Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-01-07

made in many of the states. but the
mllitiamen grumble good deal about
it. Reckon it up. and you will find
that at this rate man walking stead
lily will cover $50 feet In q minute
and mile in a little less han eight
teen minutes. When a shoyt-legped
man. with musket on hisshouIder
and blanket on his back, tries to
keep this up, he is very likely 10 swear
a good deal at the war department.
Few American women step more
than twenty-four inches on the
! average. Tight skirts and lack of
/ practice makes the steps OF most of
them range from eighteen to twenty
three inches. If they would learn 10
take longer steps and would wear
loose gowns, they could walk much
farther with less fatigue
The mathemsticians have found
that the work done by the man wigh-
ing lao pounds IN making horizontal
step of three feet is equal to that done
IN rising vertically to hight one
twelfth of that distance: and the
effort required is equal 10 that of lift
ing IL 81 pounds. In general divide
the weight of the man by twelve and
you have the number of pounds that
he would lift to do an amount of work
equal to that in one three foot step.
A man that walks in races takes steps
of three feet and over, but supposing
he takes only three feet, you will find
by calculation that in walking mile
ne uses power enough to lift over ten
tons. That same man would probably
OBJECT to Carrying a hodful of coal up
three flights o. stairs. You can see
from this the immense power of the
legs compared with that of the arms.
1t is because so much work is done
IN walking that il is such a valuable
exercise. No other form of what we
may cali natural exercise BREAKS down
the waste tissues with so little exhaus-
ton and SO nuch benefit. But, as in
all sorts of exercise, much of it's ben
etlt and most of its pleasure depends
on the condition Of the mind. John
Burroughs, who is as good an author
lty on wslking-foT the -fun-ot-it as we
have IN this country, has spoken well
on this point. "The human BODY. -
says he. is steed that goes longest
and freest under light rider, and the
Iightest of all riders is cheerful heart.
Your sad, or morose, or embittered, OF
preoccupied heart settles heavily into
the saddle, and the poor beast, the
body, breaks down the first mile.
That Is all very true save the reference
to the preoccupied hear" "a point on
which many men will take issue with
Mr.. Burroughs. They assert that they
can walk the best wheR they have
something to occupy the mind and
heart. They do their best thinking
when on their long walks. Yet |
DOUBT II with most men the exercise
OF the eye on external objects leaves
much room for the exercise of the
brain on internal ideas. Occasionally.
however, you will find man who
can walk through crowded city streets
and notice neither person nor thing,
picking his way along unconsciously,
and so occupied with what he is think
ing about that when his destination is
reached he can not tell you thing
about his walk. These are the men
who get unpopular because they
never baw to fellow, you know"
while really they never see anybody
when their mind is wrestling with
itself.
Petrarch counted the carriage, on
walk, of his immortal mistress, Laura,
as one of the four principal charms
that rendered him so enamored. Leigh
Hunt, who scenes to have been
connoisseur in the matter of female
beauty, once said that graceful move
ment, an unefected elegancy OF
demeanor is to the figure what sense
and sweetness are to the eyes. It is
the soul looking out. 1t is what one
poet has called the "the thought of
the body" Recall how Venus let
herself be known to Eneas. As Dry
den translates it
And by her graceful walk the queen of love is
known