The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-22


all athletic clubs. and that is anything
that tends to brutalize. destroy or dull the
finer feelings. Nothing is more disgust
ing. more disgracefaI than pugilisfn--
nothing more demoralizing than an
exhibition of strength united with
ferocitv. and where the very BODY
developed by exercise IS mutliated ana
disligured Sports that can by no pOssloil-
ity give pleasure. except by the unfeeling,
the hardened and the really brainless.
should be avoided. No gentleman
shonId countenance rabbit-coursing,
fighting OF dogs, the shooting
of pigeons. simply as an exhibition
of skill. All these things are calculated TO
deInoraIize and brutalize not only the
actors, but the lockers on such sports
are savage, fit only TO be participated IN
and enjoyed by the cannibals OF Central
Africa or the anthropoid apes.
Find what man enjoys, what he laughs
AT. what he calls diversion, and you
know what he is. Think of a man calling
himself civilized who Is in rapture at a
buil-fight, who smiles when he sees the
hounds pursue and catch and tear
in pieces the timid hare. and who
roars with laughter when he watches
the pugilists pound each other s
faces. closing each others eyes. breaking
laws and smashing noses. Such men are
beneath the animals they torture-on a
level with the pugiist they applaud. Cen
tlemen should hold such sports in unspeak-
able contempt No man nnds pleasure IN
infiicting pain.
In every public school there should be a
gymnasium It is useless to cram minds
and deform dodies Hands should be edu-
Gated as well as heads. All should be taught
the sports and games that require mind.
muscle, nerve and judgment. Even those
who labor should exercise, to the end that
al L. IL brs1x- ha
who work at one employment become de-
formed. Proportion is lost. But where
harmony is preserved by the proper exer-
else. even old age is beautiful. To the
well-developed, TO the strong, life seems
rich, obstacles small and success easy.
They laugh at cold and storm. Whatever
the season may be. their hearts are filled
with summer.
Millions go from the cradle 10 the CO fin
without knowing what it is to live. They
simply succeed in postponing death.
Without appetites, without passions, with
out struggle, they slowly rot in waveiess
pool. They never know the glory of sue
cess, the rapture of the fight.
To become effeminate is to invite
misery. In the most delicate bodies may
be found the most degraded souls. 1t
was the Duchess Josiane whose PAM
pered flesh became so sensitive that she
thought of hell as a place where people
were compelled TO sleep between coarse
sheets.a
We need the open air: we need the ex-
perience of heat and cold. We need not
only the rewards and caresses, but the dis
cipline of our mother nature. Life is not
all sunshine, neither is it all storm, but
men should be enabled to enjoy the one
and to Withstand the other.
believe in the religion of the body, of
physical development, in devotional exer-
else, in the beatitudes of the cheerfulness,
good health, good food, good clothes, COM
radeship, generosity, and above all, in
happiness. | believe in salvation here and
now. Salvation from neformity and dis
ease. from weakness and pain, from ennui
and insanity. | believe in heaven here and
now, the heaven of health. of good diges-
ton, of strength and long life, of useful
ness and honor. / believe IN the builders
and defenders of homes.
The gentlemen whom We honor tonight
have done great work. To their energy
We are indebted for the nearest perfect, for
the grandest athletic club house in the
world. Let the clubs multiply. Let the
example be followed, until our country is
filled with physical and intellectual ath-
letes, superb fathers, perfect mothers, and
every child an heir to health and Joy.