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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/athleticsmanlyspOOorei 
 
Copyright, 1HH7, by John Donoghue. 
 
 -THE BOXER." 
 
 Engraved, by permission, fronn the statue by John Donoghue. 
 
ATHLKTICS 
 
 AND 
 
 MANLY SPORT 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY 
 
 "It is exercise alone that supports the spirits and keeps the mind in 
 \agor. ' ' — 'Cicera. 
 
 "A man must often exercise or fast or take physic, or be sick." — 
 Sir IV. Temple. 
 
 " Anything is better than the vvhite-blooded deterioration to which we 
 all tend."— O. W. Holmes. 
 
 "There is no better preventive of nervous exhaustion than regular, 
 unhurried, muscular exercise. If we could moderate our hurry, lessen our 
 worry, and increase our open - air exercise, a large portion of nervous dis- 
 eases would be abolished." — James Muir Howie, 
 
 Illustrate d 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 PILOT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 597 Washington Street 
 1890. 
 
'^ 
 
 VI3! 
 
 Copyrighted 
 By JOHN BOYLE O'liEILLY 
 
 ELECTROTTPED AND PRINTED BV 
 
 CASHMAN, KEATING & COMPANY, 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
DEDICATED 
 
 TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT A LOVE FOR 
 
 INNOCENT SPORT, PLAYFUL EXERCISE. 
 
 AND ENJOYMENT OF NATURE, 
 
 IS A BLESSING INTENDED NOT ONLY FOR 
 
 THE YEARS OF BOYHOOD, BUT FOR 
 
 THE WHOLE LIFE OF A MAN. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ETHICS a:n^d evolution of boxing. 
 
 Page 
 
 I. Has Boxing a Real Value ? . . . .1 
 
 II. Improvement in Modern Boxing ... 5 
 
 III. Antiquity of Boxing . . . . .11 
 
 IV. The Athletes of Ancient Greece . . . 18 . 
 V. The Training of Greek Athletes . 21 >- 
 
 VI. The Sacred Games of Greece • . . 23 V^ 
 
 VII. The Skill of Greek Boxers . . . .26 
 
 VIII. The Gladiators of Rome .... 31 
 
 IX. Feudalism Suppressed Popular Athletic Exercises . 37 
 
 X. The First Modern Champion Boxer . . 43 
 
 XI. The First Modern Rules of the Ring . . .48 
 
 XII. Donnelly and Cooper on the Curragh of Kildare . 52 
 
 XIII. A Lesson even in a Fight . . . .65 
 
 XIV. Characteristics of Great Boxers . • .75 
 XV. Boxing Compared with other Exercises . . .82 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 The Illustrations 88 
 
 Rules of the Ring .... . . 89 
 
 London Prize-Ring Rules, as Revised by the British 
 Pugilistic Association .... 90 
 
 Marquis of Queensberry Rules Governing Contests for 
 Endurance . . . . . .95 
 
 American Fair- Play Rules to Govern Glove Con- 
 tests 96 
 
 (V) 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 THE TRAINING OF ATHLETES TESTED BY 
 
 EVERY-DAY LIFE. 
 
 Page 
 
 I. Is Training Injurious ? . . . . . 101 
 
 IL The Evils of Improper Training . . . 106 
 
 III. Muscular Power Secondary to Respiratory Power, 111 
 
 IV. The Food of Athletes in Training . . 114 
 V. A Day's Food and Exercise in Training . . 125 
 
 VI. Various Exercises and How to Practise Them . 131 
 
 VII. The Curse of the Closed Windows . . . 137 
 
 VIII. Exercise for City Dwellers and School Children, 143 
 
 IX. Corpulence, Diet, and Sleep . • . .152 
 
 X. Hints for Training and Good Health . . 161 
 
 ANCIENT IRISH ATHLETIC GAMES, EXERCISES, 
 AND WEAPONS. 
 
 I. The Museum of the Royal Irish Academy . 169 
 
 II. The Most Ancient Weapon Used in Ireland . 174 
 
 III. The Weapon-Feats of Cuchullin . . .185 
 
 IV. Military Athletes of Ancient Ireland . . 1S9 
 V. Hurling: The Chief Game of Ancient Ireland . 195 
 
 VI. The Ancient Games at Tailten and Carman 202 
 
 VII. An Heroic Combat in Ancient Ireland . . 215 
 
 VIII. A Glance Backward and Forward . . 236 
 
 CANOEING SKETCHES. 
 
 Canoeing on the Connecticut .... 243 
 
 Down the Susquehanna in a Canoe . 261 
 
 Down the Delaware River in a Canoe . . 303 
 
 Canoeing in the Dismal Swamp . . 351 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 " The Boxer ^' .... Fkontispiece 
 
 Engraved, by permission, from the statue by John Donoghiie. 
 
 Page 
 A Paddle by Moonlight 241 
 
 At the Mouth of the Rivek 256 
 
 On the DELA^\ ake Rivek 290 
 
 MOSELEY ox A RoUGH DESCENT 308 
 
 At the Foot of Great Foul Rift .... 332 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. 
 
 ETHICS AND EVOLUTION OF BOXING. 
 
 The Usual and Wrong Way to Strike a Round Blow . 8 
 
 Round Blow ....... 9 
 
 Ducking the Round Blow . . . . . .10 
 
 Greek Boxers With Cestus ..... 13 
 
 Raw-Hide Cestus from Herculaneum . . . .15 
 
 The Round Cestus . . . . . . 16 
 
 (vii) 
 
Vlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 A Straight Cross-Counter . . . . . .28 
 
 '* Wastes His Forces on the Wind" .... 30 
 
 A Set-To .... .... 45 
 
 A Round Blow Missed ...... 53 
 
 Coming • . . . . . . .55 
 
 Cross- Buttock ....... 57 
 
 Cross-Countered . . . . . . .61 
 
 Upper-Cut, as Sullivan Strikes It . . . .62 
 
 Upper-Cut, Old-Fashioned . . . . .63 
 
 Clinch m 
 
 Good Position of Guard . . . . . .67 
 
 Straight Counter . . • . . • 73 
 
 Cross-Counter . . . . . . .81 
 
 Ducking a Lead with the Left .... 83 
 
 ANCIEXT IRISH WEAPONS. 
 
 No. 
 
 1. Firbolg Craisech . . . . .176 
 
 2. Tuatha de Danann Sword . . . . 176 
 
 3. Ancient Bronze Sword ..... 177 
 
 4. Lia Lamha Laicli, or Champion's Hand- Stone . 178 
 
 5. Tuatha de Danann Sword - • . . 179 
 
 6. " ''''.. . • 179 
 
 7. *' ct a j^>j9 
 
 8. Firbolg Battle- Axe, or Celt .... 180 
 0. *' " '•.... 180 
 
 K). " '' " . . . . 181 
 
 11. '' '' ''.... 181 
 
 12. " '' *'.... 181 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 IX 
 
 No. 
 
 la. 
 
 14. 
 15. 
 
 10. 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 27. 
 28 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 31. 
 32. 
 33. 
 34. 
 35. 
 36. 
 37. 
 38. 
 39. 
 40. 
 41. 
 
 Tiiatha de Danann Battle-Axe, or Celt 
 
 Firbolg Battle-Axe 
 Ancient Irish Seal 
 Manais, Tuatlia de Danann Spears 
 
 Bronze Mace ...... 
 
 Stuic, or Irish War Horn .... 
 
 Lic-Tailme, or Sling-Stone .... 
 
 Military Forks ...... 
 
 Ancient Chessman ..... 
 
 Craisech, Avith Firbolg Fastening and Tnatha de 
 Danann Point ...... 
 
 a u i'. '.^ ii. u u 
 
 Firbolg Fiarlanna, or Curved Pointless Blade 
 Broad Green Spear . . . . • 
 
 Firbolg Dagger, Called Colg . • . . 
 
 Manais, or Broad Thrusting Spear . 
 Slegh, Sharp -pointed Tuatha de Danann Spear 
 
 Ancient Bronze Shield 
 
 Page 
 182 
 182 
 182 
 183 
 184 
 186 
 186 
 187 
 J 87 
 187 
 191 
 196 
 196 
 198 
 199 
 201 
 
 209 
 209 
 209 
 216 
 216 
 216 
 226 
 226 
 227 
 227 
 227 
 230 
 231 
 
CORRECTIONS. 
 
 Page 25, fourth line — read "were" instead of "was." 
 Page 71, fifth line — read "defeated" instead of "captured." 
 Page 110 — read " Breakfast at 8 a. m.," instead of "8 p. m." 
 Page 100, eighth line — omit the words "all-round." 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 This book is not intended as a mere manual for the 
 special use of skilled professional or amateur athletes, 
 though necessarily many of its details refer particu- 
 larly to these classes. Its main purpose is to bring 
 into consideration the high value, moral and intel- 
 lectual as well as physical, of those exercises that 
 develop healthy constitutions, cheerful minds, manly 
 self-confidence, and appreciation of the beauties of 
 nature and natural enjoyment. Nevertheless, these 
 lines of Bunyan tell my preliminary experience : — 
 
 " Some said, John, print it ; others said, Xot so ; 
 Some said. It might do good ;. others said, Xo.'* 
 
 So long as large numbers of our young people, of 
 both sexes, are narrow-chested, thin-limbed, their mus- 
 cles growing soft as their fat grows hard, timid in 
 the face of danger, and ignorant of the great and 
 varied exercises that are as needful to the stron<2: 
 body as letters to the informed mind, such books as 
 this need no excuse for their publication. 
 
 Many will say : " the time for this sort of thing is 
 
 (xi) 
 
Xli INTRODUCTION. 
 
 past ; the world has grown too intelligent for these idle 
 games and exercises; we, who know what life is, know 
 that athletic sports are only symptoms of questionable 
 tastes." 
 
 The j)ride of knowledge is bad, but the pride of 
 ignorance is worse ; together, tliey are almost hope- 
 less. The truth is, there is more need to-day for 
 physical development, for play, for sport, for athletic 
 exercises and amusements of all kinds, than there was 
 during the Greek Olympiads, or at any other period of 
 human history. Strange, that this obvious truth 
 should call for public statement. " On old and young," 
 says a great modern philosopher, "the pressure of 
 modern life puts a still increasing strain. In all busi- 
 nesses and professions, intense competition taxes the 
 energies and abilities of every adult; and, with a view 
 of better fitting the young to hold their place under 
 this intenser competition, they are subject to a more 
 severe discipline than ever before." 
 
 " We have not holidays enough," says an eminent 
 American physician. " Five days a year is our allow- 
 ance, a scanty one indeed, tlwit seems ridiculous to 
 our quieter neighbors across the water, who, needing 
 rest less than we, get four times as much. But there 
 is no time for relaxation ; we must only do our best to 
 brace up and stand the drive." 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIU 
 
 What parent, who has observed the endless studies 
 of his children, at school during the day, and at home 
 in the evening, with little time and opportunity for 
 vigorous play, and has not inwardly feared that it was 
 too much for the boy or girl ? His fears are real 
 warnings : they are true. The studies are too much, 
 unless offset by a proportionate amount of play and 
 vigorous exercise. They prevent the children from 
 developing; and they also })revent them from learning. 
 
 It IS a physiological law, pointed out by Lewes in 
 his " Dwarfs and Giants," that there is an antagonism 
 between growth and development — by growth mean- 
 ing increase of size^ by development increase of struc- 
 ture. 
 
 The question is not only a question of bulk, but also 
 a question of quality. A soft, flabby flesh makes as 
 good a show as a firm one ; but though to the careless 
 eye, a youth of full flaccid tissue may aj^pear the equal 
 of one whose fibres are well-toned, a trial of strength 
 will prove the difference. Obesity in adults is often 
 a sign of feebleness. 
 
 There is a corresponding radical difference between 
 true education and the memorizing of facts. The 
 meaning of the word tells its own story — e-duca- 
 lion — the di-awing-out of what is in the child, not the 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cramming undigested facts into the helpless young 
 memory. The cruelty of it! AVere food forced 
 into the body as facts are into the mind, so as to joro- 
 duce violent dyspepsia, parents would be compelled to 
 stop. But they will not see the consequent mental 
 dyspepsia and its vile train of intellectual, moral, and 
 physical abnormalties. Improper education stores up 
 useless knowledge as unhealthy livdng stores up stolid 
 fat, instead of turning it into vigorous muscle. 
 
 '' By accelerating the circulation of the blood," says 
 a scientific authority, '' it facilitates the performance 
 of every function; and so tends alike to increase 
 health when it exists and to restore it when it has been 
 lost." For this changeless reason, the same to-day as a 
 thousand years ago or a thousand years hence, play is 
 a necessity of human nature ; and for this reason also 
 play is superior to any regulated form of uninteresting 
 gymnastic exercise. Play is the gymnastics of nature ; 
 and that artificial exercise is best which comes nearest 
 to it in interest and amusement. "An agreeable 
 mental excitement has a highly invigorating influence." 
 
 Play also makes an equable distribution of action to 
 all parts of the body ; the action of gymnastics, falling 
 on special parts, produces fatigue, and if constantly 
 repeated, leads to disproportionate development. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 "Consider the fact," says Herbert Spencer, "from 
 any but tlie conveational point of view, and it will 
 ^eem strange that while the raising of first-rate bul- 
 locks is an occupation on which men of education 
 willingly bestow much time, inquiry, and thought, the 
 bringing up of fine human beings is an occupation 
 tacitly voted unworthy of their attention. Mammas 
 who have been taught little but languages, music, and 
 accomplishments, aided by nurses full of antiquated 
 prejudices, are held competent regulators of the food, 
 clothing, and exercise of children. Meanwhile the 
 fathers read books and periodicals, attend agricultural 
 meetings, try exj^eriments, and engage in discussions, 
 all with the view of discovering how to fatten prize 
 pigs ! Infinite pains will be taken to produce a racer 
 that sha^l win the Derby : none to produce a modern 
 athlete. Had Gulliver narrated of the Laputans that 
 men vied with each other in learning how best to rear 
 the offspring of other creatures, and were careless of 
 learning how best to rear their own offspring, he 
 would have paralleled any of the other absurdities he 
 ascribes to them." 
 
 There is character as well as strength in muscle ; and 
 little of either in flabbiness or lard. Take the colloped 
 fat from the under-chin and jowl of a young man, and 
 
Xvi JNTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 put it on his arms, trunk, and legs in the shape of firm 
 muscle, and, other things being equal, you improve lii. 
 moral as well as his bodily health. 
 
 All who are trained in athletics know the value of 
 the " second wind." Powerful athletes are in danger 
 till this is reached ; but he who has obtained his " second 
 wind " in a contest can go on as long as his muscular 
 power lasts. It is worth remembering that there is a 
 moral as well as a physical ''second wind;" and that 
 many who go down at the first trials would have 
 held on to a virtuous and happy end had the fail- 
 ino- character been sustained at the period of early 
 
 ■weakness. 
 
 Fatness and softness are merely sensuous expres- 
 sions, or symptoms of disease. They are non-conduct- 
 ors of spiritual messages, stopping or deadening the 
 finer currents of enjoyment, as an insulator stops 
 
 electricity. 
 
 The motive-centre of a thinker is the brain ; of a 
 philanthropist, the heart ; of a sensualist the belly. 
 In the latter class, a kindly or beautiful or devo- 
 tional aspiration enters the mind and wanders aim- 
 lessly through the flabby muscles, straying off the 
 nerve at will, for the tissues have not stxflicieTit con- 
 sistency to hold it on the line, until it sinks gradually 
 but surely toward the marshy and forbidden wastes of 
 
IXTRODUCTIOX. XVU 
 
 appetite, and is drowned, like a belated traveller, in 
 the weedy morasses of the gastric-centre. 
 
 To place manly sport in its proi:>er relation to the 
 [)eople, we must save athletics from the professional 
 athletes, and from the evil association of betting and 
 gambling, that stunts, encumbers and disgraces almost 
 all kinds of oi)en-nir exercise. 
 
 The very fact that professionals and gamblers fasten 
 on a sport, is the highest proof of its value to the 
 people : your worm never selects an inferior apple. 
 The popular desire is the very stock in trade of the 
 professional gambler. There is only one way in which 
 this reform can be thoroughly made, namely, by the 
 recognition of atliletic training as a necessary and 
 admirable part of general education. This will re- 
 move at once the flavor of disrepute which at present 
 attends a taste for manly sport. 
 
 All healthy young people are fond of physical 
 exercise ; and proper instruction is as necessary here 
 as in the intellectual departments of school and col- 
 lege, and will as surely result in benefit to the individ- 
 ual and the state. ^ 
 
 I desire to express my thanks to several persons 
 who have assisted me in the preparation of this book, 
 
XVUl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 especially to Dr. Francis A. Harris, of Boston, for his 
 invaluable paper on the physiology of athletic train- 
 ing ; to the Hoston Herald^ for its enterprising publica- 
 tion of the article on boxing, the plates of which The 
 Herald generously presented to me ; to my friend, 
 John Donoghue, the sculptor, for permission to en- 
 grave his great statute of " The Boxer ; " and to the 
 Editor of Outing^ for the use of several illustrations 
 from that interesting^ magfazine. 
 
 John Boyle O'Reilly. 
 
ETHICS AND EVOLUTION OF BOXING. 
 
 HAS BOXING A REAL VALUE? 
 
 ''Both amoDo- the Greeks and Romans," savs 
 an eminent authorit}^ ''the practice of pugilism 
 was considered essential to the education of their 
 youth, from its manifest utility in strengthening 
 the body, dissipating all fear, and infusing a 
 manly courage into the system." 
 
 The Greeks and Romans kept boxing in its 
 proper relation to every-day life ; not as a brutal 
 exhibition of skill or strength, but as a healthy 
 exercise to invigorate the body, expand the chest, 
 strengthen and quicken the muscles, and render 
 mind and body free, supple, strong, and con- 
 fident. 
 
 " There is nothing that interests me like good 
 boxing," said Sir Robert Peel. "It asks more 
 steadiness, self-control, ay, and manly courage, 
 than any other exercise. You must take as well 
 as give, — eye to eye, toe to toe, and arm to arm." 
 
 (i) 
 
Z ETHICS OP^ ROXTXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Mr. Evelyn Denisoii, once speaker of the House 
 of Commons, describing an interview with Lord 
 Althorp, the minister AAho led the British Com- 
 mons wdien the Reform Bill was passed, says : 
 ''Lord Althorp became eloquent; he said that 
 his conviction of the advantages of pugilism was 
 so strons: that he had seriously been considerino- 
 whether it was not a dut}' that he owed to the 
 public to go and attend every prize fight which 
 took place, and thus to encourage the noble 
 science to the extent of his powder." 
 
 "We are the Romans of the modern world," 
 says the illustrious "Autocrat of the Breakfast 
 Table," speaking of Americans — "the great as- 
 similating people. Conflicts and conquests are, of 
 course, necessary accidents with us, as with our 
 prototypes. And so we come to their style of 
 weapon. . . . The race that shortens its 
 w^eapons lengthens its lioundaries. CoroUary : It 
 was the Polish lance that left Poland at last with 
 J nothino' of her own to l)ound. 
 
 " ' Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear! ' 
 
 " What business," continues Dr. Holmes, "had 
 Sarmatia to be fighting for liberty with a fifteen- 
 foot pole between her and the breasts of her 
 enemies? If she had but come to close quarters, 
 there might have been a chance for her.' 
 
HAS BOXING A REAL VALUE? 3 
 
 To these famous and wise men might be added 
 a long list of others, equally distinguished, who 
 appreciated the personal and national value of 
 generations trained to manly exercises, their 
 bodies developed, and their minds calmly confi- 
 dent in the ready power of self-defence. 
 
 Take an eminent man of a contrary opinion, 
 and see how few will l)e ready to agree with him ; 
 how many will feel shocked at his w^ord, as the 
 expression of a false and injurious doctrine. 
 Sydney Smith, who liked almost everything that 
 w^as good, ])y some queer mental perversion, 
 despised and detested manly"exercises. *^ There 
 is a manliness in the athletic exercises of public 
 schools," he says, '^Avliich is as seductive to the 
 imagination as it is utterly unimportant in itself. 
 Of what importance is it in after life whether a 
 boy can play well or ill at cricket, or row a boat 
 with the skill and precision of a waterman? If 
 our young lords and esquires were hereafter to 
 w^restle together in public, or the gentlemen of 
 the bar to exhibit Olympic games in Hilary term, 
 the glory attached to these exercises at public 
 schools would be rational and important. But of 
 what use is the body of an athlete, wdien w^e have 
 gooa Jaws over our heads, or when a pistol, a post- 
 chaise, or a porter, can be hired for a few shillings ? 
 A gentleman does nothing but ride or walk, and 
 
4 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 yet such a ridiculous stress is laid upon the manli- 
 ness of the exercises customary at public schools." 
 
 How many will say that this is sound doctrine 
 for a man or a community? It is of little impor- 
 tance, perhaps, whether or not a grown man can 
 play cricket or row a boat ; but it is of very great 
 importance, no matter how cheap pistols or post- 
 chaises may be, that, in case he were called on, 
 for personal or patriotic duty, to swim or climb 
 for a life, to fight for a child or a woman, to de- 
 fend his country in the field, he should ))e ready 
 with a strong body, a stout heart, and a trained 
 hand and mind to raise him over difficulty and 
 dano;er. 
 
 In speaking of boxing, it is not necessary to 
 apologize for prize-fighting or prize-fighters. It is 
 enough to study the growth and worth of boxing 
 as a healthy and manly exercise. But even for 
 the prize-ring, much might be said to show that 
 to it alone is due whatever is known of order and 
 fair play in a personal encounter. 
 
 " The rules of the ring" are the condensed opin- 
 ions of fiiir-minded men as to what is to be and is 
 not to be allowed in a personal fight, whether public 
 or private (except the London Eing Eules, for 
 which see pages 7 and 89). Every unfair method 
 is condemned ; and, no matter how rough the 
 crowd at a personal conflict, a foul blow, or a 
 
IMPROVEMENT IN MODERN BOXING. 5 
 
 cruel advantage, is sure to be shouted down as 
 cowardly and disgraceful. 
 
 II. 
 
 IMPROVEMENT IN MODERN BOXING. 
 
 The chief reason Avhy boxing has fallen into 
 disrepute is the English practice of prize-fighting 
 Avith bare hands, and under improper rules. 
 
 The American champion, Sullivan, has done 
 more than attempt to defeat all pugilists who 
 came before him : he has made a manly and most 
 creditable effort to establish the practice not only 
 of sparring, but of fighting, with large gloves ; 
 and secondly, he has made the round blow 
 ''scientific." He also has insisted, whenever he 
 could, that contests should be ruled by three- y 
 minute rounds of fair boxing. 
 
 The adoption of gloves foj' all contests will do 
 more to preserve the practice of boxing than any 
 other conceivable means. It will give pugilism 
 new life, not only as a professional boxer's art, 
 but as a sreneral exercise. The brutalities 
 of a fio:ht with bare hands, the crushed nasal 
 bones, maimed lips, and other disfigurements, 
 which call for the utter abolition of boxing in the 
 
G ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 interests of humanity, at once disappear when the 
 contestants cover their hands with large, soft- 
 leather gloves. 
 
 There is no loss in the quality of the contest 
 either, as those who have seen both kinds of 
 boxing A\ ill testify. All that is worth noting and 
 testing of courage, temper, strength, tenacity, 
 endurance, force, rapidity, precision, foresight, 
 can l)e as completely proven, or rather can be 
 better or more plainly proven, in a glove contest 
 than in a bare-handed fight. 
 
 Such a change as is here contemplated w^as 
 never dreamt of even ten yeavs ago. British 
 boxinir was a lamentable exhibition at all times; 
 but for twenty-five years past it has been sinking 
 lower and lower in disrepute. The greatest and 
 manliest physical exercise has been, for this 
 reason, in danger of complete extinction. 
 
 ^' Surely a precious tiling: one worthy note, 
 Should thus be lost forever from the earth." 
 
 It is hoped that the recent bare-handed tight 
 between Sullivan and Mitchell in France will be 
 the last of its brutal kind.* 
 
 This fight contains in itself a complete illustra- 
 
 *The men fought near Chantilly, France, on March 10, 1888, 
 for £500 and the championship of the world. The rules were 
 those of the London Prize King. The fight lasted three hours 
 and eleven minutes, in which time 39 regular rounds, and 
 
IMPROVEMENT IN MODERN BOXING. 7 
 
 tion of the very worst features of English prize- 
 fio'htino'. The London Eino- Eules, under which 
 this contest was conducted, enabled the inferior 
 man to escape, and might easily have made him 
 the victor. These rules (see page 89, Appendix) 
 were apparently meant to prevent, not to insure, 
 fair and manly boxing. Had Mitchell been com- 
 pelled to stand up and fight for three-minute 
 rounds, and had he been prevented from fall- 
 ing to escape danger, there would have been a fair 
 test of both men's al)ility. Again, had Sullivan 
 kept to his natural style of fighting, with a master- 
 ful spirit compelling his opponent, mstead of 
 adopting a slow and watchful method, it would have 
 been far better for him. In fact, everything was 
 against Sullivan, and in favor of the gamblers who 
 evidently ruled the contest. He was overtrained 
 (see pages 108-9 for efiect of over-training). He 
 had lost forty pounds in about six weeks, most 
 seriously aftecting the weight of his blows ; and 
 
 four or five irregular, were fouglit. After five or six rounds, 
 diu'ing wliicli he was knocked down literally every time he 
 stood up, Mitchell adoi^ted a system of running away and fall- 
 ing to escape blows. A cold rain was falling, and Sulli- 
 van became chilled, and in the thirty-fifth round he had 
 a fit of ague. He was overtrained; he had hurt his 
 right hand; he was too heavy to plough through the nuid 
 after his running adversary, whom he could not catch; so he 
 agreed to end the contest by a draw\ 
 
 / 
 
8 
 
 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 in this reduction not only had he sacrificed ner- 
 vous force to muscular power, but he had lost the 
 necessary fat to keep him from getting chilled in 
 the slow fight ensured by the Lon- 
 don Rules. 
 
 In America, Sullivan's example 
 has done much to bring glove con- 
 tests into professional practice ; 
 and when the man's faults are re- 
 hearsed, it is only fair that this 
 should be remembered. In other 
 respects it is beyond doubt that he 
 is one of the most remarkable box- 
 ers in the whole history of the 
 exercise. (See page 75 for analy- 
 sis oi nis method of fi2:htinof, which of course is 
 a study of the man when at his best.) 
 
 Sullivan's second achievement is, undoubtedly, 
 the crystallization of the round blow. This is 
 one of the 2:reatest additions ever made to the 
 pugilism of the ring. The round blow, safely 
 delivered, is the most powerful and effective of 
 all blows. 
 
 \ Sullivan did not invent the round blow. It 
 is as old as boxing ; indeed it is one of the natural 
 movements of human attack. It was the leading 
 blow of the Greeks with the brutal cestus, or armed 
 glove. It is the very blow that a strons^, awk- 
 
 THE USUAL, AND 
 
 WRONG, WAY TO 
 
 STRIKE A ROUND 
 
 BLOW. 
 
 of hii 
 
IMPROVEMENT IN MODERN BOXING. 9 
 
 ward, ignorant man woulcl strike, and thereby 
 disable himself — for the round blow, wrongly 
 delivered, is far more terrible to the o-iver than to 
 the receiver. 
 
 Formerly, boxers delivered the round blow 
 almost with a straight-arm swing, some with the 
 front knuckles leading, and some with the back, 
 and some again with the thumb knuckle, or with 
 the palm or ''heel of the fist." But most of 
 
 llOl^D BLOW. 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph.) 
 
 these came oft* with sprained joints or broken 
 wrists, while their opponents easily escaped the 
 slow swing by ''ducking," or threw up the elboW 
 at an acute angle and smashed the delicate bone 
 of the striker's forearm. 
 
 The secret of striking the round blow safely 
 lies in the position of the knuckles. Just as in 
 
10 ETHICS OF BOXING A^TD MANLY SrORT. 
 
 true cutting: with a sword, the elbow and knuckles 
 are the test. Ask an unskilled man to make the 
 '•cut one" with a sabre (from right to left, hori- 
 zontally), and he will, assuredly, cut ii^itli the 
 back of the sivord for two-thirds of the distance. 
 Simply because he keeps his elbow and his 
 knuckles turned up instead of down. And so 
 with all sword-cuts. So, too, with the round 
 blow in boxing. An unskilled boxer v>^ill swing 
 
 DL•CKI^■G THE KOU^D BLOW 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph.) 
 
 the hand obliquely upward, with the palm down- 
 ward or toward his body. Instead, the elbow 
 must be slightly raised, the back of the hand 
 turned toward the body. This brings the sti'ik- 
 ing joints of the hand square in the lead. 
 
 A good l)oxer, in striking the round blow, instead 
 of loosening body and arm, gathers himself into a 
 
ANTIQUITY OF BOXIXG. 11 
 
 heap of muscularity and begins his blow where 
 all l)lows ought to begin, from the solidarity of 
 the ri<>'ht foot. He l^ends the risfht arm into an 
 obtuse angle, the elbow slightly raised from the 
 side, and throws the entire weight of l)ody and 
 momentum of released biceps into the blow. 
 
 Therefore, it may be said, that the last few 
 years have witnessed a greater permanent advance 
 in boxing than any period since the time of John 
 Broughton, who was the British champion from 
 1734 to 1750, and who has been, though not very 
 truly, called ^'the founder of the modern art of 
 self-defence." 
 
 TTI. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF BOXIXG. 
 
 British and Irish athletes have done nuich for 
 boxing ; but an examination of the whole field 
 would lead to the conclusion that ''the modern 
 art of self-defence" is not so modern as some 
 people think. 
 
 Boxino; is the only art of attack and defence 
 Avhich we have as an unl)roken inheritance from 
 the ancients. 
 
 Every weapon used by men has been changed 
 in use and shape within one thousand, much less 
 
12 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 two thousand years. The pike, the bow, the 
 mace, the axe, are abandoned. The only ancient 
 weapon that has not been thrown aside is the 
 sw^ord ; and that has been doubled in length, and 
 used in quite other ways than the Greek and 
 Roman use. 
 
 There is a close relationship between the history 
 of the sword and that of boxino;. 
 
 Both Greek and Roman used the short sword 
 (average of about twenty inches) undoubtedly as 
 a stabbing weapon — as distinct from a cutting 
 w^eapon. The only weapon obviously used for 
 cutting among the ancients was the curved sword 
 of the Lacedaemonians and the Irish, specimens 
 of which can be seen in the Royal Irish Academy 
 Museum, and which almost exactly resembled the 
 present scimetar of the Persians. 
 
 All the gladiatorial sword fights of the Romans 
 were with the short, straight sword, like a 
 Scottish claymore ; and when the hapless loser 
 threw up his hands and the people shouted ^'Hoc 
 Habet! " (''He has got it \ ") they knew that the 
 victor had driven his straight weapon between his 
 opponent's ribs. 
 
 But with the northern conquest of Rome the 
 use of the straight sword, or rather the use of the 
 point as the principal means of attack, practically 
 disappeared for over a thousand years, and when 
 
ANTIQUITY OF BOXING. 
 
 13 
 
 it came again, it was in tiie long, light rapier play 
 of the Italian and French schools of fence. 
 
 Bat all this time the boxing skill of Greek and 
 lionian must have come traditionally and practi- 
 cally down from fother to son, the only change 
 being in the dropping of the hand-weights and 
 bandages. 
 
 GREEK BOXERS WITH THE TESTUS. 
 
