QUEER MONEY.
Here is an amusing account of a traveller who went many years ago to Mexico, and found the natives using a strange kind of currency. Says he:
"In one of the small towns I bought some limes, and gave the girl one dollar in payment. By way of change, she returned me forty-nine pieces of soap the size of a small biscuit. I looked at her in astonishment, and she returned my look with equal surprise, when a police officer, who had witnessed the incident, hastened to inform me that for small sums soap was legal tender in many portions of the country.
"I examined my change, and found that each cake was stamped with the name of a town and of a manufacture authorized by the government. The cakes of soap were worth three farthings each. Afterwards, in my travel, I frequently received similar change. Many of the cakes showed signs of having been in the wash-tub; but that I discovered was not at all uncommon. Provided the stamp was not obliterated, the soap did not lose any value as currency. Occasionally a man would borrow a cake of a friend, wash his hands, and return it with thanks. I made use of my pieces more than once in my bath, and subsequently spent them."
In looking over the programmes of the different scholastic athletic associations, I find that the Connecticut High-School A.A. is about the only one which has the same list of events as that approved by the I.C.A.A.A. It also uses the same system of scoring—5, 2, and 1—whereas most of the other interscholastic associations award three points to the winner of second place. This, however, is a different question, and one that I hope to treat of later. One thing at a time; and if we can get the card straightened out by next spring I shall be satisfied. If I can persuade all the executive committees to adopt the list of events in use by the colleges I shall consider that this Department has done some good, and has accomplished at least one valuable thing in its own sphere of usefulness. I am optimistic enough to believe that a year from now every association will have adopted the uniform schedule.
The Connecticut Association at one time had the standing high and broad jumps as well as the running high kick on their card; but when Yale offered a silver cup for competition among the schools in 1891, one of the conditions attached to the gift was that the programme must be made to correspond with the inter-collegiate schedule. To the New Haven college, therefore, is largely due the credit for the Connecticut H.-S.A.A.'s present emancipation from acrobatics. The events on their card, like those of the I.C.A.A.A., comprise the 100 and 220-yard dashes; the quarter, the half, and the mile runs; the mile walk; the 120-yard hurdle race over 3 ft. 6 in. hurdles, and the 220-yard hurdle race over 2 ft. 6 in. hurdles; the 2-mile bicycle race; the pole vault; the running high and broad jumps; the shot and hammer, both of sixteen pounds.
It is only natural that a university or college association which takes an active interest in the sports of its preparatory schools should wish to have the athletes who are making ready to enter its ranks familiar with the events on the inter-collegiate card. We all know very well that, no matter how great the college-man's interest may be in sport, as such, he is not going to waste his time and money and energy in training and encouraging young men who do not expect to go to college, or who practise high kicking and standing jumps, or other feats of which he takes no notice. He very justly argues that there are enough young athletes in the country, who want to do what he does, for him to give all his attention to them. Therefore if school associations want the colleges to take a lively interest in their efforts, to send them trainers, and to offer them cups, I would advise them to work along the lines that college athletes have found most suitable for their purposes, and to let other matters alone. No one to whom I have spoken of this matter so far has disagreed with me. If any readers of this Department have any arguments for the other side, I am sure we shall all be glad to hear them.