Newspaper Page Text
c
PICTURESQUE ATULETICS IN SWITZERLAND.
The National Contests Arouse Much Interest in This Small Republic—
Scenes at Contests — The Axvards.
The practice of athletics in Switzerland is
ac I'liipanied with a certain picturesqueness of
background. Athletics in this little republic in the
heart of Europe have a large part In the life of
the peopla. It is to the Swiss what baseball is to
the American and cricket to John BulL Apart
from the 6hootlng and singing festivals, gym
n.i.-tic feats of every description, from wrestling
ar;.i th^ more arduous forms of athletics down
to ordinary pedestrianism, are pleasures the
Swiss most enjoy. The skill of Wllhelm Tell
illustrated in the legend of the shooting of ti»a
..i'l !■• upon his son's head, a tale not lacking in
pi< turesQueness. Is typical of the proficiency
. the Swiss show in their sports of one
suit or another. Life itself In Switzerland Is a
kind of athletic exercise set against one of tne
i..".*-! picturesque backgrounds to be found any
* here In the world.
Fi ;:i the day the Swiss b:iby learns to walk
day the strength of his mature years for
sal •■.-= liim he takes an active or passive Interest
1:1 some form of athletics. In school gymnastics
irpulsory. After the school days he la
to become a member of one of the athletic
I ..nations. These are allied and have the
«ympathetio support of the government. The
<lI organization Is the United Federal
Gymnastic Association of Switzerland. It Is
: up of the cantonal and provincial gym
unions of the country, each union being
a 1 1'inbination of the "sektions," or local clubs,
towns and villages. The gymnastic exer
'•!.-• - of these "sektioius" are conducted under
the supervision of teachers trained i:i physical
culture by government aid. Membership Is one
of the lowards of maturity. When the Swiss
lad reaches the age of sixteen he is eligible for
in •-..,'. i rsbip. The only other requirement Ls that
h<=- shall Le willing to become a subscriber to
the fund for paying the expenses of the
and national athletic societies. It is said that
out of the 3.000.000 inhabitants of the tiny re
public 50,000 of all ages • :s of these
oi eanlzations.
The present association i* mv h less than a
century old. The gymnastic societies were at
first confined to the university a of Zurich, Basle
. but so popular did the Idea of ath
become that societies rapidly sprang up
!e, until they were to be found in a large
proportion of the villages. The history of the
i n • iit up to the present time seems to have
1- ■■ governed by the number seven. Seventy
years a-40 when the first athletic festival to
wt.i' b the different cantons sent representatives
»;? held at Zurich severity athletes appear I
At the festival held in the same city last July
the 111 1 umber of contestants was seven thousand.
Th. national fotes In the earlier days were held
annually. Later they were set two years apart,
and in ISSB the gathering was made a triennial
%ffalr. In tha Interval between the fStafl I2v>
NEW-YORK TlilßUtfE ILLUSTRATED SUPPIJSM^T.
SEVEN THOUSAND SWISS ATTTLETES EN A MASS DRILL*
(Photograph by Ph. tt El I .Ink, of Zurich.)
smaller organizations hold contests with each
other.
The national contests are separated into three
divisions— the national Including weight lift
ing, weight throwing, wrestling and "schwin
gen"—a contest in which the athlete tries to
throw his opponent on his back; the "kunst,"
or artistic, division, including such exercises as
jumping, the fire drill, and those upon the hori
zontal bar, the parallel bar and the horse, and
a division for special classes m which are in
cluded weight throwing, wrestling, jumping,
climbing, "schwlngen," obstacle and flat races,
fencing, swimming and "gerwerfen," or spear
easting, for which the prizes are medals, plate
or useful articles. In the other divisions the
prizes, which are awarded on points, are laurel
and oak wreaths, or crown.-; and diplomas.
These national gatherings have a picturesque
side. They are held in the different cities In
turn. The city selected by the national com
mittee makes the affair, which tests from four
to live days, a festival indeed. The streets are
decked with bunting and strands of green. A
pavilion ls constructed for the use of the ath
letes, where many of them are fed. A great
field is carefully prepared for the different
events. Daily banquets, concerts and dramatic
entertainments are arranged. Fiieworks are
discharged liberally. At last the day for the
opeidng of the festival arrives. This year it
was the last Saturday in July. It is marked
by two events of special interest. They are the
arrival and reception of the "zentralfahne," or
banner of the Federal Association, and the
procession of athletes through the streets of
the city. The banner on the opening day of
the fete is transferred frc m the city in which
the previous fete was held, which has been its
custodian since that time, to the city in which
the festival is about to open. Upon the arrival
of the banner this year from Ch.iux vie Fonda
it was received with great ceremonial by the
authorities.
The procession of the athletes brings throngs
to the sides of the narrow streets. In alpha
betical order the representatives or' the different
cantons march along with their banners. I3ands
of music and the colored bunting add to the
holiday spirit.
< mi the second day •'•< <■<.:<* one of the Bti
ly picturesque featur* ■ of the meet This is
the mass drill of the seven thousand contest
ants. The athletes gather on the huge field In
a hollow square. In the midst one of the locnl
clergymen takes his place and offers a solemn
prayer. Every head is bared as the petition
ascends. Then the contestants, nearly every one
of them in a close fitting suit of white with
a broad belt of some dark material about his
waist to relieve the costume, take their places
in the liiiea and march to their positions on the
ftftld for the drilL At the head of each detach
ment la its banner. One may follow the progress
of the men from the different cantons through
the sea of human beings by means of their
banners, showing above the beads like the flag
of a sulmarlne craft. These standards of many
colors are particularly resplendent against the
white costumes.
