The San Francisco call., 1896-09-20

Did YOU ever try to push kitten over
tho edge of step2 The question has a
suooestion of cruelty, but kittens have a
way of getting under foot, and the cat is a
freouent victim to the popular belief that
she has nine lives. But if in moment OF
haste and irritation you ever did give a
kitten a thrust from the edge of stair,
chair or table you doubtless remember how
determinedly it resisted the impulse that
obeyed would have precipitated it floor
ward. With all its not inconsiderable
might, with bracing of paws and clutch
ing claws, the timid speck of kitten,
whose eyes are open, will resist whatever
its instinct warns it is likely to produce
pain. You do not have to guard the
small creature from harm as, for instance,
you must guard the baby. If by chance it
does get tall can you imagine any young
cat in possession of its senses rolling from
top to bottom of a stair as young or fre-
quently an adult human being seems to
think he must simply because be has
fallen over the first stepP
read recently with considerable amuse-
ment an account of how would-be actors
are taught to fall. 1t was curiously sug-
gestive of the faulty training We give these
bodies of ours, that we should for mo-
ment consider it an art for any man who
knows he is going to fall at certain in
slant to 90 down in such way as not to
sustain any injury. Not only should we
be able to do this, but had we such pos
session of our faculties as should be the
Inheritance of every human being we
might easily prevent ourselves from fall
ing at unexpected times, or when we fall
Unexpectedly might unconsciously gather
ourselves as quickly as cat does and, like
her, fall upon our feet.
The young cat shrinks back from the
brink over which the young child calmly
rolls to serious injury, not really because
it has an instinct which the child does not
possess, which warns 1t of possible harm,
but because it possesses in addition a
muscular consciousness descended to it
through countless generations or snces-
tors who have developed this conscious
ness through use.
The cat is not alone in possessing it.
You cannot pass your hand before the
eyes of blind horse without causing the
creature to vince; not because he sees
your hand, which may be a foot away
from his face, but because his sensitive
muscles warn him of its presence. All
creatures, even very young ones, have the
ability of seIf-protectiOn to a greater de-
gree than the human being, but there is
no reason in the nature of things why
this should be so. If mothers, instead of
lowering over their children, forbidding
them every sort of amusement that seems
to possess an element of danger and rem
dering them helpless by unnecessary care
and attendance devoted little intelligent
effort to teaching them to recognize and
avoid danger, we should have fewer in
efficients and fewer accidents than we now
hear of.
As it is most of US never learn what our
bodies are capable of. We are content to
accept the theory that we have five senses; !;
to give these fair degree of development
and to consider that thus we have fulfilled
the demands of 1.-THE modern fad for phys
icaI culture" But we shall never 90
enough until we have become as deft as
cats in the handling of our bodies.
Children should be given exercise which
does more than develop the muscles.
These can really grow at the expense of
the nerves that supply them, while their
real muscular consciousness or sensitive
ness remains undeveloped. We are still a
long way behind the Japanese in athletic
training, and we shall remain behind
them until we learn that deftness and
efficiency are as desirable as mere strength.
OF what avail is it that man can strike
a sledge-hammer blow when awake if an
enemy can catch him sleeping? The human