I should
have greatly preferred to have him steer clear of both; still, I try to
remember that I was once his age myself, and I am given to understand
that the rivalry between the several colleges in these matters is more
intense than ever. There was a time when nothing seemed to me of such
vital interest as whether Harvard or Yale won the boat race. The
Darwinian theory paled in comparative importance beside it. Indeed, I
still take more interest in it than it deserves, perhaps.
Nevertheless, I took pains to impress upon Fred that his studies were
to be his first consideration.
We did not play foot-ball in college when I was there, which was the
reason, perhaps, why I assumed that it was a boy's game, to be shuffled
off with other purely youthful sports when one became a dignified
student. I had heard here and there the statement that it was a rough
game, which did not impress me very much, recalling as I did my own
hacked shins. It was not until I read my friend Horace Plympton's
letter to the _Evening Times_, that my attention was particularly
called to the matter. Horace seemed to have lashed himself into a
perfect fury on the subject. He stigmatized the modern game as it was
played by University students as a barbaric spectacle, dangerous to
limb, if not to life.
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