Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-03-12
WARRIORS OF oLDEN TIMES.
Small Potatoes Alongside the StaIwart Men
of These Later Days.

According to the popular opinion, we
men of the present time are singularly de-
generated and are nothing moro than di-
minutives and reductions of the men of
medieval times. 1t is said that the war
riors of that period were giants, clad in
iron, and that their muscles were of steel.
That is what the legend says and what
nearly everybody repeats. We might con-
fine ourselves to an invtRs ,tion to logic in
this case. In medieval Vines hygiene was
deplorable. The barons ate too much and
the peasants did not eat enough. Gym
nastics were neglected. and bathing was
little known. The populations were
crowded in towns and villages. The cas-
ties were practically barracks and the cot
tages huts There was a need of pure air
everywhere From this manner of living
there resulted, necessarily, deplorable gen
erations.
Our learned psychologists after having
measured hundreds of skeletons, testify
that the men of our times are from one to
two contractors taller than the men of
the middle ages. But the bones Of our an
cestors are not the only test al. left by
them in regard to thciTNtntC"-. We also
possess their war gaIW.cnts We have
measured several of them, and it turns
out that we appear not only to have grown
taller since the time when they were man
ufactured, but our shoulders could never
fit into the steel corscts of our so called
athletic forefathers. Moreover, this proof
has been made on more than one occasion.
The Comte de Nieuwerkerke the superin-
tendent of the museums under the second
empire, wishing to put on the armor Of
Francis |, the largest of all in the Museum
of Artillery, was obliged to give it up. 1t
was too little for him. And noverthe-
less the comte, although fine man, was
in no sense a giant. And here is another
example. AT Solcure, in Switzerland, re-
Gently, on the occasion of a gymnastic
tournament, the young men, wishing to
close the festivities by procession with
historical costumes, asked the authorities
for permission to borrow the arms and ar
NOR of the arsenal, which possessed IA re-
markablo collection of them, and the per-
mission was granted. But it is evident that
their ancestors, people of little foresight,
never thought of their grandchildren, and
these grandchildren were unable to put OH
the armor. 1t was too small for them.
And now let us see what MaChiavelli
says of the Swiss, for the latter, also ac-
cOrding to the legend, passed for giants
among the giants, and if we were to take
the testimony of the pictures their stature
was herCulean. After having celebrated
the valOr of the Swiss troops who fought
in Italy in his time the Italian adds,
They were all little men, dirty and
ugly" History may perhaps be right in
declaring that the battle of Marignan was
a combat of giants, but the CombatanJs
were not gigantic. So much for the stat
ure of our ancestors. Now, as to their
strength, we have no other proof beyond
the weight of the equipment of the men
Of arms "What enormous strength they
must have possessed to be able to move
about loaded with metal!' So say the in
nOccnt bourgeois, who on Sundays walk
through the halls Of the Hotel DIES Inva-
lides. Our soldiers Of the present timo
would faint under such fearful burdens"
Now, in the first place, the harness of the
knights was very much lighter than it
was supposed to have been. According to
one of the catalogues of the Museum of
Artillery, the weight of the complete ar
NOR did not, as a rule, exceed 30 pounds,
and inasmuch as those who wore it were
bear the greatest part Of O fatigue.
But why has this legchu ueculno 50 thor
oughly rooted in the mind of the publicE
We might content ourselves with the sim.
pie reply because it is a legend. Tho brain
Of the public is marvelously prepared for
the reception of error, and the crowd nd.
vances toward an absurdity just as duck
goes to pond. But it must be said than
humanity, contrary to the laws of optics,
has tendency to enlarge everything that
is far off and to belittle that which is close
by. Instinctively we are disposed to lit
our ancestors upon the backs of our con
temporaries. Even Homer, spcakin: of
the athletic games which took place after
the death of Patroclus, refers to tho
strength of the ancients, and Adam is
probably the only man who has not boast
ed of his ancestors
But let us conclude by saying that il
our grandfathers were to come back tn
this world again, and by reason of the
military laws were obliged to pass before
the council of revision, many among them
would be rejected on account of thcil
small stature. And then if, on leaving
the council, they should enter any gymna.
SUM, they would in all probability be uu.
able to handle the dumbbeils that we put
up with ease.-Paris Figaro.