Chapter VII
What a Gymnasium Might Be and Do
Twenty years ago there was hardly a good gymnasium in this country. Now there are many good ones, and a few great ones. Those of the Manhattan Athletic Club at New York; of Yale University; of Columbia University; of the New York Athletic Club; and of the Chicago Athletic Club being little short of palatial; while the pioneer of these finer ones—the Hemenway at Harvard—large as it is, is already unequal to its demands; and needs many radical changes. Abundant and excellent apparatus; suitable bathing facilities; ample dressing-room and locker equipment; thorough ventilation; careful watch to keep all appliances in repair; rowing-tanks; boxing, fencing, wrestling, and baseball rooms; bowling-alleys; and the other appointments which help to make such a place useful and attractive, are ready for all. In some there is a dearth of pictures and casts and statues of the best models of all times; which would aid the student in his work. Every gymnasium—and every school too—should have a manikin; so that all could quickly know the size and location of each vital organ, and larger muscle; and its part in the bodily economy. Such a place should not only benefit, but should delight whoever is able to use it. The entering student especially has long looked forward to it, as one of the chief attractions of his university life. And
112
