The Washington herald., 1915-01-10
BY FRED WELSH,
(CoDy1irht Ie15)

over in Pontypridd. Wales. l made up my
mind that it would be a fine thing to be
strong. And l know that nearly every
boy feels the same way. l know that the
main reason why I wanted to be strong
then was so tina. 1 could fight. Sure,
the same thing is true with me today,
! for that matter, though If 1 were in any
other line of work l would want to be
strong just the same.
Anyway, when / first went to school il
was very quickly made clear to me by
the school bulIies that if 1 didn't flag
for them I would get licked. And since
it went against my grain to be anything
in the nature of a personal servant to
them, ] did get licked, at first. / found
that fellow has got to be strong. So
went to work to get strong and to learn
little about boxing, And it wasn't so
very long before l was able to lick the
biggest bully in school and that gave me
peace.
Necessary to Be Strong.
had the same experience later a num-
ber of times. at other schools, on the
playground, and around town. To hold
my own it was necessary to be strong
and able to fight. But really learned
the lesson that first time, when eight
years old. and l have never forgotten it.
I am sorry to say that when from four
teen to eighteen years of age l did not
take proper care of myself, largely
through the influence of a careless set of
fellows that l associated with, and pretty
nearly made a complete wreck OF myself.
i was one of those regular cigarette
fiends and was careless in my hours and
in other ways.
But il was only through thoughtless-
ness, as 1 think it usually is. For all the
while 1 was interested in boxing and
strength of body. That early lesson had
stuck to me and finally brought me to my
senses, so that I cut loose from all my old
associations and began to live a new life,
rapidly building myself up. That was ten
years ago. A year later, when circum-
stances threw me into the boxing game, l
needed all my strength. But have now
had enough general experiences to know
that any way you take it life is a good
deal of a fight, and that in any business
you have got to be strong, and the
stronger the better.
But Few Exceptions.
Can anybody and everybody be strong?
Well, why not? There are only a few
exceptions, mostly cripples Of one kind
or another, the victims of misfortune.
OF course you can be strong, and you
haven't any business to be anything else
1t isn't simply muscles that you want.
It's the strong machinery inside.
A few years ago some humOrist, George
Ade, think, said something about whis-
kers 1 believe he said there were some
things that you cannot help, but that
''whiskers is a mans own fault" Well,
weakness is like whiskers. 1t is your
own fault II you don't take care of your
face regularly, and you're man. then
you are going to go around pushing a
brush in front of you and no mistake
about it.
And in the same way If you don't take
at least some care OF your body you are
likely to have a large growth of weak
ness sooner or later. There's this differ
ence, that weakness does not always
come simply because you neglect to do
certain things, but sometimes also be-
cause of doing certain other things. Per-
haps / should not make such a compari-
son. Some men are proud of their whis-
kers. Whiskers may be magnificent,
am told; but weakness never. In any
case, weakness is far worse than whis-
kers-really it is. I shrink from either.
but of the two, in an extremity, 1 would
choose the lesser evil.
Easy to BE Strong.
However, it is just as easy to be strong
as to be a weakling. Perhaps you never
thought of that. 1t is really a whole lot
easier to be strong. because life is easy
to live, as well as more pleasant to love
II you are a weakling. eXertiOn is pain
full. Every littlest thing you do is an
effort, and at that you can only do very
little You can't tackle a big job. While
If you are strong everything you do is
easy
If you are strong enough you can go
after the big things and get away with
them simply because you have the stam-
ina to keep after them until you get
them Why. to be strong is only the
natural and normal condition, and this
has been true all the way from the mon
KEYS down. 1t has always been neces-
sary for men and near-men to be strong
in order to stay on this little ball of
earth and water that we inhabit. For a
million years the weaklings have been
dying off. which means that our own an
cestors all the way back have been
among the strong, or we would not be
here So that we have really inherited
health and strength for a million years
down, and there's no reason for weak
ness in most cases, except lazineSS and
careIessness. Mother Nature is a great old
girl. and If you give her only half a