 When Pollux obtained the boxing victory at the ^ 
 Pythian games, he wore gloves or leathern ban- 
 dages filled with lead and iron. When Sullivan 
 defeats his man, he uses soft gloves filled with 
 curled hair. This is the chano-e of time and ^ 
 judgment. The latter is the better test. A 
 chance blow from the heavy cestus cracked a 
 
14 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 man's skull or broke his arm. There are no 
 chance blows in a first-rate modern fio-ht with 
 li'loves. 
 
 But, so far as we can find, the " set-to " of the 
 Greek and Roman boxers was not unlike modern 
 pugilism. The records are rather v^ague as to the 
 ancient manner of aivino; and ofuardino; blows, but 
 there are some writings and numerous drawings 
 and carvings showing that the position and action 
 of the engaged boxers were precisely then as they 
 are to-day. 
 
 In a Greek drawing' of ])oxers with the cestus 
 now before me, one of the men stands in a most 
 approved modern attitude, the left foot and hand 
 advanced, the left arm slightl}^ bent, and the 
 right arm held across the lower chest, just as a 
 careful boxer of to-day covers ''the wind" or 
 " the point." 
 
 The Greeks were the first boxers. Pugilism 
 appears to have been one of the Cxarliest distinc- 
 tions in play and exercise that appeared between 
 the Hellenes and their Asiatic fathers. The 
 unarmed personal encounter was indicative of a 
 sturdier manhood. The suppleness and adroit- 
 ness of the Oriental were supplanted l)y the 
 heavier build and more direct attack of the 
 European. 
 
 The modern Enolishman claims for his country 
 
ANTIQUITY or BOXING, 
 
 15 
 
 the invention of the art of boxing, at least with 
 skill and l)are hands. 
 
 ''^ James Figg was the father of l)oxing/' says 
 " The History of British Boxing," and " Brough- 
 ton was the first man who tauo:ht counterino- and 
 parrying and bending to escape a 1)lo\v." This^ 
 claims quite too much. 
 
 Two thousand five hun- 
 dred years ago Greek 
 boxers used only their 
 bare hands. They did 
 nothing rudely, or in- 
 completely, in Greece ; 
 and their exercise must ^ 
 have been much the same ' ^ 
 as ours. Later, as the 
 contests at the o-reat na- 
 tional games of Greece 
 became fiercely earnest, 
 the hands and arms were 
 
 surrounded with thongs of leather, at first reach- 
 ing to the wrists, like our '' hard gloves," then 
 carried up to the elbow, and afterward extending 
 up to the shoulder, the hands being heavily 
 weighted and knobbed with lead and iron. 
 
 The cestus of the Greeks, copied by the 
 Komans, was a dreadful boxino; olove, or o-aunt- 
 let, composed of raw-hide thongs and metal. 
 
 ■^((^(VJ )\ 
 
 RAW-HIDE CESTUS FROM 
 HERCULANEITM. 
 
16 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 A tremendous cestus, found in Herculaneum, 
 was composed of several thicknesses of raw 
 hide fastened together and rounded on the 
 edge. Holes were cut through for the fingers, 
 and the thumb overhipped the side. 
 
 It is evident from this cestus that there were no 
 "straight blows" in Greek boxing when it was 
 used. A ''straight counter" would obviously 
 break the striker's fingers, for the striking point 
 is inside the raw-hide plates. This cruel boxing 
 o'love could onlv have been used for round blows, 
 or for the absurd old English blow called ''the 
 chopper," which was delivered by the l)ack of the 
 hand in an outward and downward swing. 
 
 THE RO^^'D CESTL: 
 
 Here (as Greek art tells us) is the form of 
 cestus used by Tollux, one of the twin brothers 
 who " fought their way like Hercules himself to 
 a seat on Mt. Olympus." 
 
 These twins, the Dioscuri, presided over all 
 Greek games. Castor being the god of equestrian- 
 ism, Pollux the god of boxing. 
 
ANTIQUITY OF BOXING. 17 
 
 In those golden days, Amycus, son of Neptune, 
 was king of the Bebryces, and he was a famous / 
 boxer with the cestus; indeed, he called himself 
 " the champion of the world/' He kept a stand- 
 ins; challeno:e to all comers. When the Aim)- 
 nauts were o^oins: to Colchis for the 2;olden fleece, 
 they touched at the port of Amycus, and were 
 received most kindly by the king, who was evi- 
 dently " spoiling for a fight." He told his guests 
 after dinner that he could -'knock out "any boxer 
 in Greece or elsewhere ; that he could, as modern 
 challengers express it, ''send them to sleep." 
 
 Amono' the Aro^onauts was Pollux, who had 
 lately been w^inning the first prizes at the Pythian 
 games. He accepted the challenge, not knowing 
 that it was the custom of Amycus to kill his man 
 with a foul blow. The fight came ofi*, and it was 
 a resolute controversy. Amycus tried all his 
 skill and strength to deliver his wicked blow, but 
 now he had met a mighty man. At last Amycus 
 tried to get in his deadly stroke by a trick, and 
 this roused the wrath of Pollux, who straightway 
 killed the unfair fighter, and bound his body to a 
 tree. The form of cestus on the preceding page is 
 from an antique bronze representing the battle. 
 
18 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE ATHLETES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 The term ''athlete" was applied in Greece 
 only to those who contended in the public games 
 for prizes, exclusive of musical and other contests 
 where bodily strength was not needed. It was 
 not applied to what we call amateurs, or those 
 who exercised without the incentive of a prize. 
 The ' ' athletes " were the distinct forerunners of 
 the trained lighting men who became a profes- 
 sional class in Greece (400-300 b. c). It was 
 not the value of the prizes themselves which led 
 men to devote their lives to athletic exercises. 
 That was at most very insignificant. But, from 
 the heroic legends of competitions for prizes, 
 such as those at the funeral of Patroclus, from 
 the great antiquity of the four national games 
 of Greece (the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean 
 and Isthmian, with the local Panathen^ea at 
 Athens) , and from the high social position of the 
 competitors in early times, there gradually be- 
 came attached to each victory in one of these 
 games so much glory that the townsmen of a 
 victor were ready to, and frequently did, erect a 
 
THE ATHLETES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 19 
 
 statue to him, receive him in triumph, and care 
 for him the rest of his life. 
 
 The actual prizes offered at the Greek national 
 o;ames were of no intrinsic value. The hiirhest 
 reward was the sense of having done well. At 
 the Olympian games the victor was crowned with 
 olive ; at the Pythian games, with laurel ; at the 
 Nemean games, with parsley ; and at the Isthmian 
 games with pine. 
 
 But though the Greek games, in this respect, 
 favorably compare with the gambling and greed 
 of our modern race-course or other contest, the 
 reward of the victor was not wholly comprised in 
 his olive crown, or his sense of glory. The suc- 
 cessful athlete received splendid rewards. At 
 the Olympic games, a herald proclaimed to the 
 multitude the winner's name, his parentage, and 
 his country ; the priests took from a table of ivory 
 and gold the olive crown and placed it on his head, 
 and in his hand a l)ranch of palm ; as he marched 
 in the sacred procession to the Temple of Zeus, 
 his admirers showered flowers in his path, and 
 costly gifts, and sang the old A^ictor song of 
 Archilochus. His name was then inscribed in the 
 Greek Calendar. ''Fresh honors and rewards 
 awaited him on his return home," says F. Storr. 
 ''If he was an Athenian, he received, accordin^: 
 to the law of Solon, five hundred drachmae, and 
 
20 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 free rations for life in the Prytaneum ; if a Spar- 
 tan, he had the post of honor in battle. Great poets 
 like Pindar, Simonides, and Euripides sung his 
 praises, and sculptors like Phidias and Praxiteles 
 were enirao'ed by the State to carve his statute. 
 . . . Altars were built, and sacrifices offered 
 to a successful athlete." 
 
 No wonder, then, that an Olympian prize was 
 regarded as the crown of human happiness. 
 
 Cicero tells the story of Diagoras of Ehodes, 
 who, having himself won a first prize at Olympia, 
 and seen his two sons crowned as winners on the 
 same day, was addressed by a Laconian in these 
 words: ''Die, Diagoras, for thou hast nothing 
 short of divinity to desire." Alcibiades, when 
 declaring his services to the State, puts first his 
 victory at Olympia, and the prestige he had won at 
 Athens for his magnificent display. 
 
 But, perhaps, the most remarkable evidence of 
 the value the Greeks attached to athletic powers 
 is a casual expression of Thucydides, when de- 
 scribing the enthusiastic reception of Brasidas at 
 Scione. ''The Government," he says, " voted 
 him a crown of gold, and the multitude flocked 
 round him and decked him with garlands, as 
 though he icere an athlete,'' 
 
THE TRAINING OF GREEK ATHLETES. 21 
 
 THE TRAINING OF GREEK ATHLETES. 
 
 Against specially trained athletes the better 
 class of Greek citizens refused to compete, and the 
 lists of the public games being thus left practically 
 open to professionals, training became more a 
 matter of system and stud}', particularly in regard 
 to diet, \yhich was rigorously prescribed for the 
 athletes by a public functionary. 
 
 At one time the principal food of Greek athletes 
 consisted of fresh cheese, dried figs, and wheaten 
 bread. Afterward meat was introduced, gener- 
 ally beef or pork; but the bread and meat were 
 taken separateh^ the former at breakfast and the 
 latter at dinner. Except in wine, the quantity 
 was unlimited, and the capacity of some of the 
 heavy weights must have been enormous, if such 
 stories are true as those about Milo. 
 
 Milo was not a boxer, but a wrestler. He was 
 six times victor at the Olympian games. He was 
 a o^reat soldier, a successful ixeneral. He carried 
 a four-vear-old heifer on his shoulders throuo'h 
 Ol3"mpia, and afterward eat the whole of it in one 
 day. Poor Milo, strong' as he was, died horribly 
 
22 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 in the end. Passing through a forest one day, he 
 saw the trunk of a tree that had been partially 
 split open. He tried to rend it farther, but the 
 wood closed on his hands, and while he was thus 
 held he was devoured by wolves. 
 
 The training of Greek athletes consisted, beside 
 the ordinary gymnastic exercises of the jpalcestra, 
 in carrvinof heavv loads, liftino' weights, bendins: 
 iron rods, striking at a suspended leather sack 
 filled with sand or flour, taming bulls, etc. 
 Boxers had to practise delving the ground to 
 strengthen their upper limbs. The competitions 
 open to athletes were in running, leaping, throw- 
 ing the discus, wrestling, boxing, and the Pan- 
 cratium, or a combination of boxina' and wrestlino:. 
 
 Victory in this last was the highest achieve- 
 ment of an athlete, and was reserved only for 
 men of extraordinary strength. The competitors 
 were naked, haAdniif their bodies salved with oil. 
 
 An athlete could begin his career as a boy in 
 contests set apart for boys. He could appear 
 again as a youth against his equals, and, though 
 always unsuccessful, could go on competing until 
 the aae of thirtv-live, Avlien he was debarred, it 
 being assumed that after that period of life, he 
 could not improve. The most celebrated Greek 
 athletes whose names have been handed down, 
 beside those al)ove mentioned, are Milo, Hippos- 
 
THE SACRED GAMES OF GREECE. 23 
 
 thenes, Hercules, Eryx, Anteeus, Epeus, Eiiry- 
 alus, Entellus, Polydamus, Promachus and Glau- 
 cus. 
 
 Cyreiie, famous in the time of Pindar for its 
 athletes, appears to have still maintained its repu- 
 tation to at least the time of Alexander the Great, 
 for in the British Museum are to be seen six prize 
 vases carried off from the games at Athens by 
 natives of that district. These vases, found in the 
 tombs of the winners, are made of clay, and are 
 painted on one side with a representation of the 
 contest in which they were won, and on the other 
 side with a figure of Pallas Athenae, with an in- 
 scription telling where they were gained, and in 
 some cases addino- the name of the mao:istrate of 
 Athens, from which the exact year can be obtained. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE SACRED GAMES OF GREECE. 
 
 It is not to be doubted that the Greek boxers 
 attained to a hi2:h dei>'ree of skill in counterinof 
 and parrying. No awkward or unskilled athletes 
 were allowed to appear at the Olympian or other 
 national shames, where boxins: was one of the five 
 
24 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 principal exercises. At the Olympian games, the 
 order was leaping, running, throwing, boxing, 
 
 wrestlins:. 
 
 It may be truly said that the supremacy of 
 Greece as the teacher of the AVestern and North- 
 ern world in all the higher forms of civilization, 
 was inthnately related to the marvellous compe- 
 tition of physical and intellectual manhood in 
 these great sacred games. So profoundly was the 
 Greek mind affected by the games, which were held 
 every four years at Olympia, that time was divided 
 into Olympiads, and this method of reckoning 
 continued for many centuries. 
 
 Prizes at these games were given not only for 
 athletic exercises, but for music, singing, oratory, 
 and poetry. Herodotus read his history at the 
 Olympic, and Orpheus won the first prize for 
 music at the Pvthian o-ames. Alcibiades, the 
 Athenian scholar, soldier, ruler, says Plutarch, 
 was the most successful and the most magnificent 
 in his exercises of all that ever contended in these 
 games. He obtained at one solemnity (the Olym- 
 pic, which lasted five days), the first, second, and 
 fourth prizes for chariot-racing. 
 
 There is a lesson for moderns in these national 
 irames of Greece. There was no other occasion 
 on which the Greek was so forcil)ly impressed 
 with the i>lory of his own race and nationalitv. 
 
THE SACRED GAMES OF GREECE. 25 
 
 The games were opened to all Greeks. There 
 was no exemption — except for women. 
 
 There was a risrorous law that if any woman 
 was found so much as to have passed the river 
 Alplieus during the Olympian games, she was to 
 be thrown headlong: from a rock ; and this con- 
 tinned until Pherenice, who went diso;uised to 
 attend on her son while he wrestled, \vas appre- 
 hended and tried. She vras acquitted, out of re- 
 spect to her father, brothers and son, who had all 
 won first prizes at the games. Afterward women 
 were admitted, and then even contended at the 
 games. C^aiisca, the daughter of Archidamus, 
 was the first woman who was crowned at Olym- 
 pia ; and after her, many women, especially those 
 of Macedonia, were crowned as the winners of 
 prizes. 
 
 The Eomans also excluded Avomen ; but Augus- 
 tus allowed them to witness the o-ladiatorial fio:hts, 
 and assio-ned them a place in the hi^'hest seats of 
 the amphitheatre. 
 
 Eich and poor among the Greeks were allowed 
 to enter on the same terms. The preparatory 
 course was long, arduous, and not to be escaped. 
 Every competitor Avas obliged to give ten months' 
 traininof before he Avas alloAved to enter thea^ames. 
 The public gymnasium Avas at El is, and thither 
 the competitors had to go for the ten months of 
 training. 
 
26 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 This rule was so important that if a man won a 
 prize and it was then found that he had evaded 
 any portion of this long training, the prize was 
 given to his opponent, thus showing the value laid 
 upon the continuous physical education l)y those 
 in authority. 
 
 To ofuard as^ainst o-amblino- and dishonorable 
 
 G f:^ o jt; 
 
 practices, contenders had to swear that they had 
 fulfilled the conditions of entering ; and they, 
 their fathers and brethren took, also, a solemn 
 oath, that they would not, hy an unfair or un- 
 lawful means, endeavor to stop or interfere with 
 the proceedings of the games. 
 
 It is not likely that athletes trained in this 
 manner were inferior boxers, nor that they were 
 ignorant of such primary principles as countering 
 and parr\^ing. 
 
 YII. 
 
 THE SKILL OF GREEK BOXERS. 
 
 It is easy to prove that the Greek was a master 
 not only of the straight-counter (which any man 
 Avho used a short, straight sword would naturally 
 learn), but of the cross-counter, one of the most 
 skilful and effective blows known to modern 
 boxins:. 
 
THE SKILL OF GREEK BOXERS. 27 
 
 In Homer's time, the cross-counter, which is 
 supposed to be comparatively a recent discovery 
 in pugilism, was clearly understood. Let any one 
 who understands boxing follow the movements in 
 this description by Homer of the l:)are-handed 
 fight between Ul3^sses and the ruflSan Irus. The 
 ruffian, a giant in size, has grossly insulted 
 Ulysses, wdio is in disguise, and a ring is formed 
 by a lot of idlers eao-er to see a fioht. 
 
 The bully, Irus, like all bullies, is a coward. 
 He has watched Ulysses stripping, and is terrified 
 when he realizes the kind of man he has aroused. 
 But he is dragged to the scratch, and as they face 
 each other, Ulvsses, distrusted at his crino^ini>: 
 cowardice, concludes that he is not worth killing, 
 and that he will only ''knock him out.'' Just 
 then Irus strikes out savagely — he " led with his 
 left," in the parlance of the gymnasium. We 
 know it was his left, because the blow fell on 
 Ulysses' right shoulder. Says Homer, who evi- 
 dently knew just what he was describing : 
 
 *' On his right shoulder Irus laid his stroke; 
 Ulysses struck him just beneath the ear, 
 His jawbone broke, and made the blood appear; 
 When straight he strewed the dust." 
 
 Now, this was a straio:ht-cross-counter, accu- 
 rately described, and it tells a whole story of 
 striking and parrying, as we shall see presently. 
 
28 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Here is another rendering of the same fight from 
 Pope's transkition : 
 
 " That instant Irus liis huge arm extends, 
 Full on his shoulder the rude weight descends, 
 The sage Ulysses fearful to disclose 
 The hero latent in the man of woes, 
 Check'd half his might, yet, rising to the stroke, 
 His jawi)one dash'd; the crashing jawbone broke." 
 
 Now, let us analyze this engagement. Irus 
 leads with his left at Ulysses' head, and his blow 
 falls on the ric/Jif ^shoulder. Therefore, Ulysses 
 
 A STRAIGHT CROSS-COUNTER. 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph .) 
 
 did just what to-day Sullivan or Smith would do ; 
 he moved his head to the left, and let the blow- 
 come full on his right shoulder — with a purpose. 
 For he, at the same moment, '' rising to the 
 stroke," crossed Irus' arm with his right, " struck 
 hiin just beneath the ear," broke his jaw, and 
 
THE SKILL OF GREEK BOXERS. 29 
 
 knocked him out. He must have done this, for 
 there was no other way of breaking Irus' jaw. 
 He could not have struck him with his left, for 
 Irus' jaw was nearer to his right. 
 
 This straio'ht cross-counter, which the Greeks 
 knew, is the most effective and the most powerful 
 blow that can be given, except the round blow. 
 
 Of the fight between the heavy-A^eight Epeus 
 and Euryalus, after the funeral of Patroclus, here 
 is a report : 
 
 '^ Him great Tydides urges to contend, 
 Warm with the hopes of conquest for his friend ; 
 Officious with the cincture, girds him round, 
 And to his wrists the gloves of death are bound. 
 Amid the circle now each champion stands, 
 And poises high in air his iron hands; 
 With clashing gauntlets now they fiercely close. 
 Their crackling jaws reecho to the blows. 
 And painful sweat from all their members flows. 
 At length Ei^eus dealt a weighty blow 
 Full on the cheek of his unwary foe ; 
 Beneath the ponderous arms' resistless sway 
 Down dropped he nerveless, and extended lay." 
 
 Here we see that the Greek l)oxer wore a belt 
 like the modern, and that he fouo'ht in a rino- ; but 
 of the details of this fight we can judge nothing. 
 
 There is a boxing match, however, in the 
 ''^Eneid,'' between Dares and the aged Entellus, 
 in which the manner of the fis^ht is 2:iven more 
 clearly, and from which we learn that there was a 
 
30 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 complete system of striking and parrying, and, at 
 least, one of the boxers was an adept at ''ducking " 
 and ' ' o-ettino' away : " 
 
 HE "AYASTES HIS FORCES ON THE WIND.' 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph.) 
 
 This said, Entellus for the fight prepares, 
 Stripped of his quilted coat, his body bares: 
 Composed of mighty bones and brawn he stands, 
 A goodly, towering object on the sands. 
 Then just ^Eneas equal arms supplied, 
 Which round their shoulders to their wrists they tied. 
 Both on the tip-toe stand, at full extent, 
 Their arms aloft, their bodies inly bent; 
 Their heads from aiming blows they bear afar, 
 With clashing gauntlets then provoke the war. 
 Yet equal in success, they ward, they strike. 
 Their w^ays are different, but their art alike. 
 Before, behind, the blows are dealt; around 
 Their hollow sides the rattling thumps resound; 
 
THE GLADIATORS OF 1103IE. 31 
 
 A storm of strokes, well^meantj with fury flies, 
 And errs about their temples, ears, and eyes; 
 Nor always errs, for oft the gauntlet draws 
 A sweeping stroke along the crackling jaws. 
 Hoary with age, Entellus stands his ground, 
 But with his warping body wards the wound. 
 His hand and watchful eye keep even pace, 
 While Dares traverses and shifts his jjlace, 
 With hands on high, Entellus threats the foe; 
 But Dares watched the motion from below, 
 
 1 And slipped aside, and shunned the long- descending blow. 
 
 I Entellus ivastes his forces on the ivind, 
 And, thus deluded of the stroke designed, 
 Headlong and heavy fell." 
 
 There was much more than rude " give-and- 
 take " in this fight. It was skilful boxing, even 
 from a modern stand-point. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE GLADIATOKS OF ROME. 
 
 Among the Romans, fond as they were of 
 exhibitions of physical skill and strength, the pro- 
 fession of athlete was entirely an exotic, and was, 
 even under the empire, with difficulty transplanted 
 from Greece. The svstem, and the athletes them- 
 selves, were always purely Greek. 
 
 The vicious luxury of imperial Rome had de- 
 graded the gymnasium into the circus, and the 
 
32 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 athlete into the o-ladiator. The o'ladiatorial shows 
 of the emperors were sign enough that a cruel 
 and abominable power was preparing for its own 
 destruction. 
 
 The first o'ladiatorial shows were exhibited in 
 the Forum Boarium, 2(34 B.C., by IMarcus and 
 Decimus Brutus, at the funeral of their father. 
 This was an evident survival of the still more 
 ancient custom of sacrificing slaves and prisoners 
 on the graves of illustrious chieftains. Only three 
 pairs fought on this occasion ; but the taste grew 
 like fire for these shows, and the number of com- 
 batants increased rapidly. Titus Flaminius, in 
 174 B.C., celebrated his father's obsequies by 
 a three-da vs' fio-ht with seventv-four o:ladiators. 
 Julius Ciiesar exhibited three hundred pairs in 
 one show ; and during the later years of the 
 republic the gladiators had grown so powerful, 
 every nobleman employing a body-guard of them, 
 that they kept the city in a state of constant peril 
 and unrest. 
 
 Under the empire, notwithstanding prohibitory 
 laws, the passion for the gladiatorial shows 
 steadily increased. One hundred pairs was the 
 fashionable number for a private entertainment. 
 It was a debauch of blood and cruelt3^ The vile 
 Claudius would sit in his chair of state from 
 morning till night, watching the bloody work, 
 
THE GLADIATORS OF ROME. 33 
 
 and descendina' now and then to ur<re the hesi- 
 tatino' fio'hters, who were at once monsters and 
 victmis. Under Xei*o, senators, and even women 
 of the noble families, appeared as combatants. 
 Titus ordered a gladiatorial show that lasted a 
 hundred days ; and Trajan, in one triumphal show, 
 exhibited five thousand pairs of gladiators. 
 Domitian, at the Saturnalia of 90 A.D., ordered 
 a battle between dwarfs and women. It was over 1 
 a hundred years later (200 A.D.) that a law w^as 
 passed against female gladiators. 
 
 Throughout the whole Roman empire had 
 spread this horrible passion for human conflict to 
 the death. ''From Britain to Syria/' says F. 
 Storr, '^ there Avas not a town of any size that 
 could not boast its arena and annual games." The 
 following inscription from the pedestal of a statue 
 shows the feeling of the provinces : 
 
 '' In four da vs. at Minturuie, he showed eleven 
 pairs of gladiators, who did not cease fighting till 
 one half, all the most valiant men in Campania, 
 had fallen. You remember it well, noble fellows- 
 citizens." 
 
 Gladiators were commonly drawn from prison- 
 ers of war, slaves, or criminals condemned to 
 death. The populace of Rome, drunken with the 
 cruel sights, gloated on every fresh batch of tat- 
 toed Britons who were marched in chains into the 
 
34 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 city. They rejoiced at the sight of Thracians, with 
 their strano-e bucklers, Moors, and Xe^rroes. Even 
 these 2:rew scarce in time ; and then Calio:ula 
 and Xero, to meet the demand for victims, ordered 
 all those auiltv of minor offences, such as fraud, 
 peculation, etc., to take their chances in the arena. 
 Men of birth and fortune, for pure love of fight- 
 ins:, sometimes fouirht as a'hidiators ; and one 
 emperor, Commodus, actually appeared in person 
 in the arena. 
 
 Professional aladiators were trained in schools, 
 owned either by the State or private citizens. It 
 was a legitimate enterprise to ow^n gladiators and 
 hire them out. 
 
 Sometimes a gladiator of great prow^ess became 
 famous ; and then his fortune was made. The 
 great poets praised him, and money and honors 
 were showered on him ; but the horrible trade 
 was detestable to brave men, and yet there w^ere 
 thousands of brave men condemned to it for life. 
 *' AVe cannot forget," says Gibbon, '' the desper- 
 ate courage of about fourscore gladiators, reserved, 
 with near six hundred others, for the inhuman 
 sports of the amphitheatre. Disdaining to shed 
 their blood for the amusement of the populace, 
 they killed their keepers, broke from their place 
 of confinement, and filled Rome with blood and 
 confusion. After an obstinate resistance, they 
 
THE GLADIATOK8 OF KOME. 35 
 
 were overpowered and cut in pieces by the regular 
 forces ; but they obtained, at least, an honorable 
 death and the satisfaction of a just revenge." 
 
 " There are few finer characters in Koman 
 history," says Storr, " than the Thracian Sparta- 
 cus, who escaped from the gladiators' school of 
 Lentulus, at Capua, and for three years defied the 
 leo'ions of Eome." 
 
 The gladiators fought with various weapons ; 
 the Samnites, with a short sword, a plumed 
 hehiiet, and a shield ; the Thracians, with a round 
 buckler and a dao^o'er ; some others with a net and 
 a trident, some with a lasso, and many with the 
 deadly cestus. 
 
 The public interest in the shows may be judged 
 from the fact that in the Circus Maximus there 
 were seats for three hundred and fifty thousand ; 
 or, as Juvenal says, ''it held the whole of 
 Rome." 
 
 When the debauched people tired of merely 
 human blood, the wilds of the w^orld were ran- 
 sacked for Vv41d beasts to fio-ht with each other 
 and with the gladiators. The generals and pro- 
 consuls were ordered in far countries to purchase 
 giraffes, tigers, lions, and crocodiles! Sulla, in a 
 single show, had one hundred lions. Pompey had 
 six hundred lions, besides elephants, which fought 
 Gaetulian hunters. When the Colosseum was 
 opened nine thousand beasts were killed ! 
 
30 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 The cestus of the Roman gladiators was even 
 more terrible than that of the Greeks. In Greece 
 the end desired was skill and courage and strength ; 
 in Rome the desire was for death. The death of 
 an antagonist, unless l)y accident, was severely 
 punished in Greece ; hut in Rome the sooner the 
 irladiator killed his man the better. 
 
 All the great writers and speakers of Rome 
 praised and approved the gladiatorial shows, in- 
 cludino' Cicero, Pliny, and even the good Marcus 
 Aurelius. The first word against the shows was 
 spoken l)y the Christian fathers, Tertullian, Lac- 
 tantius, Cyprian, and Augustine. 
 
 The first Christian emperor of Rome abolished 
 the games by an edict, in 325 A. D. ; but they 
 continued down to the time of St. Augustine. 
 To a Christian martyr, Telemachus, belongs the 
 honor of their final abolition. In 404, tliere 
 came from the East on this sacred mission a monk 
 named Telemachus. When the terrible fight was 
 most intense, he rushed into the arena, and en- 
 deavored to separate the combatants. He was 
 instantly killed, by order of the praetor; but the 
 Emperor Honorius, on hearing the report, abol- 
 ished the o'ames, which were never afterwards 
 revived. 
 
FEUDALISM SUPPRESSED POPULAR ATHLETICS. 37 
 
 IX. 
 
 FEUDALISM SUPPRESSED POPULAR ATHLETIC 
 EXERCISES. 
 
 With the advent of chivahy, the art of boxing 
 waned. The evolution of feudal aristocracy, with 
 other and widely different exercises, pastimes and 
 weapons from those of the common people, made 
 boxino; unfashionable. 
 
 With the advance of feudalism came the growth 
 of iron armor, until, at last, a fighting-man resem- 
 bled an armadillo. He was iron-clad from top 
 to toe. His weapons had changed accordingly. 
 The short sword of the Greek and Roman sol- 
 dier, good for a stout hand-to-hand fight, was 
 replaced by a long and heavy blade and a ponder- 
 ous iron-spiked mace. 
 
 Boxing in those days came to be regarded as 
 mere child's play, or as the rude pastime of the 
 vulgar. 
 
 The baron was a mounted man, who jousted 
 with a ten-foot lance, and fought dismounted with 
 an axe, or a sword five or six feet long, double- 
 hilted, weighing from eight to twelve pounds. 
 
 The student of sociology will find in the his- 
 
38 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 toiy of the sword alone a key to the political and 
 social classifications of Europe, and, probably, 
 of Asia also, could we trace the evolution of its 
 military arms and methods. 
 
 In all countries and times where the common 
 man was ready and able to fight, singly and com- 
 bined, freedom was at its hi'ohest. The ability of 
 the common man to assert himself is everywhere 
 and always the measure of popular liberty. 
 
 The a'rowtli of armaments and o'overnments 
 everywhere corresponds with the decrease of per- 
 sonal and popular freedom. This may be fol- 
 lowed from the fist, staff', or knife of the peasant 
 or mechanic, to the sword of the *' gentleman," the 
 lance, horse, and armor of the lord, the multiplied 
 muskets of the king, and the Krupp guns and 
 iron-clads of the emperor. 
 
 The knowing: how to fiaht makes common men 
 self-reliant and independent. A people are pre- 
 paring for their own subjection to a class, or 
 a tyranny, Avhere a oeneration is allowed to ^tow 
 up without physical training and emulation. 
 
 It has always been the aim of royalty and aris- 
 tocracy to lower the individual liberty and inde- 
 pendence of the common people. 
 
 A baron and a minute-man could not breathe 
 the same air. 
 
 Every boy in a free country ought to l)e in- 
 
FEUDALISM SUPPRESSED POPULAR ATHLETICS. 39 
 
 structed in boxing, wrestling and the use of 
 weapons. Every young man ought to be drilled. 
 Every householder ought, at least, to have a right 
 to own a rifle, and should know how to make 
 cartrido'es. Then the moral forces will cement 
 the popular self-respect and independence into a 
 solid wall of civilization. 
 
 Nothing could better illustrate the helplessness 
 of a people taken by surprise by a small, well- 
 organized, and usurping class, than the invasion 
 and conquest of England by the Normans. These 
 foreign land robbers seized the surface of the 
 country, which they hold to this day. Thej^ took 
 possession of fields and farmers together, built 
 their frowming towers on the hills and passes, 
 organized and exercised their own forces, and set 
 about a complete and permanent disorganization 
 and disarmament of the Eno:lish masses. 
 
 Their first step in this direction was the aboli- 
 tion of warlike exercises, games, and customs. 
 The basis of Eno'lish libertv was the ancient sys- 
 tem of ivapental:e^ which was equivalent to the 
 town meeting of New England. (AVere this the 
 place to consider it, the similarity of these two 
 truly English systems of home rule might be 
 interestingly treated ) Under the system of 
 \iKi][)entcike ^ every community in Saxon England 
 selected its own local aovernment, and knew^ no 
 
40 ETHICS OF BOXING AXD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 other rulino* but that of the kino's iudaes. The 
 political unit was a family, not a person. Ten 
 families were called a tythino-, thirty a trything, 
 one hundred a township called In' that name. 
 These old Saxon divisions still exist in the " rid- 
 ino's" (trvthino's) and ''hundreds'' of the northern 
 English counties. 
 
