particular mania which in Europe amounts to a passion, if not to a religion.  And when the project became law, and horse-racing was most beneficially and admirably abolished in the northeastern portion of the Republic, I was astonished.  No such law could be passed in any European country that I knew.  The populace would not suffer it; the small, intelligent minority would not care enough to support it; and the wealthy oligarchical priest-patrons of sport would be seriously convinced that it involved the ruin of true progress and the end of all things.  Such is the sacredness of sport in Europe, where governments audacious enough to attack and overthrow the state-church have never dared to suggest the suppression of the vice by which alone the main form of sport lives ...

So that I did not expect to find the United States a very “sporting” country.  And I did not so find it.  I do not wish to suggest that, in my opinion, there is no “sport” in the United States, but only that there is somewhat less than in Western Europe; as I have already indicated, the differences between one civilization and another are always slight, though they are invariably exaggerated by rumor.

I know that the “sporting instinct”—­a curious combination of the various instincts for fresh air, destruction, physical prowess, emulation, devotion, and betting—­is tolerably strong in America.  I could name a list of American sports as long as the list of dutiable articles in the customs tariff.  I am aware that over a million golf balls are bought (and chiefly lost) in the United States every year.  I know that no residence there is complete without its lawn-tennis court.  I accept the statement that its hunting is unequaled.  I have admired the luxury and completeness of its country clubs.  Its yachting is renowned.  Its horse-shows, to which enthusiasts repair in automobiles, are wondrous displays of fashion.  But none of these things is democratic; none enters into the life of the mass of the people.  Nor can that fierce sport be called quite democratic which depends exclusively upon, and is limited to, the universities.  A six-day cycling contest and a Presidential election are, of course, among the very greatest sporting events in the world, but they do not occur often enough to merit consideration as constant factors of national existence.

[Illustration:  THE HORSE-SHOWS ARE WONDROUS DISPLAYS OF FASHION]

Baseball remains a formidable item, yet scarcely capable of balancing the scale against the sports—­football, cricket, racing, pelota, bull-fighting—­which, in Europe, impassion the common people, and draw most of their champions from the common people.  In Europe the advertisement hoardings—­especially in the provinces—­proclaim sport throughout every month of the year; not so in America.  In Europe the most important daily news is still the sporting news, as any editor will tell you; not so in America, despite the gigantic headings of the evening papers at certain seasons.