The Pedestrian's Record

the pedestrian's record. 13 serf; andit does seem strange that the form in which a prize reaches the hands of a successful competitor should be the basis which divides the athletic world into amateur and professional sections. Professors are the top-sawyers of the various departments of knowledge or art which they respectively represent, and immediately their superiority is recognized they are exalted to professorships at our universities, colleges, &c. Again, a man with a fine voice, who has delighted his admiring friends, isadvised to enter the musical profession—it is a pity that such a voice should be lost to publicity—he becomes a professional singer, and why ? His superexcellence of voice has gained for him a prize which his natural gift com­ manded. Now activity and strength of body are as much nature's bestowals as good voices and clever minds, and these attributes lead men to honour and to great positions in life. But when we come to physical force, a barrier has of late years been im­ posed between athletes, in those who run to live, and those who live to run—the one class for a livelihood, the other for a pastime ; each section comprises with­ in its circle many first - class performers, but the one must not compete with the other, for reasons above alluded to. This legislation has produced a bad effect; it has made an enemy of the professional, and has checked the natural aspirations of the amateur, who, like George, could not run Cummings without a deed of separation being served upon him at Lillie Bridge. If there be two good men, one in