Although physical education was never a curricular requirement for male students at Mount Allison, exercise was worked into their daily routine from the beginning. When Mount Allison's first institution, the male-only Wesleyan Academy, opened its doors in 1843, students had to chop the wood for their dormitory heaters and retrieve their own water from a spring at the foot of a hill. [1] William Ryan, a student at the Academy between 1855 and 1857, recalled in an issue of The Wesleyan (17 January 1923):
"... the old Academy had forty rooms for students and each room had a stove and a big wood box and was occupied by two boys. One boy cut the wood down in the yard and the other boy carried it upstairs and put it in the box."
To supplement the students' daily chores and to increase opportunities for exercise, games such as hurley and handball were played.
Mount Allison University Archives. Mariner Black fonds, 2007.35/7/9. May only be reproduced with permission from the Mount Allison University Archives
Mount Allison's first gymnasium for male students was built on the grounds of the Male Academy in 1861. [2] At the University male students did not have a gymnasium until 1876 [3], 21 years after the construction of the first Ladies' College gymnasium. [4] The University gymnasium responded to a need among the students to build strong and muscular bodies. It is not known what exercises the students did or what apparatus they used.
There was more interest in gymnastics following the construction of a new University gymnasium in 1887 [5] and the reconstruction of the Academy gymnasium in 1892. [6] The University gymnasium was hailed by The Argosy (October 1888) as being "one of the best in the provinces." [7]
Instruction in gymnastics was provided at both institutions. The instructor at the University was a student who had won the gold medal at the annual gymnastics exhibition in the previous year. [8] William W. Costin, who graduated from the University in 1895 [9], was the Academy's first gymnastics instructor between 1892 and 1895. [10]
People, left-right, back row: Smith, Arthur B.; Middle row: Seller, William E.W.; Corbett, Fred A.; Chapman, A.; McConnell, James W.; Outhouse, J. Stanley; Huestis, Harry; Bonnell, Saul; Woodworth, Harry A.; Olive, Leonard J.; McWilliam J. Leslie; Rice, Cyrus Herbert; Barber, Frank B.; Burrell, Heber; Hewson, Edgar E.; Bottom row: Okuro, Reitoro; Sprague, Fred W.; Kelly, Alvin Ira; King, Melaim L.; Beer, Edgar George; Costin, William W.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/103. May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives.
One person identified, extreme right: Costin, William W. (Instructor in gymnastics)
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/43. May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives
Male students at the University performed their first gymnastics exhibition and competition in spring 1887 [11], one year before the Ladies' College students gave their first calisthenics demonstration. William Seaman, a student at the University, wrote to his mother on 19 March 1887, describing a "swarm" of young athletes training daily in the gymnasium for the exhibition in the spring. [12]
Gymnastics exhibitions and competitions were held regularly by male students of the University during Mount Allison's closing week ceremonies between 1891 [13] and 1897 [14], and by Academy students between 1895 [15] and 1911 [16]. The students at both institutions gave performances on parallel bars, rings, high bars, German horse and tumbling. [17] Prizes at the University competition were awarded by a visiting judge. In an anniversary edition of The Argosy (9 March 1940), an unidentified writer recalled one of the judges:
"Every spring at closing time, there was a gymnastic competition and Sergeant Major Webb, a famous gymnastic instructor used to come up from Halifax to judge the display and award medals to the most proficient. At the end, he himself always gave an exhibition of his skill with the sabre, splitting an apple in two on an undergraduate's neck without touching the skin of his assistant." [18]
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/2, page 32. May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives.
Mount Allison University Archives, Raymond Clare Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/2, page 34. May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives.
By the turn of the century interest in gymnastics at the University declined. Few students enrolled in gymnastics in 1902 [19], and in 1903 concerns were expressed over outdated equipment and the lack of a full time instructor. [20] Gymnastics at the Academy flourished a while longer. Instruction in gymnastics [21] had been provided at the Academy since the renovation of its gymnasium in 1892 [22], and students were strongly urged to attend class. [23] The Male Academy continued to hold annual gymnastics demonstrations until 1911. [24]
Organized team sports such as rugby football, hockey, basketball, and to a lesser extent track and field, had become very popular, and eventually superseded gymnastics for physical exercise by male students at Mount Allison. In October 1913 following the reconstruction of Lingley Hall as the new University Gymnasium, chemistry professor Harold Eugene Bigelow who was a prominent Allisonian and former athlete, suggested that mandatory physical training of one year or more be provided for Mount Allison students [25], but this did not happen before or during the First World War.
Individuals (left to right): Christopher Graham and Harold K. Wheeler
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/42. May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives.
