The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-22
THE PERFECT BODY.
Col. Ingersoll ON the Advantages
of Physical Training.
ATHLETICS IN OLD GREECE.
There IL . Direct Relation Between
Sickness and Superstition = The
Ancienfs Discouraged PugiIism.


Athletic club, of New York city, recently
banauetted at Delmonico's Messrs. Storm,
Sage, Swan and Carr, the gentlemen
who. as a building committee, gave
the club its magnificent new home
In Madison avenue and Forty
fifth street Colonel IngersolI was
present, and in response to the toast
athletics Among the Ancients," deliv-
cred the following address, which was re-
ceived with great favor by the members of
the club.
The first record of public games is found
in the twenty-third book of the liiad-
These games were performed at the funeral
of Patroclus. and there were:
First-A chariot race, and the first prize
was
A woman fair, well skilled in household
care.
Second-There was pugilistic en-
counter. and the first prize, appropriately
enough, was a mule.
IT gave me great pleasure TO find that
Homer did not hold in high esteem the
victor. | have reached this conclusion be-
cause the poet put these words in the
mouth of Epeius, the great boxer:
In the battlefield / claim no special praise;
lis not for man in all things TO excel
Winding up with the following refined
declaration concerning his opponent:
After the battle the defeated was helped
from the field. He spit forth clotted gore
His head rolled from side TO side, until he
fell unconscious.
Third. wrestling: fourth, a foot-race:
fifth, fencing; sixth, throwing the iron
mass or bar; seventh, archery, and last
throwing the javelin.
All of these games were in honor of
Patroclus. This is the same Patroclus
who. according 10 Shakespeare, addressed
Achilles in these words:
Rouse yourself, and the weak, wanton Cupid
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold,
And like the dewdrop from the lions name
Be shook to air.
The games are all born of the instinct of
seif-dafense. The chariot was used in war
Man should know the use of his hands, TO
the end that he may repel assault He
should know the use of the sword, to the
end that he may strike down his enemy. He
should be skillful with the arrow, to the
same end. If overpowered, he seeks
safety in hlght-he should therefore know
how to run. So, too. he could preserve
himself by the skillful throwing of the
javelin. and in the close encounter a
knowledge OF wrestling might save his
life
Man has always been fighting animal,
and the art of self-defense is nearly as i'm
portant now as overland will be, until
man rises TO that supreme height from
which he will be able to see that no one
can commit a crime against another with
out injuring himself.
The Greeks knew that the body bears a
certain relation to the soul-that the
better the body--other things being
e9nal-the greater the mind They
also knew that the body could
he developed, and that such de-
yelopment would give or add to the
health. the courage, the endurance. the
soil hss
morality of the human race. They knew,
TOO. that health was the foundation, the
cornerstone of happiness. They knew
that human beings should know some
thing about themselves, something about
the capacities of body and mind. to the
end that they might ascertain the relation
between conduct and happiness, between
temperance and health. II is needless to
say that the Greeks were the most intel
lectual of all races, and that they were In
love with beauty, with proportion, with
the splendor of the body and mind, and so
great was their admiration for the harmo-
niously developed that Sophocles had the
honor of walking naked at the head of a
great procession.
The Greeks, through their love of phy-
steal and mental development, gave us the
statues-the most precious of all inanlmate
things-of far more worth than all the dia-
inonds and rubies and pearls that
ever giittered In crowns and tiaras,
or affairs or thrones, or, fash
ing, rose and fell on woman's
beloved breast. In these marbles we find
the highest types of life of superb endeayor
and supreme repose. In looking at them
we feel that blood flows, that hearts throb
and souls aspire. These miracles of art are
the richest legacies the ancient world has
left our race.
The nations in love with life have games.
To them existence is exultation They
are fond of nature. They seek the woods
and streams. They love the winds and
waves of the sea. They enjoy the poem of
the day, the drama of the year. Our Pu-
sense OF infinite responsibility. They
were disconsolate and sad, and no
more thought OF sport, except the
logging of Quakers. than shipwrecked
wretches huddled on a raft would turn
their attention 10 amateur theatricals
For many centuries the body was regarded
as decayIng casket. in which had been
placed the gem called the soul. and the
nearer rotten the casket the more brilliant
the jewel. In those blessed days the
diseased We're sainted. and insanity born of
fasting and self-denial and abuse of the
body was looked upon as an evidence of
inspiration. Cleanliness was not next to
godhness-it Was the opposite; and in
those days what was known as "the odor
Of sanctity' had a substantial foundation
Diseased bodies produced all kinds of
mental maladies. There is q direct relation
between sickness and superstition. Every
body knows that CalSinism was the child
OF indigestion. SpookS and phantoms
hover about the undeveioped and diseased
rs vultureS sail above the dead
our ancestors had the idea that they
ought To be spiritual. and that good health
was inconsistent with the highest form of
riety. This hereSy crept into the minds
even of secular writers, and the noyelists
described their heroines as weak and
languishing. pale rs lilies and in the place
of health's brave tag they put the hectic
flush, Weakness was interesting, and faint
ing captured the hearts of all Nothius.
was SO attractive as a society belle with a
drug store attachment
People became ashamed of labor. and
consequently of the evidences of labor.
They avoided ''Sunburnt mirth." were
proud of pallor and regarded small. white
hands as proof that they had noble blood
within their veins. liz was iny
10 be too weak 20 work. too Ian
gushing 90 labor. The tide has
turned. People are becoming sensible
enough 20 desire health, 20 admire physical
development, symmetry of form. and we
know that n race with little feet and hands
has passed the climax and is travelling
toward the eternal light. When the CEN
trail force Is strong, men and women are full
uf life TO the finger tips. When the fires
hUrn low they begin 20 shrivel az the ex-
tremities, the hands and feet grow small
and the mental flame waivers ana wanes.
To be seli-respeStlng We must be self
supporting. Nobility IL a question of
character, not of birth. Honor cannot he
received as almS--it must be earned Ii is
the brow that makes the wreath of glory
green
All exercises should be for the sake Of