 The local authority was settled yearlv, each 
 family of the hundred sending its head to a meet- 
 inof, where one was selected as the leader or 
 justice of the community. When this selection 
 was made, the selectman lowered his spear, and 
 all the others came forward and touched it with 
 their own. 
 
 This was the icapentake, or weapon-touch ; and 
 I there was no higher authority than this in Saxon 
 England, except the king. 
 
 The system of iixipentcike was abolished in the 
 following manner : the Conqueror William divided 
 England into sixty thousand shares, or shires^ to 
 each of which was appointed a Xorman knight as 
 owner and lord. This was the formal introduc- 
 tion into England of the feudal system, in 108G, 
 by the Great Council of the realm, assembled at 
 Sarum. 
 
 As soon as the Xorman knia'hts took their shires 
 these became the political units instead of the 
 hundreds, and to each of these they appointed a 
 
FEUDALISM SUPPRESSED POPULAPt ATHLETICS. 41 
 
 king's officer to tiike the place of the selectman 
 of the irapentalxe. The king^s officer was called 
 a sherift' (from the words shire and reeve, or 
 keeper). 
 
 The leaderless English people were without 
 organization or national purpose. They had to 
 submit and see their ancient and beloved customs 
 and lil^erties trodden under foot. 
 
 Then their new masters, the knights, set about 
 quietly disarming the people. They also discoun- 
 tenanced all popular military customs, and even 
 the usual athletic exercises and o-ames. 
 
 Within a single generation the people had ren- 
 dered up their arms and local rights to the 
 knights, who were bound only to help the king 
 in his wars. 
 
 Before the conquest, every Englishman was a 
 spearman or bowman, and quarter-staff and other 
 lusty exercises w rre the common pastime of the 
 people. That was the time when England was 
 called, and deservedlv, '' Merrie Enoland." 
 
 Addison, writing about popular exercises 
 {'' Spectator," Xo. 161), alludes to ^'an old stat- 
 ute which o))liged every man in England, having 
 such an estate, to keep and exercise the longbow ;" 
 by which means, he says, ''our ancestors excelled 
 all other nations in the use of that weapon, and 
 we had all the real advantages without the incon- 
 venience of a stcinding army." 
 
42 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Under the Norman landlords the sports and 
 exercises of the common Englishman were de- 
 graded into rudeness, until ''Hodge," the name 
 his insolent master gave him and still gives him, 
 knew nought of athletic skill except a crude form 
 of wrestling with body-holds. The bow, the pike, 
 or spear, and even the quarter-staff, were taken 
 from him, and the skilful use of these weapons was 
 forgotten in the land. 
 
 The knight wanted no fighting men except 
 those whom he enlisted and trained for his own 
 or the king's service. The others had better be 
 unskilled, unlearned, undisciplined and uncouth 
 breeders and producers of the necessary wealth 
 from the soil, menials and payers of land-rent^ 
 
 This degradation of manly and military exer- 
 cises continued in England for six centuries. It 
 began to change only in the early part of the last 
 century. 
 
 In Ireland it continues still. ''There are no 
 boxers in Ireland," said a travelled athlete to me 
 the other day. No ; the landlord government has 
 been able to continue the Irish popular disorgani- 
 zation. Foot-ball, hurling, wrestling, and boxing 
 were frozen out. When Donnelly defeated tlie 
 English champions in the early part of this cen- 
 tury, it was considered a dangerous example and 
 precedent for Irishmen ; and from that time the 
 
THE FIRST MODERN CHAMPION BOXER. 43 
 
 people have been legislated, educated, and gov- 
 erned into io^norance of all means of attack and 
 defence, and of evervthino; but work in the fields. 
 
 But within a few years the Irish people have 
 begun resolutely to play the old heroic games of 
 the Gael once more, as their English brothers 
 had long gone back to the manly exercises of the 
 Saxon. 
 
 In the first quarter of the last century, the arts 
 of boxing, sword-play, and quarter-staff were be- 
 ginning to attract public attention in Great Bri- 
 tain and Ireland. But these exercises were in an 
 extremely rude condition. There was, especially 
 for boxing, no unity of knowledge, no well- 
 known teachers, no established rules. The idea 
 of a national championship was not yet born. 
 
 X. 
 
 THE FIRST 3IODERX CHAMPION BOXER. 
 
 In 1719 appears the first English pugilist who 
 can be considered as a national champion. His 
 name was James Figg. He had an ''academy" 
 for manly exercises in Tottenham Court Road, 
 London. 
 
 Like all the boxing masters of that time, and 
 
44 ETHICS OF BOXING AXD MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 for a long time after, Figg was also a professional 
 swordsman and quarter-staif player. His card 
 read as follows : 
 
 JAMES FIGG, 
 
 Master of ye Xoble Science of Defence on 
 ye right hand in Oxford road near Adam & 
 Eve court, teaches gentlemen ye use of ye 
 small backsword and quarterstaff, at home 
 and abroad. 
 
 But in Figg's day (1719-34) boxing had evi- 
 dently not been reduced to any intelligent rules, 
 thouirh his cards professed to teach '' defence 
 scientifically.'' Figg himself was so famous for 
 '^ stops and parries/' that he is mentioned in the 
 ''Tatler," '' Guardian '' and '^ Craftsman," the 
 foremost literary papers of the time. He is de- 
 scribed by Capt. Godfrey, a famous patron of the 
 athletes of his day, as ''a matchless master." 
 "There was a majesty shone in his counte- 
 nance," says Godfrey, " and blazed in all his ac- 
 tions bevond all I ever saw. His rio-ht leg bold 
 and firm, and his left, ichich could hardhj ever 
 he disturbed, gave him surprising advantage, and 
 struck his adversary with despair and panic." 
 The "backsword" of Fio'ir's time still remains 
 
THE FIRST MODERN CHAMPION BOXER. 
 
 45 
 
 a fovorite exercise in Enaland. It is a rude 
 sword-exercise, all cuts and parries, as if the 
 sword had no point. 
 
 One of the mysteries of sword-knowledsfe is 
 the ]eno;th of time which some nations took to 
 learn that the eftective part of the weapon was 
 
 SET-TO. 
 
 the point and not the edge. The point of a 
 sword, durino^ an eno:ao'ement, is never more than 
 two feet from an opponent's body, while the edge 
 for a cuttino:-blow is from four to seven feet (in 
 sweeping cuts, for instance). 
 
46 ETHICS OF B(3X1XG AND MANLY SPOUT. 
 
 Besides the advantage in space and time, the 
 wound of the point is apt to pierce the vitals, 
 while the wound of the ed2:e is a mere surface 
 cut or bruise. 
 
 And yet, how few nations have straightened 
 their sabres and sharpened their points ! 
 
 The absurd old ''backsword" play, with a 
 " hano-ino; o:uard," is the onlv exercise safe for 
 the vile, curved sabres that even American cav- 
 alry are equipped with to-day. 
 
 But in Fia'2''s time, the professional fio'htino- 
 man was really a master-of-weapons. Here, for 
 instance, is a specimen of the usual method of 
 advertising: a coming: fia'ht : — 
 
 " At the Bear Garden in Hockley on the Hole. 
 "A trial of skill to be performed between two profound 
 Masters of the Xobie Science of Defence, on Wednesday next, 
 being this 18th of the instant July, 1T09, at two of the clock 
 precisely. 
 
 ' ' I, George Gray, born in the city of Xorwich, who has 
 fought in many parts of the West Indies, and was never yet 
 worsted, and now lately come to London, do invite James 
 Harris to meet and exercise at these following weapons, viz. : — 
 Back Sword, f Single Falchon 
 
 Sword & Dagger, \ and 
 
 Sword & Buckler, 1 Case of Falchons. 
 "I, James Harris, Master of the ^N'oble Science of Defence, 
 who formerly rid in the Horse-guards, and hath fought a 
 hundred and ten prizes, and never left a stage to any man; will 
 not fail (God willing) to meet this brave and bold Smiter at 
 the time and place appointed, desiring sharp swords and no 
 favor. YivAT Regi^^a." 
 
THE FIRST MODERN CHxVMPION BOXER. 47 
 
 Other challenges, with the above weapons, add 
 the quarter-staff. 
 
 rio:^^ was the first master to include boxins: in 
 his challenges, of which the following is a speci- 
 men : — 
 
 G. 2^S^^mMkS K 
 
 " At Mr. Figg's New Amphitheatre, Joyning to his House, the 
 sign of the City of Oxford, in Oxford Road, Marybone Fields, 
 on Wednesday next, being the eighth of June, 1720, will be 
 perform' d a tryal of skill by the following Masters. 
 
 ''Whereas, I, Edward Sutton, Pipemaker from Gravesend, 
 and Kentish Professor of the Xoble Science of Defence, hav- 
 ing, under a sleeveless Pretence been deny'd a Combat by and 
 with the Extoll'd Mr. Figg, which I take to be occasioned 
 through fear of his having that Glory eclipsed by me, where- 
 with the eyes of all Spectators have been so much dazzled : 
 Therefore, to make appear, that the great applause which has 
 so much puff'd up this Hero has proceeded only from his 
 Foyling such as who are not worthy the name of Swordsmen, 
 as also that he may be without any farther excuse, I do hereby 
 dare the said Mr. Figg to meet as above and dispute with 
 me the Superiority of Judgement with the sword (which will 
 best appear by Cuts etc.,) at all the Weapons he is or shall be 
 then Capable of Performing on the Stage. 
 
 "I, James Figg, Oxonian Professor of the said science, will 
 not fail giving this daring Kentish Champion an Opportunity 
 to make good his Allegations ; when, it is to be hoped, if he 
 finds himself Foyl'd he will then change his Tone, and not 
 think himself one of the Xumber who are not worthy the name 
 of Swordsmen, as he is please to signifie by his Expression: 
 
48 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 However, as the most Significant Way of deciding these Con- 
 troversies is by Action, I sliall defer what I have to Act until 
 the Time above specified; when I sliall take care not to deviate 
 from my usual Custom, in making all such Bravadoes sensible 
 of their Error, as also in giving all Spectators intire satisfaction. 
 "N.B. The doors will be open at Four, and the masters 
 moimt between Six and Seven exactly. 
 
 "YiVAT Rex." 
 
 Thouo'li Fig^a' was, undoubtedly, a notable boxer, 
 he was more a teacher than a fighter, and his en- 
 o^ao'ements were more with swords than fists. 
 
 The first real lighting champion of England, 
 and certainly one of the most influential boxers 
 of the last century, was John, or " Jack " Brough- 
 ton, who is usually placed fifth or sixth on the 
 list of champions. Broughton was a man of 
 splendid physique, just one inch short of six feet, 
 handsome of face and tremendously powerful. 
 He was also gentle and good tempered, Ayhich 
 made him numerous friends. 
 
 XI. 
 
 THE FIRST MODEKX RULES OF THE RIXG. 
 
 Broughton was the first man who made regular 
 rules for modern boxing. Up to his time (and 
 long after it, indeed), a prize-fight was a rough- 
 and-tumble scrimma2:e, in which the men miofht 
 
THE FIRST MODERN RULES OF THE RING. 49 
 
 choke each other, wrestle, butt with the head, trip, 
 and strike a man on his knees. 
 Says the author of ' ' Fistiana " : 
 
 '* The inlmman practices of uncivilized periods have sub- 
 sisted to a disgraceful extent, and hence we have heard of 
 gouging, purring, kicking a man with nailed shoes as he lies 
 on the groiuid, striking him in vital parts below the waistband, 
 seizing him when on his knees, and administering punishment 
 till life be extinct, and a variety of other savage expedients by 
 which revenge or passion has been gratified. In Lancashire, 
 even to this day, when a man is got down he is kept do^^n and 
 punished until incapable of motion — a mode of fighting which 
 is permitted with impunity, unless, indeed, the death of the 
 victim lead to the apprehension and trial of the survivor." 
 
 ' ' Broughton's Rules," as they were called for 
 nearly a century, were " produced for the better 
 regulation of the amphitheatre, approved by the 
 gentlemen, and agreed to by the pugilists, Aug. 
 1743." Theycontmued in force till ^'The New 
 Rules of the Ring" were adopted in 1838. The 
 following were " Broughton's Rules," and they 
 tell their own story : 
 
 "1. That a square yard be chalked in the middle of the stage, 
 from which the men shall begin the fight; and every fresh set- 
 to after a fall or being parted from the rails, each second is to 
 bring his man to the side of the square and place him opposite 
 the other. 
 
 "2. After a fall, if the second does not bring his man to the 
 side of the square within the space of half a minute, he shall 
 be deemed a beaten man. 
 
 "3. That no person shall be upon the stage except principals 
 and seconds. 
 
50 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AXD MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 "4. That no man be deemed beaten unless he fails commg up 
 to the line in the limited time, or that his own second declares 
 him beaten. 
 
 ''5. The winning man to have two-thirds of the money. 
 
 ''6. The principals to choose two umpires, who shall choose 
 a referee. 
 
 '' 7. That no boxer is to hit his adversary when he is down, 
 or seize him by the ham, the breeches, or any part below the 
 waist; a man on his knees to be reckoned down." 
 
 The reo'ard that En2:lishmen had for boxino: in 
 the last century may be judged from an article in 
 the -'Connoisseur" (Aug. 22, 1754). 
 
 " Every man," says the '' Connoisseur," " who 
 has the honor of the British fist at heart must 
 look with admiration on the bottom, the wind, 
 the game of this invincible champion. Slack." 
 
 This praise followed Slack's fight with Petit, a 
 full report of which was published in the " Con- 
 noisseur," which was one of the first literary 
 publications of the period. It is interesting to 
 observe what kind of a fight was this. I quote 
 from the '' Connoisseur : " 
 
 "Harlstox IX XoEFOLK, Julv 30, 1754. 
 
 "Yesterday, in the afternoon. Slack and Petit met and 
 fought. At the first set-to, Petit seized Slack by the throat 
 and held him up against the rails and grained him so much as 
 to make him extremely black. This continued for half a 
 minute, before Slack could break Petit' s hold." 
 
 The fight proceeded in this style. Petit seizing 
 Slack " by the hams," and Slack flinging Petit oflf 
 
THE FIRST MODERX RULES OF THE RING. 51 
 
 the stage, until Petit ran away in terror, and the 
 fiofht was sfiven to Shick. 
 
 Slack was in turn defeated by Stevens, the 
 Nailer, who became champion m 1760. In the 
 report of their fight the winning blow is thus 
 described: ''Stevens, with his ris^ht hand beat 
 Slack about the head, icltiJe at the same time trip- 
 ping him off his centre icith his foot, '^ 
 
 There is nothing particularly interesting in the 
 records of British boxers till the close of the cen- 
 tury. Daniel Mendoza, a Jew, and James Bel- 
 cher, were the most noted names. Then came 
 John Gully, champion from 1805 to 1808, a man 
 who afterward became a member of the British 
 Parliament ; Thomas Cribb, a really remarkable 
 man and a great boxer ; Peter Corcoran, champion 
 of Ireland and England, and Dan Donnelly, 
 champion of Ireland and England. 
 
 The condition of the ''science" at this time 
 may be judged from the fact that there were few 
 crystallized principles of attack or defence. Every 
 man had his own way for doing everything. For 
 instance, the guard of Mendoza was to hold his 
 hands pretty close together, directly opposite his 
 mouth, the back of the hand toward his opponent ; 
 while another famous boxer named Johnson came 
 on guard by planting his legs square, "with his 
 arms held in almost a semi-circular direction be- 
 fore his head." 
 
52 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 XII. 
 
 DONNELLY AND COOPER ON THE CURRAGH ,Or 
 
 KILDARE. 
 
 One of the most famous fights m the history of 
 pugilism was that between the English and Irish 
 champions, George Cooper and Dan Donnelly, 
 which took place on the Curragh of Kildare, in 
 the j^ear 1815. 
 
 Dan Donnelly was one of the greatest boxers 
 ever seen in the ring — a man who, in prowess 
 and other characteristics, much reseml)led John 
 L. Sullivan. He was born m Dublin in 1788. 
 He was a carpenter by trade, and a man of ex- 
 traordinary strength, good temper, generosity, 
 and pluck. He was noted in Dublin for his skill 
 in boxing ; but he was not a professional pugilist. 
 
 In 1814, when Donnelly was twenty-six years 
 old, one of the most famous boxers in England, 
 named Thomas Hall, who had l)eaten Georire 
 Cribl) and other renowned fighters, went to 
 Ireland to make a tour of the countrv, aivino- 
 exhibitions. His advent was proclahiied by an 
 arrogantly worded challenge to ''all Ireland." 
 
 He was checked by findins; that his challenofe 
 
DONNELLY AND COOPER ON THE CURRAGH. 53 
 
 was at once publicly accepted in Dublin by Dan 
 Donnelly, who was " backed " by as much money 
 as was needed. 
 
 This battle attracted international attention. 
 In Ireland the excitement was very great. When 
 the men met on the Curraa'h of Kildare, on the 
 14th of September, 1814, there were over thirty 
 thousand persons present. Both men were cheered 
 when they entered the ring ; and the fi2:ht was fair 
 
 SPAIIRIXG.— A ROUXI) BLOW MISSED. 
 
 (Instantaneous Pliotograph.) 
 
 until Hall, finding himself overmatched, fell several 
 times \yithout a blow, and ultimateh^ raised a cry 
 of " Foul," to cover his complete defeat. From 
 the first round he had failed to make a sino-le 
 point on Donnelly, or to effectually stop one of 
 Donnelly's. 
 
54 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Then George Cooper, the best man in England, 
 was sent from London a^rainst the Irish cham- 
 pi on. 
 
 Cooper had defeated the leadmg boxers of 
 England, including Carter and Thomas Molineux, 
 the negro heavy-weight, and great hopes were 
 founded on his terrible hitting powers. 
 
 The national champions met on the Curragh of 
 Kildare, on the same spot that had witnessed 
 Donnelly's victory over Hall. The place was 
 called then, and will probably be called forever 
 " Donnelly's Hollow." It is at the Newbridge 
 end of the plateau on which the military hats are 
 erected. 
 
 A Boston traveller visited the Curraofh a few 
 months ago, and was taken by a proud native to 
 the scene of the famous battle. " The footsteps 
 of the champions," said this gentleman, the other 
 day, ''are still plainly visible. They are pre- 
 served in this way : every visitor, especially 
 those who love the ' noble art,' puts his feet in 
 the ancient marks, which are thus preserved and 
 deepened in the soft green sod." The positions 
 of the men, as they began the fight, are pointed 
 out. ''And over there," said the guide, "just out- 
 side the ring stood Miss Kelly, who wagered 
 thousands of pounds on Dan Donnelly." 
 
 The battle took place on December 13, 1815, 
 
DONNELLY AND COOPER ON THE CURRAGH. 55 
 
 in the forenoon. In Ireland the excitement over 
 the fight was intense, and to this day the event 
 is a topic of common conversation. On the 
 morning of the fight, the roads around the Cur- 
 ragh of Kildare were choked up with carriages 
 and wagons of all kinds, from the four-in-hand 
 teams of the nobility to the donkey-carts of peas- 
 ants all the way from Cork or Connaught. There 
 was a vast multitude to see the fight, and the 
 profoundest order and good temper prevailed. 
 
 C03IING ! 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph.) 
 
 '* Donnelly's Hollow " is probably one of the 
 most perfect natural amphitheatres in the world. 
 Here, on the sloping hill-sides, could stand or sit 
 a hundred thousand men to behold a dramatic 
 
56 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 scene; and here, on that day, was assembled a 
 orreater crowd than had ever witnessed a boxino; 
 contest since the close of the Olympic games. 
 An English correspondent of the press described 
 Donnelly in these words : 
 
 '' Donnelly at length stripped, amid thunders of applause. 
 The Yenus de Medicis never underwent a more minute scrutiny 
 by the critical eye of a connoisseur than did the champion of 
 Ireland. There is nothing loose or puify about him. He is 
 strong and bony to all intents and purjDoses. He is all muscle. 
 His arms are long and slingy, his shoulders uncommonly fine, 
 particularly when in action, and prominently indicating their 
 punishing quality. His head is a fighting one, his neck athletic 
 and bold ; in height nearly six feet, in weight about thirteen 
 stone, and his tout ensemble that of a boxer with first-rate 
 qualifications. Thus much for his person ; now for his quality. 
 His wind appears to be undebauched ; his style is resolute, firm, 
 and not to be denied. Getting away he either disdains or does 
 not acknowledge in his system of tactics. He makes tremend- 
 ous use of his right hand.^'' 
 
 After a storm-like cheer, the fio;ht beo:an amid 
 deep silence. From the first blow, Donnelly had 
 the advantage. He gained the usual points — 
 first blood and first knock-down. Cooper made 
 a brave and desperate fight, and in the fifth round 
 lie knocked Donnelly off* his feet. In the seventh 
 round Cooper was actually flung into the air by a 
 cross-buttock, and in the eighth was dashed under 
 the ropes by a tremendous left-hander. 
 
 For the next three rounds the result was simi- 
 lar, the eleventh and last round closinoj with a 
 
DONNELLY AND COOPER ON THE CURRAGH. 57 
 
 fearful right-hand blow on Cooper's mouth, which 
 knocked him senseless. 
 
 The battle was awarded to Donnelly, amid the 
 
 CROSS-BUTTOCK. 
 
 cheers of l)oth Irish and English spectators. 
 Donnelly then went to Eno'land and challeno-ed 
 all comers. 
 
58 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 He attracted almost as much attention as Eno;- 
 lislimen have recently given to Sullivan. Tom 
 Cribb undoubtedly had been the leading boxer in 
 his time ; but he had retired from the ring several 
 years before Donnelly's visit to England. 
 
 Eno'land was in straits for a man able to meet 
 Donnell3^ It was looked upon even by the gov- 
 ernment as dangerous, politically, to allow the 
 Irishman to again defeat a British champion. 
 
 At leno:th a strong; and able boxer, Oliver, was 
 found to take up Donnelly's challenge. When 
 the match was made, the chances of the fight 
 filled the Three Kinoxloms once more with matter 
 for earnest discussion. It was said that one 
 hundred thousand pounds (five hundred thousand 
 dolhirs) were laid in bets on the battle. Every 
 man in Ireland who had a pound to spare backed 
 Dan Donnelly; and the ''nobility and gentry" 
 stood open-handed behind Oliver. 
 
 The national battle came off' on July 21, 1819, 
 within thirty miles of London. ''Donnelly, on 
 stripping," says the English report, " exhibited 
 as fine a picture of the human frame as can well 
 be imagined ; indeed, if a sculptor had wished a 
 living model to display the action of the muscles, 
 a finer subject than Donnelly could not have been 
 found. Oliver was equally fine. . . . He dis- 
 
BONNELLr AND COOPER OX THE CURRAGH. 59 
 
 played flesh as firm as a rock. . . . Oliver 
 had never been in so good condition before." 
 
 It ^vas a brave and desperate contest. As 
 usual, Donnell}^ knocked his man down in the 
 first round; drew " first blood" in the second. 
 In the seventh round, Oliver knocked Donnelly 
 down, and this was almost his only successful 
 point. Round after round ended in the same way 
 — ''Oliver down." In the thirteenth round, 
 when Oliver lay helpless on the ropes, Donnelly 
 threw up his hands, so as not to be tempted to 
 strike him, and for this he received a great cheer. 
 " Very handsome ! " " Bravo, Donnelly ! " In 
 the first hour there were thirty rounds fought, for 
 the last four of which Oliver was oainino- strens^th ; 
 but in the opening of the second hour Donnelly 
 had got his " second wind," and " his eye began 
 to blaze," though, says the English report, ''he 
 was as cool as a cucumber." The next three 
 rounds were Donnelly's, and then the Englishmen 
 stopped betting and cheering. But they showed 
 fair play throughout the fight ; he is a poor kind 
 of an Englishman who does not love fair play in a 
 boxino; match. Several times when " foul " was 
 cried against Donnelly, and when, indeed, it 
 might have been allowed by an umpire bent on 
 ending the fight on a technicality, both umpire 
 and crowd shouted: "It is all ri^rht. Go on 
 
60 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MAXLY SPORT . 
 
 Donnelly !" In the thirty-fourth round, Donnelly 
 cross-countered Oliver with terrific force, striking 
 him on the lower jaw ; then while he was dazed 
 Donnelly whirled him over the ring with a cross- 
 buttock ; and Oliver's seconds carried him oft' 
 insensible. The fight w^as given to Donnelly, 
 who was scarcely marked, and who immediately 
 dressed himself and went off to see another fio'ht. 
 
 It was said, and believed by many, that Dan 
 Donnelly, shortly after this fight, was knighted 
 by the rollicking Prince of Wales. At any rate, 
 ever afterward he was called " Sir Dan." He 
 died in 1820, from taking a drink of cold water 
 after a hard sparring bout. He was only thirty- 
 two vears of ao'e. 
 
 The last century saw^ pugilism raised in Eng- 
 land and Ireland from barbarous rudeness to a 
 hiah de«:ree of skill. I have l)efore me the 
 ''Manual of Self-Defence," as taught by Daniel 
 Mendoza, who was champion of England in 1784. 
 
 Mendoza was a renowned boxer, for skill, and 
 it is interesting to study the contents of his 
 manual. 
 
 First, his guard consisted of holding both fists 
 opposite the chin, close together, elbows down- 
 ward, the legs slightly bent ; left leg foremost ; 
 right foot toward the right, not directly behind ; 
 weight of the body on iha foremost leg. 
 
DONNELLY AND COOPER ON THE CURRAGH. 61 
 
 The blows taught by Mencloza were of three 
 kinds — '^ round, straight, and chopping blows." 
 The round blow he considered the unskilled ef- 
 fort ; and, strange to say, he depended most on 
 the silly " chopi>er," W'ith the back of the hand, 
 from al)ove downward, a blow that no sane boxer 
 would attempt to-day, except in fun. The straight 
 blows were for the face and " wind." 
 
 There is not a w^ord in the Manual about the 
 
 CROSS-COU>'TERED. 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph.) 
 
 cross -counter, the upper-cut, or the scientific 
 round blow, — the three best blows of modern 
 boxins:. 
 
 In Mendoza's time, ''gouging," that is, scoop- 
 ing out the eyes of an opponent, w^as constantly 
 practised ; and, in other respects, the prize-ring 
 was a place of cruel and barbarous practices. 
 
62 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Only six races or nations have produced natural 
 boxers, — the Greeks, the Jews, tlie Negroes, the 
 English, the Irish, and the Americans. 
 
 Within a century, the Jewish race has sent out 
 some famous boxers ; amons; them Daniel Men- 
 doza, once champion of England ; and " Barney " 
 Aaron, one of the best men of his time, — 1819 
 -34. There have also been many leading Xegro 
 boxers, the first of w^hom was Molyneaux, a con- 
 temporary of Donnelly in the last century. 
 
 UPPER CUT, AS SULLIVAN STRIKES IT. 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph.) 
 
 But the greatest boxers since the classic days 
 of Greece are the modern men of England and 
 Ireland, and their descendants in America. And 
 the latest are the sfreatest. 
 
 No English champion, up to his time, ever 
 equalled Tom Sayers, who was a mighty man in 
 the ring from 1846 to 1863. There w^as a posi- 
 
DOXXELLY AND COOPER OX THE CURRAGH. 63 
 
 tive value in Sayers' life to his countrymen, no 
 matter what objection may be made to prize- 
 fio:htino^. 
 
 Sayers proved that a small man can easily de- 
 feat a big and heavy one by skill, pluck, and 
 endurance. He was five feet eight and a half 
 inches in height, and a hundred and fifty pounds 
 
 UPPER-CUT— old-fashio:ned. 
 
 in weight; Imt the ^'Tipton Slasher," who was 
 six feet one inch in heioht, and two hundred and 
 five pounds in weight, and a good boxer, was a 
 mere child in his hands. 
 
 And when Sayers fought John C. Heenan for 
 
64 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 the championship, there was a lesson of courage 
 and manly pride to every boy and man in England 
 in the fact that the stout heart upbore the smaller 
 man ao'ainst the blows of a 2:iant for two hours 
 and twenty minutes, though, for nearly two hours 
 of the time, the little man had to fioht \Yith his 
 right arm broken. 
 
 No wonder Thackeray celebrated this fight in a 
 poem, after the manner of ''Horatius," entitled, 
 ''A Lay of Ancient London, supposed to be re- 
 counted to his great grand-children, April 7, a.d. 
 1920, by an Ancient Gladiator." 
 
 Thackeray carefully followed every feature of 
 the fii>:ht, endins: thus : — 
 
 " Two hours and more the fight had sped, 
 
 Near unto ten it drew ; 
 But still opposed, one-armed to blind, 
 
 They stood, those dauntless two. 
 Ah, me ! that I have lived to hear 
 
 Such men as ruffians scorned ; 
 Such deeds of valor "brutal'' called, 
 
 Canted, preached down, and mourned. 
 Ah ! that these old eyes ne' er again 
 
 A gallant mill shall see! 
 No more behold the ropes and stakes, 
 
 With colors flying free ! 
 
 And now my fists are feeble, 
 And my blood is thin and cold ; 
 
 But 'tis better than Old Tom to me 
 To recall those days of old, 
 
A LESSON EVEX IX A FIGHT. 65 
 
 And may you, my great-grandchildren, 
 
 That gather round my knee, 
 Xe'er see worse men nor iller times 
 
 Tlian I and mine might be, 
 Tliough England then had prize-fighters, — 
 
 Even reprobates like me." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A LESSOX EVEX IX A FIGHT 
 
 Thex again, there was an object-lesson for 
 England, outweighing even the brutality of a 
 bare-handed fight, in the fortitude and reserved 
 power of Tom King when he defeated Mace for 
 the English championship m 1862. 
 
 Mace, a gypsy by race, was a middle-sized 
 man, one hundred and fifty-lour pounds weight; 
 but he was the most famous boxer in the Avorld, 
 and he deserved his fame. Xo man ever used 
 both hands more evenly, or more efiectively, in 
 straii>:ht bodv-blows, — the best blows for a small 
 man to use on a bio- one, if he know how to 
 escape a counter on the head. King was six feet 
 two and one quarter inches in height, and trained 
 down to one hundred and eighty pounds Aveight. 
 But Mace had won his fame with victories over 
 giants. He had defeated Kino' himself in the 
 
66 
 
 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 early part of the same year, after a tremendous 
 battle of forty-three rounds. He had beaten in 
 five rounds, without receiving a blow, the gigan- 
 tic Lancashire wrestler and boxer. Hurst, known 
 as ''the Staleybridge Infant." So when Mace 
 
 CLINCH. 
 
 and King met in the winter of 1862, for a second 
 fight for the championship, the betting was seven 
 to four on Mace. 
 
 And the course of the fight justified the odds 
 for a long time. With extreme caution both men 
 fought ; but, from the moment " time " was called, 
 the champion Mace had the best of it. For ten 
 rounds this was obviously so ; for fifteen and no 
 
A LESSOX EYEX IX A FIGHT. 
 
