Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/228

ATHLETICS. formulated a set of rules for his son, with the very modern conclusion that "bodily exercises are'very commendable, as well for the banishing of idleness as for the making the body able and durable;" adding in a passage of the true spirit, "the exercises I would have you to use, although but moderately, not making a craft, of them, are running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, playing at the caitch or tcnnise, archerie, palle-malle, and such like other fair and pleasant field games." The troublous times of the Rebellion, with the prejudice of the Puritans against all that had gone to make appropriate the title of "Merry England," and the dissoluteness of the court of Charles II., tended to destroy the old athletic spirit, except in the country villages, where the old games lingered. Otherwise during the Eight- eenth Century and the early part of the Nine- teenth, athletics dwindled well-nigh to extinction, and the moral and physical condition of the youth of England suffered to a proportionate extent.

Fortunately, about the year 1850, an athletic revival occurred in England affecting all branches of sport, furthered not a little by the energetic deliverances of Charles Kingsley and liis school in favor of 'muscular Christianity.' Athletic games of a sort had been established early in the century at the Royal Military College, Sand- hurst. In 1S37 the Rugby Crick run began, and soon afterwards regular games were held also at the Woolwich ililitary Academy and a number of the great public schools. Probably the first athletic sports held in modern fashion occurred at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1852; they included sprints and long-distance running, followed later by jumping, hurdling, and weight events. The movement rapidly sp'read, and athletic clubs be- gan to be forme'd. The Cambridge University games were established in 1857, and the Oxford games three years later. The inter-university boat-race dates from 185G as an annual event; there had been a university boat club at Oxford since 1839. In 1864 the Oxford and Cambridge track and field games were established. The events of the first meeting were 100 yards, 440 yards, and one mile runs: high and broad lumps; 120 yards and 200 yards hurdle-races; and a steeplechase. Within the decade 1850-60 athletic meetings became a regular feature of school and college life, and through their influ- ence amateur athletic sport became general throughout the kingdom. The London Athletic Club dates from 1866 (though it really grew out of a smaller organization of three years earlier), and the national amateur championships were established in the same year. The latter were for some years nuinaged by the Amateur Athletic Club, whose attempt to become the regulating amateur organization subsequently failed. In 1880 the Amateur Athletic Association was founded as the national governing body for Eng- land. It is allied with the Scottish and Irish Amateur Associations and with the British swim- ming and cycling associations. The national championships now consist of 100 yards; 440 yards, half-mile, mile, and four-mile runs; 120 yards hurdles; high and broad jumps; hammer- throwing and weight- putting; pole-vaulting; four-mile walk ; and two-mile steeplechase. A ten-mile championshi]) run is also held in the spring. The Oxford and Cambridge sports in- clude the first ten of the above events, substitut- ing a three-mile for the four-mile run. Other important English events are the London Athletic Club and Putney Athletic Club games, the Civil Service, the United Hospitals, and the Railway Clearing-house sports. Cross-country running is very popular and has made Englishmen the best of long-distance runners.

. Athletics became popular in the United States in the early seventies. A movement soon arose to bring them under definite organization, and about 1880 the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America was formed, out of which has grown the present governing body. In America, as in England, the colleges exert an important influ- ence on amateur athletics. College training methods are on the whole more scientific than those of the majority of athletic clubs, and most of the leading athletes come from the colleges. Their governing bodies are the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America and the Western Intercollegiate Association. Allied with them is the national body, the Amateur Athletic Union, with its eight sectional groups. It aims to maintain a uniform test of amateur standing, and in various ways to improve and promote sport. Its authority is universally recognized ; besides track and field athletics, it claims jurisdiction over a few other sports. Con- tests have been held between representative American and English athletes on both sides of the Atlantic for over half a century, a full de- scription of which will be found in an article in Outing for July, 1000, by the late William B. Curtis.

Consult: Anderson, The Making of a Perfect Man (New York, 1901); Sargent, Athletic Sports, Outdoor Library (New York, 1897) ; Cornish, All-Aroiind Athletes. Spalding's Ath- letic Library (New York, 1898) ; James, Prac- tical Training (New York, 1897) ; Murphy, Col- lege Athletics (New York, 1894) ; Dowdwig, Games in Preparatory Schools (London, 1900). Consult also the books in the Badminton Li- brary on various branches of atliletics. See, fur- ther, articles in this Encyclopiedia on the _ branches of athletics, as, for example. Base- BALL; Field Sports; Football; Rowing; 1 Basket Ball, etc.

ATHLONE, iith-lOn'. A market-town of Ire- land, on both sides of the Shannon, 75 miles west of Dublin, in the counties of Westmeath and Roscommon (Map: Ireland, D 3). The chief manufactures are felt hats, friezes, linens, and stays. A canal here, a mile long, enables large river steamers to navigate the Shannon for 116 miles from Killaloe to Carrick-on-Shannon, uninterrupted by the river rapids. The Shannon is crossed by a fine iron bridge. Atblone is one of the chief military positions in Ireland. The fortifications cover 15 acres and contain barracks for 1500 men. Population, about 7000. During the last attempt of James II. to recover his throne in 1690, Athlone suffered two sieges, and was finally taken by assault.

ATHOL, ath'ol. A town in Worcester County, Mass., 32 miles west of Fitchlnirg, on the Fitchburg, and Boston and Albany railroads (Map: Massachusetts, C 2). It has a public library and manufactories of shoes, mechanical tools, silk, lumber, etc. Town meetings are field to make appropriations for roads, bridges, etc., executive