The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1883-07-13
Sparring for His Health.

PNAOH VI @ itteiO HiCoodhb CACi
else he recently INDUCED in, in hopes
OF regaining his wasting eneegy:
lhave just returned from a little two
handed tournament with the gloves.
have filled my nose with cotton waste
so that | shall not soak this sketch III
gore as l write.
| needed a little healthful exercise
and was looking for something that
would be full of vigorous enthusiasm,
and at the same time promote the
healthful flow of blood to the muscles.
This is rather difficult. | tried most
everything, but failed. Being a soci-
able being Coke | wanted other people
to help me exercise, or go along with
me when l exercised. Some men can
go away to a desert isle and have fun
with dumb-bells and a horizontal bar
but to me 1t would seem dull and COM
monplace after a while, and l would
yearn for more humanity.
Two of US finally concluded to play
billiards, but we were only amatures,
and the owner intimated that he would
want the table for the fourth of July,
so we broke off in the middle of the
first game, and paid for it.
Then ii young brother said he had a
set of boxing gloves in his room, and
although | was the taller and had long
er arms, he would hold up as long as he
could and | might hammer him until
| gained strength and finally got well.
| accepted this offer because | had
often regretted that | had not made
myself familiar with this art, and also
because | knew it would create a thrill
of interest and fire me with ambition,
and that's what a hollow-eyed invalid
needs to put him on the road to recov-
cry.
The glove is a large mitten with an
abnormal thumb and a string at the
wrist by which you tie it on, so that
when you feel it to your adversary he
cannot swallow it and choke himself.
| had never seen any boXing-gloves be-
fore, but my brother said they were soft
and wouldn't hurt anybody. So we
took off our raiment and put them on.
Then we shook hands. That was to
show that we were friendly and would
not Stay each other.
My brother is a great deal younger
than | am, Sol warned him not to get
excited and not come for me with any
thing that would look like wild and
ungovernable fury, because | might,
IN the heat of the debate, pile his jaw
up on his forehead and fill his ear full
of sore thumb. He said it was all right
and he would try to be cool and col
lected.
Then we put our right toes together,
and | told him to be ON his guard. at
that moment l dealt him a terrific blow,
aimed at his nose, but though a clerical
error of mine it went over his shoulder
and spent itself in the wall of the room,
shattering a small holly wood bracket.
for which Ipaid him 1915 afterward.
l did not wish to buy the bracket be-
cause | had two at home, but he was
arbitrary about it and | bought it.
When we took another athletic pos
ture, and in two seconds the air was
full of poulticed thumb and buckskin
mitten. | soon detected a chance to
put one in where my brother could
smell of it, but | never knew just
where it struck. for at that moment |
ran up against something with the pit
of my stomach that made me throw up
the sponge along with some other gro
ceries, the names of which [ cannot now
recall.
MY brother then proposed that we
take off the gloves, but | thought | had
not sufficiently punished him, and an
other round would complete the con-
quest, which was then almost within
my grasp. | took a bismuth powder
and squared myself, but in warding off
a left-hander, | forgot my adversary's
right and run my nose into the middle
of his boxing-glove. Fearing that had
injured him, | retreated rapidly on my
and shoulder-blades to the cor
ner of the room. thus giving him am
pie time to recover. BY this means my
younger brothers features were saved
and to-day are as symmetrical as my
own.
| still cough up pieces of boxing
and when / close my eyes | can
see calcium lights and blue phosphore-
scent CLEANS across the horizon, but |
am thoroughly convinced that there is
no physical exercise which yields the
same amount of health and elastic Wig
Or to the puncher as the manly art
loes. To the punchee, also, it affords a
.arge wad of glad surprise and nose
bleed. which cannot be lurtfuld to