 67 
 
 change ; at the nineteenth King's friends knew he 
 was beaten. He w\as fearfully punished about the 
 
 GOOD POSITIO^s^ OF GUAKD. 
 
 head ; his face was so swelled he could not see. 
 He had to grope for his man. But he came up 
 
68 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 doiro;edly to receive the smashins: fist of the chain- 
 pion. Xo one would take the freely offered odds 
 of thirty to five against King ; ten to one Avas 
 called and no takers. Then the crowd shouted to 
 Mace to " finish him ! " And jNIace, smilingly and 
 confidently, prepared. The blind man came stag- 
 o^erino; toward him with the same awful courao'e 
 and determination which had upheld him so long ; 
 and Mace threw out his left preparatory to giving 
 him the coiij) de grace with his right. But at that 
 moment King stiffened like a man of cast-steel. 
 His time had come. He o-ot within distance, and 
 his riii'ht hand shot out like a flash of lio:htnino:, 
 cross-countering Mace with appalling directness 
 and force. 
 
 It was the blow he had waited for and sparred 
 for under all the terrible punishment. It was 
 worth all the blows of the fiaht massed into one. 
 Mace fell as if he had*been struck with a mallet, 
 bleeding from mouth, eyes, and nose. He lay 
 like a log for some seconds. " The champion is 
 beaten ! " was the astonished ciy. But no, he 
 struggled up again, reeled toward King, and 
 was easily struck again to the earth. Once more 
 the shattered champion staggered toward the 
 blind conqueror, who, in pity, Avould not strike 
 him, but gently pushed him into his corner, and 
 the fi£>:lit was won. 
 
A LESSON EVEN IN A FIGHT. 69 
 
 Was there no value in this lesson for Eno:lish- 
 men ? 
 
 They learned here that beating and bruising 
 and even blinding a man, do not defeat him, if 
 his heart be true and strona'. 
 
 Under everv contest, whether of men or 2:ame 
 animals, this is the fascinating secret, this is the 
 line to look for, — this unbroken golden thread of 
 pluck, of manly fortitude, of secret, heart-whis- 
 pering confidence. 
 
 We must regret and deplore the bruises and 
 the scars and the I)lood ; but they are the price 
 of a precious and beautiful thing, — the sight of 
 manly qualities under the severest strain. 
 
 Where else in one compressed hour can be 
 witnessed the supreme test and tension of such 
 precious living qualities as courage, temper, en- 
 durance, bodily strength, clear-mindedness in 
 excited action, and, above all, that heroic spirit 
 that puts aside the cloak of defeat though it fall 
 anew a hundred and a thousand times, and in the 
 end reaches out and grasps the silvered mantle of 
 success ? 
 
 This is not meant to encourage prize-fighting. 
 Detestable and abhorrent is a brutal bare-handed 
 fight, for the l)rutality is as unnecessary as it is 
 repulsive ; but you cannot have a prevalent manly 
 exercise interesting to the majority of healthy 
 
70 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 men, without having professional boxers ; and it 
 may be said that the professional boxer who 
 fio'hts an honest fioht, with hio'h skill and couraw, 
 and without the savagery of bare hands or cestus^ 
 is not, thereby, a moral monster and an outrageous 
 example. 
 
 Shaw, the British Life-Guardsman, who slew ten 
 French cuirassiers at AVaterloo, was a professional 
 boxer; and, undoubtedh-, the training of stout 
 heart, puissant arm, and confident eye, that en- 
 abled him to do and die like a hero and a patriot, 
 was due more to his pugilistic than his military 
 profession. How many British hearts have 
 remembered Shaw^ since then in a hand-to-hand 
 fiofht, and have been nerved to renewed enerofy 
 by the thought? 
 
 ''Among the confusion presented by the fiercest 
 and closest cavalry fight which had ever been 
 seen," says Sir Walter Scott, writing of Waterloo, 
 ''many individuals distinguished themselves by 
 feats of personal strength and valor. Among 
 these should not be forgotten Shaw, a corporal of 
 the Life Guards, icell hnown as a pugilistic cham- 
 pion, and equally formidable as a swordsman. 
 He is supposed to have slain, or disabled, ten 
 Frenchmen with his own hand before he was 
 killed by a musket or pistol shot." 
 
 Poor Shaw ! AVhen he died at Waterloo, he 
 
A LESSON EVE:Nr IN A FIGHT. 71 
 
 had a challena'e standinof in Enoland to fiaiit any 
 man in the Avorld ^vith his hands. 
 
 AVhat was the lesson taught liy that heroic 
 Russian sailor, who, commanding only a poor 
 little merchant steamer, captured a colossal 
 Turkish iron-clad after a desperate fight on the 
 Black Sea, in 1877 ? 
 
 This was one of the most glorious feats of war 
 ever recorded ; and it illustrated the same uncon- 
 querable and hopeful spirit that is often seen even 
 in prize-fights. The story, in this relation, is worth 
 telling. The Turkish iron-clad was of enor- 
 mous power in guns, armor, and engines; she 
 moved through the sea at the terrible speed of 
 thjiijljnn^s^jyiJi^ The Russian merchantman, 
 
 the Vesta, was a light iron steamer, carrying 
 three six-inch mortars and one nine-pound rifle 
 cannon. Her utmost speed was about twelve 
 miles an hour. Yet these two ships, so unequal 
 in everything else, were not only equalized, Imt 
 the weak became the strong when the hearts of 
 the crew were brought to the test of fire. Never 
 was there a nobler showing of what fearful odds 
 courao;eous men can face and overcome. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the morning of a beautiful 
 day in June, the Russian captain saw the immense 
 ram sweeping down on him. He put his little 
 steamer to her full speed ; but the ram closed on 
 
72 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 him with frightful rapidity. The officers of the 
 small steamer were Russian artillerymen, for the 
 ship had lately been pressed into the regular 
 service. The sfuns were m char2:e of Lieut. -Col. 
 Tchernoff, who pointed them himself. A rattling 
 fire was kept up against the iron-clad ; but the 
 Turk came on, as if determined to drive his spur 
 into the side of the steamer. On seeing this, 
 the captain of the Vesta veered off, upon which 
 the Turk poured a hideous volley of shrapnel 
 over his decks. One bomb set the steamer on 
 fire near the powder magazine ; this was at once 
 extino'uished. Another deluo:ed the deck with 
 l)lood, lacerating the neck and shoulder of one of 
 the two officers at the guns, and mortally Avound- 
 ing the heroic Tchernoff*, who had time only to 
 turn to the crew with these words : " Farewell ! 
 fire from the right-hand stern gun ; it is pointed ! " 
 and fell dead. There were torpedoes on board 
 the steamer, and, at this time, Lieut. Michael 
 Perelchine asked permission of the captain for 
 himself and another lieutenant to launch the 
 sloop, and attack the enemy with the mines. The 
 captain was about to grant the request, when he 
 saw that the sea was too boisterous for the success 
 of so perilous an adventure. The brave lieutenant 
 turned from him disappointed, and at that mo- 
 ment w^as struck l)y a bomb, which tore away his 
 
A LESSOX EVEN IX A FIGHT. 
 
 73 
 
 leg to the hip. " In this condition," writes Capt. 
 Baronoff, "he still endeavored to speak to me 
 about the use to l)e made of the steam sloops." 
 Still the tight went on. The lieutenant who was 
 pointing the guns of the steamer received seven- 
 teen wounds in a few minutes. Every man and 
 boy in the ship stared grim death in the face, and 
 never dreamt of giving in. But it nmst soon 
 
 STRAIGHT C'OU^'TER. 
 
 (Instantaneou.s Pliotograph.) 
 
 end : the heavy projectiles of the iron-clad were 
 literally knocking the steamer to pieces ; but just 
 at this moment the artillery officer got a good 
 sight, burst in the porthole of the enemy's largest 
 gun, and lodged a bomb in her chimney. Another 
 
74 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 bom]) must have set fire to the iron-clad, for a 
 dense smoke arose. " A terrible confusion en- 
 sued on his deck ; he drew out of the fio:ht," 
 turned tail, and steamed off at a tremendous rate. 
 The Russian captain, with his little steamer shat- 
 tered and torn, his officers dead or wounded, and 
 his deck streaminir with the blood of his brave 
 crew, tried to keep up chase ; but his rudder had 
 been injured in the fight and soon became useless. 
 
 The lesson of this battle is that there is hardly 
 anv emer^i^encv in which a commander should 
 yield without a fight. If this brave captain had 
 stopped to calculate chances, he would have struck 
 his flao' Avithout firing; a irun. His calcuhitions 
 would have been a mistake, as such calculations 
 almost alwavs are. He miaht count the «:uns of 
 his enemy, and estimate the speed of the ram, 
 and the number of the crew, and still leave out 
 the principal consideration, — the pluck of the 
 hearts. Guns will not fire straight without steady 
 aim, and strong bulwarks may be a shield for 
 cowardly hearts. 
 
 Eeadiness to fight doubles the strength. All 
 contests are worth w\atchin2: for the sio-ht of 
 these golden lines. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT BOXERS. YO 
 
 XIV. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT BOXERS. 
 
 There never was, in the whole history of the 
 art, a more remarkal)le or interesting boxer than 
 Sullivan. Many people believe that his master- 
 ful quality lies in his vast physical strength. 
 Nothing could be farther from the truth. There 
 are thousands of men in America physically much 
 strono^er, — men who could lift a heavier weiirht, 
 pull a heavier load, and keep up the strain longer 
 than he. 
 
 The superiority of Sullivan lies in his extraor- 
 dinary nervous force, and his altogether incom- 
 parable skill as a boxer. His recent failure to 
 defeat a man w^ith bare hands, in three hours, 
 whom he had formerly overcome with ease in 
 fifteen minutes with large gloves, means only that 
 the conditions were unfair. Sullivan does not 
 pretend to be a runner ; and this fight was more 
 a race than a l)out. 
 
 The qualities of both Sullivan and Mitchell are 
 thoroughly known. There is really no doubt in 
 people's minds about their relative abilities. 
 Mitchell is admittedly a most skilful boxer. But 
 were the element of gambling ruled out, there 
 
70 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 never would have been a question raised as to the 
 enormous superiority of Sullivan. 
 
 There are many better l)oxers than Mitchell in 
 America, if not in England; but there is not* one 
 who dare challenge Sullivan. They know that 
 this running fight in France has proved nothing 
 against him. 
 
 In what does his extraordinary skill consist? In 
 hitting as straight and almost as rapidly as light ; 
 in the variety and readiness of his blows ; in 
 standinof firmlv on his feet and drivinsf his whole 
 weiofht and nervous force at the end of his fist, — 
 a very rare and a very high quality in a hoxer ; in 
 movements as quick and purposeful as the leap of 
 a lion. He can " duck" lower than any feather- 
 weight boxer in America ; he can strike more 
 heavy blows in ten seconds than any other man 
 in a minute, and he watches his opponent with a 
 self-possession and calculation that do not flurry 
 with excitement, but only flame into a ravening 
 intensity to beat him down, to spring on him from 
 a new direction, and strike him a new blow every 
 tenth of a second, to rush, hammer, contemn, 
 overmaster, overwhelm, and appall him. 
 
 Look at " The Boxer" as he leaps on the stage 
 and stands gazing at liis opponent, waiting for 
 the referee to call " time." That is the quivering 
 moment seized by the great sculptor whose statue. 
 
Sullivan's superiority as a boxer. 77 
 
 recently completed in Boston, is pictured in the 
 frontispiece of this book. 
 
 Look at the statue ; that is Sullivan, life, body, 
 and spirit. See the tremendous chest, filled with 
 capacious lungs and a mighty heart, capable of 
 pumping blood everywhere at once. See the 
 marvellous trunk and the herculean arms, not 
 twisted and hardened into foolish lumps of dry 
 muscle, but soft and lissome as the leg of a tiger. 
 See the ponderous fist and the massive wrist ; and 
 the legs and feet — ah! there you see the limbs 
 of a perfect boxer — light as a dancer, firm as a 
 tower. And then, look up to the buttressed, 
 Samson neck, springing beautifully from the 
 great shoulders; look at the head — large, round 
 as a Greek's, broad-browed, wide-chinned, with 
 a deep dimple, showing the good-nature, and a 
 mouth and lips that ought be cut in granite, so 
 full are they of doomful power and purpose. 
 
 And what an attitude ! The advanced left foot 
 hardly pressing the ground, the bones and mus- 
 cles of the riii'ht le<i' strais^ht and strons: as a 
 pillar. A position of repose, but the repose of 
 the coiled steel spring. See the will and w^atch- 
 fulness of the pushed lower lip and level eye, and 
 the slio;ht forward inclination of the head. Above 
 all, watch the arms, that appear to hang loosely 
 at first sight. There is not a loose cord in them ; 
 
78 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 they don't hang, they are carefully held a little 
 out from the sides ; and mark the slio:ht, ))ut 
 vastly significant, rounding of the nrist — out- 
 ward, not inward — the legible and pregnant mark 
 of ^' The Boxer." 
 
 This expressive holding the clenched hand, with 
 the wrist rounded outward, has not been produced 
 in art before, certainly not by any modern artist. 
 But it is the very sign and symbolization of the 
 modern boxer. It is, in a special way, the im- 
 print of Sullivan. It tells the genius of the 
 sculptor and the instinct of the athlete. In that 
 premonitory wrist and fist v»^e see the very natal 
 spring of the round blow. He has but to throw 
 up his elbow slightly, and hand, arm, shoulder, 
 and right leg are ready, and the champion's round 
 blow flies like a thunderbolt. 
 
 There is no need to say that this is a wonderful 
 statue — a work of art that will become famous 
 everywhere, that will attract as much attention 
 next year in the Paris Salon as this year when 
 exhibited in Boston. It tells its own greatness 
 to every beholder. Subject and artist came at 
 the rio:ht moment ; and America is enriched with 
 a work of art that would have won a crown in 
 Periclesian Athens. 
 
 Sullivan enters on a fight unlike all other men. 
 From the first movement his action is ultimate. 
 
Sullivan's superiority as a boxer. 79 
 
 Other boxers begin by sparring ; he begins by 
 fio;htin2: — and he never ceases to fiaht. He is as 
 distinct from other boxers as a bull dos: is from a 
 spaniel. He is a fighting man. Every other 
 American boxer, and from report, every English 
 boxer, is of the sparring kind. Kilrain is a 
 superb pugilist — strong, skilful, good-tempered, 
 and a hard hitter. He is the safest boxer living, 
 and next to Sullivan easily the best pugilist in 
 the world. But Kilrain is not a naturalfio'hter — 
 he is too gentle. He waits to see what his oppo- 
 nent is going to do. It takes five or six rounds 
 to get his heart at full beat and his nervous reser- 
 voir opened. 
 
 But from the first instant of the fight, Sullivan 
 is as fierce, relentless, tireless as a cataract. The 
 fight is wholly to go in his w^ay — not at all in 
 the other man's. His opponent wants to spar ; 
 he leaps on him with a straight blow. He w^ants 
 to breathe ; he dashes him into the corner with a 
 .drive in the stomach. He does not waste ten 
 seconds of the three minutes of each round. 
 
 And look at the odds he offers — and offers to 
 all the world ! They are not ten to one, nor 
 twenty to one, but nearer to one hundred to one. 
 Observe, he will not only defeat all-comers, but 
 he will defeat them in four rounds — in twelve 
 minutes! And this is not all — he will defeat 
 them with his hands muffled in laro;e o^loves. 
 
80 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Consider the odds here : he throws away for 
 huBself all the chances of a lonir fiaht, and he 
 offers to his opponents all the chances of endur- 
 ing even his opposition for a short one. Mace 
 defeated King only after forty-three rounds, and 
 Brettle after forty rounds. Heenan fought Say- 
 ers thirty-seven rounds, to what the Englishmen 
 called a draw. Sayers beat Paddock in twenty- 
 one rounds. He fought Aaron Jones sixty-two 
 rounds to a draw, and only defeated him after 
 eighty-five rounds more ; while the fight of 
 Sayers with Poulson consumed three hours and 
 ei^fht minutes, in which one hundred and nine 
 rounds wei^e fought.* 
 
 * Longest bare-knuckled battle on record — six hours, fifteen 
 minutes, James Kelly and Jonathan Smith, near Melbourne, 
 Australia, Xovember, 1855. 
 
 Longest bare-knuckle battle in England — six hours, three 
 minutes, Mike Madden and Bill Hayes, Edenbridge. July 17, 
 1849. 
 
 Longest bare-knuckle battle in America — four hours, 
 twenty minutes, J. Fitzpatrick and James O'Xeil, Berwick, 
 Maine, Dec. 4, 1860. 
 
 Longest glove fight — five hours, three minutes, forty-five 
 seconds ; seventy-six rounds, Wm. Sheriff and J. Welch, Phila- 
 delphia, Penn., April 10. 1884. 
 
 Largest stake fought for in America — $10,000, Tom Hyer 
 and Yankee Sullivan, Rock Point, Md., Feb. 7, 1849. 
 
 Largest stake fought for in England — £2,000, Tom King 
 and John C. Ileenan, Wadhurst, England, Dec. 10, 1863. 
 
 First ring fight in America — Jacob Hyer and Thomas 
 Beasley, in 1816. 
 
Sullivan's superiority as a boxer. 81 
 
 If Sayers could not knock out Poulson in one 
 hundred and eight rounds, with bare hands, what 
 eflect would he have had on him in four rounds 
 with laro'e soft-oloyes ? 
 
 CKOSS-COU>'TER. 
 
 As Sayers, witli bare hands, was to Poulson 
 (an inferior man) in one hundred and nine rounds, 
 so is Sullivan, with large gloves, to the best man 
 in the world in four rounds. That is the sum in 
 proportion. 
 
82 ETHICS OF BOXIMi AM) MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 To show the progress in boxing between 
 Broughton's day and ours, the reader is referred 
 to the Appendix for the best code of rules to 
 o^overn o'love contests that has ever been drawn 
 up. They are the product of a Boston man, Mr. 
 David Bkmchard. 
 
 XV. 
 
 BOXING COMPARED WITH OTHER EXERCISES. 
 
 Prize-Fighting is not the aim of boxing. This 
 noble exercise ousfht not to be iudo:ed bv the 
 dishonesty or the low lives of too many of its 
 professional followers. Let it stand alone, an 
 athletic practice, on the same footing as boating 
 or foot-ball. 
 
 Putting: prize-fio'htino^ alto2rether aside as one 
 of the unavoidable evils attending on this manly 
 exercise, the inestimable value of boxing as a 
 training, discipline, and development of boys and 
 young men remains. 
 
 All other athletic exercises, with one exception, 
 are limited or partial in their physical develop- 
 ment. That exception is swimming. Swimming 
 takes the whole muscular system into play, uni- 
 formly and powerfully. Lungs, heart, trunk, and 
 
BOXING COMPARED WITH OTHER EXERCISES. 83 
 
 liiiil)s, all but the eves, have to do their full share 
 of the work. 
 
 Boxins: leaves out nothino; ; it exercises the 
 whole man at once and equally — the trunk, the 
 limbs, the eyes — and the mind. 
 
 Swimmino- is, more than anv other phvsical 
 exercise, a reversal to the primitive. The 
 swimmer has no thoughts — only perceptions. 
 He sees, in a vague way, the trees on the shore, 
 the clouds, the ripple on the wave within tbtoy 
 
 .? 
 
 DICKIXG" A LEAD WITH THE LEFT. 
 
 (Instantaneous Photograph.) 
 
 inches of his lips, and he feels the embracing 
 water in a manner that diffuses thought or sen- 
 sitiveness all over his body, taking it away from 
 the brain. Xo swimmer thinks — he merely takes 
 care. He is in a condiHon of animalism. The 
 
84 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 intellectuality of the swimmer is relaxed, or 
 partly suspended. 
 
 But the boxer, in action, has not a loose muscle 
 or a sleepy brain cell. His mind is quicker and 
 more watchful than a chess-player's. He has to 
 gather his impulses and hurl them, straight and 
 purposeful, with every moment and motion. It 
 is not the big, evenly-disposed opposition of nature 
 he has to overcome, like the swimmer or the 
 runner, but the keen and precise cunning of an 
 excited brain, that is watching him with eyes as 
 bright as a hawk's. 
 
 There is no emulation or controversy so hot, 
 so vital, so deliciously interesting, as the boxer's. 
 The ecstacy of the single-stick is rude and brief; 
 the wrestler's tug is comparatively slow and labo- 
 rious ; even the luno-e of the foil is cold, sli«:ht, and 
 vaofue, beside the life-touchino- kiss of the hot 
 glove on neck, arm, or shoulder. 
 
 The nearer you come to nature, when you are 
 not fighting nature, the deeper the enjoyment, 
 whether of living, loving, exercising, playing, or 
 fi<>;htin2f. 
 
 The elements of character which boxins:, better 
 than all other exercises, develops, are fairness ot 
 personal judgment and an acceptance of give-and- 
 take. 
 
 The boxer must take as well as give. It is 
 
BOXING COMPARED WITH OTHER EXERjCISES. 85 
 
 only the bully and the coward who want to give 
 all the thiie, and escape faJcinj ; and if boxing 
 were taught in every American school, as it ought 
 to be, there would be fewer bullies and cowards 
 sent out unpunished and uncorrected, 
 
 A few years ago, in Xew" England, a young 
 man who was fond of rowing or riding, or any 
 other vigorous sport, was considered to be on the 
 high road to ruin. It was not respectable even to 
 whistle ; and the cheerful whistler is a lost artist 
 in New England. 
 
 This is changed completely. In the greatest 
 school in America, Harvard, there is probably the 
 most perfect gymnasium in the world ; and the 
 annual games at all the universities and higher 
 schools of America, where the mothers and sisters 
 of the best-bred boys in the country are present 
 in thousands, are not unw^orthy modern represen- 
 tations of the national ofames of Greece. 
 
 Cxvmnasiums are aTowino; common in New 
 England in connection with schools — their proper 
 relation. It is beo-innino; to be realized that, 
 under our confined and artificial citv life, the 
 bodies of 1)03's and girls need as much and as 
 careful training and cultivation as their minds. 
 ''A sound mind in a sound body" promises to 
 become an American, as it v\as a Koman, proverb. 
 To cultivate the mind at the expense of the body 
 
86 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 is to put a premium on immorality, rascality, and 
 craziness. 
 
 There never was a race so fond of athletics as 
 the American is groins: to be — as it is already — 
 at least, not since the Olympiads. The best of 
 the English field-sports are confined to the aris- 
 tocracy. There never was a race with so many 
 and so various athletes as the American. Our 
 games are not " sacred"' like the Greeks', nor are 
 they national, or periodical, or belonging to a class 
 — except our fox-hunting in scarlet and top-boots. 
 AYe do not concentrate our athletic eflforts into 
 four days every four or five years like the Greeks. 
 Our Olympiads begin every May and last till 
 November, and take in every l)oy and man who 
 has warm l)lood in his veins. 
 
 The Greeks had runners, wrestlers, boxers, 
 charioteers, quoit-throwers, bull-tamers ; the Ro- 
 mans had boxers, w^restlers, and swordsmen. AYe 
 have more than all these. Base-ball alone in 
 America makes more athletes yearly than the 
 whole curriculum of Elis. The youths who 
 ''break the records" for running, leaping, row- 
 inir, and foot-ball in American colles^es would 
 take all the laurel and parsley crowns at Isthmia 
 and Corinth. For every Greek chariot driver we 
 have a thousand American yachtsmen. Greece 
 and Eome will be nowhere in athletics in compari- 
 
BOXIXG COMPARED WITH OTHER EXERCISES. 87 
 
 son with Xew England alone, twenty-live years 
 hence, if the wave of popular interest in field and 
 water and gymnasium sports, which is now rapidly 
 rising, is allowed to proceed unchecked. 
 
 It is no longer regarded as deplorable for a 
 youth to aspire to be an athlete. The whole 
 country hangs in suspense over a college race or 
 foot-ball game. A1)ove all, we are in a fair way 
 to rescue boxing from the boxers, and to restore 
 to its proper place in the training of youth the 
 exercise that leads all others in fitting them to l)e 
 fair-minded, confident, courageous, peaceful and 
 patriotic citizens. 
 
88 ETHICS OF BOXI^G AND MANLY SrOiiT. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 The illustrations used in this article are made from instan- 
 taneous photographs of two famous boxers. This is the first 
 time the instantaneous i)hotograph has been used to record the 
 movements of boxers in excited action; and the result, it will 
 be admitted, is interesting and satisfactory. 
 
 Mr. John Donoghue, the sculptor of the great statue of 
 "The Boxer,-' for which Sullivan stood as his model all 
 through the past Summer, has kindly allowed me to use, for 
 the first time, the beautiful jilate in the frontispiece. 
 
 Among the illustrations are four or five from excellent draw- 
 ings, made for " Outing," from two of the best boxers in 
 America, which have been copied by the kind permission of 
 the editor of "Outing." These plates are "A Good Position 
 of Guard," " Set-To,"' "A Cross-Counter,"" An Old-Fash- 
 ioned Upi^er-Cut," and "A Cross -Buttock," the latter a won- 
 derfully good picture. 
 
 The x)rocess of taking the instantaneous photographs of the 
 boxers for this article was very interesting. The lessons the 
 pictures give, even to professional boxers, will not be thrown 
 away. For instance, take the illustration, " Cross-Countered," 
 (page Gl), where the man leading has raised his right foot in the 
 air: it is obvious that such a blow could have little strength, 
 and that the cross -blow of his opponent, whose right tee is 
 firmly grounded, must stagger him, at least. The careful boxer 
 whose leg is raised would never believe that this was his 
 position; but the camera cannot lie. 
 
 And what a perfect illustration is the first plate, — " Ducking 
 the Uound Blow," (page 10), which never could be secured except 
 by the instantaneous process. Except in the sudden bend of an 
 
APPENDIX. 89 
 
 excited moment, a man could not assume such a singular, and 
 yet graceful and iDowerful position. A less cool or skilful boxer 
 than this (he is the light-weight champion of England) would 
 lose his power of recovery in making such an escape as this ; 
 but observe, hands, feet, and body are so held that, as soon as 
 the sweeping fist has passed overhead, he can straighten him- 
 self where he stands, and get in a powerful right-hander. 
 
 Another illustration of extraordinary vigor is "The IJpper- 
 Cut, as Sullivan Strikes It" (page G2). Here the camera has 
 captured an upper-cut at its very birth. There is no short- 
 armed fibbing al)out this blow. It springs, not from the elbow, 
 but from the feet; and, if it reaches its object in earnest, it is 
 frequently the end of a fight. 
 
 RULES OF THE EING. 
 
 There have been, in England, three notable codes, or " Rules 
 of the Ring," for the ordering of imgilistic contests. The first 
 were known as '' Broughton's Rules " (they are given in full at 
 page 4)). They governed all prize-fights in England for nearly 
 a century, till the adoption of the code known commonly as 
 " The London Prize -Ring Rules." 
 
 The later and better English rules are those known as ' ' The 
 Marquis of Queensberry Rules," Avhich provide for regular 
 rounds of three minutes instead of the former system of ending 
 a round when one of the contestants came to the ground. The 
 " London Ring Rules " are still followed in England; but never, 
 it may be depended on, when the contest is intended to be fair 
 and above-board. They seem to have been framed to enable 
 the worst man to win, by permitting all kinds of cowardly tricks 
 and evasions. Whenever his manlier opponent is in danger of 
 getting an advantage, the schemer can clinch, and immediately 
 slip to the ground. 
 
 By the ''Queensberry Rules," each round lasts three full 
 minutes, with a minute between for rest. If a man is knocked 
 down during the round, he is allowed ten seconds to get up, 
 unassisted, and return to the contest. Should he be unable to 
 
90 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AXD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 rise when "time" is called at the end of the ten seconds, he 
 has lost the fight. 
 
 But the best " rules of the ring " ever devised are those lately 
 drawn up by ]Mr. David K. Blanchard, of Boston, called " The 
 American Fair-Play Rules." So far as can be seen, they cover 
 every point, and provide for a fair and manly i)ugilistic con- 
 test, without brutality. Every future American boxing contest 
 ought to be controlled by these "American Rules." 
 
 All other rules have failed to stop the vile clinching which 
 often makes a boxing contest a mere wrestling match, during 
 which the referee has nothing to do but shout, " Break! " But 
 here it is provided that the boxers themselves shall stop the 
 clinching, not the referee. Rule 5 say3.' "If a contestant 
 should resort to clinching, hi 3 opponent may continue hitting 
 as long as he does not clhicli himself. " 
 
 This settles the clincher, who stops his own fighting, but 
 allows his opx)onent to go on in- fighting. If referees will 
 observe this rule, and decline to cry "break" when the clinch 
 is not mutual, there will soon be an end of clinchers and 
 clinching. 
 
 Mr. Blanchard deserves much credit for the careful attention 
 he has bestowed on this excellent code of rules, which at once 
 bars out cruelty, brutality, and cowardice (his ring is only 
 twenty feet square; large enough for a fight, but not for a race- 
 course), and ensures as fair a glove contest as possible. 
 
 LOXDOX PRIZE-RIXG RULES, AS KEVISED BY THE BRITISH 
 PUGILISTIC ASSOCIATION. 
 
 It having been found that many of the Rules of the Ring 
 are insufficient to provide for the various contingencies which 
 continually arise in prize battles, an entire revision has been 
 determined on, and a comniittee of gentlemen, members of the 
 Pugilistic Association, undertook the task. AVhen the revision 
 was complete, the laws were submitted to a general meeting of 
 the members of the Prize Ring (being members of the Associa- 
 tion), and unanimously agreed to: — 
 
APPENDIX. 91 
 
 1. That the rhig shall be made on turf, and shall be four- 
 and-twenty feet square, formed of eight stakes and ropes, the 
 latter extending in double lines, the uppermost \me being four 
 feet from the ground, and the lower two feet from the ground. 
 That in the centre of the ring a mark be formed, to be termed 
 "the scratch"; and that at two opposite corners, as may be 
 selected, spaces be enclosed by other marks sufficiently large 
 for the reception of the seconds and bottle-holders, to be en- 
 titled "the corners." 
 
 2. That each man shall be attended to the ring by a second 
 and a bottle-holder, the former provided with a sponge, and the 
 latter with a bottle of water. That the combatants, on shak- 
 ing hands, shall retire until the seconds of each have tossed for 
 choice of position, which adjusted, the winner shall choose his 
 corner according to the state of the wind or sun, and conduct 
 his man thereto ; the loser taking the opposite corner. 
 
 3. That each man shall be provided with a handkerchief 
 of a color suitable to his ovv^n fancy, and that the seconds pro- 
 ceed to entwine these handkerchiefs at the uioper end of one of 
 the centre stakes. That these handkerchiefs shall be called 
 the "colors "; and that the winner of the battle at its conclusion 
 shall be entitled to their possession as the trophy of victory. 
 
 4. That two umpires shall be chosen by the seconds or 
 backers to watch the progress of the battle, and take exception 
 to any breach of the rules hereafter stated. That a referee 
 shall be chosen by the umpires, unless otherwise agreed on, to 
 whom all disputes shall be referred ; and that the decision of 
 this referee, whatever it may be, shall be final and strictly 
 binding on all parties, whether as to the matter in dispute or 
 the issue of the battle. That the umpires shall be provided 
 with a watch for the purpose of calling time ; and that they 
 mutually agree upon whom this duty shall devolve, the call of 
 that umpire only to be attended to, and no other person what- 
 ever to interfere in calling time. That the referee shall with- 
 hold all opinion till appealed to by the umpires, and that the 
 umpires strictly abide by his decision without dispute. 
 
 5. That on the men being strip^Dcd, it shall be the duty of 
 
92 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AXD ]\IAXLY SPOP.T. 
 
 the seconds to examine their drawers, and if any objection 
 arise as to insertion of improper substances therein, they shall 
 appeal to their umpires, who, with the concurrence of the 
 referee, shall direct what alterations shall be made. 
 
