The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1889-03-07
OUTDOOR EXERCISE.

me Most Rational way Of Prsssrving
Health. Endurance and vlGor.
The English have, from time imme-
mortal, held the lead in outdoor
sports. though in gymnastics the Ger
mans and French have exceled them,
and their asceDdancy among nations ID
attributed by themselves and others, to
nothing 80 much az to this fact These
It is which have largely made and
preserved English health, endurance
and vigor; and that which they have
done for the old country they may be
relied upon to effect for the new.
These 1t is which makes constitutions
almost disease-proof, and well nigh
render doctors superhuous. Among
preventive agents-which are 80 much
preferable to remedial ones--they
rank, perhaps, first. They furnish
open air, exercise, interest and
pleasure, and beget bodily skill
and mental activity, precision and
perseverance; and whatever COM
bines these creates tissue and mastery
OF late there has been great increase
OF interest in them in this country,
and they have never held so wide sway
as to-day. Scarcely any thing could
be more desirable.
Among the rich. horseback riding
has taken great leap ahead. English
running-races and steeple-chases have
been introduced, and the American
"fox-hunt," II in one Of its essential
points parody upon the English, still
produces skillful and vigorous horse
manship, and that, after all. is the
main thing. Cricket fourishes within
narrow limits, and its American
cousin. base-ball-probably the most
original of all our outdoor pastimes-
"rages," as it were, over the land, an
epidemic Of health. The professional
players, who are most benefited
physically by it. are, to be sure,
few in number in comparison
with our sixty millions Of popula-
tion-though they constitute a small
army in themselves. Still they furnish
the occasion of the inhabitants OF our
larger cities turning out en- n,asse as
spectators and spending hours in
the open air; besides which, every sort
and description OF amateur club is in
duced to take the field, and even the
boot blacks and newsboys carry ball
in their pockets, and fill the intervals
between business. with its use. Not
less universal and beneficial is lawn
tennis (in spite Of possible tennis
elbows') admirable game, pos
sessing, with horsemanship, the advan-
tage Of being equally we'll adapted to
either SEX Lacrosse is transmitted to
us from the Indians, and should be
more generally played than 1t is. An
other Canadian sport, tobogganing, is
rapidly growing in popularity; and so,
we trust, is snow-shoeing. Our col
leges are the seat of boating, football,
baseball and general athletic contests
to an extent that has given rise to a
standing joke on the subject. Picnics
and outdoor association meetings are
seldom complete without their athletic
sports-running, leaping, wrestling,
casting the stone. etc.-the girls and
women, too, sometimes taking part.
The English "paper hunt" has been
naturalized in some localities. Bicy.
cling and tricycling are fast becoming
as common here as anywhere. Yacht
ing, canoeing, swimming, and the vari'
GUS modes of navigation, prevail in
summer, while in winter skating takes
their place. Pedestrian tours are
growing popular amongst men, and
even our women are learning to realize
the pleasure and profit in them. We
have borrowed the gymnasium from
the Germans: why not adopt their out
door gymnasium, tooP
The whole is movement in the right
direction. The more widely the sports
in the above enumeration. and Others
like them, flourish amongst US, the
better will it be for our country at hel
most vital point-Boston Journal o
| HEALTH