The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-06-24
MODERN ATHLETIC SHOWS.
Good That May Come From Fair Tests
OF Skill and Strength.

OF 5OkiIl ana
Lancet: We are not among those who
can see nothing that is good in public
exhibitions of athletic skill in which
danger is not entirely absent or IN
y which the element of personal antae-
enfsm also plays a part 1t is easy to
deride such a sight as that of re-
cent great wrestling match ana 10 de-
clare that with all our Wanted au-
yances we preserve the deDased tastes
OF Rome in it's degenerate days. Moral
lists In this strain-a are one sided per-
sons and. are likely to miss import
ant points. To begin with, there is
all the difference in the world between
n combat such as that TO which We
have referred and the gladiatorial
shows of ancient Rome.
70 witness such a sight as that of q
man battling for bis life with an IN
/, furiated wild beast may be exciting,
but it can have no elevating influence
of any kind a very different effect
is produced when two highly trained
athletes choose to enter the ring for a
fair trial of strength and skill. There
is something stirring In the mere as
pect of o fine specimen of physical
development and condition. The same
quality of admiration by which the
typical Englishman Is moved at the
view of a spledid race horse Is not
a thing to be deplored or despised; and
1t is the emotion In q higher degree
which Is aroused by the spectacle of
human physical attainment at Its high
est point.
In the latter case, moreover, the sight
appeals more directly az an example
and may lead in the case of many
beholder to some exercise Of those ad-
mirable qualities of restraint or OF
self denial and Of good temper without
which Il successful athlete is scarcely
tn 10 leVn1pI,p1 A
raised that what we have said applies
equally to the abolished priZeiight
That Is true only so faf as the COM
hatants are concernedit is not true
with regard to the nature Of their con-
test. Nobody objects TO the skill, the
strength and the courage of the prize
fighter; IL is the brutality which neces-
sarily accompanies d competitive ex-
hibitlon of these qualities in boxing
that iustiies the prohibition of the
prizeiight. Wrestling entails no such
brutality; and though 10 our minds
far less interesting sport to witness
than good boxing, it Is yet a worthy
incentive to physical training on the
part of those VINO seek proficiency in
The art
We have suggested that athletic cx-
hibitions by trained experts are to be
approved of because OF the fine physi-
cal example, an emulation of which
they may stir within the breasts Of
young men who Witness their perform
ance. 1t is spectators of this kind with
whom alone we sympathize. The
young mans inclination for athletic
exercise and all the advantages that
proper physical exercise entails Is
stimulated by watching those of great
Ell prowess tina nhis own. and such a
young man Is the proper element in an
audience such as that al Olympia. We
confess to no sympathy at all with
those who watch contest for the mere
excitement of it. The fat man who has
never attempted athletics, who is chief
~ attracted to boxing matches by the
big cigar behind which he watches
them and the big bet by which he may
gain from themsuch men as he have
no more fitting place in the audience
than has a woman or child.