The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-02-18
Running.

Very few boys know how to run.
"Ho, hop say dozen boys: "Just
bring on the boy that can run faster
than can!'
But, stop a moment. / don't mean
that most boys can't run fast-I mean
they can't run far Idon't believe there
is one boy in fifty, of those who may
read this, who can run quarter of a
mile at a good smart pace without hav-
ing to blow like porpoise by the time
he mas made his distance. And how
many boys are there who can run, fast
or slow, a full mile without stopping?
1t hardly speaks well for our race,
does it, that almost any animal in crea-
ton that pretends 20 run at all can out
run any of usP
Take the smallest terrier-dog you can
find, that is sound and not puppy, and
try a race with him. He'll beat you
badly. He'll run third faster than you
can, and ten times as far, and this with
legs not more than six inches long. |
have hound so active that he always
runs at least seventy-tive miles when |
stay day in the woods with him; for he
certainly runs more than seven miles an
hour, and if | am gone ten hours, you
see he must travel about seventy-five
miles of distance. And then, a good
hound will sometimes follow 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 the runners in the South African
tribes will run for long distances-hun-
dreds of understanding dispatches, and
making very few stops.
make these comparisons to show
that our boys who can not run a mile
without being badly winded are very
poor runners.
But believe can tell the boys some
thing that will help them to run better
| was pretty old boy when l first
found it out, but the first time | tried it
l ran a mile and aquarter at one dash,
and was not weary nor blown. And
now I'm going to give you the secret:
Breathe through y0atr nose!
l had been thinking what poor run
ners 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 be-
gin to puff through our mouths before
we have gone many rods. Some ami
mails, such as the dog and the fox, do
open their mouths and pant while run
ming, but they do this to cool them
selves, and not because they can not get
air enough through their noses.
found once, through a sad expert
ence with a 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, possibly, we are intended to take
all our breath through the nose, unless
necessity drives lis to breathe through
the mouth.
There are many other reasons why we
ought to make our noses furnish all the
air to our. lungs. One is, the nose is
filled with a 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 network.
Then the passages of the nose are long
er and smaller and more crooked than
that of the mouth, so that as it passes
through them the air becomes warm.
But these are only a few reasons why
the nose ought not to be switched off
and left idle, as so many noses are.
while their owners go putting through
their mouths
All trainers of men for racing and row.
ing, and all other athletic contests, I'M
derstand this, and teach their pupils ac-
cordingly. If the boys will try this plan
they will soon see what difference it
will make in their endurance. After
you have run few rods holding your
mouth tightly closed, there will come a
time when it will seem as though you
could not get air enough through the
nose alone; but don't give up; keep
right on, and in few moments you will
overcome this. A little practice of this
method will 60 far to make you the best
runner in the neighborhood. -Iheo. B.
Williamson. IN ST. Nicholas.