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His enthusiasm for athletics was a good thing, if properly controlled. Not so controlled, it became the rock on which he was shipwrecked. One's recreations afford a test of character. The strong man puts them in their true place. They are an incident, a pleasant change in the routine of his daily life. He enjoys them keenly, but he gives them up at the proper time. The weak man is absorbed by his amusements, and forgets everything else. They usurp the place of his work, blind his reason, and stifle his conscience.

It is said that football originated in Yale college fifty or sixty years ago in an effort to prevent brutality. The freshman and sophomore classes were having trouble, and a collision and a free fight were imminent. The seniors, jealous for the good name of the college, acted the part of peacemakers, and arranged for a trial of strength by a football match between the classes. This

was the old game of football. Twentyfive or thirty years later, Rev. Dr. D. S. Schaff brought to this country the new Rugby game which has become so popular. It is a rough game. For ignorant or clumsy players it is a dangerous game; but, when the Duke of Wellington, late in life, sat watching a game of football among the students of Eton college, he said: "There's where the battle of Waterloo was won."

Amusements are a necessity, relieving an overburdened mind, restoring elasticity and vigor. They are a discipline of judgment, of temper, of will. They brace the body and calm the spirit. They keep the heart young, the tastes simple, the sympathies warm. Without them the body, mind and spirit alike lose their rightful gladness and tone.

V

HEALTH

the first lessons taught us.

"The morality of clean blood ought to be one of The physical is the substratum of the spiritual; and this fact ought to give

to the food we eat and the air we breathe a transcendent significance."

JOHN TYNDALL.

V

HEALTH

EALTH is said to be wealth. It is

HEALTH

more; it is the foundation of every blessing in life. Wealth, scholarly attainments, even life itself, lose half their value without this priceless gift. In pursuit of health, people give up the comforts of home and the companionship of friends, travel to distant lands and live in lonely retreats. Once lost, no search is too difficult, no price too great to pay for its recovery.

And yet with what recklessness and prodigality this treasure is squandered! The number of preventable diseases is enormous. In this age of scientific research, when the secret germs of so many diseases have been discovered, it is still said by a high medical authority that ninety-six per cent. of the deaths in this

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