, 1878-06-28
Partial Muscular Development.

our buSlcr tnbtOuYbldIes, Ut nappenlnS
into any country town on market:dsy,
~ anywhere else where men congregate,
Can hardly have failed to notice that
while there are many strong ones and
,nany hearty ones; there are very few
Who are either thoroughly ereci or we'll.
nroportoned throughout. And when il is
rTcmembercd that lcrge majority of men
in the country are sons of farmers, mer.
chants, mechanics, or laborers, it is not
difficult to account for this one-sided edness
Of build and Indifferent carriage. For
while the turner's work is vigorous and
in theopena air, far the greater part of it,
ana especially the harder part of it, con.
stantly uses his back, and does but little
for his 'front.'. and particularly for the
front Of his chest. Moving stoops him
over and rounds his back SO do spad-
ing and hoeing, and wedding, and lifting
of nearly every sort. His back grows
thick and strong, perhaps massive; so do
some of the muscles Of his arm, of bis
abdomen, and of his legs, until they soon
so outstrip the others that his spine,
getting once crooked from being so bpg
aud 50 firmly held III one position, never
gets out Of it day or night. While his
whole work strengthens, it also stitfens
him. He is seldom good walker, the
habit Of always hitching up, though the
errand is to place hardly mile away,
contributing to this stiffness found, as
it usually is, With an irerect position as
he rides, so unlike, by.the.way, that
which IL so common among the English
stage drivers, who elected praise from
Emerson for their dignifed grand
fatherly air.
Few of the mechanic arts are ans more
favorable to symmetrical development
and uprightness of carriage. The black
smith, like the farmer, works some mus
cles tremendously; those of his hands, of
one of his shoulders, and of one of his
arms, for instance; but his legs are often
Indifferent, and his loins nothing great,
while, in common with hosts of me.
chanics, his work is not done in the
open air. Painters and plasterers have
good wrists; carpenters plane and saw
and drive nails we'll with their right
hands; masons, with backs bent,
lift heavy stones which, with one OF
their hand, they have chiselled into
shape for their purpose; shoemskerS
hoop their backs rather more successfully
than any other trade; aud the jewellers,
compositors, designers, and all who do
the finer, lighter work, would never,
merely by their daily toll, develop into
well.built, erect mon, if they kept at ii
for a5thousand years. Men in mercantile
life sit or stand many hours each day,
are frequently burdened with important
and trying work, have so many irons in
the fire as to get no rest, and at the end
of the day find themselves thoroughly eS-
hausted, and in humor for anything bu,
vigorous muscular exertion. If their
work calls them out much, it uses their
legs only, leaving the arms idle, and SC
keeping the development but partial
The spade, the pick and the bar Of the
labqripg man keep him stopped over ir
spite of'all he can do, and he lives and
dies, as Charles Reade described him In
his,admirable sketch of the brave blind
swimmer of the Scottish firth, James
Lambert-a man with a slouch in his
gait.
But how about the young mans row.
ing, and all the preparation therefor
Do not these fill the bill2 Well, swhaI
has he donel Rowed, if u faithful oar
perhaps five or more miles day for tive
hundred days year, maybe for severa
years; pulled an equivalent on fifty or
sixtypound rowing-weight daily through
out the cold weather; run three or foul
milesth or four times each week IN
the cooler months, and has done somC
walking at intervals. And what have
these done for himl Enlarged his chest
The foot.worlS has, but the rowing not
one iots. 1t has thickened his back
muscles so that close under the arms ht
girths more, perhaps, than before, bu
the whole front of the shoulders, tue
breast muscles, aand the front uppel
chest, instead of 4flling out, lave very
likely, as in the case Of not few we'll
known professional oarsmen, absolutely
fallen in, until post m0rtem examina
tion would very likely show, as it die
with an, English student fond of hare
rowing, that the ribs actually pressed il
on the lungs SO hard as to indent them
The work was good so far as it went
and in bringing strong legs and loins
back and abdomen, contributed mucl
toward giving him strength enough q
hold'himself erect. Bat unless cores
pondingy difficult and continuous worl
was done for the front chest and arms
then he is disproportioned, thin in th,
upper arm, with shoulders habituall.
warped forward, very often enough t
permanently crease his coat. near wher,
the sleeves meet the body in front
When, in later years, different associa
tions, business cares, and long, hard head
work, accompanied as the latter usually
is by only partial initiation of the lungs
get him out of the way Of using thes,
large back muscles, their very size, and
the long spell Of warping forward which
SO much rowing gave the shoulders, tend
more to weigh him forward than If he
had never so developed them, and in