 0. That in future no spikes be used in fighting boots except 
 those authorized by the Pugilistic Association, which shall not 
 exceed three-eighths of an inch from the sole of tlie boot, and 
 shall not be less than one-eighth of an inch broad at the point; 
 and it shall be in the power of the referee to alter, or file in any 
 way he pleases, spikes which shall not accord with the above 
 dimensions, even to filing them away altogether. 
 
 7. That both men being ready, each man shall be con- 
 ducted to that side of the scratch next his corner previously 
 chosen; and the seconds on the one side, and the men on the 
 other, having shaken hands, the former shall immediately 
 return to their corners, and there remain within the prescribed 
 marks till the rgiuid be finished, on no pretence whatever ap- 
 proaching their principals during the round, under a penalty of 
 five shillings for each offence, at the oi^tion of the referee. The 
 penalty, which will be strictly enforced, to go to the fimds of 
 the Association. The principal to be responsible for every fine 
 inflicted on his second. 
 
 8. That at the conclusion of the round, when one or both 
 of the men shall be down, the seconds and bottle-hoLlers shall 
 step forward, and carry or conduct their principal to his corner, 
 there affording him the necessary assistance, and that no per- 
 son whatever be permitted to interfere in this duty. 
 
 9. That on the expiration of thirty seconds, the umpire 
 appointed shall cry ''Time,'' upon which each man shall rise 
 from the knee of his bottle-holder, and walk to his own side 
 of the scratch unaided; the seconds and bottle-holders remain- 
 ing at their corner; and that either man failing so to be at the 
 scratch within eight seconds, shall be deemed to have lost the 
 battle. This rule to be strictly adhered to. 
 
 10. That on no consideration whatever shall any person be 
 permitted to enter the ring during the battle, nor till it shall 
 have been concluded; and that in the event of such unfair 
 
APPENDIX. 93 
 
 practice, or the ropes or stakes being disturbed or removed, it 
 shall he in the poAver of the referee to award tlie victory to that 
 man who, in his honest opinion, shall have the best of the 
 contest. 
 
 11. That the seconds and bottle-holders shall not interfere, 
 advise, or direct the adversary of their principal, and shall 
 refrain from all offensive and irritating expressions, in all 
 respects conducting themselves with order and decorum, and 
 confine themselves to the diligent and careful discharge of their 
 duties to their principals. 
 
 12. That in picking up their men, should the seconds or 
 bottle-holders wilfully injure the antagonist of their principal, 
 the latter shall be deemed to have forfeited tlie battle on the 
 decision of the referee. 
 
 13. That it shall be a fair "stand-up fight," and if either 
 man shall wilfully throw himself down without receiving a 
 blow, whether blows shall hcne prci:iously bejen exchanged or 
 not, he shall be deemed to have lost the battle; but that this 
 rule shall not apply to a man who in a close slips down from 
 the grasp of his opponent to avoid punishment, or from obvious 
 accident or weakness. 
 
 14. That butting with the head shall be deemed foul, and the 
 party resorting to this practice shall be deemed to have lost 
 the battle. 
 
 15. That a blow struck ^vhen a man is thrown or down, shall 
 be deemed foid. That a man with one knee and one hand on 
 the ground, or with both knees on the ground, shall be deemed 
 down; and a blow given in either of those positions shah be 
 considered foul, providing always that, when in such position, 
 the man so down shall not himself strike or attempt to strike. 
 
 16. That a blow struck below the waistband shall be deemed 
 foul, and that in a close seizing an antagonist beloAV the waist, 
 by the thigh, or otherwise, shall be deemed foul. 
 
 17. That all attempts to inflict injury by gouging, or tearing 
 the flesh with the fingers or nails, and biting, shall be deemed 
 foul. 
 
 18. That kicking or deliberately falling on an antagonist with 
 the knees or otherwise when down, shall be deemed foul. 
 
94 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SFOKT. 
 
 19. That all bets shall be paid as the battle -money, after a 
 fight, is awarded. 
 
 20. That no person, under any pretence whatever, shall be 
 permitted to approach nearer the ring than ten feet, with the 
 exception of the umpires and referee, and the persons appointed 
 to take charge of the water or oth3r refreshment for the com- 
 batants, who shall take their seats close to the corners selected 
 by the seconds. 
 
 21. Tliat due notice shall be given by the stakeholder of the 
 day and place where the battle-money is to be given up, and 
 that he be exonerated from all responsibility upon obeying the 
 direction of the referee ; that all parties be strictly bound by 
 these rules ; and that in future all articles of agreement for a 
 contest be entered into with a strict and willing adherence to 
 the letter and spirit of these rules. 
 
 22. That in the event of magisterial or other interference, or 
 in case of darkness coming on, the referee shall have the power 
 to name the time and place for the next meeting, if possible on 
 the same day, or as soon after as may be. 
 
 23. That, should the fight not be decided on the day, all bets 
 shall be drawn, unless the fight shall be resumed the same 
 week, between Sunday and Smiday; in which case the bets 
 shall stand and be decided by the event. The battle -money 
 shall remain ir the hands of the stakeholder until fairly won or 
 lost by a fight, unless a draw be mutually agreed upon. 
 
 24. That any pugilist voluntarily quitting tlie ring previous 
 to the deliberate judgment of the referee being obtained, shall 
 be deemed to have lost the fight. 
 
 25. That on an objection being made by the seconds or um- 
 pire, the men shall retire to their corners, and there remain 
 until the decision of the appointed authorities shall be obtained ; 
 that if pronounced " foul," the battle shall be at an end; but if 
 " fair," " time " shall be called by the party appointed, and the 
 man absent from the scratch in eight seconds after shall be 
 deemed to have lost the fight. The decision in all cases to be 
 given promptly and irrevocably, for which purpose the umpires 
 and the referee should be invariably close together. 
 
APPENDIX. 1)5 
 
 26. That if in a rally at tlie ropes a man steps outside the 
 ring to avoid his antagonist, or to escape punishment, he shall 
 forfeit the battle. 
 
 27. That the use of hard substances, such as stone, or stick, 
 or of resin, in the hand during the battle shall be deemed foul, 
 and that on the requisition of the seconds of either man, the 
 accused shall open his hands for the examination of the referee. 
 
 28. That hugging on the ropes shall be deemed foul. That a 
 man held by the neck against the stakes, or upon or against 
 the ropes, shall be considered down, and all interference with 
 him in that position shall be foul. That if a man in any way 
 makes use of the roj^es or stakes to aid him in squeezing his 
 adversary, he shall be deemed the loser of the battle ; and that 
 if a man in a close reaches the ground with his knees, his ad- 
 versaiy shall immediately loose him or lose the battle. 
 
 29. That all stage fights be as nearly as possible in conformity 
 with the foregoing rules. 
 
 MARQUIS OF QUEENSBEIMiV UVLES GOVEKXIXG CONTESTS 
 FOK EXDLIJAXCE. 
 
 1. To be a fair stand-up boxing match, in a twenty-foui* foot 
 ring, or as near that size as practicable. 
 
 2. Xo wrestling or hugging allowed. 
 
 3. The rounds to be of three minutes' duration, and one 
 minute time between rounds. 
 
 4. If either man fall, through weakness or otherwise, he 
 must get* up unassisted ; ten seconds to be allowed him to do 
 so, the other man meanwhile to return to his corner, and when 
 the fallen man is on his legs the round is to be resumed and 
 continued until the three minutes have expired. If one man 
 fails to come to the scratch in the ten seconds allowed, it shall 
 be in the power of the referee to give his award in favor of the 
 other man. 
 
 5. A man hanging on the ropes in a helpless state, with 
 his toes off the ground, shall be considered down. 
 
96 ETHICS OF BOXING AXD MAXLY SPOUT. 
 
 0. Xo seconds or any other person to be allowed in the 
 ring during the rounds. 
 
 7. Should the contest be stopped by any unavoidable inter- 
 ference, the referee to name time and place, as soon as possible, 
 for finishing the contest ; so that the match must be won and 
 lost, unless the backers of both men agree to draw the stakes. 
 
 8. The gloves to be fair-sized boxing gloves of the best 
 quality, and ncAV. 
 
 9. Should a glove burst, or come off, it must be replaced to 
 the referee's satisfaction. 
 
 10. A man on one knee is considered down, and if struck 
 is entitled to the stakes. 
 
 11. Xo shoes or boots with sprigs allowed. 
 
 12. The contest in all other respects to be governed by the 
 the revised rules of the London Prize-rinii. 
 
 AMEEICAX FAIR-PLAY III LES TO GO VEEN GLOVE CONTESTS. 
 
 1. An honest and competent referee must be chosen, who 
 should be familiar with the rules. His orders must be promptly 
 obeyed, and his decisions in all cases shall be final. 
 
 2. A responsible time-keeper must be appointed, who shall 
 take his position near the ropes, and should be provided 
 with a proper time watch. The referee, also, may have the 
 privilege of keeping time, for his own satisfaction, particularly 
 in reference to the twelve seconds after a fall. 
 
 3. All contests should take place in a roped square en- 
 closure, twenty foot square, or as near that as possible, with 
 eight posts, which should be padded on the inside. Three 
 ropes, of one inch diameter, should be used, the top one to be 
 four feet from the floor, or ground, and the others at equal 
 distance below it, or sixteen inches apart. There should be a 
 circle, three feet in diameter, drawn in the middle of the en- 
 closure, to be known as the centre, where contestants shall 
 meet for the beginning of each round. 
 
 4. Each principal may have U\o attendants, only one of 
 whom shall be allowed within the enclosure. Wliile the con- 
 
APPENDIX. 1)7 
 
 test is in progress tlie attendants must take positions outside 
 the ring, and neither advise nor speak to either of the principals, 
 except wliile they are resting. A violation of this rule may be 
 punished by the referee excluding the offender from serving as 
 an attendant. Either attendant may quietly call the attention 
 of the referee to any violation of the rules. While resting, 
 principals may use a light chair in their corners ; but it must be 
 placed outside by the attendants while the contest is in progress. 
 
 5. Xo wrestling, clinching, hugging, butting, or anything 
 done to injure an opponent, except by fair and manly boxing, 
 shall be allowed. If a contestant should resort to clinching, 
 his opponent hiay continue hitting, as long as he does not 
 clinch, himself. A contestant shall not go to tlie floor to avoid 
 his oi)ponent, or to obtain rest, nor shall he strike his opponent 
 when down, or on one or both knees, nor be allowed to strike 
 below the belt or waist. Xo ill feeling should exist between 
 contestants, and the custom of shaking hands, before and after 
 the contests, should never be omitted. 
 
 0. A round shall be of three (o) minutes' duration, with one 
 minute, between rounds, for rest ; and the time occupied in 
 verbal contention or discussion shall be noted by the time- 
 keeper, and it shall not be included as x^art of a round. In 
 all matches, the number of rounds and weight of gloves should 
 be mutually agreed upon. It is suggested that the gloves should 
 not weigh less than three ounces each. 
 
 7. If a glove shall burst or come off, it must be replaced 
 inmiediately, to the satisfaction of the referee. Xo tamx)ering 
 with the gloves, by forcing the hair from the knuckles, or 
 otherwise, shall be allowed. The costume should be tights, 
 with stockings and light shoes, and shirt, if desired. 
 
 8. If either man is sent to the floor, or accidentally falls, he 
 shall be allowed twelve seconds to rise and walk imassisted to 
 the centre. In the meantime his opponent shall retire to his 
 corner, and remain until the fallen man shall first reach the 
 centre, when time shall be called and the round completed. 
 If, however, the man fails to come to the centre within twelve 
 seconds, the referee shall decide that he has lost the contest. 
 
98 ETHICS or BOXING A2sD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 9. If a man is forced on to the ropes in such a manner as to 
 be in a position Avhere he is imable to defend himself, it shall 
 he the duty of the referee to order both men to the centre. 
 
 10. If either principal becomes so exhausted that it is ap^ 
 parently imprudent to continue, it shall be the duty of the 
 referee to stop the contest, and give his decision in favor of 
 the more deserving man. 
 
 11. Spectators should not be allowed within three (3) feet of 
 the enclosure. 
 
 12. If at any time during the contest it should become 
 evident that the parties interested, or by-standers, are doing 
 anything to injure or intimidate either principal, or to wilfully 
 interfere in any way to prevent him from fairly winning, the 
 referee shall have the power to declare the principal so inter- 
 fered with, the winner. Or, if at any time the ring is broken 
 into to x^i'event the principals from finishing the contest, it 
 shall then also be the duty of the referee to award the contest 
 to the man who, at that time, has, in his opinion, the advan- 
 tage. 
 
 13. If, on the day named for the meeting, anything unavoid- 
 able should occur to prevent the contest from taking place, or 
 from being finished, the referee shall name the time and i:)lace 
 for the next meeting, which must be within three days from 
 the day of postponement, proper notice of which shall be given 
 to both parties. Either man failing to appear at the time and 
 place appointed by the referee, shall be deemed to have lost 
 the contest. 
 
 14. If there is anything said or done to intimidate the 
 referee, while serving, or if the referee has any other good and 
 sufficient reasons why his decision should not be immediately 
 rendered, he shall have the right to reserve his decision, which, 
 however, must be rendered within twenty-four hours after the 
 contest. 
 
 15. If the contest should occur in a field, blunt hobbles, not 
 over one-eighth of an inch in thickness or length, shall be used 
 in place of spikes on the soles of the shoes, and must be placed 
 so as to be harmless to an opponent. 
 
APPENDIX. 99 
 
 16. In order that exhibitions may be conducted in a quiet 
 and orderly manner, the referee shoidd always request specta- 
 tors to refrain from loud expressions or demonstrations, and 
 any one guilty of such conduct, while a contest is in progress, 
 should be severely condeuuied. 
 
 Suggestion to Eefep.ee. — AVhile, in the foregoing rule3, 
 broad and unrestricted powers are reposed in the referee, in 
 order that his authority may be unquestioned in preventing 
 iiitentional violations of the rules and of fair dealing, it is ex- 
 pected that the referees will use the greatest caution and wisest 
 discretion in the exercise of their power, and in distinguishing 
 accidental mistakes, on the part of the contestants or their sup- 
 porters, from wilful violations of the spirit of these articles. 
 
THE TRAINING OF ATHLETES TESTED 
 BY EVERY-DAY LIFE. 
 
 IS TRATXIXG IXJURIOUS? 
 
 The training of athletes must ahvays be a sub- 
 ject of general interest. If there bv^ an art by 
 which men are made specially strong for some 
 unusual period and purpose, how far can it be 
 applied to the daily lives of aA^erage men? Is the 
 trainino; of an athlete a solid buildino' of strenoth 
 or is it even consistent with a lastino' condition of 
 visforous health? 
 
 These questions must be considered from two 
 very different standpoints, namely, from that of 
 the professional athlete and that of the average 
 person who wants to get into lasting '\good 
 condition." Throuo-hout this article, even when 
 treating of special training, the amateur and 
 his modified needs are not foro-otten. The in- 
 formation intended for athleies in training for a 
 contest, like their exercise and food, must be 
 
 (101) 
 
1()2 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 condensed and particularized ; but it will be found 
 to contain matter of common interest, needino' 
 onlv the chauire suitable to indi^ddual circum- 
 stances. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that the mass of those 
 who liA^e in cities, and whose occupations involve 
 little manual or i)hysical exercise, allow their 
 bodies, at an earlv aae of manhood, to sink out 
 of all trained and athletic strength and shapeli- 
 ness. It is only necessary to visit a Turkish 
 bath to find abundant evidence of the muscular 
 collapse Avhich has overtaken the modern city- 
 dweller : bodies ' ' developed ' ' everywhere in the 
 wrong direction ; arms like pipe-stems, while the 
 beautiful muscles of the shoulders and back are 
 smothered in layers of vile fat, and spindle- 
 thighs and straight calves weakly support bellies 
 like Bacchus. 
 
 AVhen the observer beholds the superb condi- 
 tion of trained oarsmen entering a race, or of 
 boxers going to fight for a championship, he 
 stands in admiration of the firm and massive 
 muscles, the light and elastic step, the strong 
 wind, and the insensibility to blows that would 
 produce concussion of the brain in a common 
 man. Can the rules which produce these results 
 l)e taken out of the training-school, and followed 
 in common life, even with laro'c modifications? 
 
IS TRAINING INJURIOUS? 103 
 
 The unhesitatino^ answer is — Xo. The train- 
 ing of an athlete for a contest must continue 
 to be essentially different from the trainino- of a 
 man for his every-day liyino;. 
 
 Furthermore, the training of an athlete, with 
 the sino'le yiew of enahlinsr him to concentrate his 
 entire muscular po^yers for a struggle lasting 
 from ten minutes to two hours or more, is likely 
 to be injurious ^yhen seemingly most successful. 
 The injurious effects, howeyer, may be reduced 
 to a minimum b}^ a careful adherence to physi- 
 oloo;ical rules. 
 
 " Training," says a physician, '^ sacrifices a man 
 to muscle, not less than a prize pig is sacrificed 
 to fat. Muscle and fat beimr in each case the 
 special object, the success of the art is measured 
 l)y the amount of the sacrifice. But it is not 
 thus that men and pigs are made healthy." 
 
 This is an extreme yiew, perhaps, particularly 
 in sio'ht of recent improyement in training' svs- 
 tems. But all forcing is injurious, and training 
 is a forcing of the muscles. As Dr. Oliyer 
 Wendell Holmes says, it is '' burning theyital fire 
 with the blower up." It is like cramming for an 
 examination — an immense amount of information 
 is gathered in a yery brief space of time ; but too 
 often the mind has been sacrificed to the memory ; 
 the oyer-stimulated brain soon loses its yiaor ; 
 
104 ETHICS OF liOXlNG AM) MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 the triumph has l^een i)urchased by a life of 
 mediocrity or apathy. 
 
 It was noted in ancient Rome that the athletes 
 were short-lived, liable " to rupture of blood- 
 vessels, to apoplexy, and lethargic complaints ; •' 
 and it has been charo-ed that even the trainins: 
 of our American college athletes, at least in the 
 past, has had an injurious effect on their health. 
 
 Still, it must be admitted, in favor of training, 
 that the greatest athletes known in modern times 
 were not short-lived. 
 
 From the results of the training adopted at the 
 English universities, it would appear that the 
 constitution is even strenirthened, the intellect 
 sharpened, and life lengthened. Dr. John Morgan 
 (" University Oars," 1873), collected statistics of 
 the subsequent health of those who have rowed 
 ill the university races since 1829, and he found 
 that, whereas at twenty years of age, according 
 to Farr's life tables, the average expectation of 
 survival is forty years, for these oarsmen it was 
 forty-two years. Moreover, in cases of death, 
 inquiry into its causes exhil)ited evidence of good 
 constitutions rather than the contrarv, the causes 
 consisting: larsfc^lv of fevers and accidents, to 
 Avhich the vigorous and active are more exposed 
 than the sick. 
 
 And it was certainly not at the expense of the 
 
IS TUAlNIXCr INJUUIOUS? 
 
 105 
 
 mind, in tliese ciises, that the body was cultivated, 
 for this roll of athletes is adorned with the names 
 of 1)ishops, poets, (jiieen's counsel, etc. 
 
 The followinii' table izives the names and ages 
 of twenty-two of the most famous prize-fighters 
 of En<rland, Irehmd, and America : 
 
 NA.MK. 
 
 JIOKN. 
 
 John lirougliton 
 
 Tom Johnson 
 
 Daniel Mendoz.i 
 
 John Jackson 
 
 Jhn Belcher 
 
 Tom Belcher 
 
 John Gully 
 
 TomCribb 
 
 Dan Donnelly 
 
 Tom Spring 
 
 Bendigo (W. Thompson). . . . 
 
 Ben Gamut 
 
 Wm. Perry (Tipton Slasher). 
 
 Kat Laughain 
 
 Harry Orme 
 
 Tom Paddock 
 
 Harry Browne 
 
 Deaf Burke 
 
 Tom Sayers 
 
 " Yankee " Sullivan 
 
 John Morrissey 
 
 John C. Heenan 
 
 no;] 
 
 1750 
 1703 
 1700 
 1781 
 1783 
 1783 
 1781 
 1788 
 1795 
 1811 
 1815 
 1819 
 1820 
 1820 
 1824 
 1820 
 1809 
 1828 
 1811 
 1831 
 1835 
 
 DIED. 
 
 1789 
 1797 
 1730 
 1845 
 1811 
 1854 
 1803 
 1848 
 1820 
 1851 
 1880 
 1801 
 1881 
 1871 
 1804 
 1803 
 1805 
 1845 
 1800 
 1850 
 1878 
 1873 
 
 AGE. 
 
 85 
 47 
 i-) 
 70 
 30 
 71 
 80 
 07 
 32 
 50 
 09 
 40 
 01 
 51 
 39 
 39 
 39 
 30 
 38 
 45 
 47 
 
 Averai?e Ac^e, 47. 
 
 This is not a very bad showing for men whose 
 profession involved numerous severe trainings 
 
lOfi ETHICS OF BOXlxa AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 and exhaustive conflicts, and whose lives in the 
 intervals were usually dissipated and full of ex- 
 citement. But it must be remembered that, to 
 start with, these men were exceptional for health, 
 strength, and probable longevity. 
 
 These figures and facts seem to point to a pos- 
 sible training, based on scientific principle??, b}^ 
 which the highest possible muscular results may 
 be obtained without injury to health. 
 
 IL 
 
 THE EVILS OF IMPROPER TRAINING. 
 
 The ' ' sj'stem of training " pursued by most of 
 those who train athletes, especially boxers, is, in 
 the main, traditional, arbitrary, and unscientific. 
 The main evils and dano-ers of the " svstem " are 
 over-traininir, reduction of nervous force for the 
 sake of muscular power, disregard of instruction 
 in respiration, subjecting individuals of diflerent 
 needs and appetites to the same rule, and training 
 men who are from the first unfit to be trained. 
 
 The end of training is to keep up the top speed 
 or top force for a short or a long period. To do 
 the latter requires the full development of the 
 body, and long, careful, and patient preparation. 
 
THE EVILS OE I31PROl>EK TRAlMNCJ. 1()7 
 
 In a long contest, of any kind, a bad man 
 trained will beat a good man untrained. This is 
 a notable fact. 
 
 Training implies a struggle of some kind. It 
 ought to l)e l)ased on the principles of physiology 
 and the special needs of the individual athlete. 
 The usual time allotted to training a man, or a 
 crew, for a contested struggle, is six weeks. The 
 objects to be ol)tained in this time are ; 
 
 1. The removal of superfluous fat and Avater. 
 
 2. The increase of contractile power in the 
 nuiscles. 
 
 3. Increased endurance. 
 
 4. ''Wind," or the power of breathing, and 
 circulnting the blood steadily, in spite of exertion. 
 
 The first is arrived at mainly by a change of 
 food ; the second and third by various muscular 
 exercises ; the fourth by steadily keeping up such 
 exercise as can only be sustained when the breath- 
 i:ig and circulating organs do their full duty, such 
 as running. Of course, each of these aids reacts 
 on and helps all the others. 
 
 Before considering the training that is benefi- 
 cial, it may be well to glance at the unfortunate 
 effects of the traditional systems of training that 
 are too commonly followed. 
 
 Though the training of our athletes grows 
 better year l^y year (owing principally to the 
 
108 KTHIC8 OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 higher intelligence applied in the case of college 
 oarsmen and irvmnasts), it is a fact that to-dav 
 ahnost every boxer, and many other athletes, 
 trained for a contest, are over-trained and seriously 
 weakened. Quite recently, I saw a man on the 
 day of his contest, whom his trainer spoke of as 
 being 'mu splendid condition — hard as nails : lost 
 twenty pounds in six weeks.'' The man was 
 gaunt ; there was a look in his eye that was un- 
 natural. His muscular system was wonderful to 
 look on ; but it had drained almost his entire ner- 
 vous vitalitv. He could bear hammerino:, and he 
 could strike hard ; but the subtle and precious 
 moral and nervous strength that would sustain 
 him in a close fight, enable him to endure, and to 
 leaj) into renewed opportunity, was drained dry 
 to feed his hard muscles. He was naturally a 
 brave and confident man ; l)ut that day, when the 
 struggle tired and tested him, and his muscles 
 were weary with opposition, he had no nervous 
 force to sustain him, and he suffered, dodged, and 
 at last Yielded, half-l)eaten, like a coward. The 
 man had been trained out of humanity into a 
 spiritless and thoughtless animal. 
 
 It is notorious that '* over-trainin<2:" leads to a 
 condition of system in which the sufierers describe 
 themselves as " fallen to pieces." The most 
 peculiar symptom is a sudden loss of voluntary 
 
THE EVILS OF IMPROPER TRAINING. 109 
 
 power after exertion. It is sometimes called 
 " fainting ; " but there is no loss of sense, and it is 
 quickly relieved by liquid food. It is no uncommon 
 thing to see a man in the ring or on the track come 
 to a dead stop, though full of muscular power. 
 
 This is sometimes caused by loss of "wind" 
 (to be explained hereafter) ; l)ut much oftener it is 
 the result of the complete overlooking of the ner- 
 vous strength by a trainer ^vho thinks of no force 
 except that which he can handle and measure. 
 
 " The power which is to drive the muscles as 
 the power of steam drives an engine, is produced 
 by the nerves — a fact much overlooked." 
 
 The effects of ovcr-traininir and isfnorant train- 
 ing are strikingly shown in the following remarks 
 bv a leadina' English medical lournal, " The 
 Lancet," on the condition of John C. Heenan, the 
 American boxer, when he fought King for the 
 championship of England, in December, 1S63 : 
 
 "The immense development of the muscles about the 
 shoulders and chest was very remarkable. They stood out 
 prominently, and as little encumbered with fat as if they had 
 been cleaned with a scalpel. In firmness they resembled carti- 
 lage. But, with all this splendid development, it was evident 
 that Heenan had received a shock from Avhich his system was 
 only slowly recovering; though whether this loss of power was 
 due to punishment received in fight, or to the hard training which 
 he had previously undergone, may be a disputed point. As physi- 
 ologists, it seemed to us highly probable that his training had 
 been too prolonged and too severe. AVlien Heenan went into 
 
110 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 training on Wednesday, the 23d of September — just eleven 
 weeks before the match — his weight was fifteen stone, seven 
 pomids. Ashe stepped into the ring on the lOtli instant, he 
 was exactly fourteen stone. At the same time King weighed 
 thirteen stone, though he was three quarters of an inch taller 
 than Heenan, whose height was six feet one and one half 
 inches. Those who know what severe training means will, 
 perhaps, agree that Heenan was probably in a better condition 
 five weeks before meeting his antagonist, than on the morning 
 of his defeat, although when he stripped for fighting the look- 
 ers-on all agreed that he seemed to promise himself an easy 
 victory, while exulting in his fine proportions and splendid 
 muscular development. It is now clearly proven that Heenan 
 went into the contest i':lfh much more muscular fJian vital power. 
 Long before he had met with any severe punishment — indeed, 
 as he states at the close of the third round — he felt faint, 
 breathed with much difiiculty, and, as he described it, his res- 
 piration was "roaring." He declares that he received more 
 severe treatment at the hands of Sayers than he did from King ; 
 yet at the termination of the former fight, which lasted 
 upwards of two hours, he was so fresh as to lea}) over tAvo or 
 three hurdles, and distance many of his friends in the race. It 
 was noticed on the present occasion that his physique had 
 deteriorated, and that he looked much older than at his last 
 appearance in the ring. Without offering any opinion as to 
 the merits of the combatants, it is certain that Heenan was in 
 a state of deteriorated health when he faced his opponent ; and 
 it ii fair to conclude that the deterioration was due, in a great 
 measure, to the severity of the training which he had under- 
 gone. As with the mind, so with the body, undue and pro- 
 longed exertion must end in depression of power. In the 
 process of physical education of the young, in training of our 
 recruits, or in the sports of the athlete, the case of Heenan 
 suggests a striking commentary of great interest in a physical 
 point of view. While exercise, properly so called, tends to 
 development and health, excessive exertion produces debility 
 and decav." 
 
MUSCULAR AND KESriKATOKY POWEK. Hi 
 
 III. 
 
 MUSCULAR POWER SECONDARY TO RESPIRATORY 
 
 POWER. 
 
 " Muscular power," says a leading English 
 authority on training (Maclaren), ^' plays quite 
 a secondary part in rowing; respiratory power 
 makes the first claim, and makes it more exact- 
 ingly than in any other mode of physical exertion 
 in which men can be engaged." 
 
 I do not think that rowinir makes a li'reater 
 claim on '^ the wind" than any other exercise. 
 I am convinced that a heavier demand on tlie 
 lungs is made by both fast swimming and boxing 
 — undou1)tedly by tlie latter. Probably nine 
 pu2:ilistic contests out of a dozen are decided by 
 superior 'Mvind," and this is true pf almost all 
 tast-swimming matches. 
 
 In another place in this article reference is 
 made to the need of deep-breathing for the attain- 
 ment of general health. But it is not deep- 
 breathino; alone that the struo-olino' athlete needs. 
 He must, by practice, attain the art of holding It is 
 breath and adding thereto. Even in deep-breath- 
 ing the lungs are never emptied of resident air. 
 Fresh air must be stored for a time in the lungs 
 
112 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AXD MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 before it is allowed to reach the blood. AVe 
 retain about two hundred and fifty cubic inches of 
 this resident air (which is the tempered reservoir 
 Avhence the blood derives its oxygen), and grad- 
 uallv renew and chanij^e it bv breathino\ AVe 
 inspire only some twenty-five to thirty cul)ic 
 inches of fresh, cold air at each breath. This 
 is a man's normal resting condition ; of course, 
 Avhen strong; exercise bea'ins the blood demands 
 more freih air. The novice, or the unin- 
 structed athlete, when exercise begins, commits 
 the o'nxve mistake of l^reathin^; out his resident 
 air, to make room for a deeper inspiration. But 
 the cold, fresh air is not allowed by nature to 
 reach the air-cells : if it chances to o'et down too 
 far it makes us cough ; it is too cold, and has too 
 much oxva'en. Therefore, a vacuum, or half-filled 
 space, is created ; the novice g^ts '^ out of breath ; " 
 and, if he cannot gradually recover what he has 
 h)st, he must come to a stop. 
 
 The properly trained man, on the contrary, 
 endeavors to keep all the air he has got, and to 
 add to it, by intruding on the complementary 
 space. When he has regained the small quantity 
 necessarily lost at starting the muscular action, 
 and increased on it, he has got what is called 
 his '' second wind," and then he is al)le to go on 
 while his muscular power holds out. 
 
MUSCULAR AND RESPIRATOKY POWER. 118 
 
 Running is the best exercise to increase the 
 breathing and staying power, as the muscles used 
 in propelling the runner's body do not interfere 
 witii those of respiration. The runner can hold 
 his breath, with the chest fully extended, for a 
 long time, while the rower, for instance, must fill 
 his lungs at each stroke, — from thirty to forty 
 times a minute. But, with practice, the rower 
 can keep his chest well filled without letting out 
 his resident air ; he lets out a small quantity only, 
 and fills this up again, so as to keep the full com- 
 plement of air necessary for the blood without 
 changing a great quantity at each breath. 
 
 As the arm increases in girth from using the 
 dumb-bell, the chest of the runner and oarsman 
 accustoms itself to the laro-er demands made 
 upon it, both for breathing and holding the wind. 
 
 It must be remembered that many persons, 
 though muscular and athletic, can never learn 
 to do anything that demands rapid respiration. 
 They can put forth their strength slowly ; but 
 they always get " winded" in a rapid and vigorous 
 test. Persons, with this peculiarity, usually try 
 to cure themselves by muscular exertion ; but 
 this is wrons:. AVhat thev need is intellio:ent and 
 lono'-continued exercise of various kinds for the 
 breathinof oro-ans. 
 
