Outdoor Sports and Games | Page 4

hard. Over-exertion will sometimes cause a strain on the
delicate machinery of the body that will be very serious in after life.
The heart is especially subject to the dangers of overstrain in growing
boys. We are not all equally strong, and it is no discredit to a boy that
he cannot run as far or lift as much as some of his playmates or
companions. You all remember the fable of the frog who tried to make
himself as big as the ox and finally burst. The idea of exercise is not to
try to excel every one in what you do, but to do your best without
over-exertion. If a boy has a rugged frame and well developed muscles,
it is perfectly natural that he should be superior in most sports to a boy
that is delicate or undersized.
To be in good physical condition and to laugh at the doctor we must
keep out of doors as much as possible. Gymnasium work of course will
help us to build up our strength and develop our muscles, but skill in
various acrobatics and gymnastic tricks does not give the clear eye and
ruddy cheek of the person whose life is in the open air. Outdoor sports,
like tennis, baseball, and horseback riding are far superior to
chestweights or Indian clubs as a means of obtaining normal permanent
development.
Parents who criticize school or college athletics often forget that the
observance of the strict rules of training required from every member of
a team is the very best way to keep a boy healthy in mind and body.
Tobacco and alcohol are absolutely prohibited, the kind of food eaten
and the hours for retiring are compulsory, and a boy is taught not only
to train his muscles but to discipline his mind. Before a candidate is
allowed to take active part in the sport for which he is training he must
be "in condition," as it is called.
There are a great many rules of health that will help any one to keep
well, but the best rule of all is to live a common-sense life and not to

think too much about ourselves. Systematic exercises taken daily with
setting up motions are very good unless we allow them to become
irksome. All indoor exercise should be practised with as much fresh air
in the room as possible. It is an excellent plan to face an open window
if we practise morning and evening gymnastics.
There are many exercises that can be performed with no apparatus
whatever. In all exercises we should practise deep regular breathing
until it becomes a habit with us. Most people acquire a faulty habit of
breathing and only use a small part of their total lung capacity. Learn to
take deep breaths while in the fresh air. After a while it will become a
habit.
Just how much muscle a boy should have will depend upon his physical
make-up. The gymnasium director in one of our largest colleges, who
has spent his whole life in exercise, is a small, slender man whose
muscles are not at all prominent and yet they are like steel wires. He
has made a life-long study of himself and has developed every muscle
in his body. From his appearance he would not be considered a strong
man and yet some of the younger athletes weighing fifty pounds more
than he, have, in wrestling and feats of strength, found that the man
with the largest muscles is not always the best man.
There is one question that every growing boy will have to look squarely
in the face and to decide for himself. It is the question of smoking.
There is absolutely no question but that smoking is injurious for any
one, and in the case of boys who are not yet fully grown positively
dangerous. Ask any cigarette smoker you know and he will tell you not
to smoke. If you ask him why he does not take his own advice he will
possibly explain how the habit has fastened its grip on him, just as the
slimy tentacles of some devil fish will wind themselves about a victim
struggling in the water, until he is no longer able to escape. A boy may
begin to smoke in a spirit of fun or possibly because he thinks it is
manly, but more often it is because the "other fellers" are trying it too.
My teacher once gave our school an object lesson in habits which is
worth repeating. He called one of the boys to the platform and wound a
tiny piece of thread around the boy's wrists. He then told him to break it,

which the boy did very easily. The teacher continued to wind more
thread until he had