THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

Tue recent activity of athletic sports in this
country is in a large sense a regrowth from the
ancient devotion to out-door exercises. In this direc-
tion Greece, as also in its republican institutions,
served as a model for the United States. The close re-
lations between the athletics of ancient and modern
times was gracefully called to attention by the re-
production of the Olympic Games at Athens in 1896,
for which purpose the long abandoned and ruined
Stadion, or foot-race course, of that city was re-
stored, and races and other athletic events were con-
ducted on the ground made classic by the Athenian
athletes, and within a marble-seated amphitheatre
in which the plaudits of Athens in its days of glory
might in fancy still be heard.

These modern games, however, differ in character
from those of the past, and are attended with none
of the deeply religious sentiment which attached to
the latter. Tho games of ancient Greece were
national in character, were looked upon as occasions
of the highest importance, and were invested with
a solemnity largely due to their ancient institution
and long-continued observance. Their purpose was
not alone friendly rivalry, as in modern times, but

was largely that of preparation for war, bodily ac-
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