The Washington herald. [volume], July 18, 1920, Image 25

About The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
AMERK
The Ver
Old Gret
>?
i
mt I
l& ? \
J
Earl Eby, a product of Chicago public
schools, will wear the University
of Pennsylvania colors in the 800meter
event, predicted by many to
be th? classic of the 1920 games
AMERICA'S manhood today is preparlnj
to attack the world in athletics. Almost
every nation in the world is keyed
up to perspiring pitch in advance of the
coming Olympic games to be held this year
at Antwerp.
These contests of speed, strength, skill
and honor, in which our country has thus
far done itself proud, are a modern revival
of perhaps the oldest and most earnestly
worshiped athletic festivals recorded in th?
great works of the world. For the series
which opened on the little plain of Olympia,
in Elis, 776 years before the Star of Bethlehem
ushered in a new era. was a revival of
athletic rites previously revived by Iphitus,
king of Elis, in 884 B. C.. and then said to
have been practiced time out of mind.
Therefore the date of the first of thess
festivals may be lost in the dawn of history.
Far different from the present purpose
was that of the first Olympic cames. They
were religious rites, performed for the gratification
of the Greek god Zei.s, and they
were surrounded by all the pomp and ceremony
of that ancient system of belief which
nourished civilization.
Throughout the 1174 years of their unbroken
history they formed an expression
of Hellenic religious piety and Hellenic
pride of race?those two pillars upon which
rested the power and progress of Greece.
Oncc every four years duricg these centuries,
the flowe.- of Grecian youth came
together in the small state of Elis, on the
western coast of the Peloponnesus, and there,
on the sacred plain, dedicated its manhood
to the Hellenic piety and bore witness to
the strength of the blood that united
Athens and Sparta with the distant dwellers
in the Greek settlements along the coast ol
the Black Sea or the Gulf of Lyons.
The midsummer moon of each succeeding
quadrennium beamed on this pilgrimage, and
long before its f-- was full, heralds went
forth throughout Greece to proclaim a truce,
during which peace was obligatory between
city and city and state and state?for
these were a covetous folk and they quarreled
much among themselves.
In order that the contestants in the garnet
might proceed to Olympia without molestation
or attack, however, a month of peace
preceded each celebration. And during this
month there journeyed to Elis the nobles)
Opening the
Such Is Fame
THE secretary of a periodical published
not far from New York city and noted
for the literary flavor of its editorial pages
once received a letter from a subscriber ask'
ing for the address of George Meredith, the
novelist. The secretary had a careful examination
made of the long payroll of the
company, but the search was in vain. A
reply was, therefore, sent to the subscriber
couched in this language:
"We are sorry that we are unable to give
you the address of George Meredith, of our
St. Louis office. Perhaps you can ascertain
it from him."
Did His Best
THE Dad?"I don't know about lending
you any more money. When I lent you
two months ago you told me that you only
wanted it for a little while."
The Boy?"Well, dad, I didn't keep it
long."
Difficulties of Arbitration
(< \ PEACEABLE man of this town,"
says an official of a steel company,
"came upon two lads fighting. He besought
them in eloquent terms to settle their dispute
by arbitration. 'Each of you,' he suggested
kindly, 'select half a doxen friends to
arbitrate.'
"Then, having seen that the twelve arbi-v
? 'v.- \ - * -.o* -i.4#iMi - &SL-r-. "
:an \thlj
y Finest Example
?k Contests; Ever
?
p $
specimens of Greek manhood, such flawlesi
types u U?nired the chiaela of Phidias and
Praxiteles.
The plain of Olynpla, aa described In the
pages of the National Review, of Losdon,
wu hallowed (round, dedicated to
Zeus.
On its northern side waa the Alti* or
sanctum. In it were the temples of Zeus
and of Hera and altars to Demeter and
Aphrodite, and it was adorned, to aaj the
leaat, aa time went on with the most exqulsln
the 1912 gamee Hans Kohlemainen,
a Finnish boy, won thraa
first places, after which he came to
America and set up numaroua records
in distance racea. Hana will rapraaent
Finland again thla summer
>
r- '
y^MfflWftEggply K^HE
iitS^
The man picked to carry off pan
which went to Jim Thorpe, the
In 1912, is none other than a bo
farma. He la Everett Bradley, a
State Unlveralty tha
itc productions of Hellenic art, includint the
statue of Zeus by Phidias, that same from
which ne removed and weighed the gold io
order to disprove the accusation that he had
been guilty of speculation in his use of the
' precious metal.
Extreme care was taken to prevent the
entrance of any competitors in the games
j which should by lack of character or piety
profane the religious nature of the festival.
The first qualification was that of pure Hellenic
blood, but no youth who had been
branded by his own state for any disgraceful
offense or was known to have sinned
against divine laws was allowed to compete.
