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Show HITTING BOY WHKRB HE Llk;j It has remained for a newspaper writer to preach a sermon which, j goes straighter to the heart of the j boy than one of a thousand from the,, pulpit. It docs not touch the matterj; of creed. It makes no reference to,; the disputed prohibition question. It makes no threat of eternal punishment. punish-ment. There is not a "thou shalt not" in the whole of its three short paragraphs. Yet it puts before the schoolboy of today the vices of smoking and drinking in a way which must appeiv. strongly to all. It points out to ths boy exactly how such vices prevent him from winning athletic and scholastic scho-lastic honors, and injure his standing stand-ing before his classmates. The newspaper man in Garland Rice, noted authority on sports, editor ed-itor of a department in the New York Herald-Tribune. Boys come t0 him with their problems, sure of sympathetic sympa-thetic and understanding hearing. A boy in prep school recently wrot in, asking, whether a little somking and an occasional drink would handicap han-dicap him in his ambition to become a good, athlete. Mr. Rice's reply is worth reproduction here: "It so happens that both will make quite a big difference. Smoking cuts in heavily on stamina and endurance and also helps to upset the entire nervous system. And nerve condition condi-tion is a big part of competition. Drinking happens to be a trifle worse. "There are not many youngsters today who wouldn't like to keep in good condition and to get in still better condition. They may not expect ex-pect to be champions along any line, but at least they would like to be pretty good at some athletic or competitive com-petitive turn. They don't like to be outclassed. And they know, in athletics, ath-letics, that the smoker and tflu drinker soon will be. There was a time when the hard smoker and the heavy drinker in college was considered con-sidered something of a figure. Now the tide has turned, and he is rated in the lounge lizard department. This happens to be an age of physical physi-cal as well as mental development, and those out of condition can get nowhere. "Sport can show something on the mental side as well. It can . value of concentration oa thing at a certain time, i habit of classroom or st-centration st-centration will help a lot in tration need for competitit. It would be difficult to t lesson on clean living with: er appeal to- the average it-schools. it-schools. It touches him oi-where oi-where most boys are verr his love of athletics. He: obey a command; moral might leave him cold; thry kind might not affect him assurance of a man rtc; mires and whose word h that smoking and drinkinr ly will handicap his athle: that is hitting him where t- |
