Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-24

Half a dozen stifened women. arrayed in
closely fitting bodices, short skirts, and stock
ings that cover legs out Of which the spring
was taken three or four days ago; an oval saw
dust track; Q crowd of interested men in the
galleries and on the door; q few equally inter
ested women in the boxes; several scoring off,
cials and referee, and you have the salient
points ut . female go-ss-you-please walking
match rs IL was in this city last week. occa-
sionally one of the contestants left the track
for rest or treatment, and at times it was possi-
BILE 10 be in the theater when there was but one
OF the pedestriennes doing the giddy round of
"A laps to the mile. None Of them. however,
sought their tents for refreshment; they took
that while they walked, and they took good
deal Of 1t 1t was to give the readers of The
STAR some idea as to what the walking women
eat and drink that q reporter invaded the track
and reriring-rooms 9. Kernan's thester the
other evening.
TRAINERS WHO KEEP SILENCE
OF all the secretive mortals this world con-
tains none could possibly be more so than a
tre iner, and Of all trainers in existence those
who attended the contestants in this city are
the least given to talking. Each man honestly
believes that his methods are the best, and is
confident beyond expression that the food and
| stlmulants which he gives are superior in every
| respect to the menu served by his brethren in
the craft Then this training Of women is a
comparatively new thing, and new methods
/, had to be invented and new rules formulated
Tor the government OF the dear, yiddy, capri
cious creatures. II war soon discovered that
women could not walk if fed on the same diet
as that given a man. Corned beef, pork and
beans, cabbage and cornbread are consumed in
large quantities by many of the men who tramp
| ON sawdust for livelihood but woman has a
different organism and cannot eat the pro-
visions which give her natural protector
| superior speed and powers Of endurance.
TOBIAS TALKS.
''What do you eat?" asked FEE SrAn reporter
| Of Madame Tobias, the veteran prize-winner,
and incidentally he added, what do you
| drink"
For the first three DAYS of a race" she re-
piled, Il don't eat much of anything, and on
| the first. day nothing at all. After that i can
eat almost anything except bread, and OF that
L won't eat a loaf III year. Naturally am a
great meat eater, but when am on the track
| my appetite gets twisted around and / take but
very little Of anything solid. Up to Wednes-
| day night ate about half dozen oranges and
| some other fresh fruit. During that same
| period / drank a number of mint iuleps, and
| three or four times had to drink little
whisky. You have to drink some strong slim
ulant to dull that awful burning of the feet
| that pain that never leaves you until day or
| two after the race is over. Do 1 never drink
beer? Sometimes, but not often. When 1 am
| in 72-hour race drink great deal of beer,
but in one of these long contests it would up
set my stomach. Eggs would have that same
| effect; can't eat them"
cALvEs-FooT JELLY DID IT.
Then the ''stayer" tramped around the track
| a couple Of times without saying a word; she
| was indulging in a mental collar-and-elbow
| wrestling match. and when the event was over
her good nature had won a victory over her
| secretiveness, for she broke forth with I'm not
going to walk much more; I've done very well
| at it-made good deal of money in fact-and
| don't mind telling you now that the most Of
| my support during a race comes from calves
| foot Jelly. It's the best food a racing woman
| can get. When everything else fails me can
always depend on the jelly"
| Does it take you long to recover from o
racer" asked the reporter.
| Yes; 1t takes some time. You have to clear
yourself Of the liquor and the stuff you eat.
None OF 1t Is good for regular diet; its only
| value Is during race. Your stomach gets
pretty badly shaken up, and you are very stiff
| for several days. No, / don't believe in rub
! bing.' A good many walkers do, know. but
| also know that whenever the legs are rubbed to
any extent during a race it causes varlcose
| veins-and you can't do much walking with
| varicose veins"
| MEAT EXTRACTS, ICE. AND MINT JuLEPs.
The ma iority of the other pedestriennes be-
lieve in the frequent use of stimulants and alb
stinence from anything like solid food. There
appears to be among tn m an universal opinion,
expressed by one of them Saturday evening
that soft drinks amt no good nohow." Ex-
tracts of meat and strange conglomerations of
putriment and medicine are said TO be yalu-
able and are frequently used, but The main de-
pendence seems to be placed on alcoholic stin l.
! lants and ice.
Il live on ice," remarked Massicot, the Sec
! ond in last weeks contest. 1T seems TO me
| that 1 consume a ton a day, and yet only
| weighed 50 pounds when l started in and
have probably pulled down 10 so. Give me lots
of ice and can keep going. / like mint juleps,
| too, but 1 don't consider them strong drinks.
l take quite a number of them"