The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-11-04
A Kicking Contest

THE London Daily Meas, in an article
on " French Holiday Sports,'' thus dis
cusses the "savate," as illustrated in a
grand contest of champions in q village
fair in the environs of Paris: Imagine a
ring of twenty feet in diameter formed on
. plat of grass in a corner of the fair and
girt with ropes and stakes. Tiers of wood
en- seats rise on two sides of it, and there
is a reserved box for the Mayor, the Munic-
pal Council, the Rosiere, and her near
est relatives. The Rosiere, atrifle flushed
from the good dinner at the Marie which
she has graced, takes her seat as Queen of
Beauty to deliver the prize in the Jousts.
The champion is a stalwart lad Of nearly
six feet high. He stands smoking a
cigarette on the outskirts OF the ring and
modestIy communicating to by-standers
that he does not think there is a man in
France who could hold a shoe to him.
Gradually other savatiers troop up, and of
a sudden, without preliminaries of any
sort, the champion finds himself inside
the ring and facing an antagonist about
half his size, and with & s~lanting head like
a rats. There is nothing peculiar about
the costumes OF the kickers, who wear the
ordinary pantaloons and shirts of every
day life; but, once in the ring, they are
hidden to put on leather fencing jackets,
and masks, and wooden shoes 81 thickly
padded IS to resemble those of a equity
man. One falls to doubling whether it be
| possible 10 deal q substantial kick with
such shoes. but this question is settled in
the very first bout, when the champion
sends his rat-heaGed adversary rolling
right over the ropes. There is no saying
whether the kick struck the brow. chest,
or waist, or whether it was dealt backward
or straight. The tao enemies seemed TO
wrigsle together like a pair of eels
their legs flashed; they uttered
stide1 grosns; then there was s
thud. and the man outside the ropes
was heard yelling that the kick was not
a fair one. No thrust. blow or kick which
gets the better Of q Frenchman is ever a
fair one, This i. q rule inyariable, but
happily the protests of the worsted per
son are always received in silence, or with
philosophical shrugs. The champions
enemy is requested 10 retire and another
man steps into the ring. This time the
champion has to do with q why antago-
mist who puts on the preternatural wise
expression Of the Frenchman who has a
private plan Of his own for doing what no
r.I.r MAN a-ar lii HI BARNS nv ava
cutting s sort Of jig, and is evidently bent
on getting behind his adversary. The
champion, slightly puzzled, breaks into a
countcr-iig, but never loses sight of his
adversary's eye. Suddenly the wiry mar
makes a run, passes the champion and
when to the left Of him ducks down and
whips up his legs skyward. But the
champion is too quick for him. Grasping
him firmly with the hand just above the
ankle he holds him up for a moment ig-
ANONYMOUSLY, like a turkey, and favors
him with a series Of kicks " all over"
The wiry man ~wrigglcs, howls, and at
last succeeds in disentangling himself;
then there ensucs a fight which resem-
bles the encounter Of a pair of Infatuated
! iackasses or zebras. The difference be-
tween boxing and the savate is that in the
latter the spectator can discern nothing of
what is taking place. Legs and arms,
faces. hair. backs and loins seem mex
tricably intermingled. Roars, gssps
grinding of the teeth, form an accom-
pa1imcnt TO the struggle, and in the end
one of the parties sprawls on the back, ut
tcring dIsjointed EXPLANATIONS of pain OF
fury. In this instance it is the why man
who measures his length on the sward,
and the Rosiere raises little shrieks of dis
treSs, for the victim is swearing with all
the remnants of breath in him that some
day he will have the champions blood.
But be of good cheer, virtuous Rosiere,
Many similar oaths will be registered be-
fore the day is over, so that if the cham
piOn were to take account of all the n
athemas hurled against him he would
walk thenceforth through the land of his
birth with a lowering brow. He stands in
no peril, however. Before sunset he has
won the prize for a second time, and he
steps away with a n%onchalant stride, well
knowing that his enemies who now vow
vengeance against him will in a day OF
two be the first to vaunt his superior skill
He uses his legs, indeed, with so much
dizziness,
That It's a kind Of heaven to be kicked by
him.