The prizes, as I have frequently said, are purely a secondary consideration; and even if there was not enough money left over, after all the expenses had been paid, to get anything better than ribbons, the success of the National Association would not suffer, for the games are not held for the purpose of distributing gold and silver disks, but for the purpose of encouraging amateur sport and to bring about meetings between the strongest athletes in the schools of the country. At the Olympic games which have just closed in Athens the victors received mere olive wreaths, but these wreaths are as precious to them as if they were of gold or precious stones. It is not the value of the wreath itself, it is what the faded leaves represent that the true sportsman cherishes.
H. J. Brown. O. Lorraine.
D. P. White. O. E. Robinson. C. M. Hall.
B. Kinney. E. L. Johnson. A. Robinson. S. L. M. Starr.
W. L. Van Wagenen. H. W. Goldsborough.
ST. PAUL'S TRACK-ATHLETIC TEAM,
Winners of First Place at the N.M.A.C. Interscholastic Games, March 28, 1896.
It would not be fair to ask the N.M.A.C. or any club to assume the responsibility for the rent of the grounds and other necessary expenses, and for the medals too. It is a sufficient risk for them to undertake to pay for the former, without going into jewelry. I hope the National Association's Executive Committee will see the advantage of having the games—their first venture—managed by a club or an association of older and more experienced men, and come to an understanding on some such lines as the N.M.A.C. may propose.
A number of letters have come to this Department recently asking for suggestions about the construction of hard tennis courts. There are several kinds of these, the gravel court being by far the best of all. A gravel court is laid out by first digging about fifteen or eighteen inches down and filling this hole with broken brick, stone, and other coarse rubbish to within six inches of the top. Then coarse gravel of any kind should be put on and well packed down with a hose. This layer should come up to within two inches of the top. The last two inches should be filled in with fine screened gravel, and if this will not bind, add a little clay. On top of all this put from one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch of the finest red gravel—just enough to give color to the court. If too much of this red gravel is put on it will not bind well. It soon wears off, and then more should be laid on, and after this has been done a few times a court will keep its color all summer.
The advantage of such a court is that it needs but little care. All you have to do is to sweep the gravel off occasionally, and water and roll it. A light roller is sufficient for this purpose, as it is expected to affect the top layer of the gravel only. The best way to mark out a gravel court is with an inch tape nailed down with tacks. Whitewash will not do, as it spreads. The least satisfactory kind of hard court is made of cinders. These pack fairly well; but a cinder court requires a great deal of care to keep in order, and is always a dirty place to play on, the balls becoming black after a few sets, and consequently useless.
In nearly every city of the Middle West high-school associations have been organized during the past year or so, and these associations have done much toward encouraging school sport, and toward making the contests among their members more systematic than they have been heretofore. In Wisconsin interscholastic football and baseball games have until recently been carried on in a haphazard fashion, without any special attempt toward the formation of a union that might properly recognize the claims to supremacy of the successful team.
Last fall, however, the initial steps toward placing all branches of sport on a sound and permanent basis were taken. The season of 1895 clearly showed the need of an organization, and in December representatives from the schools of all the principal cities of southern Wisconsin met in Milwaukee and formed the Southern Wisconsin Inter-High-school League. The purposes of the organization are to develop all kinds of athletic sports in the schools, and to encourage a friendly rivalry in the various contests among its members. It also aims to correct some abuses which have crept into interscholastic sport—abuses which always will creep into any kind of sport where there is no restriction of government or organization. The league is divided into four circuits, each embracing the cities located in a certain territory, and the team which carries off the honors in its own circuit contests for the State Championship with the leaders in the other circuits.
The constitution of the Wisconsin League, while placing many wise restrictions upon its members, leaves them free to arrange their own schedules of games and to manage their own affairs as may seem best and wisest to them. The league will open the season of 1896 with baseball and track athletics—the field day for the latter to be held in Madison on June 9th. The first interscholastic field day of the Wisconsin schools was held June 8th of last year, under the auspices of the Wisconsin University Athletic Association. Twelve high-schools were represented, and many good records were made, a brief account of which was given in this Department in Harper's Round Table for July 2, 1895. Much interest is being displayed now in the coming meeting, and doubtless even a better showing will be made than that of last season.
It is in football, however, that the various schools of the league expect to see developed the hardest struggle for the championship. Last fall, although no organization had been effected, the contest for first place was a hard one, and the interest aroused in the schools was intense. Madison High-school justly deserves to rank at the head of the scholastic teams of that section. Her eleven won every game played. In fact, M.H.-S. has only been defeated once in football since it put an eleven into the field, three years ago. Of the eighteen contests in which it has engaged only one was lost, and that to the strong team of the St. John's Military Academy, which ought not to be classed as a school team, or played against by school teams, so long as the academy authorities sanction the methods at present in vogue at Delafield. The reason for M.H.-S.'s good record rests, doubtless, in the fact that Madison is an enthusiastic football town, and the school team gets much valuable experience and benefit from playing against the university eleven.