e of the games scarcely rise above the
brutality of the prize fight. They have no elevating tendency, and no
apology can be made for their roughness and bad moral effects.

The fine natural instincts of the majority of American people are
repelled at such physical prowess. It is not necessary to introduce
the element of pugilism in order to give vent to the superabundance of
youthful animal spirits.

The abuse of these outdoor sports should not make us blind to the fact
that they have a legitimate use. It is wiser to control and direct
them than to curb the exuberance of good feeling which they call
forth, and which might find expression in less appropriate channels.
It should be borne in mind that all physical training is a failure
unless the aim is to maintain and develop health, to make the student
symmetrical, strong, graceful and better fitted for the duties of
living.

A symmetrical development involves, likewise, _the cultivation of the
moral and spiritual nature_.

The Christian religion affords the broadest educational basis,
because it presents the most exalted notion of personality and its
development. It takes account of the deepest facts of our nature, and
teaches philosophical principles that are true for all created
intelligences. Hence it is that Christianity is essential to the best
educational system. It precedes and governs true education. A narrow
and false conception of man leads to building only one side of his
nature. The will, the conscience, the emotional and spiritual natures
demand a share in the broadest culture. We cannot divide these
essential elements against themselves. The religious sentiment is so
interwoven with our being that it cannot be eliminated or dethroned.
It takes no subordinate place, because it is supreme. There is no true
theory of life without the spiritual element. All theories of
education and principles of action that do not recognize the relations
of the human soul to the supernatural are out of harmony with the laws
governing human life.

These truths have been impressed on the noblest minds. "The greatest
thought," said Daniel Webster, "that ever entered my mind, is the
thought of my personal accountability to God." And Channing says that
"man's relation to God is the great quickening truth, throwing all
other truths into insignificance, and a truth which, however obscured
and paralyzed by the many errors which ignorance and fraud have
hitherto linked with it,