The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

120 ATHLETIC SPORTS OF SCOTLAND. limited to his board and lodgings and travelling expenses, while the professional gets a lump sum, probably ess than the amateur's expenses bill, and isat liberty to save what he can out ofit after paying his own expenses. Whether it is the fact, as a good many believe, that some who profess to be amateurs get more money under the head of necessary expenses than they really expend, and so not only get a living strictly speaking while engaged in athletic work, but are also enabled to save mone^v may be left as an open question, as it no more affects amateurs as a body, than the fact that a good many believe that some professionals sell races and pursue other dishonourable tactics, affects professionals as body. What wehave to look at and weighup is this—one set of men spend a great part of the best timeof their lifeand train them­ selves carefully andat great expense for athletic sports of all kinds; charge the public somuch a head to see them perform, and say they derive no profit from the money so acquired; another set of men do the same so far, but admit that they try to make asmuch profit as possible out ofthe money so acquired. The first class claim to be on ahigher moral plane, and look down on the second class. To mostpeople ofsound intellect it will appear that if the first set do spend agreat dealof the best part of their lives making themselves proficient in exercises for performing which large sums ofmoney aregot, and really get no share of the money their performances bring, they aresimply a set of fools. If, on the other hand, they only pretend not to share in the money theirperformances bring, they arehumbugs. Again, a real amateur must either be a man of what is called in­ dependent means, which at the ageat which a man is fitted to excel in athletic sports means aman who lives onmoney made by other people, or a man who, while supporting himself by mental ormanual work, gives his spare time to training himself and part of his sparemoney to pay his expenses when competing at athletic sports. The firstclass alone cando nothingelse but train and compete at amateur meetings for months on end or