The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-04-22
TALKING
IT OVER
by JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, April PA great
4 Y number Of years ago, a Bos-
ton silversmith by the name Of Paul
Revere went galloping through the
Middlesex countryside on what ap-
pears to have become a very historic
and important adventure. In a
vague sort of way this affair seems
to have been tied up with the birth
OF a new nation and the co-inciden-
tai death of British tyranny.
! suppose that It is only fitting that
on April 20 each year the good people Of
New England should get together and ID
. little free hand commemorative AZ
the very least. Paul must have been .
darn good rider and the chances are that
II he we're around now. and not toe
heavy. he could do right well by himself
out at Jamaica.
But what has always puzzled ne is the
odd form that these commemoration ex-
ercises always take. OF course. all that
I know is what I read in the sports pages
and when read that Patriots day. which
IS Paut's day. is being celebrated by a
double header between the Braves and
some other baseball team and marathon
race. I find myself wondering what it is
all about and why.
It isn't a matter Of record that Pau
ever cooked a homer with the bases fun
or led field of bunioneers home in one
OF those twentv-six mile awfuls On
hand. should say it would be much more
appropriate to hold the derby on that
day or a wild west show.
But maybe I am too exacting. All that
July the Fourth means to a lot Of the
bows around Forty-ninth street and Eighth
avenue. IS that it is the day on which
Jenries was stretched by Johnson. re-
call. too. that an enterprising promoter
ideai!zed Armistice daY several years ago
BY waiting for the precise moment at
which the treaty was signed to start
nonstop dance. Instead Of criticism. per-
haps the sports gents should be warmly
commended. Maybe If it weren't for their
patriotic efforts. some Of these glorious
moments would be totally forgotten.
n
~Ev VEN so, can get along without
II marathons under any guise. I
note that the winner Monday, jim
my Henigan, is nearly 40 years old,
married, and the father of five chill
dren. You'd think he would know
better by now.
It would have made a good feature IN
anybody's newspaper II one Of the I'VE
younger Henigans, after it was over. had
cracked: "Say. Pop why didn't you call
a taxi?"
ANY sporting competition. TO be worth
while ought to place a certain stress
on Imagination and daring. But in the
marathon the overtones run mainly to
mulish stamina and bovine stolidity. APP
parently all that is required Is a good
set Of bellows plus a pair Of calloused
dogs.
imagine that good little boys who al
ways mind mother and eat all their spin
ach Just naturally grow up to be Jimmy
Henigans and Clarence De Mars. Ger
tainly this appears to be one athletic
test where only the physically perfect
belong.
Yet, youngsters very seldom win the
marathon. For the most part. top honors
are reserved for the old geezers. think
this must imply a patience and tolerance
that is by nature nonresident in the
Juveniles.
When they go places and see things they
want to sprint To them anything longer
than the mile is drudgery. No mara
thoner ever completed the long course
without getting his second wind-that
peculiar respiratory function which en-
ables the lungs to refuel after the last
breath has come Kissing through the teeth.
The old geezers know the trick of this.
Apparently the youngsters aren't inter-
ested. If they can't get there on their
frst wind. they don't want to go. They
seem to hold that anybody can fly the
ocean with a stopoyer midway.