Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-06-14


perfect health.
Open-air exercise bestows that Leauty and
that native grace in which New Zealand
warrior is the superior Of a cockney dandy
Not only the North American redskins but
also those semi-barbarans whose noble forms
induced us to make them the representatives
of the Caucasian" trib, s. the natives Of Cir
cassia and Daghestan, belong TO the Mongol
or Turanian race which originally was far in
ferior to our Aryan ancestors. Under the in
fluoncc of an etIete civilization that same race
has begot those Chinese caricatures of the
Creator which are justly despised even by
Sambo Africanus, whose dark skin covers mt
least vigorous body. Old Montaigne re-
marks that 'the handsomest man was a hun
ter and not a hair-dresser." and was by no
means astonished to find brighter eyes and
more faultless noses among the woodchoppers
of the Pyrenees than among the exquisites of
n Partisan ballroom.
Open.air labor is the most effective cos
metic an almost infallible panacea against all
kinds of bodily deformity But the remedial
virtue of labor, j. G., sound bodily exercise, is
greater than that of open.air life per- sc, for
among the rustic population of Scandinavia,
Scotland and Northern Germany, who per-
form large portion or their hard work in
DOORS we frequently find models of health
and vigor far more frequently than among
the inhabitants Of Italy, Spain, etc, who pass
the greater part Of their indolcnt lives in the
open air.
But, besides all this athletic exercises have
a moral value. which our social reformers
have strangely failed to recognize; they afford
a diversion and a vent to those animal ener-
ges which otherwise are sure to explode in
debauch and all kind Of vicious excesses. The
sympathetic thrill by which the mind accom-
panies daring gymnastic feat and the onthu-
siasm of athletic contests form the most salu-
tary and perhaps the only normal gratifca-
tion of that love of excitement which is either
the legitimate manifestation of n healthy in
stinct, or else wholly irremediable disease
of our nature. The mind needs emotions as
the body needs exercise, and the exciting
sports of the palGstra met both wants at once.
We try to suppress these instincts, but their
motives remain. and if thwarted in their nor
NAL manifestations they assert themselves in
some abnormal way chemically instead of
mechanically, as DIR. Boerhaave would say;
by conyulsing the organs of digestion, since
the organs of motion are kept in unbearable
inactivity In times Of scarcity the paupers
of China and Siam silence the clamors of their
hungry children by dosing them with opium;
and for analogous reasons millions of our fell
low citizens seek relief in alcohol they want
to benumb feeling which they cannot salts
fy in healthier way.
After finishing his days work the Grecan
mechanic went to the gymnasium, the Roman
to the amphitheatre, and the modern Europe
an and American goes to the next saloon"
to satisfy by different methods the same in
stinct-a longing for diversion from the
dull sameness of business routine. There is
no question which method was the best the
only question is which of the two bad substi-
tutes may be the worse the brutalizing, j. e..
soul-hardening spectacles of bloodshed of the
Roman arena, or the soul and body-destroy-
ing poisons of the liquor-shop!
Not few of the victims of alcohol have
contracted their fatal passions with their eyes
open to all its consequences-but what should
they do? After nasticating the dry bread of
drudgery for six days, we cannot expect them
to content themselves on the seventh with
sleeping under tree, or in church; and the
very classes whose want of mental culture in
capacitates them for purely intellectual recrea-
tions also lack the material resources by which
the rich can more easily forego the advantage
of public and free opportunities of healthy
amusements. The cruel sports to which our
bull-fghting ancestors devoted their holidays
have been justly suppressed, but what have
we substituted for them? Sunday schools,
revivals, and reading-rooms of the Young
Mems Christian Association? Alas s!-Dge-
bills mdHft hidtUS-a deplorable void remains
man is n compound of body and soul, and the
unmixed Joys of the New Jerusalem will be
found insufficient for terrestrial wants, till the
spiritualists have invented the art of demate-
ralzing bodies as well as of materializing
ghosts
The pagan Greeks had discovered and di-
vulged secret which seems not TO have been
rediscovered yet by our philanthropsts, viz,
that the highest well-beng of the body and
of the soul cannot be attained separately, but
must go hand-in-hand like thought and ac-
tion. or will and force. They also had found
out that it is the safest plan to improve each
day rs it comes, they celebrated life as a fes-
tival and their poor as well as their rich en-
joyed heaven ON this side of the grave. In
going along they found time to do what We
postpone to the end of the journey, which too
often is never reached. The joyous love of
life, of men to whom existence itself was a
luxury, has therefore given way to very diff
fercnt moods-sad misgitings and doubts,
provoked by ever-present but never-satisfied
longings He who has done his duty can
die in peace" we are told but is it a duty to
work for such rewards?
80 much labor for a winding sheet"
1t may be said that We, too, have our ma
tional sports, trials of skill if not of strength,
such as baseball cricket, target-shooting,
and the like, or trials of strength by proxy
horse races, cock-fghting, etc. on which a
man may bestow all the time and stake all the
money he has to spare. Well, we cannot af-
ford to despise these things-they are the
best We have; but can any man seriously
compare the drcary fun of the cockpit with
the enthusiasm of the palestra, or the rap
ture of 4 Derby-day or even of a baseball
match with that of the Olympic race, and the
moment when the shout of victory was ech-
oed by a million voices, and an assembled ma
ton rose to hail the victor in the presence of
his relations and friends. Men whose hearts
were stirred by such scenes had no need Of
buying inspiration at the gin-shop. The Turn
Cer0H is yet but in its egg, and competitive
! gymnastics has yet to take rank again as the
noblest the happiest, and the most popular,
Of our national games
We have emerged from the dDAdndad Of
the middle ages, that fearful eclipse of reason
and happiness that followed like an unnatural
night upon the bright sunrise of Grecian civ
| ilization, and the spiritual lethargy of that
| night has been shaken off by all that deserve
| the name of men; how is it, then, that so
much of its physical torpor remains behind
| Have we really forgotten that God is the Gre
| ator of our bodies rs well as of our souls
| Our limbs seem to have been paralyzed by
| long disuse the gates of our hierarchial Bas-
| tile have been forced, but the great majority
| of the prisoners seem in no hurry to leave
lutlI Ctllss 1hOuhh AltNAA lAuLl ptnhAAlNAA NbA-
troll, our educational system is still not only
unnatural but anti-natural to such a degree
that We think it our duty to suppress the
healthiest instincts of our children and keep
them in the beaten track which has led us
deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of dog
matism, till We have almost forgotten that
there is a brighter light and purer air out
side.
A screech owl took possession of the Ian
caster (Pa) box in which II pair of martins
were building their nest, and, when they re-
turned at night would not let them enter.
| The martins few away and soon returned
with whole army of companions, who went
to work and plastered the entrance to the box
| tightly with mud. When the box was open
ed few days later, the owl was found dead.
When Tweed was in his glory at New
| York he built $50 600 stable for his horses
Ii. lNiELl.