Year: 1879

The interest taken in the so. called Inter
national walking match by many most re-
spect ,ble people, as well as by many
more to whom that title is denied, took
it out of the category of common sporting
events Staid clergymen do not, as rule,
discuss pending billiard match with any
great degree of eagerncss, and there are
good many circles in metropolitan society
where even the name of the relgnlng horse is
unknown but during the past week the walk
ing contest has been a topic OF almost UNI
vcrsal interest, and not few persons, WHO
were too diGnlcd perhaps to visit the scene,
have been very willing to learn all the details
by the and of the newspapers.


1t is not strange that this should be so.
pedestrian contest like this is not brutal like
prze-fghting, and not so useless rs horse
racing. 1t involves a length of endurance
which rises almost to the height of courage,
and so commands admiration; and it
adds to our knowledge Of the capabili-
ties of a machine about which we have yet
a good deal to learn-the human body. 1t is
not therefore, wholly useless, though every
professional pedestrian in the world might
easily he in better business. Science must





abnormal physical conditions of these men.
But the crowds at Gilmore's Garden have not
had science in all their thoughts. TO them
the spectacle was merely a trial OF speed
and bottom and grit between human race
horses, and the pluck and persever-
ance of which only the human animal Is
capable have stirred something like sympathy
even in the minds of those who see
most clearly that the return for all
this profuse expenditure of strength and
vitality and money is very small
indeed. When ROwen walks his 5OOth
mile in the same CHEEKY, brisk, yet modest,
way that he walked the very first or when
Ennis, just out of pride in himself, shows that
he can run mile with great swiftness, after
having walked 474, it is impossible, even
while rejecting that this proves very little,
after all, not to wonder at and admire such
a rare combination of strength and agility.
How rare the combination is we may appre-
ciate when we remember that each of these
contestants, including even the poor fellow
who limpcd about the course almost to the
last in order to win Il share of the gate
| money, actually walked and ran during
each of the six days, on an average, seven
teen hours out Of the twenty -four. Almost
the only revolving feature of these eXhbi
| tiOns is seen in such cases as that just men
toned. If horse appeared in public in the
condition of Hartman during the last hours
of the match, Mr.. Bergh's society would have
interfe1ed; but, as has often been remarked
before, there is no Bergh for men and women,
and, above all, no Bergh for the protection of
audiences.


There were other reasons why the public
liked to read and talk about this contest. 1t
was evidently fair and honest rivalry, and
the public Is glad to see now and then an
exhibition of the "manly" sports that is not
disgraced by jockcying and fraud. Lastly
if was very friendly contest on the part of
all concerned, and 10 American broke his
heart because the English legs proved the
longest. Neither is it likely that the Queen
will mention this great British victory III her
next speech from the throne.