Fur half an hoar the line of brawny athletes
files past the spectators. At last every man
has reached his place, and the Betd, a few mo
ments ago allowing only the covering nature
provide!, h:is blossomed into a n nrinsj mass of
white, its whiteness is the whiteness of a Held
which has been pre-emptfd by daisies; the sway-
Ing like that of an Immense wind-swept :
Brain, shimmering in the sunlight At ■
signal the bar. I
seven thousand athletes, each equidistant from
his neighbors, and . i from
long practice with the movements, in unison
bend to th-> right. It is a striking
.-•. -• quickly travels over tin
and beholds in a twinkling t l
rise and dip to the left, as if
beneath by some strange all-; spirit
From side to side, forward v: :
whitem 1 surface sways. Twice in the course
of the meet is the main drill h-!d. on S
the second day, and a^-ain on T he last
day. After the drill the ath! . .te to
participate in the various contests.
Among the most interesting: affairs of the
tournament are those of the last day, when the j
victors literally receive then* crowns at the j
hands of a half hundred ■•- the fairest an
of the city, and afterward march through the
streets in their white costumeSL wearing their
laurel and oak crowns upon their brows. There
Is a Grecian atmosphere to the programme for
this day. The "crown maid a*s" have been se
lected, and they take their places on the tribune
beside the city officials. They are all dressed in
white, and are bareheaded. As the name of
each victor is announced U
taking ud one of the laur- 1 ir oak wi
place it upon his head. In the case of the
ning sections the wreath is placed on t!.
of the banner, where it remains until it I
and is then preserved as one of the souvenirs
of the prowess of the so. Hon.
Tht n follows the procession of th.->
CTOWned athletes, with tli.-ir banners at tho
heads of their divisions, still white
costumes. The athletei leave the city as quick
• hey enter ■■! it after ov ,-r
and the next ,lay the city has recovi
customed iiuiet.
THE ONLY SELF M.I DE .l/./y.
Michael Murray, the defeated candidate for
the Republican nomination for Mayor of I'.os
t«;n, is known as one of the most eloquent pub
lic speakers in Massachusetts, and he has the
faculty of getting hia audience's atter:
once by some happy remark. At a puhUe meat
ins held recently the chairman introduced Mr.
Murray as "a eelf-made man." In beginning
hia address Mr. Murray said he felt called upon
to criticise tha introduction of the chairman.
"For I am not a self-made man," said Mr. Mur
ray. "The only seif-mad« man x know la Dr
Mary Wallter.-
SOCIAL INFLUENCE.
Life in Monarchical Countries Af
fected by the Ruhr*.
■•Anglo- American," In "The Nor- A.T.erlcaS
Review," after admitting that the social .r.3:>
enoe of the Crown might be the meat pov. - : rtzl
of all instruments for the bttlCflUßß] of the peo
pie, declarer that it Is essentially baaeftf, es
pecially hi Great Britain, and proceeds to con»
d- rr.n it as err.phasizi: :g ar.d enconrngfag wait
is lt-a.<t desirable in the national character. la
fact the article cent 1:1:3 a somev. hat htttCS ap
ra;gnrnent of the English, monarchy, a: 1 • yea
condemns the labors of the retgnina boose la
connection with philanthropic and eharttahhi
enterprises. In one m r l. "Ancto-Ainerican" de
nounces the mode of life of Ktns Edward and
Of the : ■ - 'ji h:3 fan.ily ad fal -•. a.".! (!*•
p!orea the spirit U *"c»'¥T*T^ an i :..e m .'.t
which it sots, as perpetuating an n.\r~u.-; :.er»
which la fatal tfl the reaii^aUon ut UM 0008 j«
best self.
Now, the most effe five manner of g*"E^T|
inrluence, whether i: be to* good or for bad. ij by
a careful eensid. r..tion af the results achLvest
A:.d ih- se both hi the case of the late Queen \lo
toria ai.d r.i-r sun and sue'et-ssor. the jr "i
King, have been of so far reaching and be:-e3r
cial a character a3 to constitute in themselves
a response to the accusations of "Anglo-Ameri
can." and a rvfutatlon of the changes contained
in his article in "The North American. Review.*
:At the time when Victoria ascended the throat
the morals of the Court of St. James anil tha
morals of English society were at a low et.lx
They were those which prevailed at most of *_h«
foreign courts and La the leading capitals o£
Europe, where vice was fashionable, and coa«
nection with a divorce suit or the destruction
of a friend's home, fax from being fxo.vned up^a,
was re^iinied, i:;>it---'l. :is constituting add;:.onal
titles to fame and distinction for the 1 . iir.j
statesmen and politicians of the day. Arr.uns
the most Important personages in the c&tfKjnd
of King William IV were the members, cf his
large family of natural children, axle Jurinj
the reign of his predecessor the power esor-ised
by unworthy ftw«ettesi uyoa whom he l.ivished
evt-n the jewels of t:ie crown, was to fftai '-»ai
foreign envoys did not hesitate to paj ta these
women much the same Interested hmnas ■ ■■- i »
was acLOi.it I to BXme. de To::.; .1 U at the
Court el VenaHlei -:; the days ; Kin^ Louis
XV of Franco.
Queen Victoria bf means of het personal 1>
ftnence chained aQ thLs an ! with the assist
ance of her clever ar:d hISO prmctphtd hrwftstl^
Prince Albert of fine- Cmmili s '-- to work to
Introduce a heuHhier cede of BlOTaTa 0 '- or-lj
at court, but likewise in English so !e:y. Viet
ceased to be fashionable. The appearance of
woman In the divorce court, en In the r '■* of
an innocent and much Injured petitioner, carried
with it exclusion not merely from court, bat
from any association witn the princess** of £•
Contlnafd on thirteenth pace^