[1] Mount Allison Record, vol. XIV, no. 2, Oct. 1930, p. 42; Argosy, vol. XXXIX, no. 5, Feb. 1913, "The Old Sackville Academy, by an Old Boy," [author unidentified], p. 262
[2] Mount Allison Academic Gazette, Dec. 1861, p. 4 (for year and dimensions)
[3] Mount Allison University Archives, Mount Allison Historical Data, 1833-2005 timeline, by Donna Beal (says College Gymnasium built 1876-1877). Note: Argosy, vol. XXIV, no. 5, Feb. 1895, "History of the Gymnasium," p. 16 says first gymnasium at Mount Allison built in 1866, but that is probably an error
[4] Convincing arguments for 1855: Mount Allison Academic Gazette, no. iv, Jun. 1855, "The Next Term," p. 6 (says that a gymnasium will be built for the female branch and be ready for the next term, beginning August); and Historical Notes on the Education of Women at Mount Allison 1854-1954, by Raymond Clare Archibald, p. 4. Arguments for 1854: Post card note to R.C. Archibald from J. R. Inch re: Ladies’ College buildings, Nov. 12, 1903, located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/7, p. 49; Allisonia, vol. I, no. 1, Nov. 1903, "Elocution," p. 12
[5] Argosy, vol. XIV, no. 3, Dec. 1886, [untitled], p. 31 says construction has begun; Calendar and catalogue of the University of Mount Allison College, 1887, p. 43 says gymnasium is built
[6] Argosy, vol. XXII, no. 1, Oct 1892, [untitled], p. 2 (says "the establishing of a first class gymnasium" has been made at the Academy)
[7] Argosy, vol. XVIII, no. 1, Oct. 1888, "Sackvilliana," p. 11
[8] Argosy, vol. XXIV, no. 5, Feb. 1895, "History of the Gymnasium," p. 16
[9] Calendar and Catalogue of the University of Mount Allison College, 1895, “Degrees in Course,” p. 9
[10] Argosy, vol. XXIV, no. 7, Apr. 1895, "The Gymnasium Exhibition," p. 12 (the article also states that he also instructed the University, the town and YMCA gym classes in 1895. He was scheduled to leave the following year for Boston to study law at Harvard and instruct at a city gym there); by 1895-1896, he was replaced by W.O. Armstrong as gymnastics instructor, according to Calendar of the Mount Allison Academy and Commercial College, 1895-1896, "Faculty," p. 4
[11] Mount Allison University Archives, William Seaman fonds, accession 9114/2/53, letter from William Seaman to mother, Mar. 19, 1887 (doesn’t say it was first exhibition, but it was the first that this writer found)
[12] Mount Allison University Archives, William Seaman fonds, accession 9114/2/53, letter from William Seaman to mother, Mar. 19, 1887
[13] Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/2, page 32: Programme, Anniversary Exercises, 1891 (this is the first occurrence this writer found of a University gymnasium exhibition as part of commencement exercises)
[14] Note: Argosy, vol. XXV (ns), no. 3, Dec. 1898, p. 17 says there are plans for a University gymnastics exhibition in spring
[15] [Saint John] Globe, May 25, 1895, "At Mount Allison," located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/1, scrapbook, p. 11
[16] Allisonia, vol. VIII, no. 4, May 1911, "Commencement: the official programme for the year 1911," p. 146 (this writer has found nothing after this date to indicate Academy gave gymnasium exhibitions after this date)
[17] Telegraph, May 29, 1895, "Mt. Allison Institutions," located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/1, p. 9; [Saint John] Globe, May 25, 1895, "At Mount Allison," located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/1, p. 11; Argosy, Mar. 9, 1940, "Forty Years Ago," p. 10
[18] Argosy, Mar. 9, 1940, "Forty Years Ago," p. 10
[19] Argosy, vol. XXIX, no. 1, Oct. 1902, "Athletics," p. 34
[20] Argosy, vol. XXIX, no. 6, Mar. 1903, "Athletics," p. 191
[21] Calendar of the Mount Allison Academy and of the Mount Allison Commercial College, 1892-1893, p. 8; 1893-1894, p. 8
[22] Argosy, vol. XXII, no. 1, Oct 1892, [untitled], p. 2
[23] Calendar of the Mount Allison Academy and of the Mount Allison Commercial College, 1894-1895, p. 9 (“All resident students are required to receive regular instruction under a competent teacher”); Calendar of the Mount Allison Academy and of the Mount Allison Commercial College, 1895-1896, p. 9 (“... parents are strongly urged to require their sons in attendance at the Academy to take advantage of this instruction")
[24] Allisonia, vol. VIII, no. 4, May 1911, "Commencement: the official programme for the year 1911," p. 146 (this writer has found nothing after this date to indicate Academy gave gymnasium exhibitions after this date)
[25] Argosy, vol. XL, no. 1, Oct. 1913, "Are you interested," by H.E. Bigelow, p. 35