Lack of patriotism was also sufficient to
exclude a competitor. Thus the horses -of
Hieron, of Syracuse, were excluded at the
instance of Themistocles because he had
1 failed to take part with his countrymen in
resisting the Persian danger. The featival
! was dedicated absolutely to the manhood of
1 the race. No woman might cross the river
' Alpheus, which bounded the plain on the
Chestnut Bur
trators were chosen to the satisfaction of
both sides, the peaceable man left rejoicing.
It was half an hour later when he came back
that way, and he was chagrined to find the
whole community fighting, while from a distance
were blowing many police wbiatles.
Officers were rushing to the spot from all
quarters.
" 'la the name of heaven!' demanded the
peacemaker of a bystander, 'what is the
matter now?'
" 'Well, sir,' said the man, 'the arbitrators
are at work !' "
Sure to Return
ANEW ENGLANDER tells of a merchant
in a Vermont town whose goods
did not very strongly substantiate his advertising
claims. So be put out a new sign.
He was pleased to observe that a great many
persons stopped to read it. But soon he was
puxaled and angered to notice that they all
went on, laughing. There waa nothing humorous
about the sign, for It merely read:
If you Buy Here Once
You Will Come Again
The merchant went out in a casual sort
of way and glanced at his sign to see what
raa the matter. Some one, no doubt a former
customer, had added another line, and
it now read:
If You Buy Here Once
You Will Come Again
To 'iring It Back.
1 \
t *"
*
ETES ON 1
s of Uncle Sam's
y Section of the I
Coprrtgbt. 1MO. fey
i south. under pain of being thrown from the
I Typaean rock, though a single exception to
this Uw ni mad* in faror of the pricatcaa
of Demeter, who aat at an altar of whit*
marble daring the festival. On* daring
i woman, it ia true, made an exception for
herself, but when her hi waa discovered
waa pardoned on the ground that her lather,
her brother* and her son had all been victor*
in the game*.
The candidate, having proved that he was
a freeman of pur* Hellenic blood, waa required
also to furnish proof that he had
trained for the contest* during ten months,
to swear before the statue of Zeus that he
would be guilty of no crime in connection
with the contesta and finally to attend for
thirty days certain prescribed exercises
under the judges, who enforced the law* of
the contests, determined the winners, presented
the prises and presided over the ceremony,
sitting in purple robes in special seats.
fTlHE competitors, after having their names
-1- and countries proclaimed by heralds,
took up their places by lot, were exhorted
to acquit themselves nobly and the winner
was crowned on a table of gold with the
garland of wild olive cut by a boy with ?
golden sickle from the sacred grove near the
altar of Aphrodite. The great gathering,
which lasted some four or five days at th*
period of highest development, was concluded
by a religious ceremony, in which the deputies,
representing the various states, mad*
sacrifices to Zeus.
As might be expected in an lnatltution
which had a continuous existence of nearly
M , V
PHyj
tathlon honors, Patrick McDonald,
famoua Indian, strength won him i
y from Kanaaa Stockholm, la again
student at the muscl** with <
ra
> fc
?
L Jm
flHHr
: I
lHV
- jmm*
I *
I
*' - i -r " ' '
A. W. Richards Is another vat'
ran Olympic participant from
thla country. Ha will doubtleaa
maka hi* final try to win the
International honor* In th* high
Jump *v*nt. Richard* la~a Cornell
graduate
twelve centuries; its athletic side had a gradual
development. Thus, for thirteen Olympiade
a short foot race is the only event
of which any record can be found. This was
run over a course of 600 Greek feet, the
length of the stadium. The Oreek foot being
only six millimeters short of the English
oot, this race may be compared for all
practical uses to our preeent 220 yards.
from the next Olympiad, the fourteenth
onward, waa added a race of two etadia or
KtO yards. With the fifteenth Olympiad
were introduced longer races from six to
wenty-four stadia. Only at the eighteenth
Olympiad, seventy-two years after the revival
of the feetival, were general athletics
instituted by the inclusion of wrestling and
the pentathlon of Ave exercisea, which
doubtless waa the origin of the pentathlon
?*a?only termed today. It included leap"g,
* foot race, throwing the diacua and the
javalin and wrestling. In that year also
came aome eort of a long jump in which
Croton ia said to have cleared fifty-five feet.
Gutteraon or Worthington, two of America's
Olympic entranta of -ecent ytars, would
riPTOE FOl
%
Young Manhood
Union Will be Re,
Publlo U4f?r C.
* V *"w
kiw dumfounded the world's official* kid
they leaped to a distance of twenty-firs feet.
Therefore it ia the belief that Croton's longstanding
record muat have bees made in the
form of the present-day hop, akip and lamp,
. lor which Dan Ah earn holda a record of fifty
feet eleven inches, made at Celtic Park,
New York, la 1011.
