we and admiration, much as
the Romans of old sat about the amphitheater and marveled at
the exploits of the gladiators.

The "sport" of the Romans--desperate encounters between man
and man, or between man and wild beast--undoubtedly
developed men of unsurpassed courage, skill, and strength.
But did it benefit Rome?

Our athletes lead the world. That is a matter of record. But
how has this superiority been achieved? By making athletics
a business or a profession for selected individuals, instead
of a sport, a pastime, and a recreation for all. Athletics
as we know them may be sport or pastime for us as
spectators, but our games are no recreation for those who
participate in them.

The desire to excel, to win at any cost, is the root of the
evil. If we can't win, we drop out of the game and join the
ranks of spectators. The benefits of participating in an
afternoon's sport, even as a loser, are lost sight of. We do
not play for the sake of playing, or for the betterment of
our physical condition--we play to win, to come out first,
to excel our neighbors.

What we need to learn is to be cheerful losers. Any one can
be a gracious winner, but few of us are good losers. Until
we do learn that there is something in the game besides the
winning of it, we cannot hope that our athletics will be of
general benefit to the nation.

SHAW RAGES AGAINST THE AMATEUR STAGE.

The Author of "Candida" Declares
With Emphasis That Charity Actors
Make Themselves Ridiculous.

Bernard Shaw recently contributed to the London _Tribune_ a characteristic
bit of criticism. It seems that he has been much annoyed by requests for
permission to give amateur performances of his plays in behalf of charity.
Mr. Shaw has a small opinion of amateur actors, as may be gathered from
the following:

Almost all amateurs desire to imitate the theater rather
than to act a play.

Reach-me-down dresses, reach-me-down scenery, reach-me-down
equipments are considered good enough for dramatic
masterpieces--are positively preferred to decent and
beautiful things because they are so much more theatrical.

As to plays, they, too, must be second-hand reach-me-downs.
Your amateurs don't want to bring plays to a correct and
moving representation for the sake of the life they
represent; they want to do Hawtrey's par