 •'Indigestion, sleeplessness, nervous indecision, 
 
114 ETH1C8 OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 palpitation of the heart, and irreguhirity of the 
 bowels disappear under proper training," says an 
 able physician and athlete; 'H^ut if they exist, 
 the regimen should be entered upon with more 
 than usual caution.*' 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE FOOD OF ATHLETES IN TRAINING. 
 
 '* Haed work trains," says an authority (Wood- 
 gate), " and diet keeps the frame up to its work." 
 This has been the principle on which training, of 
 beast and man alike, has been carried out since 
 the benefits of " condition" were first appreciated. 
 
 Trainers usually l:)eo:in with excessive emetics 
 and aperients, '^to clear the blood." There is no 
 particular harm in this, if they do not make the 
 man or crew work hard till " tone " is recovered. 
 Then comes re2:ular feedinir ii'ood in itself, but 
 with the usual order — ''the less drinldng the 
 better — liquids swell and soften the body." In 
 defiance of the physiological fact that difterent 
 individuals need different quantities of liquid as 
 well as of solid food, this practice will be applied 
 generall3\ Of course it brings about a rapid re- 
 duction of flesh ; but it severely reduces strenofth, 
 nervous and physical, at the same time. 
 
 The true rule for drinkinir while " in training' 
 
 i 
 
THE FOOD OF ATHLETES IN TRAINING. 115 
 
 is — first bar out seductive and injurious drinks, 
 and then drink when you want ; but only drink 
 water. The ''swelling" and ''soft flesh" are 
 rank nonsense. 
 
 Trainers exclude most veo:e tables, as beins: 
 "watery food," — another flagrant error. The 
 acids of vegetables are necessities for the blood, 
 for digestion ; and, besides, their strength as food 
 is very great. 
 
 Under all systems of training and rules of diet, 
 it must never be forgotten that ' ' what is one 
 man's food is anotlier man's poison." 
 
 The Greeks of old fed their athletes on wheaten 
 bread, fresh cheese, and dried figs ; later they ad- 
 vanced to beef and pork ; but the bread and meat 
 were taken separately, the former at breakfast, the 
 latter at dinner. Except in wine the quantity of 
 food and drink for Greek athletes was unlimited. 
 The exercises consisted, besides the ordinary 
 gymnastic instruction of the j)aloest7Xt, in carrying 
 heavy loads, lifting weights, bending iron rods, 
 striking at a suspended leather sack filled with 
 sand or flour, taming bulls, etc. 
 
 The modern athlete, in training, eats meat at 
 least three times a day. The best systems are 
 those pursued at^ the great universities of 
 England and America. As an example, I give 
 here the Oxford system of training for the summer 
 boat-race : 
 
IK) ETHICIS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
 A DAY S 
 Rise about 7 a.m. 
 
 Exercise < 
 
 Breakfast at 8.30 
 
 P.M. 
 
 Exercise in fore- 
 noon 
 
 Dinner at 2 p.m. 
 
 Exercise. 
 
 Supper at 8.30 or 
 9 p.m 
 
 Bed at 10 p.m. 
 
 TRAINING AT OXFORD. 
 
 A short walk or ( ^^ 
 P^ \ Not compulsory. 
 
 ( As little as possi- 
 Oftea \ ^,1^ 
 
 Meat^ beef or mut- ( ^^ , 
 
 i L nder done, 
 ton ( 
 
 r^ , ^ . ^ { Crust only recom- 
 Bread or dry toast. ) , ; 
 
 ( mended. 
 
 N^one 
 
 Meat much the 
 same as at break- 
 fast 
 
 ^ , ( Crust only recom- 
 
 Bread , : 
 
 I mended. 
 
 Vegetables, none., i >^ot always adher- 
 l ed to. 
 
 Beer, one pint .... 
 
 About live o'clock 
 start for the river 
 and row twice over 
 the course, the 
 speed increasing 
 with the strength 
 of the crew 
 
 Meat, cold 
 
 Bread, and perhaps 
 a little jelly or 
 
 water- cresses 
 
 Beer, one pint 
 
THE FOOD OF ATHLETES IN TRAINING. 117 
 
 Dr. T. K. Chambers, a renowned British scien- 
 tific authority, says of this system : 
 
 "It may be considered a typical regimen for fully develop- 
 ing a young man's corporeal powers to fulfil the demands of 
 an extraordinary exertion, a standard which may be modified 
 according to the circumstances for which the training is 
 required/' 
 
 The Cambridge (England) system differs very 
 slightly from the above ; and in neither is any 
 exaggerated severity of discipline enforced, nor 
 any rigid suppression of peculiarities or wish for 
 variety . 
 
 The system of training pursued by the Harvard 
 University crews is generally the same as that fol- 
 lowed by the English universities. It may, how- 
 ever, be noted that the same degree of perfection 
 has not yet been attained l)y Harvard, nor is it 
 claimed by the gentlemen who have this care in 
 hand. " The chief difference to be found in favor 
 of Oxford or Cambridge, England," says a Har- 
 vard oarsman and athletic authority, '' is the 
 permanency of their principles. They do not 
 swing around the compass either at defeat or 
 victory." 
 
 The system at Yale, independently of the 
 varying styles of rowing, resembles also that of 
 the English universities. Yale, however, in the 
 matter of trainino- has the best-orii:anized colleo-e 
 system in America. 
 
118 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 The following extremely valuable contribution 
 to the physiological lore of training, undoubtedly 
 one of the ablest treatises ever prepared on the 
 special subject, has been written for this book by 
 a distinguished Boston physician, who has made 
 it a particular stud}^ — Dr. Francis A. Harris, 
 Medical Examiner of Suffolk County, Professor 
 of Suroferv in the Boston Dental CoUeo-e, Demon- 
 strator of Medico-Leo-al Examinations in Harvard 
 University, etc. : — 
 
 The question of the ahmentation, or feeding of the athlete, 
 is one to be determined by the consideration of several factors 
 in the result to be obtained. 
 
 These factors are, in general, first, the development of the 
 body to such a degree, that, with the best muscular condition, 
 there shall also be the nicest possible balance between the 
 various systems, musciQar and nervous. The human body is, 
 as it were, a sort of chemical engine; and, however perfect the 
 machine may be made, if the motive power be not kept sup- 
 plied, the machine is useless. 
 
 A second factor is the removal of the superfluous, and the 
 superfluous only. Athletes and their trainers are too apt to 
 carry the reduction of fat to a point below the requirements 
 of proper physical health. Fat, beside other functions, sup- 
 plies heat to the body; and, for most chemical processes, a 
 certain temperature is requisite; and, in so far as the fuel 
 necessary for sustaining that temperature is taken away, so far 
 are the chemical changes interfered with. This is especially 
 true of the changes in man. Most men are trained too fine. 
 It is a matter of history, that, in the Oxford-Harvard race of 
 1869, two of the crew, by training till two others who joined 
 them weeks later were in condition, were so far below their 
 own best physical condition as to render the crew, as a whole. 
 
 ■i 
 
 i 
 
THE FOOD OF ATHLETES IN TRAINING. 119 
 
 not fit to do its best work, and caused a defeat, which, perhaps, 
 was unavoidable, greater than it otherwise would have been. 
 I am aware that this statement has been disputed ; but, as one 
 present at the time, I am firmly convinced such was the case. 
 
 A third factor is the development of what is essential for 
 perfect condition to a degree consistent with a proper working 
 of all parts, — muscular, nervous, respiratory, and digestive. 
 
 All this involves the consideration of the following mat- 
 ters : — 
 
 1. The kind of food. 
 
 2. The quantity of food. 
 
 3. The methods of preparation. 
 
 4. The variety. 
 
 5. The conditions under which the food is used, as to time, 
 relative to exercise and sleep, and the interval between meals. 
 
 6. The question of fluids; and 
 
 7. Indirectly, the question of alcohol and tobacco. 
 
 The determination of the kind of food depends upon broad 
 physiological prin Mples. Each trainer may, and generally does, 
 have a diet -list which he considers the only proper one. Yet 
 each is so far good, and so far bad, as it coincides with, or 
 departs from, the general principles of ijhysiology. The human 
 machine, reduced roughly to its lowest common denominator, 
 is a mass made up of chemical elements ; chiefly carbon, oxy- 
 gen, hydrogen, nitrogen, together with lime, sulphur, phos- 
 phorus, and iron. 
 
 The oxygen is, of course, chiefly supplied from the air, and, 
 to a less degree, from water. Hence the necessity of good 
 respiratory apparatus, — lungs that shall not only work well, 
 but shall have as great volume as possible. The oxygen is 
 rapidly consumed in the body. The greater the amount of 
 exercise, the greater the waste, or rather expenditure, of mate- 
 rial, including oxygen, and the greater the necessity for having 
 large reserv^oirs from which to draw. 
 
 Wind is as essential, perhaps more essential than muscle; 
 for a man in rowing, or running, may have plenty of muscle to 
 go farther, but his exertions have expended more oxygen than 
 
120 ETHICS OF BOXIKG AND 3IANLY SPOKT. 
 
 liis lungs can replace, and the machine won't go. The battery 
 is run out. Tlie lungs can be developed, as well as any other 
 portion of the body, by exercising them in their own functions. 
 Deep inspirations while at rest, running, and the use of those 
 muscles (as those of the upjDer arms and shoulders) whose move- 
 ments tend to expand the chest, will so enlarge the capacity of 
 the limgs that great amounts of one of the most important 
 chemical foods of the body can be taken into the system. 
 
 The other elements are to be found in any ordinary list of 
 articles of diet; and, as a matter of fact, two or three articles 
 may supi)ly them all, — meats ; including beef, mutton, veal, 
 lamb, pork, poultry, and game ; vegetables, including potatoes, 
 corn, spinach, onions, peas, and beans; fish; bread in its vari- 
 ous forms, oatmeal, eggs, milk, and fruit, make a list from which, 
 with the addition of condiments, all necessary supplies obtain- 
 able from food may be had. From such a list, however, selec- 
 tions are obviously to be made with advantage. 
 
 N"ot alone is the food itself to be taken into the stomach; 
 but, to accomplish its desired end with the least difficulty to 
 the organism, the food must be of such kind as to be most 
 easily and readily digested and assimilated. 
 
 For that reason, of the meats ; beef, mutton, lamb, and game 
 are to be preferred, as well as the dark, rather than light, meat 
 of fowls. 
 
 Fish of the white-meated variety. 
 
 Oysters raw, not cooked. 
 
 Potatoes and oatmeal suffice for starch.^ 
 
 Bread well cooked, and not of the finer grades of flour. 
 
 Milk is to be regarded as a solid food, and not a beverage. 
 It is very rich in nutriment, and is very readily digested and 
 assimilated. 
 
 The quantity of food is, in a measure, to be proportioned to 
 the amount of work done as well as to the individual according 
 to size. As to the amount to be taken, experience has shown, 
 that, for a hard-working man, thirty to forty ounces a day are 
 sufficient. But quantity depends on one other thing. That 
 food may be properly digested, a certain amount of distension 
 
THE rOOD OF ATHLETES IX TRAINING. 121 
 
 of the stomach is necessary; that is, for example, if all the 
 food necessary for twenty-fom* hours could be condensed into 
 three boluses, or pills, these pills would not nourish the body 
 like the same food taken in the ordinary form. From^this, it 
 is easy to see that fish is a desirable article of food, as it satis- 
 fies the cravings of appetite; and, though taken in considerable 
 quantity, is so deficient in nutritive matter, as compared with 
 meat, that it does not largely tend to replace the fat used up in 
 the body. It is true that a person, by change of diet from one 
 containing much starch (;:hat is, articles like potatoes, bread, 
 oatmeal, etc.) to one of meat chiefly, loses his fat. This loss, 
 however, is due to the natural consumption of the fat in con- 
 sequence of exercise, and the fact that it is not replaced by the 
 food taken. From the starchy foods come the sugar, and on 
 the sugar is largely dependent the formation of fat. 
 
 But, even at risk of repetition, I cannot too strongly urge 
 the use of good judgment in this matter of reduction of fat. 
 Fat is useful, it is essential, and it is too common a practice to 
 endeavor to get rid of it all. Yet, in so far as it is reduced 
 beyond its proper ratio to the rest of the body, just so far does 
 the body fall short of the perfect machine sought to be devel- 
 oped. As it is, however, at the start, generally in excess, the 
 diet, in the matter of fat -producing foods, should be restricted. 
 Not over one pound of bread or potatoes, out of a whole diet 
 of forty ounces, should be eaten. 
 
 The method of cooking has much to do with the nutritive 
 quaUties of a given food after it is eaten. Meats should be 
 roasted or broiled, rather than baked or fried or boiled. In 
 this way their juices are best retained. Starchy foods and fish 
 should be thoroughly cooked, while meats should be a little 
 underdone. 
 
 The list of foods mentioned above should furnish sufficient 
 variety ; indeed, a very small portion of the list would furnish 
 all the essentials ; but variety itself is an essential. The long- 
 continued use of a single article inspires disgust, and, in con- 
 se'iuence, a smaller amount of food is taken, and even that 
 amount less readily digested, as the fluids necessary to that 
 
122 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 process are not poured out as freely as for those things which 
 are appetizincj. It is not necessary that the mouth should 
 " water," but it must not be dry. 
 
 The conditions mider which food is taken are of great im- 
 portance. It should not be taken, in any considerable quantity, 
 either directly before or directly after sleep. It should not be 
 taken either immediately before or after severe exercise. The 
 nervous system, after the complete rest of sleep, must have a 
 little time to get in working order, to acquire momentum, as it 
 were, before it furnishes the motive-power for digestion; and, 
 on the other hand, if called on to do it at a time when sleep 
 i > required, it is apt to work imperfectly or not at all, and so 
 both digestion and sleep are interfered with. The same 
 principles apply to exercise. When the body is exhausted by 
 violent or long-continued work, it is not in condition to perform 
 the function of digestion; nor, if called from the performance 
 of this function to perform severe muscular exercise, can it do 
 so without, as it were, neglecting the work imperative to be 
 done in digestion. 
 
 In such a case the food passes undigested into the bowels ; it 
 acts as an irritant, and bowel troubles ensue as a consequence 
 of nature's attempt to get rid of what is really foreign matter. 
 
 Without laying down a rule to be absolutely followed in all 
 cases, it is safe to say that some such plan as this should be 
 followed : 
 
 Rise at six; bathe; take about two ounces (a small cup) of 
 coffee, with milk, — this is really a stimulating soup. Then 
 light exercise, chiefly devoted to lungs; a little rest; the break- 
 fast of meat, bread, or oatmeal, vegetables, with no coffee; an 
 hour's rest. Then the heaviest exercise of the day. This is 
 contrar^^ to rule ; but I believe the heaviest exercise should be 
 taken before the heaviest meal; a rest before dinner. This 
 meal, if breakfast be taken at seven, or eight, should be at 
 one, or two, not leaving a longer interval than five hours be.- 
 tween the meals. At dinner, again meat, vegetables, bread, 
 perhaps a half-pint of malt liquor, no sweets. Then a longer 
 rest; exercise till five. Supper light, — bread, milk, perhaps 
 
 I 
 
THE FOOD OF ATHLETES IX TRAINING. 12 
 
 o 
 
 with an egg. Half an hour later a cup of tea, and bed at 
 nine. 
 
 This is, of course, but a rough outline; but indicates the 
 general plan. 
 
 In the rest after dinner there must be no sleep. While 
 breakfast and dinner should be the important meals, the din- 
 ner should be the heavier, and should be in the middle of the 
 day. 
 
 The amount of fluid taken should be only moderate, especi- 
 ally when it is a question of reducing fat. By rendering the 
 solution of food in the stomach more -dilute it promotes the 
 rapidity of absorption, and, in fact, increases the actual amount 
 of nutriment absorbed. Yet, water is, probably, the most im- 
 portant article taken into the stomach of man. A person can 
 endure hunger much longer than thirst ; and the demand for 
 water will make itself felt more quickly and more imi^eratively 
 than the demand for food. It is my belief, that, as a rule, in 
 training, too little water is allowed. Three quarts, rather than 
 three pints a day. There are good reasons for this. ^lany of 
 the refuse particles, left after the chemistry of the body, are 
 carried out by the kidneys. If there is not supply of water 
 enough to hold these matters in solution, the effect of too con- 
 centrated secretion from those organs will make itself felt in 
 serious disturbance, if not in actual disease ; and, when it is 
 remembered how much of the water is carried off by the lungs 
 and skin, — in breathing and in i^erspiration, — an additional 
 reason for caution in undue deprivation of water, is manifest. 
 
 Of course, if milk or beer is used, that, to a certain extent, 
 will diminish the necessity for water. 
 
 It should be stated here, however, that milk, if used in the 
 diet, is to be regarded rather as a solid food, than as a bever- 
 age, — a pint of good milk being nearly the equivalent in 
 nutritive properties to a pound of steak. One reason that 
 milk is said to be hard of digestion by certain people is, that 
 after a hearty meal they drink milk for a beverage, putting, as 
 it were, one steak on top of another; and wondering why the 
 stomach will not manage it all. Another reason why tliere 
 
124 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 should not be too great a deprivation of water is, that this loss 
 is so keenly felt as to almost cause suffering, — certainly irrita- 
 tion, — and so disturbs the tranquillity and perfect working 
 of the nervous system as to destroy that balance which is so 
 necessary. 
 
 On this point, a word about sleep. The brain must have its 
 exercise and its rest as well as the muscles. It must be nour- 
 ished. Foods containing phosphorus (as fish) should be used. 
 During the intervals between muscular exercise it should be kept 
 moderately employed, and not too much stimulated. Eeading, 
 chat, discussions not too exciting, and games not calculated to 
 arouse too great an excitement (that is, chess — not poker). 
 The man should have plenty of sleep. While some men can 
 go without much sleep, the average man, and especially the 
 man in training, should have eight hours. 
 
 In the nervous system is the motive-power of the machine ; 
 and in so far as that is exhausted, or impaired, or neglected by 
 exclusive attention to the other systems, in so far will the ma- 
 chine fail to work. 
 
 As to alcohol and tobacco : it may safely be said that, on 
 general principles, they are both artificial demands, unneces- 
 sary, and therefore not beneficial. As, however, in these days, 
 a large proportion of men are habituated to their use, and the 
 system has become, in a measure, dependent upon them for 
 the performance of certain functions, that the immediate and 
 entire abandonment of their use is not to be advised. The 
 amount of alcohol should be very much restricted, — only 
 what would be contained in a pint of malt liquor, at the most, 
 and that at meal-time, should be taken. Tobacco should, also, 
 be restricted, and gradually diminished till none at all is used. 
 The heart, which has been long accustomed to be whipped up 
 by alcohol, and soothed down (though irritated) by tobacco, 
 will not w^ork so well till it has been gradually accustomed to 
 other treatment. 
 
 As all the digestive functions should be performed properly, 
 and as the diminution of water supply is likely to be consider- 
 able, certain vegetables, like spinach and onions, and certain 
 
rOOL> AND EXERCISE IN TRAINING. 125 
 
 fruits, should be occasionally allowed, in si^ite of their sugar, 
 for laxative purposes, — a method much better than the resort 
 to more artificial means. 
 
 Whether severe training is good for a man, or not, is a mat- 
 ter of dispute. I cannot believe that it will increase longevity. 
 The average condition is better than intermittent, severe strain. 
 When one thinks what the heart is called on to do in severe 
 exercise and training, it is hard to see how the lasting power 
 of that organ can be increased by it, — that little organ, not 
 larger than the fist, with its delicate, translucent valves, yet 
 which, with proper care, will send a current of blood, one 
 eighth the weight of the body (that is, seventeen pounds in a 
 man weighing one hundred and forty) through that body every 
 twenty seconds, waking or sleeping, from birth, perhaps, for a 
 hundred years. This muscle has no chance to rest like the 
 others. When that rests, the machine is broken. It has to be 
 ready to work harder in sickness and accident. Isn't it asking 
 too nuich of it, in addition, to do the extra work in training, 
 and expect it to carry us to our three- score years and ten? 
 
 V. 
 
 A day's food and exercise in training. 
 
 The training of athletes will vary, of course, 
 with the nature of the contest ; but one may 
 give a generalized sketch of a day's exercise in 
 trainin«^, differina* more or less from the fore- 
 going systems. It will be observed that Dr. 
 Harris, in his suggestions, which ought to be 
 invaluable to athletes, materially differs from 
 
12() KTH1C8 OF BOXING AND MANLY 8POKT. 
 
 the Oxford system of training. It may be safely 
 concluded that Dr. Harris writes with a careful 
 regard to the circumstances of American life, 
 and that his rules are better suited to the needs 
 of American athletes. 
 
 An athlete, in trainino', devotes his whole time 
 to the reo'ular observance of rules. This rei^ular- 
 ity is not possible for persons employed in shops, 
 stores, and professions. They are sure to be 
 far from their runnino-oround, their boat, their 
 swimming-bath, &c. Still, there are many oars- 
 men, and others, Avho have to work all day — 
 even while training — and they must adapt their 
 exercises to their needs and time. The one exer- 
 cise none can afford to nea*lect is runninas to 
 clear the wind. 
 
 Seven o'clock is a good time for an athlete in 
 trainin«: to rise. He ous^ht to i>'et a o^ood dry- 
 rubbing, and then spunge his body Avith cold 
 water, or have a shower-bath, with a thorough 
 rubbintr afterwards. He will then ^o out to ex- 
 ercise before breakfast, — not to run hard, as is 
 commonly taught, but to w^alk briskly for an 
 hour, while exercising his lungs in deep-breath- 
 
 inir. 
 
 Few men can stand running before breakfast. 
 It produces nausea, spoils the breakfast, and 
 throws them out for the whole dav. The food 
 
FOOD AND EXERCISE IN TRAINING. 127 
 
 eaten at nio:ht has Ions; been consumed, and it is 
 obviously wrong to make a violent effort while 
 the muscular and nerve organs are in a state of 
 inanition. But the walk and the open air wall 
 give a man an appetite for his breakfast. 
 
 Charles Westhall, the pedestrian, who gave 
 much intelligent and experienced consideration to 
 trainino^. savs : — 
 
 ' ' The walk should be taken at such a pace that the skin 
 does not become moist, but have a good, healthy glow on the 
 surface, and the man be at once ready for his breakfast at 
 eight o'clock." 
 
 Westhall recommends that, before this w^alk, 
 an egg in a cup of tea, or something of the kind, 
 should be taken. 
 
 The breakfast need not always consist of a 
 broiled mutton-chop or cutlet; a broiled steak, 
 broiled chicken, or broiled fish, or some of each, 
 may be taken, with tea or coflee. (Dr. Harris's 
 regimen is excellent throughout.) 
 
 After breakfast, a o;ood rest for di2:estion. 
 About half-past ten, a man training for a boxing- 
 contest might '^ punch the bag" (always an air- 
 bag) for fifteen or twenty minutes, and spar four 
 three-minute rounds briskly with his attendant. 
 For the last two weeks of his trainins;, this ouaht 
 to be increased to eight or ten, or even fifteen, 
 three-minute rounds, and the time-keeper should 
 
128 KTHICS or BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 see that he gets full tmie in each round. At no 
 time during the day ought a man in training to 
 loll about idly. 
 
 Whether for boxino:, rowins:, wrestlins:, or swim- 
 mins:, there oua'ht to be a re2:ular runnino; exercise 
 before the mid-day meal. This exercise ought to 
 beo:in moderately for time and distance, and in- 
 crease gradually ; the last quarter of the run 
 should always be at the top speed. 
 
 If the men are trainino; for rowins:, thev ou2:ht 
 to exercise in the boat twice every day. Let it 
 not be forgotten that constant exercise, spread 
 over a Ions; period, is necessary to brinir the 
 muscular system into condition which can he cle- 
 pended upon, 
 
 '• Muscle may be full and firm, yet, if it be inactive for the 
 greater part of its existence, it will not be capable of long and 
 sustained exertion. Look at the muscle of the breast of a fowl 
 or a pheasant: it is not deficient; it is large and plump; it 
 serves its purpose when called upon. But, if we contrast it 
 with that of a grouse or a ^^'ood-pigeon, what a difference may 
 be observed! The muscle of the latter bird is so dark from 
 arterialized material and blood-vessels, that it looks black be- 
 side the ' white meat ' of the former. The one is incessantly 
 in motion, taking active exercise in quest of food and shelter ; 
 the other scarcely moves about at all. Xow, we want to ap- 
 proach the condition of the grouse, not of the hen, to be capa- 
 ble not only of a violent and short, but also of a long- sustained, 
 eifort; and, for this, many hours' exercise every day is needed." 
 — IT. Clasper. 
 
 Dinner may be far more varied than is usually 
 
FOOD AND EXERCISE IX TRAINING. 129 
 
 allowed by the trainer's " system." Any kind of 
 butcher's meat, plainly cooked, with a variety of 
 fresh vegetables, may be taken, with ordinary 
 light puddings, stewed fruit, but no pastry. A 
 o'ood time for dinner is one o'clock. 
 
 An American athlete, when thirsty, ought to 
 have only one drink, — water. The climate and 
 the custom in En2:land favor the diinkino; of beer 
 or claret; but, beyond question, the best drink 
 for a man in training is pure water. After din- 
 ner, rest, but no dozins: or siesta. This sort of 
 rest only spoils digestion, and makes men feel 
 slack and " limp." 
 
 After two-and-a-half hours' rest, with walking 
 exercise, the final work of the day — running, 
 boxing, rowing, or hand-ball exercise, or all of 
 these — always more than one. There should be 
 two full hours of exercise at this period of the 
 day, varied in speed, care being taken, whether 
 in rowing, running, or boxing, that not too much 
 is done at the top speed. '' If a man or a crew 
 has been exercised at high pressure on one day, 
 he should be allowed to do less the following 
 evenmg, and he will be all the better on the 
 third." — (McLaren.) When work is over, a man 
 may have a bath, and be well rubbed down. (I 
 have seen a rough silk mitten, manufactured in 
 Boston, which is most excellent for the rubbing, 
 
130 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 both wet and diy.) If the athlete be thirsty, let 
 him drink water, rinsing his mouth frequently. 
 Supper, at six o'clock, should not be a second 
 dinner; but neither should it consist of '' slops" 
 or sfruel. The food recommended by Dr. 
 Harris is excellent and sufficient. The athlete 
 ouirht to be in bed by ten o'clock, in a room 
 with open window, and a draught through 
 the room, if possible, though not across the 
 bed. He ought to sleep on a mattress, 
 warmly but lightly coyered, and irithout a pillow. 
 As explained later on, pillows are unnecessary to 
 all but certain sick people. They injuriously 
 aftect the breathino:, w^eaken the muscles of the 
 neck, making the neck lose one or tw^o inches in 
 girth, and take away the greatest hixury of rest 
 and sleep. 
 
 Running, though indispensable for clearing the 
 wind in the early weeks of traininof, should 
 usually be dispensed with at least two wrecks 
 before a boat-race. ''A crew," says W. K. 
 Woodo'ate, ''that has rowed a slow stroke, and 
 has meantime got fit (into condition), by running, 
 will row" a quick stroke with more uniformity 
 later on than a crew that has done no runnin<r, 
 but has got fit by fast rowing. The latter crew 
 has always been abroad w^hen ' blown,' and so has 
 contracted faults. The former, w^hen the time 
 
EXERCISES AND HOW TO PRACTISE THEM, lol 
 
 for quick strokes comes, is like machinery in 
 action, fit in wind, and has, therefore, neither 
 exhaustion nor irreguhirity to throw it out of 
 gear when the fast stroke is essayed." 
 
 It may not he out of place to say that men are 
 more often injured hy the going out of training 
 than by the training itself. A reckless and 
 sudden chano'e from asceticism to license is more 
 harmful than all the severities of traininof. '•To 
 make the conclusion of training an excuse for in- 
 dulgence and excess not only injures health of 
 body, but stultifies the lessons of practice, of self- 
 control, and fixed habit, which are among the chief 
 moral recommendations of modern athletics." 
 
 VI. 
 
 VARIOUS EXERCISES AND HOW TO PRACTISE THEM. 
 
 The best exercise for a man training' for a box- 
 ing-match is boxins^ ; the next best is runnins;. 
 The best exercise for a crew trainino- for a row- 
 
 'n 
 
 mg-race is rowing ; the next best is running. 
 
 The best exercise for a man trainins: for 
 swimming-match is swimming; the next best is 
 
 a 
 
 running. 
 
132 ETHICS OF HOXINCJ A:SI) MAXLY 8POKT. 
 
 And so with other contests : running is not 
 only second best, but is absolutely necessary in 
 each, for running excels all exercises for develop- 
 ing '* the wind." This is simply because the 
 muscular action of the runner enables him to 
 hold and increase his wind more easily than is 
 possible under the varied and violent arm and 
 chest motions of the boxer, the oarsman, or the 
 swimmer. 
 
 A boxer, in trainino- for a contest, oua'ht not to 
 confine his sparring to one or two men. He 
 ought to s]:)ar Avith new and able men, and with 
 as many as possil)lc. It is a radical and common 
 error to confine the exercise to one opponent, no 
 matter how good he may be. After a dozen 
 bouts together, two men know every stop on each 
 other's o-amut — even the variations are not sur- 
 prises. New men, new wa3^s. The l)oxer or the 
 swordsman who uses himself only to a single 
 opponent, is very apt to lack confidence Avitli a 
 stranger. On the other hand, he who is used to 
 many antagonists welcomes a new man with a 
 powerful sense of knowledge and confidence. 
 
 Another exercise in sparring, next best to the 
 opposition of a living l)oxer, is a hanging bag — 
 not a sand-bas; or a fiour-bair, Jis of old — but an 
 air-ba^. 
 
 The heavy sand-bag (thirty or forty pounds 
 
 i 
 
EXERCISES AND HOW TO PRACTISE THEM. 13 
 
 o 
 
 weight) , which moved only a few mches even when 
 struck heavilj^, was good, mamly, for one thing 
 which, it is to be hoped, is out of date and unnec- 
 essary — the hardening of the knuckles and skin 
 of the hands. For practice in hitting, it was not 
 o'ood. One mia'ht as well strike the wall. It 
 calls for no rapidity, no swift directness, no agile 
 " ducking," retiring, or stepping aside to escape a 
 return. 
 
 The air-bag (a leathern foot-ball is best) is as 
 quick and as straight in return as a first-rate 
 boxer. To strike it hard, very hard (so that it 
 rebounds from the ceilins; three or four times, 
 according: to the force of the blow and heis^ht of 
 the room), is an excellent kind of solitary boxing 
 exercise ; so, also, is the rapid and continuous hit- 
 ting it with one hand. Besides this, it is interesting 
 exercise. A man has to ivorJc with a sand-bag; 
 he h:is fun with an air-ball, and he can return to 
 it with pleasure and interest two or three times a 
 day. 
 
 For muscle-hardenins: exercise, there is nothina" 
 l)etter than the dumb-bell — onlf/ it must be a very 
 small dumh-hell — not a very large one, as of old. 
 The best size is an iron, two-pound dumb-bell. 
 This is the size with which the strongest men 
 exercise nowadays. 
 
 It is admitted, at last, that the object of exer- 
 
lo4 ETHICS OF BOXING AND 3IANLY SPORT. 
 
 cise is not to strain but to strengthen. Heavy 
 dumb-bells strain ; lioht ones stren2:tlien. 
 