Boxing and horse racing were added to
the twentr-third Olymniad: chariot racing
with four full-growu ut t'je twentyfifth.
Later came the pancratium or wre?tling
and boxing combined. Subsequent additions
to the program were the foot races
for men in armor, which was Introduced at
the aixty-fifth Olympiad, and the competition
of heralds and trumpetera, which came
in with the ninety-aixth celebration.
The other items which came afterward
were mainly developments of some of these,
in which the extension of a whole seriss of
contests for boys was included. Thus there
were chariot races with mules, with mares,
with foals, both pair and four-in-hand, and
horse races for foals. Moat of the adult
exercises, like boxing and foot racing and the
pentathlon, were thrown open to the boys,
and by the 145th Olympiad?that ia, ia the
year 196 B. C.?the program included twenty-four
events and occupied about five days'
time.
The poorest citisen could compete in the
games, snd the noblest and the lowest of
the Hellenic rscs met side by side and were
held to have honored each other by their
rivalry, though the equestrian exerclaea were
undoubtedly confined to those of the richer
classes. It is notsble that aa years wore on
I
a New York policeman, whose
i placs In the 1912 Olympics at
preparsd to match his power of
:he world's best weight msn
It ** '' ^
K'Vv"
One of the most consistent mile runners
In America today Is Jole Ray,
who wesrs the Insignia of the Illinois
A. C., of Chicago. Middle Westsrn
sportsmen name him to uphold our
country's name in tha 1500-meter run
women were allowed to enter their horses
for the chariot races and were often triumpbant,
the first woman so distinguished
being Cynisca, the sister of Agesilaus.
i The winners had their rewards from the
i citizens of their own state or country, which
1 frequently took the form of a triumphal
1 progress. The reward of the Olyinpia itaelf
was purely one of honor. The garland of
wild olivq was the winner's sole prise, but
his statue was erected in the Altis, and bis
nsmc given to the Olympisd in which he
prevailed, a period of four years, by which
the Hellenic historians came to measure
their chronology; thus the first Olympiad
was known as that of Corebus, the winner In
776 B. C., and from that year onward until
217 B. C. the winner of each of the contesta
every fourth year is recorded.
"^>OR the more modern revival of the Olym
pic games the world may be grateful to
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, an eminent
French sportsman. It was his idea of the
possibility of applying to modern conditione
and international sports the ideaa and traditiona
of the ancient festivals, and be was
the leading -character in the formation of
the Olympics of which we are so much
concerned today.
As a result of the interest and entbusiasm
thus created, the first Olympic
games of modern times was held in Athens
in midsummer of 1896. There in the very
city which once exemplified the glory of
(Jreece, after a laose of 1302 years, the
Glympiada were readmed and four yeara later
R OLYMPIC
Will be Competito
presented?By Waiu
! *. .%
. \
the fame* were held in Paris. Then in 1904
the Olympiad was held in St. Louis. I
An Olympiad waa planned for Rome in '
1006, bat some unexpected difficulties arose, i
causing it to go to London. <
Athens celebrated the tenth anniversary ,
( the modern revival of the games by a \
mammoth festival in 1606, two years before (
the London claaaic. The games held in Stock- (
holm, Sweden, In 1912, are fresh in the
minds of a great many, although the world
Las suffered doubtless from its greatest 1
period of atrife since then. The Olympics of 1
1916, it will be remembered, bad been
planned for Berlin. We are not dependent 1
upon historians to give us the cause for i
postponement until the present summer. 1
, \
r SEEMS quite befitting that the coming j
games should be held upon the reconstructed
peaceful soil of the Belgiams, who (
by courageous deeds are able to send out
heralds calling together the flower of man- '
hood from their allies. Queen Elizabeth and 1
King Albert are going to present the wild 1
olire branches with more pride and gratifl- 1
cation than ever bestowed by rulers spoken
of in the history of the Olympics. Before the <
summer passes scenes of the most dramatic <
touch will be written by the sportsmen of j
the world. We venture to say that 75 per ,
cent of the American athletes sworn to faith ful
training for this great meet to be held ,
\
Jl
The little town of West Cheater, Pa.,
la aendlng Lawrence M. Shields, who
attenda State College, In hopes that
he will capture the highest honors in
the 1500-meter race
Captain B. G. O. Rudd, of the Oxford
will find more opposition from Amerl<
race. He will be an entry from Sou
Antwerp gamea
in Antwerp have been "over there." Needless
to say many are sleeping beneath the
soil over which the time-honored marathon
is to be run, from Brussels to Ghent.
What a solemn thought It is. Unquestionably
the games of 1920 will be as religious
as recreative.
