The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-05-15
APP ON TIE FIGHT.
BIN Says He Would Like to Have
Seen It On the Sly.
And There Are Othe1-It's Human
Misunderstanding NOT Wrong
II Decent Pc OpIe Are
Principals.

Principals.
It is original sin or total ~depravity or
natural born instinct that makes man
and beast take such an interest in q
fight? Bulls and dogs and chicken
cocks didn't fall when Adam fell, but
they fight. ST. John says there was war
in Heaven; so it seems that this fighting
business has been going IN a long time.
Cain killed Abel about 5000 years ago
and man and beast have been fighting
ever since. The men who don't fight
love to look ON or to read about it, and
even woman, loving and kind-hearted
as she is, always takes sides and urges
on her heroes to victory or death. If
woman had not been behind us the late
war would have ended in a year. The
preachers preach peace and love and
hold up the S~ayiour's teachings before
us: 'Love your enemies, and if a man
smites thee ON n cheek, turn the other
to him also" But who would do that?
1 have known q preacher to fight and
boast of his victory. I recall another
who took off his coat in church and
dared a brother layman to go outside
with him and repeat the offensive lam
guage. They were good men, but just
human. So I reckon this fighting in
stinct is part of our human nature, and
if there was war in Heaven, then the
instinct did not come from Adams fall,
but we would have had it anyhow.
peace on earth and good viii to man"
is yet afar off in the corridors of time.
A few martyrs like Stephen have lived
and died saying: Lord, lay not this sin
to their charge" but the great majority
of Christians and all the sinners either
hate their enemies or fail to love them.
The instinct of our human nature is
resentment, and it is so near akin to
self-preservation that it seems ~iustif-
able. A man has as much right to re-
sent a personal injury a a nation has
to fight another nation. There is no
difference in the Christian morality, for
a nation is made up of individuals. If
10000 may fight in defense of their
country, then, n may fight in defense
of his home or his property, or even
his good name. But both are wrong,
according to the Saviour's teachings,
and if only those be saved who live up
to those teachings, then we are all lost.
But when n of the disciples got
alarmed and said: "Who then can be
saved?" his reply was: "With men it
is not possible, but with God all things
are possible" And on the other occa-
sion, when a disciple trembled under
his teachings and inquired: Lord, are
there few that be saved?" he avoided a
direct answer and said: "Strive to en-
ter in at the straight gate, for many
shall seek to enter, but shall not be
able"
So our comfort is that if we strive to
do right we will get to Heaven. Strive
is the word, and it means to struggle,
to exert oneself diligently. Let us all
do that if we can, and l reckon we can,
or we would not have been told to.
was Eliminating about the fight, and
my mind "a along into this channel
of thought. Why did I feel an interest
in itP Why did 1 have a lingering de-
sire that Fitz should lick Corbett?
Well, 1 took a disgust at Cofbett when
I read that he had forsaken his wife
and taken another without just cause
or ~provocation. I remembered how the
papers said she stood by him and en-
couraged him at Jacksonville and other
places and behaved herself in a woman
ly way, and so I wanted him punished.
But l was told to-day that Fitzsimmons
had done the same thing, and so now
I don't care which whipped. Now let
some other fellow turn up and whip
Fitz and I will be satisfied. Corbett's
first wife has been avenged and his
second came to grief. Idon't take much
stock in denouncing prize fighting as
the worst thing in the world. The
worst thing about it is the company
it keeps, the betting and gambling and
drinking that environs it. If two men
want to make a trial of strength by
pummeling each other, there is no more
harm in it than in q football game, and
the surroundings are not much worse.
These pugilists never kill one another,
and the fight itself is not half as bad
as these street duels and hip pocket
pistols that are reported every day in
the newspapers. / have seen a police
LHdh NNdW u1OAC OlOOu Wucnt Trying GO
arrest a disturber of the a It is
not SO bad as a bull fight in Mexico,
and yet every American who goes there
attends one, if not two or more.
I think L should have liked to have
seen the fight if 1 could have done SO
On the sly, and I know many good men
and some women who would have gone
one eye on it if they had had a chance
and the crowd had been a decent one
Everybody has an instructive desire tc
see a fight-even a dog fight. I remem.
Der what satisfaction we schoolboy:
used to have in catching the big blacl
ants in an old dead tree and making
them fight in mortal combat. And what
fun it was to catch a big he coon by
night and see him fight the dogs, anc
how we used to get two old rams to.
gether, and once we saw two bulls loci
horns, and it was fearful and thrilling
Fighting ROSTERS were common il
our day. Some of the big boys at the
institute where i went to school uset
to buy ROSTERS in the neighborhood anC
| lSpan than hid until Caf,1rdou auaps1o