"HERO POISON"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23103, 30 July 1938, Page 9 (Supplement)

"HERO POISON"

PAUL GALLICO, one of the most amusing writers on games, and himself an athlete of the first order, warns American youngsters to beware of "hero poison." Commenting on this, Mr. Arthur Moo, Britain's foremost writer on Youth's ideals, says:—How many young men are puffed up and doped by flatterers! Thev are praised as gods for some trick of spinning a cricket hall, or dribbling a football with their feet, or swinging at a golf ball, and thus led on a path of vanity which deprives them of all that is best and liost balanced in life. Paul Gnllioo writes for Americans, but what he pictures a wise father saying to a sporting son is worth the thought of British fathers and sons:—■ You, my dear child, arc just an ordinary little chap, with no more than usual of courage and brains, who has developed a physical knock which, except for purposes of exercise, will be useless to you in after

life. And even that pleasure will be lo»t if you get too good, because you won't have any fun playing afterwards except With topnotchers who may not be available. Lug your footballs, son, practise your mashie shots until every one splits the pin, make your marks on the record books, but remember that your actual value to the World is much less than that of the carpenter who fixes our shelves or the plumber who stops our leaks. That was written by a master of games who knows how much and how little they are worth. Games as a supplement to life are jolly enough and of great value. Games as a be-all and end-all are a waste of muscle and brain.