd unless other
people think he Is hi. This must, there
fiile, depend largely upon first Impres
sions, and thus the physical feature pre
dominates. Moreover, it is difficult for
those who are physically inferior to leel
superior, and the latter attitude comes
naturally ami strongly M the physically
perfect. A sense of being man to man inas
li r of hit uat Inns i ii uni t b it g.ve rlHC to an
easy dignity, which expris-cs it self In the
one condition so aptly described as poise.
I'.riima lo I'oinr.
This poise Is probably one oi the great
est things that basket ball does fur women
Compelled to use some mores of muscles,
while other women exert only about five or
six all their daily livis, these basket ball
athletes barn what a wonderful thing
I hey possess in their bodies and how niar
vclously they may control the treasure if
they will. Tin y have about six times the
use cf their limbs that other women have
and are well aware of the contrast. Taught
also to carry the weight of the body well
forward in the balls of the feet, Willi In
ll.il' l i lu st and erect head, they thus as
sume by compulsion a posture that Is the
whole framework cf dignity, and the men
ial attitude anl all the other accompani
ments follow.
T ilee yi uug girls, or older ones, being
insi rin ted iii such modes of walking and
standing is a joy to man. and the habits
lei i in il then will stick to them all through
life. All era now of feminine basket bail
players means a later generation of u-perior-lookiug
women and a cont inual ion
of the practice will In time work a com
plete (-radical ion of the opposite typi now
so familiar.
Itisket ball may not be intrinsically
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Anna ltarr, Physical ldrectnr Adna Sly. Louise I'n itnl. M.m.ii i
.orii Shield. (ierlrnde Macumber.
Alice Town. Hannah l'lllsbury. Nora Miller.
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA CHAMPIONSHIP BASKET BALL TEAM
vicious or savage, but it offers a very good
opportunity for the development of both
qualities, and this Is the only phase of the
game which it Is to be hoped the Aim l it an
girl will avoid, of course, there is it list
of rales as long as your arm which forbids
all manner of holding, hitting or oiler
rough taclliH. but the very rapidity of tin
gam" offers a thousand loopholes for cucape
after the seemingly Innocent execution of
t ui It ai ls, and players with a streak of the
barbarian iu them, which most athletically
inclined persons possess, generally have the
perception to see them and the deal re to
take due advantage thereof.
Mill, especially, manage always to do
more or less so-called "dirty work" In a
hard-fought basket ball game, and the las
sies with the gentle features have the same
hunch now and then. Very vivid are recol
lections of one 'varsity player, captain of
the first girls' team for several seasons,
who playid a forward and a fierce one. She
was tall, muscular and lithe, and combined
Hie Ili.Hli-like rapidity of a panther with
the accuracy of a machine.
The most promising player of the oppos
ing team was always the object of this
.voutig woman's attentions. Charging full
till ai r. .ss the Hour, she would pull l a k
nnd Kluiuble and apparent y do everything
po-sll le to keep from li b scoping her op
p no HI. but was always unable t i sloji In
lime b.iause of her own headway and III
slippery Hour, and after the collision lie
fatal elbow or knee had dune its Intctidi d
wolk in I he vulnerable spots which wo, in n
know women to poss. ss. Then, of cours.'.
il was always ptofine apologies and regrets
and solicitations and "couldn't stop to save
my life," but the other girl meanwhile was
out of the game, with some substitute In
lake her place. And If it did not work the
Hist time, this lady would deliberately try
it again till It did or the limp re (.o
busy.
But that's all in the rani' , and the gill
ktiow il. A basket ball contest Is nit a
dancing school, nor yet a i las in etiquette,
and those who go In for it generally wnnl
Hie full limit of all prerogatives of person
end elasticity of rules. Ainway, If il does
not teach them to stop and say. "Km use
me!" before relieving an opponent of the
ball and "Fore!" before throwing fur a del l
goal. II at least gives I In in health, siruigtli.
poise and royal independence, and that I
all the gillie was ever meant in du
Vint)1' P"Ar
MM
Nathalie Merriam. Laura Cimdoii. Hern be arson. Itulli I'.eanl. Clara Ibluirul
Marlon Council, Freiicrli ka Mcintosh. Cora Kv ins, Louise I'arinelee, Made
line mills Names from Ieft to flight. Beginning at Bui k llow.
