Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-25
THE SWISS SPORTS.
Interesting National Games of the
Helyetian Republic.
AN OLD CUSTOM RE-ESTABLISHED.
Wonderful Wrestling by Hardy Alpine
Mountaineers, as
DESCRIBED By AN AMERICAN CONSUL.

| CORRESPONDENCE OF THEiDIsPATCHi
ZURICH. August 10.-One can gain nc
better idea Of the inner life and character OF
a people than by study of their games and
amusements. And certainly the rugged,
sturdy, indomitable endurance Of the Swiss
hnds no better illustration than in the sports
with which, in hundreds of remote villages
and hamlets, lying far away in obscure
wales, or perched high up in mountain re-
gions. accessible only by footpaths, they are
wont to while away the leisure hours oi
Sunday afternoons, of holidays, or of the
long summer evenings, after their day
OF toll is over. Each canton has
Its own peculiar games of athletic
agility and strength, games the origin OF
which, in many instances, reaches back into
long-forgotten past, and many of which,
curiously enough, bear singular re-
semblance to those in which some of the
tribes OF North American Indians are wont
to excel. The dwellers in the cities, on the
other hand, have their trained band of gym
nasts, or turner's, who form no despica BILE
rivals to the wilder sons of the mo untains,
and who make up, in their wonderful
agility, for the comparatively unframed
brute-force of the others.
For period of % years past, how ever mo
opportunity has been afforded to these two
formidable competitors to meet and test
their respective strength in open combat.
ihe idea OF organizing such a meeting was
nrst suggested six years ago, when the Swiss
National Exhibition was held here, but in
view OF the numerous other festivals already
arranged for that year it was allowed to tall
through, and it was consequently reserved
for the year 1889 to witness the renewal of
this interesting national custom, till now
unknown to all of the rising generation of
Switzerland. The two-days festival just
closed has aroused a storm of enthusiasm and
has met with popular success which justi-
hes belief that the custom now revived
will be henceforth held in honored annual
observance.
THRILLING NOVELTY.
The "Hornet" players came from the land
OF the famous cheese, the Emmenthal, and
the game, which is peculiar to that locality,
proved a thrilling novelty even to most Of
the other Swiss in attendance. The "Hornet"
is disc of box wood, three or four inches
In diameter, thinned off at the outer rim, and
an inch or two thick at the center. A curved
piece of pine or ash, some three feet in
length, fashioned like the runner of q sled
and provided with short pointed feet to
make it stand upright, is firmly planted on
the ground at one end of the field, its ele-
waited point forward, and upon this point
the disc or "Hornet" is placed, standing on
its rim, edge forward, a bit of clay being
used to keep it in its place. One side of the
contestants now takes the field, armed with
thin board shields some 18 inches square,
and provided with a sort oil gridiron handle;
the other side, which has the innings, stands
ready behind the disc, each man carrying a
pole some three feet long, of we'll tempered
oak, and an inch or SO in thickness, at the
further end of which there is a solid knob
of box wood of the size OF large apple.
The first striker slept up behind the
tance, swings his pole with careful aim,
and with all his strength, and lol the disc
goes whizzing off into space with the sharp
buzz of the insect after which it is named,
and with such velocity as to render its
course entirely invisible to the unframed
eye of the spectator. But the sharp eyes of
the opponents in the field are following it,
and almost ere it has left its place, their
wooden shields are seen vertically shooting
up, high up into the air to stop it. The
feat seems all but incredible, yet, notwith.
standing the elevation and velocity of the
disc, it is pretty sure to encounter one or the
other of theses well-aimed obstacles in its
airy flight, striking it broadside with a
sharp cutting report like the sound of pis- |
tol shot, and then falling idly into the earth. |
This counts one for the outs; should it, on |
the other hand, reach the earth unhindered, |
one is scored for the strikers. The wonder. |
full strength and dexterity which these EN- |
menthaler men brought to bear in their re- |
cent display of the game may be Judged |
from the fact that, in several instances, the |
EsT
landed 200 feet of, and that the struggle |
was so closely matched that it was found |
necessary to divide the honors and award |
each side goblet, and also a prize to the
best striker of each.
NO USE FOR oCULIsTs.
The contestants in this struggle repre-
sented two little Emmenthal hamlets.
II eimiswyl and Erfngen, both in the neigh |
sight, as shown in following the flight of
the whizzing disc, ELECTED from the lips of
a jocose oculist present the remark: ST
shall never get any practice from these
people," A bystander asked one of the
a lusty, stubby young her
cules, in barehead and shirtsleeves:
"But when do you play this game at
home? Certainly every Sunday during the
summer timer"
"Oh, no." was the reply, 'it requires a
broad field, and we can't afford to trample
down our grass for it. We never play it
until after Bettag Gin November), and then
we play it every fair Sunday until the grass
comes again. We don't take everybody,
though"
The "Hornet" game, it NAV be added, is
IF very remote antiquity, and most inter-
,sting description of it as played in the an
,ient time, will be found in Bitzius' inter-
,sting romance entitled ''Uli, der Knecht."
A less novel, but equally exciting sport
s the peculiar wrestling known in the Ur-
Jantons as swinging" probably from the
peculiar swinging motion forced upon the
in the most desperate phrases of
he struggle. No less a person than ex-
President Schenk, of Switzerland, has re-
marked: 81 prefer wrestling and swinging
o all other gymnastic exercises" while Dr.
,chaerer, who has published book on the
ubject, remarks that "the Swiss proudly
mentions swinging as his most ancient and
peculiar national sport" Up to very re-
emily, however, it has never spread beyond
is birthplace in the Berner Oberland and
he Emmenthai.
A NATIONAL SPORT.
In Nidwalden it was for time prohibited
y law as too dangerous, but the prohibi-
ion Is now obsolete. In 1853 it was first
Introduced as a national sport, and since
hen it has constantly grown in popularity.
hat it is not without danger may be in
erred from the fact than no less person
han DR.. Kroenlein, President of the Uni
ersity of Zurich, and one of the best known
living surgeons, was engaged by the