In speaking of the ancient marathon
brings to mind an event that has never been
short of a dramatic or marvelous incident
to all Olympic games. Perhaps the most
marvelous accomplishment in Olympiad history
was written around l.oues, the shepherd
boy of the Attican Hills, who without
apecial training saved the day and honor
of entire Greece by winning the memorable
marathon of 1896 for his countrymen,
F1MOUS writers tell us that the hopes of
Greece winning at least one event were
fading with the light that gradually disappeared
from that great Athenian stadium
of marble. Americans were sweeping
victoriously through the majority of the
evenU, and all had been completed aave the
marathon, which long rr.ce began on the
plalna from which the name was taken centuries
before. When the signal gun for the
.-i,
GAMES"
* ?
rs in the
ij
?r F. Dunn
' , . '
marathon was ertry person areae fron
bis ???* They (trained their case toR,rd
the street leading from over the Ilis?us.
The cavalry dashed down th? street,
.earing the way for the tired runner. Bat
onnd ran faster than horse or man, and
Jefore the runner appeared to those In the
itadium they had cauyht the cry, "It la a
3reek; we win!"
A lady from Smyrna took off her jewels
ind sent them to Louea, the little shepherd
l>oy from the Attican Hills. Others followad
iv?.l? fuowcis or tokens for the victor. The
Jost of ^people rolled the applause backward
ind forward. The hopes of the generous,
hospitable Greeks were fulfilled.
Ixmes received the spontaneous ovation of
bis nation. The peaaant of the village of
&marovsi was the hero of Greece. He had
saved his countrymen from the almost instable
shame, that of not winning an event
n the Olympiad. Dramatic Ules soon
reached the ears of the visiting scribes. It
?ras aajd that Loues had told the starters at
Marathon that he would win the raca or
lie. Again a story wss told that Louea had
entered the marathon with the hope of gain"K
the recognition of high offldals, who
release his brother from prison. This
report was met by Loues's denial, stating
that he knew the tradition of Grecian games.
which meant nothing but honor to himself
Jnd kindred.
'pHE various Olympiads have had their
pathetic sides and their amusing as well.
A story Is told of how the Hungariana almost
created turmoil during the games held
in Paris in 1900. Those who witnessed
these events will never forget the scene that
took place When the confusion of the Parisisn
bandmsster stirred the emotions of the Austria-Hungary
adherenta. The bandmaster
" as informed by the officlala to signalise the
nation winning each event by playing the
national anthem of that country.
Enthusiasm ran high; the stadium almost
bulged with humanity. At the Paris game.
of 1900 Americana were winning with annoying
repetition to other nations. Krsenz
lein, a product of the University of I'enn
sylvania, had won the sirty-meUr sprint
His success wss announced by the playing
of the "Star Spangled Banner."
Jarvis. an American, won the 100 meters
da h. This achievement was signaled by the
playing of the "Star Spangled Banner."
Tewkesbury, another son of OU Penn, captured
the 200 meters event. This was made
known to the multitude by a repetition of
the "Star Spangled Banner." Long, also
an American entry, romped home with premier
honors in the 400 meters race. Hi*
victory was announced to the tuneful rendition
of the "Stat Spangled Banner."
Ceorge Orton, another entry, followed by
faithful sons of the Red and Blue, finished
first in the 2500 meters steephchase. L?
this time America's national anthem was
sharing the familiarity of the Marseillaise
tvith the Parisian musicians. Kraenzlein figured
in another victory; Baxter triumphed
for Uncle Sam; Prinstein followed with like
success. The "Star Spangled Banner" by
this time was contagious to the vocal parts
of the world. Before Ewry was through his
performances the tune had been played three
more times. Partisans of other national
zmtr y T
^ jjsf
University team,
:ana in a scratch
th Africa in tha
sections pleaded, but the pleadings wera of
no effect upon the foreign entrant*.
IN COURSE of time a Hungarian by th*
name of Bauer finished with the greatest
distance in the discus event. For your information
it was only 118 feet, two and
nine-tenth inches. The dormant emotions
of the Hungarian attendance was awakened.
Something terrible had reached their ears.
The volume of protests echoed In the Champa
Elysees. Persons housed in dingy places
along the Montmartre were startled from
their ignorance of what was going on kilometers
away.
The picturesque scene had become violent
in aspect. Men carrying their silk hata and
waving canes in atmosphere filled with
verbal combat, rushed from the atadium toward
the field. Women joined in the attack
leading frightened childrep. It was a terrible
mistake on the part of tha Parisian
bandmaster. ProKably from fore* of habit
be replayed the "Star Spangled Banner"
even though Bauer was victorious for the
Hungarians. Thus go the stories of former
Olympiads. What is in store for the atfc*
letes of the world this year?
%
4