 ^' The effects of exercise," says an English med- 
 ical authority on training, ''are twofold: on the 
 one hand a stimulus is given to the action of the 
 heart and lunos which enables the blood to be 
 more thoroughly oxygenated and more rapidly 
 circulated ; on the other hand, there is an expendi- 
 ture of force accompanying the increased activity 
 of the oro'anic chano;es. Exercise strenofthens the 
 parts exercised, because it increases the nutrition 
 of those parts. When any organ or muscle is in- 
 active, the circulation in it l)ecomes less and less ; 
 the smaller net-work of its blood-vessels are empty 
 or but half filled ; the streams gradually run in 
 fewer channels, and the organ, ceasing to be 
 thoroughly nourished, wastes away. When the 
 organ is active all its vessels are filled ; all the 
 vital changes, on which depend its growth and 
 power, proceed rapidly. The force expended is 
 renewed, unless the expenditure has been exces- 
 sive, in which case there is a disturbance of the 
 mechanism, and depression, or disease, results. 
 The advantaije of exercise to a student, 
 politician, or an}' other brain-worker, is that it 
 lessens the over-stimulus of his brain, distributes 
 the 1)lood more equally, calling to his muscles 
 some of those streams which would impetuously 
 be rushino- throua'h his brain." 
 
EXERCISES AND HOAV TO TKACTISE THEM. 135 
 
 In other words, exercise with the arms, legs, 
 or trunk, relieves the congested brain as surely, 
 and, of course, far more healthfully than bleeding. 
 
 To return to the need and superiority of the 
 light over the heavy dumb-bell : exercise with 
 the latter is necessarily brief. The single heavy 
 dumb-bell can be lifted from four to twenty times, 
 say, according to its weight. The whole body 
 is violently strained for the l)rief eflbrt. Quite 
 often, if the lifting be not carefully graduated in 
 weight, the in-rushing blood bursts some of the 
 finer net-work of the vessels, or the delicate 
 covering of the nmscles is rudely torn, and the 
 would-be athlete is an invalid for life. 
 
 The one-pound or two-pound dumb-bell strains 
 nothing : it only adds to the swing of the hands. 
 The exercise can be varied so as to develop 
 upper and lower limbs and trunk. It is par- 
 ticularly adapted to those who are not trained 
 athletes. Sav, the arms are thin and weak and 
 soft, and you want to increase their size, 
 strength, and firmness. There are only a few 
 regular motions for this, and they can be learned 
 in a minute. The hands, grasping the dumb- 
 bells, ai*e hanaino' bv the sides : beirin bv rais- 
 ing them, bending the elbow and touching the 
 front of the shoulder with the l)all of the thuml) ; 
 down again, and up again : that is all. You re- 
 
loC) ETHICS OF BOXING AXD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 peat this motion twenty times, thirty, on to fifty 
 or sixty before you are tired. 
 
 Then stop, — always stop any exercise when it 
 tires 3'ou : this is nature's advice. 
 
 But beo'in in a minute or so, and o'o over it 
 again. You will probably this time reach seventy. 
 Then chancre the motion : extend the arms like a 
 cross, on a level with the shoulders, and double in 
 from the elbow, alternately, just touching the tips 
 of the shoulders with the hands. Keep this up 
 till vou are tired, and then 2^0 back to the first 
 motion. 
 
 In a week you will be able to raise the hands 
 in the first motion hundreds of times, in a few 
 weeks a thousand times. 
 
 This means — w^hat? It means that you keep 
 the muscles of the arms working actively for from 
 a quarter of an hour to an hour ; that the lately 
 dried-up blood-vessels are now full of warm bk)od, 
 feedino^ the hot muscles as a trench full of water 
 feeds a famished field. It means also that the 
 girth of the arm is one, two, or more inches 
 larger than it was a few weeks ago ; that the flesh 
 is firm and solid; and that arm, shoulder, and 
 hand are so strong that there is a new pleasure 
 even in swinirinsr an umbrella or shakino; hands 
 with an old fi'iend. 
 
 Proceed in the same way with the muscles of the 
 
THE CURSE OF THE CLOSED AVINDOWS. 137 
 
 feet, legs, sides, abdomen, back, and neck; and 
 in three months the world and life will have 
 almost as new a look and meaning for you as if ^ 
 you had been born over again. ( Jli^ai^ ^ ^ ^ ^- 'f' ' 
 
 Any low-priced treatise on athletics Avill teach 
 you the motions for the different muscles. 
 
 VIT. 
 
 THE CURSE OF THE CLOSED WIXDOWS. 
 
 Re3IEMBEr, always, it is not the handlmg of 
 heavy weights that is beneficial, hut the numher 
 of times, you perjorra a motion. The object de- 
 sired is to draw the blood to the wasted or unde- 
 veloped muscles, and keep it there long enough 
 to feed the old, and to form new cells. The 
 blood remains in the muscles while they continue 
 exercising. 
 
 I dwell on the use of dumb-l)ells because they 
 are so handy and so varied in excellence. Dumb- 
 bell exercise is in every one's reach. Twenty- 
 five cents will buy a pair of two-pound iron 
 dumb-bells. You need no gymnasium other than 
 any upper room in your house, iritli the v:indov:s 
 imde open. Xever exercise with closed windows. 
 
138 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Reineiiiber that the hirgest vein in your body 
 is open at one end ; and it is not filled with blood, 
 but air, — your wind-pipe. 
 
 It invites disease to fill your lungs w ith bad 
 air, when you breathe heavily under exercise, in- 
 halino' all the floatino* threads and dust of a closed 
 room. This open vein makes a breathing man 
 part of the outer world ; the atmosphere is his 
 bellows. This is whv we ouo:ht to love and value 
 the country, and hate the city. AVe are truly and 
 actually part of the place we live in : its life en- 
 ters with every inspiration into our lives. We 
 are one Avith the reekins; streets ; with the foul 
 exhalations of bar-rooms, w^ith their stale drinks 
 and hideous spittoons; of smoke-filled cars; of 
 crowded halls; and, again, we are one with the 
 fresh mornino; air of the fields ; w^ith the balsam 
 of the strong and beautiful pines ; with the sweet 
 breathinofs of cattle ; with the w^holesome smell of 
 the fresh-duo' earth ; with the fra^'rance of the 
 meadows and the hedges and the trees ; with the 
 sound-washed atmosphere of the sparkling river. 
 
 Even in a physical sense, the w^ord of the poet 
 is true: ''He who has Xature for a companion 
 must, in some sense, be ennobled by the inter- 
 course.' 
 
 '' You will find," says St. Bernard, '' some- 
 thing far greater in the w^ocds than }^ou will find 
 
THE CURSE OF THE CLOSED WINDOWS. 139 
 
 in books. Stones and trees will teach you tliat 
 which you will never learn from masters/' 
 
 ''There is no riches above a sound body," says 
 Ecclesiasticus, " and no joy above the joy of the 
 heart." 
 
 ''Life is only life when blessed with health," 
 says Martial. 
 
 "It is the misfortune of the young," says Sj^d- 
 ney Smith, "to l)e early thrown out of perfect 
 tune by the indiscreet efforts of their parents to 
 force their minds into action earlier than Nature 
 intended. The result is dissonance, want of har- 
 mony, and derano'ement of function. The nervous 
 system is over-excited, while the physical system 
 is neglected. The brain has too much work to 
 do, and the bodily organs too little. Tlie mind 
 may be fed, but the appetite is lost, and society 
 is filled with pale-faced dyspeptics." 
 
 "The ancient Greeks," savs Dr. Samuel Smiles, 
 "among their various wisdom, had an almost 
 worshipful reverence for the body as being the 
 habitation of the soul. They gave their body 
 recreation as well as their mind." 
 
 "And what thinkest thou," said Socrates to 
 Aristodemus, "of this continual love of life, this 
 dread of dissolution, which takes possession of us 
 from the moment that we are conscious of exist- 
 ence?" — "I think of it," he answered, "as the 
 
140 ETHICS OF nOXlNG ANO JJANLY SPORT. 
 
 means employed l)y the siime great and wise 
 Artist deliberately determined to preserve what 
 he has made." 
 
 ''If we are asked," says a scientific authority, 
 ''which of the many necessaries of life is best 
 entitled to the chief place we must surely reply, 
 oxYixen. This o^as forms about one fifth of the 
 bulk of the atmosphere, and our wants are sup- 
 plied by the act of l)reathing, so regularly and 
 ceaselessly performed by every one. It is pos- 
 sible to live for a long time without the protection 
 of a house or of clothing ; it is even possible to 
 live for many da^^s without food ; I)ut if we are 
 deprived for only one or two minutes of oxygen, 
 the consequences are serious, and may be fatal. 
 Again, oxygen is so closely connected 
 with the great vital processes upon which our 
 growth and daily energy depend, that food itself 
 is useless unless accompanied by a large supply 
 of it. Indeed, when the quantity of oxygen 
 which a man consumes in his lungs daily is calcu- 
 lated, it is found to l)c oTcater in weight than all 
 the dry food he requires during the same period. 
 Yet, airain, if we wish a house and clothino: and 
 food, Ave must work for them : l)ut for oxygen 
 there is nothing to pay. It is free to all, and lies 
 around us in such abundance that it never runs 
 short. Here, then, we see every means taken to 
 
THE CURSE OF THE CLOSED AVINDOW.s. 141 
 
 insure that all our demands for oxygen shall be 
 freely and fully met, and yet we are assured by 
 medical authorities that a very large proportion 
 — some say one fourth — of all the deaths that 
 take place is caused, directly or indirectly, by 
 ox\ iren starvation." 
 
 AVhat is the reason that so many must suffer 
 and die for want of this endless blessins:, — fresh 
 air? The chief reason, answers the same au- 
 thority, is city life. Instead of living in the 
 countrv, where every household miirht have a 
 large, free space of air around it, we draw together, 
 for the convenience of business, to great centres. 
 There the houses are crowded closely together, 
 often piled one on the top of the other, so that, 
 instead of an overabundance, there is only a 
 limited quantity of air for each. This is made 
 untit for the support of life by the very act of 
 breathing ; the impurities are increased l)y the 
 waste products of manufactories ; and oxygen is 
 destroyed by every tire and lauip and gas-light. 
 The winds and certain properties of the atmos- 
 phere constantly remove much of the impure air, 
 and bring in a pure supply ; but the crowding- 
 together in many parts of a town is so great, and 
 the production of poisonous matter goes on so 
 continuously, that instead of each breath contain- 
 ing its full proportion of oxygen, the place of 
 
142 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 that gas is taken up to some extent by what is 
 actually hurtful to life. AVhen this is the condi- 
 tion of the atmosphere outside the dwelling, it is 
 necessarily much worse within it, for there the 
 displacement of impure air by pure cannot take 
 place so rapidly. The consequences are as already 
 stated. Large parts of our town populations 
 never have sufficient oxygen ; their lives are feeble 
 and full of suiFerin<r, and numbers die before their 
 time. Such facts are painful to contemplate ; but 
 a knowledge of them puts the wise man on his 
 guard, and he may do much for hinaself. In the 
 choice of a house he will remember the advantaire 
 of a great air-space around it, and of plenty of 
 space within it, so that bedrooms may not be 
 overcrowded. Or, if a large house is beyond his 
 means, he will take care that the rooms are not 
 crowTled with furniture, for every piece of furni- 
 ture excludes an equal bulk of air. When he 
 enters the house he will see that at all times as 
 much fresh air from the outside is admitted, by 
 means of open doors and windows, as can be 
 allowed without inconvenience from cold ; and as 
 often as possible he will have a blow through, to 
 clear out all odd corners where foul air mav 
 
 4/ 
 
 lino'er. ''Pure air and a'ood food make pure 
 blood, and only pure blood will give good 
 health." 
 
rOK CITY DWELLEKS AND CHILDREN. 143 
 
 VIII. 
 
 EXERCISE FOR CITY DWELLERS AND SCHOOL 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 But let us return to the city and the o:v^m- 
 nasiam. 
 
 • Dumb-bells are first-rate. Xext, weights and 
 pulleys : you can buy them for two dollars, and 
 set them up in any room where }'ou may open the 
 window when you want to exercise. They in- 
 crease the volume and power of the extensors of 
 the shoulder, arm, and forearm, — muscles rarely 
 used. 
 
 "There are many troubles which you cannot 
 cure by the Bible and the hymn-book," said | 
 Henry Ward Beecher ; " 1)ut which you can cure 
 by a good perspiration and a breath of fresh air." 
 
 A breath of fresh air! AVhat does it mean? 
 It means the country, of course ; but it means the 
 city, and your o^vn room, with the windo\v wide 
 open, if you cannot get to the country. The air 
 is God's ; and He cleans it eyen for the yitiated 
 city. 
 
 Most human beings breathe imperfectly ; and 
 without good breathing health and strength are 
 impossible. 
 
144 ETHICS OF BOXING AND 3IANLT SPORT. 
 
 ''It is estimated," says a recent clever writer 
 (H. T. Finck), " that tiiere are from seventy-five 
 to one liundred cubic inclies of air icliiclir always 
 remain in a man'^s lungs. About an equal amount 
 of ' supplemental ' air remains after an ordinary 
 expiration ; and only twenty to thirty inches of 
 ' tidal air,' as Huxley calls it, passes in and out." 
 
 You have seen in a river-bend, wdiere the deep 
 water is stairnant, a floatins; I02: lie stationarv for 
 weeks and months. It would lie there, in the 
 ofreen scum, if let alone, till the freshet came in 
 the spring. There is a lot of that kind of still 
 air in the lun2:s, waitino: for a freshet — which 
 some placid people never experience (these are 
 the nice, pallid, delicate dyspeptics). 
 
 The unused and undisturbed air in the luna's, if 
 originally breathed in from close and exhausted 
 rooms, can become as foul as the sta^rnant river- 
 pool. It must be expelled — and how^ ? By deep- 
 breatltin/j. 
 
 "There are few persons," says the author of 
 "Personal Beauty," " whose health and personal 
 appearance would not l)e improved vastly if they 
 would take several daily meals of fresh air — con- 
 sisting of twenty to fifty deep inspirations — in a 
 park or some other place where the air is pure 
 and bracinir." 
 
 Deep-breathing is a mighty means of preserv- 
 
FOH CITY DWELLERS AND CHILDREN. 145 
 
 ino; and restorinof health — indeed, it oua'ht to be 
 called the first means. The air is a irreat and 
 cheap doctor. 
 
 " The wise for cure on exercise depend; 
 God never made His work for man to mend." 
 
 Many leading authorities are of opinion that 
 the best way to learn deep-breathing is to inhale 
 slowly as much air as you can get into the lungs 
 Avithout discomfort, and then exhale again just as 
 slowly. A clever phj^sician, however, and one of 
 the best athletes in America, told me a better way, 
 which I have tried and recommended with unfail- 
 ing success. It is to inhale slowly and fully, without 
 straininir, and then shoot the air out of the lunsfs 
 with a sudden gust, by a collapse of shoulders 
 and chest. Then slowly fill the luna's a^^ain 
 (through the nostrils), — and gush! out it goes 
 (through the mouth) with a sound like a small 
 locomotive. In the street, you may be noticeable, 
 by the noise, perhaps; but you can get through 
 your twenty or thirty puflfs twice a day without 
 nuich trouble. 
 
 The effect of this practice is almost incredible. 
 Take two or three spells of thirty breaths each 
 day for one month ; and you will increase your 
 chest-measurement in that time from two to four 
 inches ! And this is not like the trainer's in- 
 crease ; it is permanent. And, besides, you will 
 
14() ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 hiivc unconsciously contracted a habit of deep- 
 breathinir for the remainder of your life. 
 
 One of the misfortunes of New England is the 
 rarity of horseback-riding as an exercise. *' The 
 saddle is the seat of health," says Dr. Smiles ; 
 "riding may be regarded as the concentrated 
 essence of exercise." 
 
 ''Who is your doctor?" said some one to 
 Carlyle. ''My best doctor," he replied, ''is 
 a horse." 
 
 The Puritan finds it hard to believe, thouo'h, 
 that "idleness is not all idleness." Cicero said: 
 " Xo one seems to me to be free who does not 
 sometimes do nothing." And elsewhere he says : 
 " There should be a haven to which we could fly 
 from time to time, not of sloth and laziness, but 
 of moderate and honest leisure." 
 
 Every American, young, middle-aged, ay, and 
 old, ouii'ht to take from two to four weeks at 
 least, every summer, for rest and sport. Shoot- 
 mz-) fishinof, driving tours, walking; tours. AVe 
 can all enjoy one or more of these exercises. 
 George Stephenson knew the folly of trying to 
 take too much out of one's self. When he found 
 his friend Lindley exhausted and depressed by 
 too excessive application to engineering, he said 
 to him : "Now, Lindley, I see what you are after 
 — you are trying to get thirty shillings out of 
 
FOR CITY J)AVELLERS AND CHILDREX. 147 
 
 your pound. My advice to yon is — give it 
 up.'' 
 
 Children in school ^^rowino- narrow-chested and 
 round-shouldered stooping over desks and books, 
 ought to be taught to breathe as well as to read, 
 and they ought to l)e kept at it as constantly. 
 And prizes and honors ouirht to be aiven to the 
 girls and boys who can run l)est, swim best, 
 throw the farthest ball, and whose chest-measure- 
 ment, taken monthly by the teacher, is largest, 
 as well as to those pale-foced students in specta- 
 cles, who can demonstrate a prol)lem in Euclid or 
 construe Greek at siirht — or rather at half-si<>'ht. 
 
 The examination of the eyes of Boston public- 
 school children, l)v a distiniruished oculist, a few 
 years asfo, broui>-ht to li^-ht the shockino- fact that 
 the vision of the majority was defective. The 
 Hygiene Committee of the Boston School Board, 
 in a report dated Xov. 22, 1887, said: '^It has 
 been settled be} ond question that school-life has 
 a damaging effect on the eyesight of children." 
 
 Listen to the cona're2:ation in church on Sunday 
 mornina', where there is nothing to divert atten- 
 tion. From end to end of the church you will 
 hear an endless hacking and wheezing from bron- 
 chial tubes in all stages of disease and decay. 
 Suppose you had a flock of sheep, and that j^ou 
 came on them quietly some day, and heard such a 
 
148 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 couo'hino: and wheezins; as this of the cono:reo:ation, 
 would you not shake your head? And, then, sup- 
 pose you learned that the 5^oung ones were grow- 
 ing dim-sighted ? What kind of farmer would you 
 l)e to go on treating those afflicted sheep on the 
 old condition that had caused their injury? 
 
 Plato reprehended a boy for playing at some 
 childish o:ame. "'Thou reprovest me," said the 
 boy, " for a yery little thino'." — " Custom," said 
 Plato, ''is no little thing." 
 
 And not only are we to be (unless we turn to 
 athletics for the cure) a race of bald-headed, round- 
 shouldered spectacle-wearers, but a race of ugly 
 dyspeptics, diyided between lank-sides and pot- 
 l)ellies. What, with our horse-cars, crowded on 
 ))rio'ht days, when every one should walk, with 
 our corseted women and o;irls crushino; their 
 livers into their abdomen, and their hearts into 
 their lunsfs : with our narrow-chested weaklinos 
 with quavering stomachs, depending on the deadly 
 revival of the cocktail — may the Lord have pity 
 on our descendants ! 
 
 Beecher was rio^ht — there are some thins^s you 
 cannot learn out of a hymn-book half so well as out 
 of a tree. And there are other thino:s you can 
 learn better than a precept can teach, out of a 
 sallow face, or a red nose, or dull eyes, or 
 peevish mouths, and miserable homes. You 
 
FOR CITY DAVELLERS AND CHILDREN. 149 
 
 can learn, for instance what rum does, what dissi- 
 pation does, what self-indulgence does, not only 
 on the morals but on the personal appearance. 
 
 Vanity is a moral force as well as a moral weak- 
 ness : it depends on the direction and object. 
 
 When you cannot reach a young man's con- 
 science by a temperance argument, you may 
 reach his vanity by leading him up to a shaky, 
 bleary, lying, home-cursing drunkard, and tell 
 him that he is beginning to look like that! 
 
 Instead of lecturing a young woman on the 
 folly of fashion, tell her, and prove to her, that 
 her beauty will l^e murdered ; that her eyes will 
 grow dim; that she will die an old maid, sour 
 and wrinkled, if she continue to outrage the laws 
 of Xature by tying herself in the n^iddle with 
 corset-strings like a living blood-pudding. Hor^ 
 rible taste I Tell her to open her bed-room win-, 
 dow, and let in the part of her that is outside,— ^ 
 i\\Q fresh part, the sweet air that belongs to her 
 heart, that her poor blood is rotting for. Tell 
 her that unless she does these things, and walks 
 and breathes and bends like an animal, as she is, 
 instead of riding on horse-cars and buggies, and 
 mincing on high-heeled shoes that distort her 
 feet, and breathing contamination in her hermeti- 
 cally-sealed bedroom, she will get wrinkles round 
 her toothless mouth, and l)lue circles under her 
 
150 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 dull eyes, like all the other querulous, ill-tem- 
 pered and sour -faced maids and matrons who 
 crowd the horse-cars, and Tyony and abuse the 
 poor, tired girls in the stores. 
 
 Better burn all the school-books and school - 
 houses in America than 2:0 on another half cen- 
 turv cono:estin2: the children's brains with memory- 
 cramming:, blindino: their sia'ht and crookino; their 
 backs with constant study. 
 
 Give us a rest ! Give us time to play while w^e 
 are children ; for, God knows, we shall have work 
 enough, and too much, as men and women. 
 
 The whole system of American life, from child- 
 hood to old aofe, mio'ht have been invented bv a 
 distorted mind, bent on deirradino; the natural 
 beauty of the human form, and producing a race 
 of ugly, weak, near-sighted, selfish, vain, preju- 
 diced, ill-tempered, and unwholesome men and 
 women. 
 
 "A drunkard is always a liar," says an au- 
 thority ; and he might have added that a weak, 
 dyspeptic, devitalized man or woman is apt, if not 
 certain, to be a shirker, a snarler, a sensualist, a 
 sneak, and a coward, or more than one of these. 
 
 And to think of the endless, empty talk, talk, 
 talk of the future puling, bald-headed abnormality 
 of the cities ! For, with the decay of your real 
 man, surely swells the gaseous self-opinion of 
 
FOR CITY DWELLERS AND CHILDREN. 151 
 
 x'our weakling;. What he loses in stamina, he is 
 sure to make up in gab. He will prate correc- 
 tion, but do none, either for himself or others. 
 He will preach labors and sacrifices he is afraid 
 and unable to practise. He will run not only to 
 head, but to the sensual centres. Your bis;- 
 chested, bright-eyed, large-shouldered athlete is 
 never a vile sensualist. It is always your pot- 
 bellied, purple-fleshed, dew^ -lapped, soft-handed 
 creature, on the one hand, or your pallid, tremu- 
 lous, watery-eyed specimen on the other. 
 
 The only use in such men and w^omen is to"" 
 manure the earth, to hold a warning up to his- 
 tory, and to l)e pushed out of the path of the 
 strong races, whom they tempt by their luxury 
 to become their conquerors and successors. 
 
 To make the future American all he ought to 
 be, physically, mentally, and spiritually, we must 
 l)uild gymnasiums as w^ell as schools and churches. 
 ^Ye must honor the teaching: of health and strenath 
 and beauty, as the Greeks did, as well as the teach- 
 ini>: of books and sciences. AVe nuist cover our 
 incomparable rivers and lakes with canoes and 
 lii>:ht outriirsfed l)oats, as we are coverino; our bays 
 with white-sailed yachts. AVe must see that every 
 square fifty yards of clear ice in winter is covered 
 with merry skaters (the best of all exercises for 
 developing grace) ; and that the vile rinks for 
 
152 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 roller-skating, with tlieir atmospheres almost as 
 filth V as tlieir morals, are closed or torn down. 
 
 There ought to be a first, second, and third 
 prize in every school, public and private, for such 
 accomplishments as walking, swimming, running, 
 jumping, boxing, and climbing. Our schohirs 
 should be tauo'ht to cultivate bodv as well as 
 mind ; to breathe as well as to calculate ; to know 
 that streno'th is as sure to follow exercise as 
 knowledofe to follow studv. Then thev will truly 
 know the meaning of the wise man (Johnson), 
 w^ho said : '' Such is the constitution of man that 
 labor may be said to be its own rew^ard ; " and of 
 the eloquent man (Cicero), who said : '' It is ex- 
 ercise alone that supports the spirits and keeps 
 the mind in viiror." 
 
 IX. 
 
 CORPULENCE, DIET, AND SLEEP. 
 
 ''Physic, for the most part, is nothing else 
 but the substitute of exercise and temperance," 
 says Addison. 
 
 " The only way for a rich man to be healthy is 
 by exercise and abstinence, to live as if he were 
 poor," says Sir W. Temple. 
 
CORPULENCE, DIET, AND SLEEP 153 
 
 " A hale cobbler,*' says Beckerstaft', "is better 
 than a sick king." 
 
 ''In these days," says Bulwer Lyttou, ''half 
 our diseases come from the nealect of the )x)dv 
 ill the overwork of the l)rain. In this railway 
 age the wear and tear of hil)or and intellect go on 
 without pause or self-pity. We live longer than 
 our forefathers ; l)ut we suffer more from a thou- 
 sand artificial anxieties and cares. The}' fatigued 
 only the muscles ; we exhaust the finer strength 
 of the nerves.'' 
 
 Corpulence is one of the penalties of under- 
 exercisino', under-l)reathini>:, over-eatino', and over- 
 drinkino'. 
 
 For the reduction of corpulence, the following 
 rules (Dr. T. K. Cham1)ers) may l)e observed 
 for a three weeks' course : — 
 
 "Else at 7, rub the body Avell with horse-hair gloves, have 
 a cold bath, and take a short turn in the open air. Breakfast 
 (alone) at 8 or 8.30 on the lean of beef or mutton (cutting off 
 the fat and skin), dry toast, biscuit, or oat cake, a tumbler of 
 claret and water, or tea without milk or sugar, or made in the 
 Russian way with a slice of lemon. Lunch at 1 on bread or 
 biscuit, Dutch cheese, salad, water cresses, or roasted apples, 
 hung beef or anchovies, or red herring or olives, and similar 
 relishes. After eating, drink claret and water, or unsweetened 
 lemonade, or plain water, in moderation. Dine at any con- 
 venient hour. Avoid soup, fish, or pastry, but eat plain meat 
 of any sort, except pork, rejecting the fat and skin. Spinach, 
 haricots, or any other green vegetable may be taken, but no 
 potatoes, made dishes, or sweets. A jelly, or a lemon-water 
 
loi ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ice, or a roast apple, may suffice in their place. Take claret 
 and water at dinner, and one glass of sherry or Maderia after- 
 wards. Between meals, as a rule, exercise must always he 
 taken to the extent of Inducing persi^iration. Running, when 
 practicable, is the best form in which to take it. Seven or eight 
 pounds is as much as is prudent to lose dui'ing the three weeks. 
 If this loss is arrived at sooner, or, indeed, later, the severe 
 parlis of the treatment may be gradually omitted; but it is 
 strongly recommended to modify the general habits in accord- 
 ance with the i^rinciple of taking, as small a quantity as jDOSsible 
 of fat and sugar, or of substances which form fat and sugar, 
 and sustaining the respiratory function. By this means the 
 weight may be gradually reduced for a few months with safety." 
 
 If a man in training, or in every-day life, finds 
 that he cannot o-et oft' his fiesh, and so clear his 
 wind, with the ordinary routine of exercise, cat 
 off his sugar and liis potatoes, just to try how it 
 acts. ''With some dio-estions, suo-ar makes no 
 
 O ■'CD 
 
 difference," says W. B. Woodford (''Oars and 
 Sculls " ;) with others an ounce or two of sugar in 
 a day makes a pound or so of fat, which, l)ut for 
 the sugar, would have turned into muscle. The 
 four or five lumps, or spoonfuls, that a man would 
 take at breakfast and supper would, with sonic 
 men, put on more fat in one day than a two-mile 
 run would take off*." 
 
 For a more permanent reduction of fat, there 
 is nothing that can l)e depended on except a well- 
 prescribed regimen, such as that of Banting, who 
 reduced his weight forty-six pounds, and his bulk 
 
CORPULENCE, DIET, AND SLEEP. 155 
 
 over twelve inches round the waist, ''and this 
 after having vainly tried all that medical aid could 
 do for him." Banting's plan consisted hi abstaining 
 as much as possible ''from bread, butter, milk, 
 sugar, beer, and potatoes, which had been the 
 main (and I thought innocent) elements of my 
 existence." At first this looks like sweeping the 
 table clean ; but we are reassured by the bill-of- 
 fare that remains. " For breakfast," says Mr. 
 Bantino:, " I take four or five ounces of beef, 
 mutton, kidneys, broiled fish, bacon, or cold 
 meat of any kind, except porJ^ ; a large cup of 
 tea (without milk or sugar), a little biscuit, or 
 some dry toast. For dinner, any fish, except 
 salmon, eels, or herrings ; any meat, except pork ; 
 any vegetable except potatoes ; some dry toast ; 
 fruit out of a pudding ; any kind of poultry or 
 game. For tea : fruit, a rusk or two, or toast, 
 and tea w^ithout milk or sugar. For supper : 
 meat similar to dinner." For alcoholic drinks, 
 Mr. Banting only ruled out. champagne, port, 
 and beer. 
 
 Undoubtedly this regimen has been successful 
 in innumerable cases. Its author, indeed, de- 
 clared that it not only reduced his corpulency, 
 but cured him of deafness and other ailments.* 
 
 *A specialist writing on corpulence, says: — " A constant 
 free indulojence in ve2fetable foods favors the accumulation of 
 
15G ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Sidney Smith, writing to Lord Murray, said, 
 half playfully, " If you wish for anything like 
 happiness in the fifth act of life, eat and drink 
 about one half of what you could eat and drink. 
 Did I ever tell you my calculation about eating 
 and drinkino'? Havins: ascertained the w^eiaht of 
 what I could live upon so as to preserve my health 
 and strength, and what I did live upon, I found 
 that, between ten and seventy j^ears of age, I had 
 eaten and drank forty horse-wagon loads of meat 
 and drink more than would have preserved me in 
 life and health ! The value of this mass of nour- 
 
 fat. The same may be said of thick soups, sauces and spices, 
 puddings, pies, cakes, all sweets, milk, and even vrater, if 
 drunk to excess. Alcoholic and malt liquors are notorious fat- 
 producers. The majority of those people who use them contin- 
 uously and in considerable quantities, sooner or later show an 
 increase in fat. Here a question arises : Is the fat produced 
 by alcoholic liquors, such as whiskey, brandy etc., of the same 
 character as that put on by malt liquors? It would appear that 
 there is a difference. Malt liquors do not degenerate the system 
 of the indulger as does alcohol, which has rightly been termed 
 ' the genius of degeneration.' Malt liquors have nutritive prop- 
 erties, and they contribute to bodily support. The beer-drinker 
 is fat and florid, and within certain limits his fat is wholesome. 
 He has an excess of blood, and suffers from what is known as 
 plethora, while the tippler of alcohol, sooner or later, suffers 
 from anaemia, or poverty of the blood. The following is a mod- 
 ification of the various regimens which have been advised by 
 different physicians who have closely studied the disease. 
 This list is generally accepted by the profession. 
 
 ''Foods which may be eaten: Beef tea, mutton broth. 
 
