Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-03-10

Very few boys know how to run.
"Ho ho!" say a dozen boys. Just bring
on the boy that can run faster than 1 cam"
But, stop a moment 1 don't mean that
most boys can't run fast-I mean they can't
run far. l don't believe there is one boy in
fifty, of those who may read this, who can
run a quarter of mile at a good smart pace
without having to blow like porpoise by the
time he has made his distance. And how
many boys are there who can run, fast or
slow, full mile without stopping?
1t hardly speaks well for our race, does it,
that almost any animal in creation that pre-
tends to run at all can outrun any of usI
Take the smallest terrier dog you can find,
that is sound and not puppy, and try race
with him. He'll beat you badly. He'll run
q third faster than you can, and ten times as
far, and this with legs not more than six inch
| es long. have hound SO active that he al
ways runs at least seventy-five miles when
stay day in the woods with him for he GER
| tainly runs more than seven miles an hour,
and if am gone ten hours, you see he must
travel about seventy-fve miles of distance.
| And then, a good hound will sometimes fol-
| low fox for two days and nights without
stopping, going more than three hundred and
| fifty miles, and he will do it without eating
or sleeping
Then, you may have heard how some of
| tue IuuutIb III Tue OOulu AlEAChu lIlDtb Will
run for long distances-hundreds of miles
carrying dispatches and making few stops,
l make these comparisons to show that our
| boys who cannot run a mile without being
badly winded are very poor runners. But
believe l can tell the boys something that
will help them to run better. was pretty
old boy when 1 first found it out, but the first
time 1 tried it ran mile and quarter at
one dash, and was not weary nor blown.
And now I'm going to give you the secret;
Breathe through your nose!
l had been thinking what poor runners we
are, and wondering why the animals can run
so far, and it came to me that perhaps this
might account for the difference, that they
always take air through the nose, while we
usually begin to puff through our mouths be-
fore we have gone many rods. Some ami
mails, such as the dog and the fox, do open
their mouths and pant while running, but
they do this to cool themselves and not be-
cause they cannot get air enough through
their noses. found once, through sad ex'
perience with pet dog that dogs must die
if their nostrils become stopped. They will
breathe through the mouth only while it Is
forcibly held open; if left to themselves they
always breathe through the nose. So, posi-
bly,, we are intended to take all our breath
through the nose, unless necessity drives ui
to breathe through the mouth.
There are many other reasons why we
ought to make our noses furnish all the air tC
our lungs. One is, the nose is filled with t
little forest of hair, which is always kept
moist, like all the inner surfaces of the nose,
and particles of dust that would otherwise
rush into the lungs and make trouble, are
caught and kept out by this little hairy net
work Then the passages of the nose are
longer, and smaller, and more crooked thar
that of the mouth, so that as it passes through
them the air becomes warm. But these art
only a few reasons why the nose ought not tC
be switched off and left idle, as SO many nos
es are, while their owners go putting through
their mouths.
All trainers of men for racing and rowing
and all other athletic contests, understand
this and teach their pupils accordingly. L
the boys will try this plan, they will soon SEE
what a difference it will make in their endur
auce. After you have run a few rods holding
your mouth tightly closed there will come {
time when it will seem as though you coulC
not get air enough through the nose alone
but don't give up; keep right on, and in
few moments you will overcome this. littl'
practice of this method will go far to maxi
you the best runner in the neighborhood.
Theodore b. Wilson in 50. Nicholas.