The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1882-03-16
rIren@us in N. Y. Observer.1
The Love Of Fighting.

The Love of Fighting.
A RECENT PRIZE FIGHT-CIVILIZATION |
HUMAN NATURE AND RELIGION
WAR, DUELING, HAzING AND THE
PRIZE RING, BARBAROUS ANDBRUTAL
The publishers of one of the daily
papers sold forty thousand extra copies
of their paper on the day Of great
fire in this city about three weeks ago.
A day or two afterwards there was a
prize fight between two northern bull
lies whe went to Louisiana to engage
in the battle. The same newspaper
had sale of forty thousand extra
copies when the tidings Of the fight
were published.
thought this curious coincidence
Of numbers: and if the army Of forty
thousand rushing for the news of the
fire was made up of persons who did
not take an interest in the prize fight,
it would show that some new thing,
especially some dreadful thing, stirs
the curiosity and interest of multi
tudes. But it is at first blush, one of
the most extraordinary features of
human nature, that sthe horrible, dis
gusting, and wicked should have at
fractions for as many as are interested
in the details of an event that excites
pity, sympathy, and intense regret.
Across the way from the home Of
my childhood lived humble family.
and one summer Sabbath day the good
woman came over to our kitchen door
and said 20 one of the boys: Have
you got something good to read Sum
days that you can lend me-about
people that have been hung, or some
thing?" That was her taste for Sun
day reading, and it is the taste of a
great many who are more cultured
than my simple-lninded neighbofe
1t is a good sign of improved civili-
cation that Northern bullies have to
go far away from home to find bat
tie ground. 1t is very difficult In this
region, or in Canada. or in any of the
thickly settled States Of the Union.
to get SO far away from government
and law, as to fight in peace. The po-
lice would be down upon the belliger-
ents, and in force sufficient to break
up any ring and gang. The prepare
tions for pugilistic encounter can
not be concealed. and so many of the
rough element of the people want to
be on hand, that the authorities know
very well when and where the fight is
to come off If so disposed they can
prevent it.
And the daily papers do not publish
the details Of these fights with such
disgusting minuteness of detail as they
once did. remember the time very
well when whole columns of some Of
the daily papers would be filled with
the particulars of each round fought.
and all the slang words Of the class of
men who engage ip these fights, would
be worked in with the utmost care:
nut" for head, peppers for eyes,
''smeller" for nose. Getting his nut
in chancery" is phrase that my edu-
cation has been too badly neglected
for me even at this day to understand.
At the time of great prize fight that
filled the whole land with reports, one
Of our religious journals wishing to
regale its readers with the story, said
something like this: "a brutal prize
fight came off last week between two
bullies from this city. The details are
disgusting beyond expression as the
following account will show" The
full report of the fight was then given
for the edyfcation Of the religious
public.
It must be that the improved civili-
zation, if not the higher moral tone of
the public mind has vastly modified
and improved popular sentiment.
Even in England, where this enter
tainment is enjoyed as manly art,
and is encouraged by the presence of
hereditary noblemen and distinguished
statesmen, the custom is declining.
tits the same sentiment that filled the
amphitheatres Of Italy with tens of
thousands of spectators to behold gla-
diatorial fights, and to see men and
women thrown naked into the arena
to be torn by lions limb from limb
It is the same passion that lures hun
dreds of thousands to the Ring where
bull fights make the holiday Of the
Spanish aristocracy and the Spanish
multitude. Women scream, not with
fright, but with frantic gladness at !
the sight of human blood. The ruder
sort Of people in New York will hang
around the city prison with some kind
of enjoyment while fellow man is
being hung within.
Man has been called fighting ami
NAL. To me there is something very
fearful in the evident propensity Of
the people, especially young people. to
pra Sc and glorify war. Those who
have seen the most of it are the least
disposed to encourage it. But war is
always popular. The man Of peace is
not the man Of the people. 1t is so
in ALI countries and ages: among pa
gans or Christians. The military hero
Is the popular idol. History makes
great conquerors the greatest men of
the world. Poetry celebrates them.
Imagination invests them with super
human honors. Ancient nations paid
homage to them as gods. And it is
one of the marvels of the moral world
that Christianity has not yet arrested
The passion and the art Of war. Civ
has invented new methods Of
4 and norhans has made