Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-06-20
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In Influence upon the Rody Renaarkabls
Illustrations Of Trained Strength.


secret Of success when they called their.
armies exereitus. odies OF drilled or ex-
ercised men. Exercise overcDmes all
difficulties, and if the power Of its In
fuence has limits, they have never been
ascertained. It ensures every victory ;
practise, ie., exercise and experience,
would enable a hundred veterans to
beat thousand recruits, even if the
recruits were better armed. A brigade
OF ordinary rifemen would have no
chance against a regiment Of picked ar
cheers, such as were employed in the war
in the Middle Ages. :Ss
In the London Tower, and in the
armories of Strasbnrg, Nuremburg and
Vienna, there are several coats of mail
that have been pierced through and
through, and evidently by the same shot.
Thatis, the arrowhas broken the breast
plate, passed through the body Of the
cuirassier, and then through the back
plate. =. ...1... .s.z
Il A comm on rifle ball rarely penetrates
the body Of a full grown man, even now
adays, when mail. coats are gone out OF
fashion. s.. j.. @%.E tx .4&s
{ During the middle ages it was the
custom to keep runners who followed
their carriages afoot while the horses
were going atfull gallop. Fast runners
were in great request, and if parents
wanted to qualify their children for n
position Of that sort, they began to train
them from the earliest childhood, and
made them undergo a singular oper-
alton, namely, the removal Of the spleen,
which was supposed to have an infu-
epce on the vigor Of the lungs. -.
From the city of Puebla IN Mexico, a
sandy country road leads across the
hills to the valley of Amozoc Early in
the morning that road is crowded with
Indian hucksters, who carry heavy bas-
kets on their backs. They often come
from distance of ten OF twelve miles,
but make the whole trip at sharp trot,
and without q single stop. Their chill
dren trot at their sides, carrying small
bundles or bags, and thus learn their
trade so gradually that they hardly feel
the hard-ships of it,
It is certainly queer that nowadays a
small short legged dog can easily out
run the tallest man. It has not been
always SO. An ostrich proves that two
legs can go as fast as four. Want of
exercise probably accounts for the
whole difference. Next to football,
the favorite game Of the English school
boys is the play called "Hare and
Hounds" In watching their races I no.
ticed that for one boy who is too short
legged to win, at least twelve are too
short winded.
Their lungs give out along while before
their legs do. But that sort ofshort wind
edness can be readily cured by various
kinds of exercise, especially by noun
tain excursions:
Lifting weights is another excellent
lung exercise. There is a story OF a
Grecian Samson, the athlete Milo OF
Crotona, who day after day carried a
calf around the arena, and gained IN
strength as the calf gained in weight
till he could finally carry steer.
We may doubt if the steer was quite
full-grown; but there is no doubt that
DR.. Winship, of Boston, Mass, prac-
ticed with dumb bells and bagfulls OF
pig-iron till he was able to lift Though
only for moment) the weight of the
heaviest steer on the Texas prairie. 1t
is equally certain that before he began
to exercise he was the puniest student
OF, the medical college. And if q weak
~ man of modern times could uplift
such weight, why should not a cham
pion of the Grecian arena have been
able to carry it for a distance of half a
mile? For it cannot be denied that
people have become more puny since
they began to trust to gun-powder and
steam instead Of to exercise.
In countries where they still rely on
the strength of their limbs, as in Tur-
key, Hungaria, and Afghanistan, there
are plenty of men earning their bread
by common labor who would astonish
the So called athletes Of q French cir
Gus. A Turkish porter will shoulder a
box which the driver of New York ex.
press-wagon would hesitate to unload
without assistance.
During the last Afghan war, the ma
tive warriors carried cannon to bat.
terry on the top of hill from where The
English soldiers were unable to carry
them down again. ~..-...--
The foot-soldiers of the Turkish Jan
izaries had to drill in full armor, run,
wrestle, and even swim, without remov-
ing their iron equipments. Such a
value did their drill masters set upon
the influence Of early training that they
would never accept q recruit OF more
than twelve years Of age. These cadets
were exercised for years, like the sons
of the old Spartans, before they were
assigned to actual duty, and the result
was the Janizaries repeatedly beat the
armies of all Western Europe com.
bined. ",.... ..t.#t .,.,- D.,
The ancient Greeks managed to train
not only their troops, but the whole
nation, by Offering liberal prizes TO,
proficiency in all kinds Of bodily exer'
else, such as running, leaping. lifting,
spear throwing and wrestling. At 9
distance of sixty yards their spearmen
could hit a target with unfailing GER
tainty. 5..<4 2 =
Their runners competed with horses
and greyhounds. It is on record thai
the champion 1eaper Of the Spartan
Helotes once cleared ffty-two feet, and
native Of Crotona in Southern Italy
even fifty five feet. 1 54 .s5G
4 But the most wonderful results OF
long training are seen in the achieve
ments OF the Oriental acrobats, who
come from countries where over popu.
lation obliges such people to work mira.
Giles in order TO excel their numerous
competitors. &.
During the last Vienna exhibition {
troop Of Japanese jugglers attracted fal
more attention than the display Of there
native art-Works and manufactures