Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1901 — Sports in Early Days. [ARTICLE]

Sports in Early Days.

Athletic sports and open-air amusements generally may be said to have been more popular in 1800 than they are now. Thomas Jefferson boxed and fenced, and George Washington, who all but saw the nineteenth century open, could jump further and throw a stone a greater distance than any other man In Virginia. Fox-hunting, gunning and all such sports were more commonly indulged in then than to-day. Every gentleman rode horseback, as a matter of course. His spurs, like those of the old-time knight, were the badge of his rank, and he did not drive in a carriage until he was too old to mount a horse.