GIRLS HASKET HALL TEAM, OMAHA HIGH SCHOOL
Matrimonial Phase of Woman in the Industries
i f-s 1H1EF of the Massaehusetts Bureau
y I of Labor, IL C. Wadlin, finds that
iiir ruiiHiiutj ui nuiuru iniu iuc
various industries of that state
does not decrease marriages and
presents the following statistics In support
of his conclusions:
The state of Massachusetts is a stage
upon which every seine in the great indus
trial drama is being enacted. Here the
evils as well as the benefits of the indus
trial revolution should be plainly seen. But
to antwer your qui st Ion statistically from
data In this commonwealth and it is solely
f this commonwealth that I am speaking
- we cannct rely on the general marring)
rate, which Is figured on the population as
a whole. As we are dealing with women
mainly, we must take the women as a class.
The number of women married to each
1 000 women living in the state was 16 9 in
l'-i'JO. In I860, wbea women bad hardly en
tered upon industry here, it was pt.fi, and
In 1870 it was lft. .1. Clearly, a smaller num
ber of women In proportion to our entire
female population entered into marriage In
Massachusetts in the latter year, after
forty years of the devi lopmenf of the In
dustrial employment of women here, than
Is found at the beginning of the period
Hearing In mind, however, that the num
ber of women married to each l.Ouo of the
female population In the state at large was
16.9 In 1!00. we find the corresponding fig
ures for Fall River, I.owell and Lawrence
each, cities in which large numbers of
women are Industriously employed, to be,
respectively, 1ft 8. 21 2 and 20 A. Iu Holyoke
the figure was 17.4. and In Boston also,
where large numbers of women find remu
nerative employment, the figure is 21 1.
The general rule seems to hold in Massa
chusetts that the number of women mar
ried out of the entire female population Is
greatest ill the industrial cihea and towns
mid lowest in the plana where women have
the least opportunity for employment, and,
of course, the least opportunity for coming
into social contact with the opposite sex.
Comparisons n ade some time ago for the
ecnsm year lssr, shewed conclusively that
the pr'S' ine of wonun in industry In large
numbers did not in Massachusetts reduce
the proportion of births or marriages, nor
increase the number of deaths in the cities
and towns wherein they were most numer
ous. For In fifty cities and towns having
large percentages of women at work, with
64 2ft per cent of the total population, there
were Cft.ft'J per cent of the births, f,!t,18 per
cent cf the marriages and but K3..r.3 per cent
of the deaths.
The percentage of single females of all
fen.alis was, in 1K7.". .'3.41. in lSSa 53.41.
and in lSft", t3..jft, showing no material
changes. The considerable number of sur
plus women here, sometimes alluded to,
comprises not those who have never mar
ried, but is largely widows.
But while this is true, marriage among
women in general in the stale has been
somewhat retarded. The aveiage age of
women making first marriages is now 24.5,
as against 23. f. thirty years ago, and
whereas about 2o per cent of all women
marrying was then under 2u, only ubout 1.1
per cent Is now under 2u. But even this
retardative Influence works out just above
those aged 3.1. For example, of all w men
marrying, ftl.68 per cent were then under
3.1, as against SO 83 per cent now, a merely
fractional change.
The figures cited show, however, that the
decline in the general marriage rate in
Massachusetts cannot be directly traced to
the entrance of women Into industry. Who
ever studies the question of the effect of the
Industrial employment of women on th
marriage relation will need to go deeper
than the mere qui si ion of marriage rate.
A scientific comparison, which would con
clusively determine the factor which the In
dustrial employment of women plays in the
cune, would be a comparison of the mar
riage rate among Immigrants devoted to
agriculture or merely household employ
ments liefore coming lu re with the tale In
the next generation, under a general Indus
trial environment, or a similar comparison
In a stable population, If such could tie
found, of the conditions existing before and
after Industrial development. It Is, how
ever. Impossible to obtain data at hand for
such comparisons and It In a sufficient pres
ent answer to your question to summarize
what I have said in the sentence with which
I close. I can find no evidence that In the
Industrial development of Massachusetts
the presence In industry of women has
operated to lead them to remain single.