The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-02
MILITARY TRAINING FOR ATHLETES
Advantages of Discipline and Restriction
in Muscular Development.

in Muscular Development.
Americans take a special interest in
athletics and all forms Of outdoor exer-
else. In this they partake of habit Of
most of the northern races. The En-
glishman indulges in rude sports in the
field, and in his hunting will travel as
far as India to have a brush with the
tiger or lion in his native jungle. In
Germany societies prevail everywhere
for the purpose of physical training, and
the German is fond of dashing into the
forests to hunt the wild boar. The ia
vorite diversion of the Americans in the
west has been the hunting of the buffalo
and grizzly bear. The excitement of
such sports amply compensates for their
danger. SIT doth more stir the blood TO
rouse lion than to start hare"
The case is very different in most
southern countries. In southern Europe
the sports consist principally in hunting
small game, involving no very great
physical exercise. The favorite amuse-
ment is billiards or cards, which can be
played within doors without exertion or
exposure to the elements. Americans
being among the most prominent people
in pursuit Of athletics and conspicuous
in their disposition to indulge in manly
sports, it is always an interesting ques-
ton as to what training it is best to pur-
sue in that direction. For youngsters
the hoop, the top, marbles and tag an
swer every purpose. While young men
are in college football and baseball fur
nish ample means of physical exercise.
At West Point and Annapolis military
and naval drills, swimming and occa-
sional outdoor games insure the perfec-
ton of physical training, and send the
graduates of those institutions out into
the world with muscles of iron and con-
stitutions fitted for almost any strain.
But after the college days the training
ceases, a reaction sets in, and a breaking
down in health is often the consequence.
Gymnasiums, bicycles and long tramps
may serve a good purpose for time,
but these are soon given up, as there is
little incentive for exercising unless the
exercise be systematic, part of some we'll
organized plan and stimulated by asso-
citation with ones fellows.
In casting about we find no better
physical advantages to be gained than
those derived from the military exercises
which young men undergo in the militia
services. Camping out in summer in
well selected camps gives them an out
door life which is much needed change
from the indoor life led throughout the
long winters, during which SO much
vitiated air is breathed in crowded
places of business and i'll ventilated
sleeping apartments. Marching is the
most rational exercise for the legs; the
manual of arms always insures healthy
chests and well developed arms, and
moving at the double quick improves the
breathing power of the lungs.
Unlike the athletics in college there is
no entertaining, which so often injures
the subjects by excess, and no breaking
down after the training has ceased. The
marching and drilling under competent
instructors improve the gait of the re-
cruit, and give him a frmer, easier step
and a more graceful carriage.
Military service has many advantages
mentally. 1t cultivates intelligence
among young men and does much to-
ward improving the memory and curing
absentmindedness. The necessity of be-
ing alert, listening for each word of
command and acting promptly upon it,
quickens the wits and cultivates the
habit of fixing the attention and concen-
trating the thoughts. Marching to the
sound of music gives a young man a
better idea of measure and rhythm, and
is calculated to make him more method
ical in all things. His entering upon the
duties of a soldier leads him to study
history, which embodies the
chief history of nations.
The hardest lesson to be learned in life
is that of ameuability to discipline. In
a land like this, where there is very lit
tie restraint among young or old, where
self abnegation is but little heard of, and
where the race of life is pretty much a
''go as you please" there is scarcely any
school in which subordination and obe- |
dience are taught except in the military
service.-General Horace Porter in Cos