THE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.

IN view of the contests of the Athletic Association in the Gymnasium to-morrow, and the two following Saturdays, we offer a slight sketch of the history of the Association, and a few remarks upon it. The first athletic meeting ever held at Harvard was a private affair, got up by a few members of the class of '74, with Mr. Benj. Curtis at their head, in June of that year. This led to a regularly organized association, which met on Jarvis Field in October of 1874, under the auspices of the then Senior class. The great interest shown in it at that time resulted in the two yearly meetings which have always, until this year, taken place in the spring and autumn when the condition of Jarvis rendered meetings impossible. It was owing to the success of this enterprise that Harvard started the Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which some ten or twelve colleges joined, and it was at Saratoga last year that this association met for the first time as a regular College organization. The tournaments in the Gymnasium were instituted last year; these contests were generally thought to be an excellent thing in affording an additional opportunity to men of matching themselves, and in giving them more practice for the Saratoga meetings; the number of entries was large and encouraging: this, last year. But now we are sorry to be obliged to confess that, up to the time of going to press, on the very eve of the first tournament, few entries have been made at all, and two only for sparring; there seems to be a general lack of interest this year, which is most aggravating, and very hard to account for, unless it be in the undeniable fact that at Harvard we are all fond enough of starting some new thing, but are loath to give any personal effort to help in keeping it alive.

The truth is, men are hanging back to see who their antagonists are going to be. This is, of course, nonsense; if a man is capable of entering into an athletic contest at all, he ought not to be afraid to have it known that he considers himself a fair match for any other man of the same weight who may happen to be his opponent. We understand the feeling that prompts this procrastination, but cannot do otherwise than condemn it; somebody must make the first advances, and so long as a man has made up his mind to spar, it may as well be he as any one else. The Freshmen, too, have been very backward in joining; they seem to share the general fear of an assessment of enormous size: this is entirely a mistake. Out of last year's Freshman class over one hundred and fifty joined the association, and the money got by their initiation fees was sufficient to pay all debts, and leave a surplus of about $17 in the treasury. Surely the present Freshman class, which is nearly as large as '79, when it entered, ought to furnish members enough to keep up the association. There is nothing of the kind in College from which so much pleasure can be derived for so small a sum ($2.25, including shingle), and if each class does its duty by the association, the prospect of a much-dreaded assessment is very small.