The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-02-10

Very few boys know how to run.
"lIo, ho!" say dozen boys. "Just
bring ON the boy that can run faster than
| CAM
But, stop moment don't mean
that most boys can't run fast--I mean
they can't run far. | don't believe there
is one boy in fifty, of those who may
read this, who can run quarter OF a
mile at a COED smat pace without having
to blow like porpoise by the time he
has made his distance Aud 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 to run at all can out
run any of usl
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 a 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-five miles when
stay day ih 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-iive
miles of distance. And then, a good
hound will sometimes follow fox Tor
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-hundreds of
miles-carrying 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 run
ners.
But | believe can tell the boys some
thing that will help them to run better.
| was pretty old boy when first found
it out, but the first time | tried it l ran
a 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!
had been thinking what poor run
ners we are, and wondering why the an
mals 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 before we
have gone many rods. Some animals,
such as the dog and the fox, do open
their mouths and pant while running,
but they do this to cool themselves, and
not because they can not get air enough
through their noses.
found once, through a sad experience
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, possibly, we are intended to take
all our breath through the nose, unless
necessity drives us 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 sur
faces 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 longer, 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 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
rowing, and all other athletic contests,
understand this, and teach their pupils
accordingly. 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 holdiug your
month 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 over
come this. A little practice of this
method will go far to make you the best
runner in the neighborhood.-W -Weo. b..
wilson, 81. Nicholas TO" February,
1882.