The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-11-24
RUNNING suNDRY COMMENTS

| of us "old men" have a tendency to
enlarge everything that is far off and
to belittle everything that is near
| by.
| There is a belief that not only
statesmen but warriors of the olden
times were giants and that the sold
| iers of the present day would faint
under the fearful burdens of the steel
armor in which they were clad.
According to the legends that reach
down to us the Swiss soldiers passed
for giants among giants" With
their heavy cross-bows, supposed to
be heavier than the ordinary men of
our times could lift, see what a stall
wart and mighty race Sir Walter
Scott in his fascinating novels made
of them.
Yet many of these steel trappings
are preserved in the museums Of
Europe and it is found almost i'm
possible for the soldier measuring
up to the stature now required by our
army regulations to squeeze into
them. Our soldier boys are taller,
broader shouldered, more robust, can
endure more fatigue, and in disci-
pine, bravery and daring are more
than the equals of their ancestors.
And why should they not be?
In medieval times hygiene was
something deplorable. The barons
ate too much-the peasants not
enough. Gymnastics were neglected
and bathing little known except in
royal and plutocratic circles. Popula-
ton was crowded into towns and
cities practically without sewerage,
and man and beast often occupied
the same shelter thus producing filth,
vermin and disease.
Contrary to the belief of most men
who have reached the "sere and yell
low leaf" we believe that the gold
en- age" is not to be found in the dim
and distant past, but is to be found
with us now and more so in the flu
ture.
We believe that we are in a posi-
ton to grow giants now if it is pos
sible to grow them at all. We believe
that our attention to hygiene, gym
nastics, baseball, football, golf, by
cicle exercise and other modes Of
athletics. so common now to both men
and women, are the true agencies for
making giants of our race.
We believe that if men and wo-
get their dignity and years, and
would run, and romp and skip, and
jump, like boys and girls, that they
would keep their joints supple and
their muscles flexible, thus warding
off rheumatism and lumbago, and at
eighty would be in a position to dup
licate in the physical world the
achievements of Cato, Simonides and
Theophrastes so eloquently immorta-
lized by Longfellow in his verses.
DR.. Macarthur in a recent address
says that if one will read the records
and the files of old newspapers
printed in Washington's day he will
find much less of graft and selfish
craftsmanship now than when the
father Of his country was struggling
with the puzzle of conditions after
the war with Great Britain.
We believe that as the world grows
older that it grows better. We le-
joice that we have grown away from
the belief that to scourge the SOUL
torture the brain and mortify the
body is pleasing to God.
We are glad that the good old
days have not become a fetch with
Is. We believe right now that there
Is less cruelty, less debasement, less
debauchery, less intemperance, less
intolerance; more intelligence, more
culture, more piety; sweeter sense
of existence, a truer conception CT
God and mans duty to God and lis
fellowman, than in any other age Of
the world
We wish 1t were so that men could
like snakes crawl out of themselves
once in awhile and leave their old
sheds behind them and see the world
IN an entirely new garb. We believe
that many surprises would unfold
themselves TO them.
In a late issue of the Atlanta
Journal minister of that city said
that he believed in progress in re-
ligion." lie does not think that the
proposition is paradoxical. He be-
lieves in progress not away from
but towards Christ. 1t was the old
belief and is still the belief of many
that the dim past was away up along
side of Christ and that the world has
been sloping downward ever since to
the awful conditions of today. The