The Pedestrian's Record

2 2 the pedestrian's record. cerned, stand very much in a similar position ; both in youth have been well nurtured, have been students at Eton or Winchester, Rugby or St. Paul's, have run in the paper chase, played at cricket and football, and a few have run in matches at their respective schools. It is always good, especially for boys, to combine physical exertion with mental culture, and this the schoolboy insures, and it is this early association of mind and matter that has won for Britain victories by land and sea, and the colonization of half the globe. The student when leaving Eton or Win­ chester for Oxford or Cambridge would not require that amount of preparation for running that his older self does after he has been up for a year at one of our universities. Late hours, too hard reading, and little exercise, will upset the system previously well sus­ tained at school ; if too much smoking, and late hours and dissipation be indulged in, the nervous sys­ tem will suffer, muscles will lose their tonicity, and disease will supervene ; it is this state of things that the trainer has to contend with. Of course, he insists that all bad habits must be given up, and prescribes gradual preparation. But, in many instances, the trainer is represented by a man ignorant even of elementary physiology, and, as a result, of pathology; and although his practical observa­ tion of runners, their ways and ailments, gives him certain knowledge, at the same time he is an incom­ petent adviser when intricate cases come under his observation. He can take the time, prescribe for the