ridge--why? So that you can obtain _for
yourself_--(underline these words, Mr. Printer, please!)--the
advantages of 'Varsity life and culture, and to the ultimate end
that you may be better fitted to make _your own_ way in life. Of
course, this is necessary, but life is always very sordid in its
details, and the more civilised we become, the more apparent is
that sordidity. In fact, it is only on our amateur playing-fields
that we become really unselfish. For here we play for a team or a
side; and for the success of that side--which success, by the
way, is in no sense material or selfish--we are prepared to take
all sorts of pains, to scorn delights and live laborious days. It
is the clearest manifestation of the simple, unsophisticated man
coming to the front and tearing aside for a brief moment the
cloud of materialism with which civilisation has been enveloping
him.

Nothing but athletics has succeeded in doing this sort of work in
England. Religion has failed, intellect has failed, art has
failed, science has failed. It is clear why: because each of
these has laid emphasis on man's _selfish_ side; the saving of
_his own_ soul, the cultivation of _his own_ mind, the pleasing
of _his own_ senses. But your sportsman joins the Colours because
in his games he has felt the real spirit of unselfishness, and
has become accustomed to give up all for a body to whose service
he is sworn. Besides this, he has acquired the physical fitness
necessary for a campaign. These facts explain the grand part
played by sport in this War; they also explain why the amateur
has done so enormously better than the professional.

"Let us therefore," is his injunction, "take off our hats to the
amateur athlete, who is one of the brightest figures in England
to-day. Let us indeed not forget that it is not in any sense only the
athletes who have gone, but let us remember that in proportion no
class of men has seen its duty so clearly, and done it so promptly,
in the present crisis. We suggest that this War has shown the training
of the playing-fields of the Public Schools and the 'Varsities to be
quite as good as that of the class-rooms; nay, as good? Why, far
better, if training for the path of Duty is the ideal end of
education."

Here, as always, Paul distinguished between the amateur athlete and
the professional