Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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1 ,WY LOREN MURCHISON This increased interest proves that the international athletic competition has taken hold in all countries. Nearly every country in the world has sent a representative to the committee to arrange for the participation of their athletes. The games have done as much to promote friendly relations between foreign countries as any other one thing. Germany applied for a place in the i924 Olympic, before her diplomats thought of taking part in political relations with other countries. Perhaps in the future, disputes between foreign countries will be settled by athletics instead of war. - l'lere's to the Olympic Games! Long may they exist as an international expression of the spirit of playl As one poet formerly said: ln featis of mastries bestowe some diligence. To ryde, run, leap, or cast by violence, Stone, barre, or plummett or such other thinge lt not refuseth any prince or kyngef' HUNT WILSON. T wel ue

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BWEIHH THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES N JUNE, IS94, there met at Paris a committee which had been appointed to place competitive athletics on an international scale. This International Olympic Games Committee, as it was called, resolved that games should be held every fourth year in a different country. It was decided that the first Olympic should be held in 1896 at Athens, in the ancient stadium where the Creeks vied with each other for athletic supremacy hundreds of years before. The program, which bore little resemblance to that of the Greeks, consisted of track and field contests, gymnastics, wrestling, tennis, pole climbing, fencing, rifle and revolver shooting, weight lifting, swimming, bicycle racing, and the Marathon, which is considered as the most important. As the Marathon has always been the greatest feature, it was fitting that a Greek, running over the same course that his famous countrymen traversed, should win the race. As for the rest of the contests, there was little doubt as to the victor. The United States sent five men from Boston and four from Princeton, who, although they were by no means the greatest in America, won every event they entered. Since that time America has never lost the track and field competition. The third Olympic was held here in St. Louis, the Americans winning every track and field event except the fifty-six pound weight throw. For the first time races were held for aborigines. There were American lndians, Afri- cans, lVloros, Patagonians, Syrians, and Filipinos. The American Indians lived up to the standards of their white comrades by making the best showing, but their records were far inferior to those of the white men. ln the succeeding years America's great majority of victories in the track and field contests has decreased so much that it is doubtful whether we shall win next year. ln i924 Finland took second place and promises a strong team for the next games. It is to the l924 Olympic that we turn with pride, for three contestants were former McKinley graduates. These three men, who were trained by our famous coach, lVlr. Castleman, were Kinsey, Murchison, and Johnson. Kinsey won the l I0 meters high hurdle race, out-distancing all other competitors. Johnson won his first heat in this event but failed to place in the final race. Loren Murchison, after winning his preliminary heat, raced to sixth place in the finals of the l00 meters dash. It is hoped that all three of these men will do as well or better next year. Kinsey is already training for the all-around championship, which he hopes to win. The next Olympic will be held next year in Holland. The games will be watched with more interest than the preceding ones, because the fair sex will compete in track and field. America cannot have too good a team this year, for the other countries have taken increased interest in athletics during the last three years. E Ieuen

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BKUEIHEI FOLK DANCES OLK dances, according to Miss E.. Burchenal, are the traditional rural community recreation of the people, and contain the very essence of social group play. Folk dances are simple to do and consequently everyone, without any study, may take part. Each one is hidden in the crowd, and, as a result, loses self-conscious- ness, and relaxes. The folk dance sprang from the peasant's heart just as naturally as the rhythmic steps spring from the children's hearts in the street when they hear the organ grinder's music. The religious dance was often the dramatization of the life or work of a god. Many of the old dances seem to us to express merely joy or sadness, but in reality they were a part of some old religious ceremony. All the dances were means of expressing feeling: some, sorrowg some, excitement: and some, love. The funeral dance pageant of the Greeks expressed the sorrow of the people. The war dances of the Indians expressed the excitement of the tribe and were a part of the religious ceremony preceding the battle, the purpose of which was to insure success. Many of the dances had a direct bearing on the common events of life. A beautiful myth is said to connected with the Vintage Dance. The Spirit of Vegetation, which had carefully watched over and cared for the fruit, while it was growing, fled before the eager harvesters as they plucked the grapes. When the harvest was nearly over, it was at length caught in the last bunch of grapes plucked from the vines. Finally, they carried the Fruit Spirit embodied in the last of the harvest down the hillside, amid great rejoicing and, placing it in their midst, they danced out the story of the first awakening of the Spirit in the spring with the turning and tilling of the soil, and the recovery of the life of the summer amid the fruit of the vines. Now that the harvest is over, they dance and sing'with the greatest joy. The wine from this fruit is sacredly cherished until the following spring, when it is poured on the ground to renew the life of the land. The Morris dances, which, according to Miss Burchenal's definition, would not be classified as folk dances, since they are spectacular and not social, are, however, traditional and have much in common with the folk dances. Fifty years ago there were few villages in England which did not have their own Morris dancers, but now few villages keep up this custom. The reason some dancers gave is that they weren't patronized enough, and shoes wore out so quickly. The Morris dancers performed only on special occasions, in some villages on Whitsunday, in others on Christmas. The celebration on Whit- sunday was begun with much ceremony. At one place, early in the morning, the fiddler would go to some high place and play a catchy tune, as he said, to entice the dancers. ln some places the dance was performed on the top of the church tower. This resembles the early days of Christianity when the priests Thirteen