WHAT A GYMNASIUM MIGHT BE AND DO
—united as one man. We fought England once; but we got what we wanted. And why should any but good feeling exist between us now? Which other nation speaks our tongue? has our blood in its veins? bears our very names? Our young men could not be better trained to know theirs, and to like them, than in fighting these very battles to a finish, right at their own doors—and you have got to fight, when you back up alongside of Leander, and eight of the best men in England. And what clean, splendid fighting it is; no fouling, no coarseness, no brutality; each man a gentleman; each doing his uttermost, not for money; not alone for his own name; or for his club's; or for his college's; but for his nation's—an ideal test of the best qualities of body, mind, and character of a very unusual man. No wonder, as we shall see upon another page, that England likes to man her Bench with such men. Where better can you learn true fair play than in an open, terrible struggle, in a field where all is fair to all; and only the best can win? Who can know what justice is so well as he who has risked even his very life to win it? To whom else is fair play so dear? Who so keen to see the least unfair advantage had by another? No wonder the Henley and Putney records improve with age! And that one of the sweetest things in a man's whole life is to have won on Henley water.
The average, however, at graduation is better in size, strength, health, vigor, endurance, or stamina than it was a generation ago; and is fitter to stand successfully the wear and tear of life's work. But it is not so far ahead of the last generation either; for, in the latter case, more came from farms, and homes where much manual labor was necessary; while now a greater fraction are from the cities; or are the sons of parents whose occupation is mainly sedentary, or of farmers where
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