The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-07-17

ssG0Od Times" and Their Resu1ts-Degen-
crate Prise Ring Giants Health and
Strength Hay ne Regained- Rigorous
Regimen Of the Old Athlete.
/ have just passed the half century mark
of a somewhat eventfu1 existence, and as I
glance back at the physical wrecks with
which 1fe's highway is strewn expert
ence deep qualification at the good fortune
a beneacent Creator has bestowed upon me
as well as gratitude to that divine power
for permitting nae TO enjoy, besides perfect
health the greatest of all earthly blessings,
untiring strength. At the age of so find
myself ia the acme of condition, fit as
ever, almost, for any trial of skill, strength
and endurance. can wrestle, fence, run,
box, swing clubs and dumbbells or do any
gymnastic exercise as well as I could a
score of years ago.
am moved to make these remarks in
no -vainglorious SPIRIT but simply to illus
trate how men can make or mar them
selves as they will in a physical way.
America produces the best athletes in the
world; but, sad to relate, they fade away
faster than those of any other country.
This is not due, as has been frequently as
serted, to climatic conditions, but almost
entirely to the swift pace our boys cut out
and follow in their daily lives. A cham
pion of any kind, boxer, wrestler, sprinter,
oarsman or pedestrian, is feted, wined and
dined until his stomach as well as his head
is turned. Life becomes a perpetual hoi-
day with him, and days of brave athletic
effort are followed by nights of FOSTERING
and carousa1. So called friends bring this
about for the champion, for he is usually
vain and good ratured and seldom has the
mental stamina to refuse good time. He
thus contracts habits of deoauchery which
soon disinteRrate his physical powers and
make him a wreck at an age when he
should be at his 6ttest and best.
What can be more instructive upon this
point thBn the examples we have witnessed
during the past decade of champions who
have collapsed physically before they had
reached the age Of 85-indeed, some of
them before they were so? just think of
it, Edward Hanlan, champion oarsman of
the world, the victor Of three continents,
America, Europe and Australia breaks
down at 8b, the age at which John Hig-
gins, once champion of England, started
out on his aquatic career. John L. Sulh-
van, the greatest pugilist the world ever
saw, was complete wreck at 81, when he
went up against the lucky and the youth
full Corbett. The Californian, too, they tell
me, although he is barely 80, is not one
half his former sturdy self. The big Aus
tralians Peter jackson and Paddy Slavin,
gallant Jack Dempsey of America and the
joey BagstOck of pugilism, sly, deviHsh
sly Charley Mitchell of England, all lost
the strength, speed and endurance which
made them famous on two continents be-
fore they were IS, the period described in
the Bible as the perfect age. The enjoy
ment Of coed times, constant and protract-
ed, did the trick for all of them.
Other men, too, outside of professional
athletes abuse nature. Some were at one
time amateur athletes, not rugged old
timers like Harry Buerneyer and Father
Biu'' Curtis, the one "a and the other 50
years of age, and who can even now whip
the majority of fighters, but lads who went
into athletics heartily and then gave way
to years of roisteripg. Others are men who