The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-02-14
WARRIORS OF oLoEN TIMES.

WARRIORS OF OLDEN TIMES.
small Potatoes Alongside the Stalwars
Men of These Later Days
According to the popular opinion we
men of the present time are singularly
degenerated and are nothing more than
diminutives and reductions of the men
of medieval times. 1t is said that the
warriors of that period were giants.
clad in iron, and that their muscles
We're of steel That is what the legend
says, and what nearly everybody re-
peats. We might confine ourselves to
an invocation to logic in this case. In
medieval times hygiene was deplorable-
The barons ate too much and the
peasants did not eat enough. Gymnas-
tics were neglected and bathing was
little known. The populations were
crowded in towns and villages The
castles were practically barracks and
the cottages huts There was need
of pure air everywhere. From this
manner of living there resulted, neces-
sarily, deplorable generations.
Our learned Psychologists, after hav-
ing measured hundreds OF skeletons,
testify that the men Of our times are
from one to two centimeters taller than
the men of the middle ages. But the
bones of our ancestors are not the only
testimony left by them in regard to
their stature. We also possess their
war garments. We have measured sew
eral of them, and it turns out that we
appear not only to have grown taller
featured, but our shoulders could never
fit into the steel corsets of our so-called
athletic forefathers Moreover, this
proof has been made on more than one
occasion. The Comte de Nieuwerkerke,
superintendent of the museums under
the second empire, wishing to put on
The armor of Francis l., the largest OF
ell in the Museum of Artillery, was
obliged to give it up 1t was too little
for him. And. nevertheless, the comte.
although fine man, was in no sense
giant. And here is another example:
At Soleure, in Switzerland. recently,
On the occasion of a gymnastic tourna-
ment, the young men, wishing to close
the festivities by procession with his
torical costumes, asked the authorities
for permission to borrow the arms and
armor of the arsenal, which possessed
remarkable collection of them, and
the permission 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 on the armor. 1t
was too small for them.
And now let us see what Machiavelli
says of the Swiss, for the latter, also
according to the legend, passed for
giants among the giants, and, If we
were to take the testimony OF the pic
lures, their stature was herculean.
After havi ng 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 declar-
Ing that the battle of Marignan was a
combat of giants, but the combatants
were not gigantic. So much for the
stature 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
metas" So say the innocent bourgeois,
who, on Sundays, walk through the
halls of the Hotel des Invalides. "Our
soldiers of the present time 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 armor did not. as rule,
exceed fifty pounds, and, inasmuch as
those who wore it were horsemen, it
was the horse that had to bear the
greatest part of the fatigue.
But why has this legend become so
thoroughly rooted in the mind of the
public? We might content ourselves
with the simple reply, because it is a
legend The brain of the public is
marvelously prepared for the reception
ward an absurdity just as duck goes
to a pond. But it must be said that
humanity, contrary to the laws of
optics, has tendency to enlarge every
thing that is far off and to belittle
that which is close by. Instinctively
we are disposed to lift our ancestors
upon the backs of our contemporaries.
Even Homer, speaking of the athletic
games which took place after the death
/ OF Patroclus refers 20 the strength of
| the ancients, and Adam is probably the
/ only man who has not boasted of his
| ancestors
| But let us conclude by saying that if
our grandfathers were to come back to
this world again, and, by reason of the
military laws, were obliged to pass be-
| fore the council of revision, many
among them would be rejected on ac-
/ count OF their small stature. And then
| if, on leaving the council, they should
/ enter any gymnasium. they would in
all proba bility be unable to handle the
| dumbbells that we put up with ease
Paris Figaro.
Int