CORPULENCE, DIET, AND SLEEP. 157 
 
 ishment I consider to be worth seven thousand 
 pounds sterling. It occurred to me that I must, 
 by my voracity, have starved to death nearly 
 one hundred persons ! This is a frightful calcu- 
 lation, but irresistibly true ; and I think, dear 
 Murray, your wagons would require an addi- 
 tional horse each ! " 
 
 Says Shelley, the poet : — 
 
 "On a natural system of diet, old age would be our last 
 and oui' only malady; the term of oiu* existence would be pro- 
 tracted; we would enjoy life, and no longer preclude others 
 from the enjoyment of it; all sensational delights would be 
 infinitely more exquisite and perfect ; the very sense of being 
 would then be a continued pleasure, such as we now feel it in 
 some fcAv and favored moments of our youth. By all that is 
 sacred in our hopes for the human race, I conjure those who 
 love happiness and truth to give a fair trial to the vegetable 
 system. Reasoning is surely superfluous on a subject whose 
 merits an experience of six months would set forever at rest." 
 
 chicken soup, stewed oysters, beef, mutton, veal, ham, eggs in 
 any form, game, poultry, and fish of all kinds, onions, celery, 
 cresses, cabbage, tomatoes, radishes, squash, turnips, stale 
 bread sparingly, toast sparingly, gluten biscuit, only three 
 ounces of breadstuff per day. Grapes and oranges are allowed. 
 As much water as the system needs should be indulged. On 
 this point no rule can be given. Som3 people suffering from 
 obesity drink but very little water, less, even, than they actually 
 need. They should drink more freely. On the other hand, the 
 obese person who makes it a habit of drinking several quarts of 
 water a day should lessen the quantity considerably. Tea or 
 coffee without milk or sugar is allowed. Sour wines may be 
 taken occasionally, but sweet wines are prohibited. If diges- 
 tion is reasonably good, none of the articles advised in the fore- 
 
158 ETHICS OF BOXING AND IMANLY SrORT . 
 
 How to insure sleep has become a matter of 
 speculation. Some think early rising is a sover- 
 eign remedy. 
 
 " Early to bed, and early to rise, 
 Make a man liealthy and wealthy and wise." 
 
 There is no need to prescribe recipes for sleep 
 to a healthy, well-exercised man or woman. They 
 will fall asleep as naturally as they breathe. But 
 many persons, whose constitutions are out of gear, 
 adopt artificial methods. Says Dr. Smiles : — 
 
 "One tries to sleep by repeating tlie multiplication table; 
 another repeats some bit of well-known poetry. A missionary, 
 troubled with sleeplessness, repeated the Lord's Prayer until 
 Satan sent him to sleep to get rid of it ; and he says that he 
 never found that recipe to fail. Another looks at an imagin- 
 ary point, and follows it far off in the distance, thus inducing 
 the hypnotism of brain. Some, like Dr. Franklin, believe in 
 the air bath, and others in a pillow of hops." 
 
 going will prove burdensome. If there is much dyspepsia, and 
 it does not soon disappear under this diet, why, then, the suf- 
 ferer must refrain from eating what he knows by experience 
 aggravates his trouble. Eat slowly and chew the food thor- 
 oughly, is a golden rule for all to follow. 
 
 " To regulate the diet is by no means all a fat person must 
 do to become thin. He must exercise freely and judiciously. 
 "Walking is good exercise, if one does enough of it and walks 
 properly. If he merely samiters along for four or five miles, 
 with his hands in his pockets, it will probably do him very 
 little good. lie will need to 'make a business' of walking — 
 swing his arms, and, in fact, work the whole upper part of his 
 body. There is a variety of apparatuses now on sale under the 
 names ^ home exercises,' ' noiseless chest weights,' etc. One 
 
CORPULENCE, DIET, AND SLEEP. 151) 
 
 The following is the method of producing sleep, 
 according to Dr. Binns, in his ''Anatomy of 
 Sleep " : — 
 
 ' How TO Produce Sleep. — Let him turn on his right 
 side; place his head comfortably on the pillow, so that it ex- 
 actly occupies the angle a line drawn from the head to the 
 ehoulder would form; and then, slightly closing his lips, take 
 rather a full inspiration, breathing as much as he possibly can 
 through the nostrils. This, however, is not absolutely neces- 
 sary, as some persons breathe always through their mouths 
 during sleep, and rest as sound as those who do not. Having 
 taken a full inspiration, the lungs are then to be left to their 
 own action; that is, the respiration is neither to be accelerated 
 nor retarded. The attention must now be fixed upon the ac- 
 tion in which the patient is engaged. He must depict to him- 
 s^li that he sees the breath passing from his nostrils in a 
 continuous stream; and, the very instant that he brings his 
 mind to conceive this apart from all other ideas, consciousness 
 and memory depart, imagination slumbers, fancy becomes 
 dormant, thought subdued; the sentiment faculties lose their 
 susceptibility; the vital or ganglionic system assumes the sov- 
 ereignty; and, as we before remarked, he no longer wakes, but 
 sleeps. This train of phenomena is but the effect of a moment. 
 The instant the mind is brought to the contemplation of a 
 single sensation, that instant the sensorium abdicts the throne, 
 
 and the hypnoctic faculty steeps itself in oblivion." 
 
 *^' 
 
 of these can easily be set up in home or office, and very great 
 benefit will in a short time follow its use. These contrivances 
 are especially adapted to develop the upper part of the body. 
 Walk to develop the lower part. If one cannot afford a 'home 
 gymnasium,' which costs from six to ten dollars, let him buy a 
 cord of wood, and saw on that for half an hour a day; he will 
 find himself a much better man physically, as well as mentally, 
 in a very short time." 
 
1()0 ETHICS or BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Another method was that followed by Dr. 
 Southey. To James White, he said : 
 
 " Follow my practice of making my last employment in the 
 day something unconnected with other pursuits, and you will 
 be able to lay your head upon a pillow like a child." 
 
 y^ The late Archbishop Whately, of Dublin, was 
 a hard brain-worker, and required a compensating 
 amount of sleep. He knew well that the brain 
 weakens under continued and protracted labor, 
 especially at night. Accordingh^ he adopted a 
 method of ensuring sleep and rest. One winter 
 day a medical friend accompanied Dr. Field to 
 the archbishop's house at Redesdale, Stillorgan. 
 The ground was covered with two feet of snow, 
 and the thermometer was down almost to zero. 
 As the couple of doctors passed they saw an old 
 laborino^ man fellino; a tree, while a heavy shower 
 of sleet drifted pitilessly in his wrinkled face. 
 One of them thought, what a cruel master that 
 man must have. The other said, '' That laborer, 
 whom you think the victim of prelatical des- 
 potism, is no other than the archbishop curing 
 himself of a headache. AYhen his Grace has 
 been reading and writing more than ordinarily, 
 and finds any pain or confusion about the cer- 
 ebral organization, he puts both to flight by 
 rushins: out with an ax and slashino' awav at some 
 
HINTS FOR TRAINING AND GOOD HEALTH. 161 
 
 ponderous trunks. As soon as he finds himself 
 in a profuse perspiration he gets into bed, wraps 
 himself in Limerick blankets, falls into a sound 
 slumber and gets up buoyant." 
 
 X. 
 
 HINTS FOR TRAINING ANJ3 GOOD HEALTH. 
 
 Do not run before breakfiist : if you want 
 exercise, walk. It is Avell even before a walk to 
 take a cup of tea or coffee. 
 
 Before cold bathino- in the mornina', a brisk 
 rubbino; down with roua'h orloves or towel will 
 increase the pleasure and efficacy of the bath. 
 After bathing always a thorough rubbing. (There 
 are rough-silk mittens made by George F. Brown, 
 of Boston, which are excellent for both wet and 
 dry rubbing.) 
 
 Take a Turkish bath once a fortnight. 
 
 Moderation is the secret of o-ood trainino; and 
 good health — moderation in exercise, as well as 
 in eating, drinking, and sleep. 
 
 Never sleep on a pillow, unless you are sick, 
 and it is ordered for some special reason. Nature 
 never intended man, or any other animal, in sleep- 
 
1G2 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ins: to raise the head hi«:her than the shoulders. 
 Pillows interfere with the brcathins:, and weaken 
 the muscles of the neck. To sleep without a 
 pillow, on a perfectly flat mattress, is the luxury 
 of rest, because of the natural position. It soon 
 increases the a'irth of the neck from one to two 
 inches, by making the neck-muscles stretch and 
 fully do their work. It allows the chest to deepen 
 its breathing; and it prevents, to a large degree 
 wakefulness and snorino;. The discomfort of 
 putting away the pillow lasts less than a week, 
 and once vou have tasted the delisfht of a free, 
 level sleep you will never be induced again to 
 double your chin down on your breast, or your 
 ear over on your shoulder, by using a pillow. 
 All children should be told these reasons, and then 
 their pillows should be taken away. A horse's or 
 a doir's shoulders are hio-her than a man's ; but he 
 who wants to sleep well can learn from those 
 animals how the head should be laid. 
 
 Go to bed at ten and get up at seven. 
 
 Open your bedroom window, and, if possible, 
 make a drau2:ht throuirh the room, but not across 
 your bed. 
 
 Never exercise in a room with closed windows. 
 
 If you have no time for open-air exercise, go 
 throuirh various muscular motions with dumb- 
 bells in your room, with the windows open, on 
 
HINTS FOR TRAINING A^D GOOD HEALTH. 163 
 
 rising and before lying down. Open-air exercise 
 is not indispensable to health.* 
 
 The te^t of moderation in exercise is fatigue. 
 Never to on with anv muscular exercise when 
 you are tired. 
 
 A celebrated physician asked an old man, 
 remarkable for his health, what regimen he used. 
 ''I take only one meal a day," he answered. 
 ''Keep your secret," said the physician; ''if it 
 were known and followed, our profession would 
 be ruined." 
 
 *Mr. John M. Laflin, of New York, the *' model -man " of 
 the Vienna Exposition, is an accomplished athlete, and a cham- 
 pion in many lines. For several years he stood in the Paris 
 Life School for Gerome and many other famous painters of the 
 human figure, and he has drawings made by them which show 
 him to be one of the few perfectly-formed men. He is six 
 feet two and one-half inches in height, with a forty-six inch 
 chest, seventeen -inch biceps, and every muscle of his body 
 equally developed. He has given lifelong attention to ath- 
 letics. He says : — 
 
 "The best of all-round exercises is rowing. It brings all 
 the muscles into play, particularly those least used in 
 ordinary light exertion. The sliding seUt proved to be not only 
 a good thing for racing, but a great improver of rowing as an 
 exercise. It brings the muscles of the legs, loins, stomach, and 
 back into better action. For women nothing is so beneficial as 
 rowing. 
 
 " Using heavy bells is worse than useless. You can get up 
 all the perspiration you want by swinging a one-pound iron in 
 each hand in lively fashion for a minute or two. If you do not 
 perspire freely, or are subject to pains in the joints or muscles, 
 or your circulation is sluggish, you can attach a battery to the 
 
1(U ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY 8POKT. 
 
 "There is no disease, bodily or mental," says 
 Shelley, ''which adoption of vegetable diet and 
 pure water has not infallibly mitigated where- 
 ever the experiment has been fairly tried." I do 
 not recommend a vegetable diet, but these ex- 
 periences induce thought on the matter of healthy 
 food. 
 
 Eat no rich gravies, nor meat twice cooked ; and 
 eat nothing fried that you can have broiled. 
 
 Stupid people say ''sawing wood is good ex- 
 ercise." Remember that «:ood exercise must be 
 
 bells. That is a new idea, and a very good one. An electric bat- 
 tery of considerable power can be enclosed in a box not much 
 bigger than a well-filled pocket-book. This is hung about the 
 neck by a cord, so as to fall upon the breast. Two wires con- 
 nect it Avitli the dumb-bells, and when the bells are grasped, a 
 regulated current passes through the body, starts the circula- 
 tion, and wakes one up generally. The wearer can walk 
 around the room swinging the arms, striking in any direction^ 
 and getting exercise and electricity all at once. If that does 
 not start the perspiration nothing will. Another good appara- 
 tus, and a cheap one, is a striking-bag. It is easily made. 
 Put a ring in the ceiling; tie a stout cord to the ring, and at 
 the lower end of the cord fasten a foot-ball, to hang at about 
 the height of the chin. To the lower side of the foot-bah 
 attach a piece of rubber gas pipe, and make the end fast to a 
 ring in the floor. That prevents the ball from flying all about 
 the room when struck, and brings it back quickly. Punching 
 that foot-ball is pretty lively work, and the best kind of exer- 
 cise for a boxer. Then the rubber straps with handles, which 
 can be obtained almost anywhere, give a great variety of exer- 
 cise, are inexpensive, and take up no room. With such appar- 
 atus a man or woman can have a gymnasium at home, and one 
 
 J 
 
HINTS FOR TRAINING AND GOOD HEALTH. 165 
 
 recreation (re-creation, or renewal of vigor), and 
 there is no recreation in sawing wood, or any 
 other laborious occupation. 
 
 Eemember that pleasure is a means as w^ell as 
 an end. The exercise that has in it the element 
 of amusement is ten times as healthy as a listless 
 walk. 
 
 Never attempt severe mental or bodily labor 
 after a meal. 
 
 If possible take your heavy tasks, mental or 
 bodily, in the forenoon. 
 
 hour out of twenty-four devoted to exercise and rubbing, will 
 keep anybody in good condition, and make him healthy and 
 cheerful, if not wealthy and wise. Swimming is one of the 
 best of exercises, but unfortunately the opportunities for indulg- 
 ing in the sport are limited. It is good for the arms, legs, back, 
 and almost all parts of the frame, and it increases the lung 
 power better than anything else. 
 
 "One need not train like an athlete, and a man does not 
 require a physique like mine, to be perfectly healthy; but if 
 men and women could be kept healthy for a few generations, 
 physical development like mine would be the rule, not the 
 exception. Mne-tenths of the diseases that now keep the 
 doctors busy would be absolutely unknown. No healthy man 
 ever got pneumonia, no matter what the exposure. There is 
 no case on record of a sailor having pneumonia. This is 
 because a sailors lungs are kept in good order by pure air, and 
 he gets plenty of exercise. The amount of exercise necessary 
 to keep the body in good condition is less than you might sup- 
 pose. Fifteen minutes a day, rightly employed, will do won- 
 ders. A person ought to exercise a few minutes in the morn- 
 ing, and then take a sponge-bath in salted water, followed by 
 vigorous rubbing with hair gloves or a coarse towel. The 
 
106 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Every morning, in the open air, fill the lungs 
 twenty times slowly with fresh air (inhaling 
 through the nostrils), and expire suddenly 
 through the mouth. This will streno:then the 
 lungs, renew the resident air, induce a habit of 
 deep-breathing, and enlarge the chest. 
 
 The best of all exercises for physical develop- 
 ment is all-round glove-boxing, practised with 
 skill and temper ; the next best is long swimming, 
 with the over-hand stroke and an occasional 
 chano-e of hands : then follow these exercises 
 
 movements of the muscles start the impurities to the surface, 
 and the bath cleans the pores. The exercise ought to be light. 
 I don't believe in exertion that taxes the muscular strength. 
 Heenan and all those old-time athletes thought they must use 
 hundred-pound dumb-bells and trot around with great lead 
 soles on their shoes. That made them hea\^ and slow, and 
 exhausted their strength needlessly. One-pound dumb-bells 
 are heavy enough for anybody, and Indian clubs should not 
 weigh more than four or five pounds at the outside. Gymnasts 
 should not use heavy ^^'eights at all. What is needed to 
 develope muscle is movement, action — not strain. You don't 
 train a trotter by hitching him to a loaded coal-cart, and mak- 
 ing him drag that around the track. Hanlan doesn't get into 
 a whaleboat for a scull race. The lifting of heavy weights is 
 bad for a man, and the men who trained themselves to lift a 
 ton killed themselves. Over-training and over-exercising of 
 any kind is injurious, and that is why college boat-racing is 
 not always a good thing. The weakest man in the boat must 
 work too hard. A man is only as strong as his weakest point, 
 and you put too much strain on him and he will give away at 
 that x^oint. That is why I advocate light exercise for health. 
 The exerciser should never get tired." 
 
HINTS FOR TRAINING AND GOOD HEALTH. 167 
 
 which I place in the order of their excellence : 
 river-canoeing (double paddle), shell-rowing, 
 hand-ball, lawn-tennis, fencing, walking, and all 
 kinds of gymnasium work. 
 
 During exercise, especially in walking, keep 
 the abdominal muscles well under the will, so 
 that the abdomen may be drawn in, and kept in, 
 for any length of time. The abdominal muscle 
 is the test of condition. Some people never con- 
 trol it ; and from youth to age the belly leads 
 the man. When the abdominal muscle gets the 
 better of a man, he has said good-by to his 
 athletics. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH ATHLETIC GAMES, 
 EXERCISES, AND WEAPONS. 
 
 THE MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, 
 
 DUBLIX. 
 
 The gladiatorial shows of Rome had corrupted 
 and brutalized the world, for, with the exception 
 of Ireland, the entire Western world was within 
 the Eoman Empire. After Italy, the countries 
 most famous for their amphitheatres, were Gaul 
 (France), North Africa, and Spain. 
 
 To the honor of Greece, it was the only Roman 
 province where the brutalities of the arena were 
 never shown or permitted. 
 
 In ancient as in modern times, the Irish, as a 
 nation, were devoted to athletic games and skill 
 with weapons, and had won extraordinary distinc- 
 tion for feats of arms, ao'ilitv, and streno:th.* 
 
 * Professor Forbes, of the University of Edinburgli, some 
 years ago instituted an extensive series of observations of the 
 size and strength of the students attending the University. He 
 foimd that tlie Irish students were the tallest and strongest 
 men. Professor Quetelet, of the University of Brussels, insti- 
 tuted similar investigations, covering a number of years, testing 
 
 (169) 
 
170 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 The games and athletic exercises of ancient 
 Ireland ouo;ht to have a laro;e volume devoted to 
 them. They are unlike those of all other nations, 
 though least unlike those of Greece. They pos- 
 sess extraordinary archaeological and ethnological 
 value. 
 
 It is sincerely to be hoped that some student 
 of Irish antiquities will soon follow in the 
 lighted footsteps of Prof. Eugene O'Curry, Dr. 
 O'Donovan, and Sir William Wilde. 
 
 the quality of Belgians, Englislimen, Scotclimen, and Irislnnen. 
 He found the average height of the Belgian to be sixty-eight 
 inches, of the Englishman sixty-eight and one half, of the 
 Scotchman sixty-nine, and of the Irishman seventy inches; 
 that the average weight in pounds of the Belgian was one hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds, of the Englishman one hundred and 
 fifty-one, of the Scotchman one hundred and fifty-two, and of 
 the Irishman one hundred and fifty- five pounds; and that the 
 average strength as indicated by a blow given to the plate of a 
 spring dynamometer, in pounds, was, of the Belgian, three 
 hundred and thirty-nine pomids, of the Englishman four hun- 
 dred and three pounds, of the Scotchman, four hundred and 
 twenty-three pounds, and of the Irishman, four hundred and 
 thirty-two pounds. 
 
 "The Irish are thus," says Sir Robert Kane, L.L.D., "the 
 tallest, strongest, and heaviest of the four races." And Sir 
 Robert Kane adds, "Mr. Field, an eminent mechanical engi- 
 neer of London, had occasion to examine the relative powers 
 of British and Irish laborers to raise weights by means of a 
 crane. He communicated his results to the Institute of Civil 
 Engineers in London. He found that the utmost efforts of a 
 man, lifting at the rate of one foot per minute, ranged in 
 Englishmen from eleven thousand five hundred and five to 
 
MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 171 
 
 O'Curry's great work " On the Mariners and 
 Customs of the Ancient Irish " is a mine of infor- 
 mation for the archaeological scholars of all times 
 and nations ; as are the works of Dr. Petrie, 
 Prof. Sullivan, Dr. P. W, Joyce, Lady Wilde, 
 Prof. AVhitley Stokes, and others. 
 
 It may be well to say here that a wonderfully 
 interesting collection of the ancient weapons, 
 mentioned in this article, may be seen in Ireland. 
 
 twenty- foui" thousand two hundred and fifty-five pounds, 
 and in Irishmen from seventeen thousand three hundred and 
 twenty-five to twenty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty- 
 two pounds. I have no reason to doubt that these figures rep- 
 resent the existing conditions of these respective populations. 
 Those experiments were carefully made at the time, and the 
 results were as given." 
 
 Sir John Davies, an eminent Englishman, who was Attor- 
 ney-General of Ireland in 1616, in his " Historical Tracts," 
 says, " The bodies and minds of the Irish people are imbued 
 with extraordinary abilities by nature." 
 
 At the present day the most famous athletes of the world 
 are of Irish birth or extraction. They hold the highest places 
 on record in almost every branch of athletic sport, both ama- 
 teur and i)rofe3sional. Bicycle-riding alone seems to be the 
 athletic exercise least attractive to men of the Irish race, at 
 least in America; though Con. Dwyer, an Irishman, is the 
 champion amateur bicycle -rider of all the Australasian 
 colonies. 
 
 In swimming, for one hundred and five hundred yards, 
 J. Haggerty, an Irishman, beat Chas. Beckwith in London, in 
 May, 1887, and won the world's championship. The best 
 under- water swimmer in the world is T. W. Keilly, who won 
 the championship at Stockport, England, in July, 1887; in 
 
172 ETHICS OF BOXIXCI AND MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 Sir AMlliam AVilde sra^s : '^The laro-est, most 
 varied, most highly-decorated collection of bronze 
 weapons existing is to be found in our museum 
 [Royal Irish Academy, Dublin], along with 
 numerous specimens of the moulds in \\hich they 
 were cast, discovered on the very spot where the 
 ancient workman had lit his furnace." 
 
 America, the three best swimmers are T. Riley, R. P. Magee, 
 and C. Dunlevy. 
 
 Edward Hanlan, an Irish- Canadian, of Toronto, was the 
 sculling champion of the world, till he was beaten in Australia 
 in November, 1887, by W. Beach, an Irish- Australian. 
 
 In coUar-and-elbow wrestling, J. H. McLaughlin is the 
 champion of the United States; and in Grseco-Roman wrest- 
 ling, the United States championship is disputed by Wm. Mul- 
 doon and Denis Gallagher; while John Connor who held the 
 championship of the Australian Colonies, yielded it up in May, 
 1887, to T. Cannon, another Irish-Australian. 
 
 The champion high-jumper of Australia is J. W. Byrne, 
 who also holds the record for the hop-step- and -jump (forty- 
 three feet eight and one-half inches) ; but the champion of the 
 world for a hop-step-and-jump is J. Purcell, of Ireland, who, at 
 Limerick, in June, 1887, cleared forty-eight feet three inches. 
 On the same ground, September, 1887, J. S. Mitchell threw the 
 sixteen-pound hammer one hundred and twenty-four feet and 
 one half inch, the best amateur throw ever made. He also 
 tljrew the fifty-six-pound hammer thirteen feet and one half 
 inch high. 
 
 The Shamrock Lacrosse Club, all Irish-Canadians, holds the 
 championship of Canada for years past. 
 
 The hand-ball championship of the world is held by Phil. 
 Casey, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who beat the former champion, J. 
 Lawler, of Dublin, Ireland, in August, 1887. 
 
 G. Tracy, of Halifax, is champion amateur half-mile runner 
 
MUSEUM OF THE KOYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 173 
 
 This effectively disposes of the verdict of Pro- 
 fessor Lindenschmidt, of Mayence, who asserted, 
 in one of his earlier works, that " all the bronze 
 articles found north of the Alps were imported 
 from Etruria." 
 
 Again, says Sir William Wilde ('' Ancient 
 Races of Ireland") : ''Ireland possesses not only 
 the largest native collection of metal weapon- 
 
 of Canada (Halifax, 1887, two minutes one and three-fifths 
 seconds). 
 
 In boxing, there is no need to say that the Irish race has the 
 best men in the world. John L. Sullivan is the heavy-weight 
 champion of the world. Jem Smith, an Anglo-Irishman, is 
 the heavy-weight champion of England, and next to him is 
 Charles Mitchell, also of Irish parents. In America, John, or 
 "Jake," Kilrain stands next to Sullivan, and John Dempsey 
 is the middle-weight champion of the world. Jem Carney, an 
 Anglo-Irishman, is the light-weight champion of the world. 
 
 Among the greatest walkers, for speed and distance ever 
 known in America, are Daniel O'Leary, John Ennis, and 
 Patrick Fitzgerald. The champion walker of Australia, Scott, 
 is an Irishman. Lawrence Foley, an Irishman, is the cham- 
 pion heavy- Aveight boxer of Australia; and Irish- Australians 
 are the leading athletes in cricket, foot-ball, and rowing clubs. 
 The best runner Australia ever had. Bob Watson, was an Irish- 
 man; and among the most famous professional oarsmen of 
 Australia are the names of Ilickey, Punch, Rush, Clifford, and 
 Matheson, all Irishmen, or sons of Irishmen. 
 
 Among base-ball players of the highest order in America, 
 the names of Irish- Americans have the foremost places, and 
 they are too numerous to mention. Michael J. Kelly is the 
 leading player of America. There is, in fact, no branch of 
 athletics in which Irishmen, or the sons of Irishmen, do not 
 hold the first places against all the world. 
 
174 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 tools, usually denominated 'celts/ of any country 
 in the world, but the second largest amount of 
 swords and battle-axes. And, moreover, these, 
 and all the other ancient metal articles of Ireland, 
 show a well-defined rise and development from 
 the simplest and rudest form in size and use to 
 that of the most elaborately constructed and the 
 most beautifully adorned." 
 
 The time is approaching when this marvellous 
 collection of antiquities will be a centre of world- 
 interest, especially to those of Irish or Celtic 
 extraction. An Irish-American traveller from 
 Boston, last year, a scholar and observer, declared 
 on his return that the most interestins: and in- 
 structive day he had spent in any European 
 country was that on which he had visited the 
 Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE MOST ANCIENT WEAPONS USED IN IRELAND. 
 
 The weapons and armor of the ancient Irish 
 were, in the main, like those of the Greeks, with 
 a greater variety in the length and shape of both 
 spear and sword. 
 
 "In the year of the world 4465," translating 
 
ANCIENT AVEAPONS USED IN IRELAND. 175 
 
 from the ''Book of Leinster," " died the monarch 
 Luo'haidh Laio'hiie, of the line of Eber, after a 
 reign of seven years. He was the first that made 
 bronze and bronze spears in Erinn." 
 
 ''The stone man," says Prof. W. K. Sullivan, 
 Ph.D., Secretary of the Royal Irish Academy, 
 " appeared before the bronze man, and the latter 
 before the iron man. Wherever a bronze spear, 
 or other implement of the same nature, was found, 
 a Celt had passed there ; an iron weapon was a 
 sure mark of the footsteps of an Anglo-Saxon, or 
 some other branch of the great Teutonic stem." 
 
 Without entering on the rich question of the 
 analyses of bronzes, it is enough to state that 
 ancient weapons of true bronze, and of bronzes 
 more or less mixed with tin and lead, have been 
 found in Ireland in great abundance. The spears 
 of the Tuatha De Danann (1200 b. c), however, 
 are described as " sharp, thin, and hard," which, 
 probably, means that they were of iron. 
 
 From the earliest records, relatino: to the bat- 
 ties between the Firbolgs (Ireland's primitive 
 people) and the Tuatha De Danann (the battle of 
 Magh Tuireadh, between the Firbolgs and the 
 Tuatha De Danann, was fought b. c. 1272), we 
 learn that the accoutrements of a Fu^bolg warrior 
 going to the field were "a hooked shield"; two 
 craisechs^ or thick-handled spears, for thrusting ; 
 
17G ETHIC8 OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 a sword ; a club, or mace (see page 
 191); and a square helmet; while a 
 chief of the Tuatha De Danann used a 
 shield, a sword, and two spears. 
 
 The craisech of the Firbolg was a 
 pointless spear, rounded and sharpened 
 on the ivowt^Age, and fastened toks])ole 
 by rivets. The spear of the Tuatha De 
 Danann was " thin-pointed and sharp," 
 and the sword '"hard and sharp." 
 
 Whence the Tuatha De Danann came 
 to Ireland has not been settled. They 
 were a highly-civilized people. They 
 
 conquered the Fir- 
 bolo:s, and ruled Ire- 
 land for two cen- 
 turies, till conquered 
 in their turn by the 
 jNIilesians, who came 
 from Spain. (An- 
 cient Irish annalists 
 call them Scythians.) 
 All these weapons 
 were made of fine 
 bronze, as were all 
 the weapons of the 
 Irish down to about 
 
 No. 1. 
 FIRBOLG CRAISECH, 
 
 the Christian era. 
 
 >o. 
 
 1) 
 
ANCIENT WEAPONS USED IN IKELAND. 177 
 
 The ancient Irish, also, used slighter, pointed 
 spears (the slegli and the laighin) for both thrust- 
 ing and throwing ; some splendid bronze speci- 
 mens of these are preserved in the Museum of 
 the Eoyal Irish Academy. 
 
 No. 3. —BRONZE SWORD. 
 
 (Similar weapon used by ancient Romans, Scandinavians and Irish.) 
 
 The weapons mentioned as having been used in 
 the first battle of ]Magh Tuireadh (b. c. 1272) are 
 the craisech^ or pointless spear; the fiarlanna^ or 
 curved, pointless blade (see Xo. 31, page 209) ; 
 swords and maces ; the nianais^ or broad thrust- 
 ing spear (see pp. 18 G, 187 and 217) ; the slegli, or 
 pointed casting-spear (see pages 2'2Q and 227). 
 Later, we find the foglia, or short spear; the 
 saighead'holg , or belly-dart ; and the lic-tailme^ 
 or sling-stone (see page 196). 
 
 Besides this latter curious missile (doubtless 
 exactly like that with which David killed Goliath), 
 the Irish used a round stone for throwing, which 
 they carried in a strap inside their shields. 
 
 In the year b. c. 307 there was added ''the 
 broad green spear," undoubtedly of green bronze 
 (see Xo. 32, page 216) ; and in b. c. 123, at 
 the battle of Ath Comair, we find the lia lamlia 
 laich, or champion's hand-stone. (See next page. ) 
 
178 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ' ' It is remarkable,'' savs 
 Professor O'Currv, ''that 
 in none of the more an- 
 cient historical or romantic 
 tracts of Ireland is there 
 any allusion whatever to 
 bows and arrows ; and what 
 is more remarkal)le and im- 
 portant, there is no model 
 found for them amons; the 
 other stone and metal weap- 
 ons which have come down 
 from the ancient times, 
 either in Erinn or any of 
 the neio^hborino' countries. 
 No barbed instrument in 
 ordinary stone or bronze 
 has yet been discovered ; 
 nor has there been ever 
 found in Erinn, as far as 
 we know, a flint arrow- 
 head in company with any 
 one or more bronze spears, 
 or CHAMPION'S HAND-sToxE. darts, or swords." 
 The sword, spear, javelin, and shield continued 
 in use in Ireland for at least two thousand years. 
 They were the only weapons of offence and de- 
 fence in St. Patrick's time (a. d. 432), and they 
 were the arms of the Irish in the Danish Invasion 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 LIA LAMHA LAICH, 
 
ANCIENT WEAPONS USED IN IRELAND. 179 
 
 (about the year 820), when the first 
 notice is made of the use of battle-axes 
 and bows and arrows in IreUmd. 
 
 Chaucer bears witness that the Irish 
 
 No. 5 No. 6. No. 7. 
 
 TTATHA DE DAXANN SWORDS.— Described as " hard and sharp." 
 
 allies of Bruce, on the fiekl of Bannockburn 
 (a. D. 1314), knew the use of bow and arrow, 
 for, in apology for the English defeat, he writes : 
 
 "To the Scots we would not yield, 
 But Irish bowmen swept the field." 
 
180 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 A veiy interesting Irish ^\eapon, specimens of 
 which are found in areat abundance all over the 
 country, in stone and bronze, is commonly called 
 a " celt," or " palstave." This weapon was obvi- 
 ously a battle-axe, — though it is not easy to find 
 
 No. 8. No. 9. 
 
 BEONZE BATTLE-AXES, CALLED "CELTS.". 
 
 the manner of fastening the handle to those with- 
 out eyes, — while again, others have a straight 
 socket, as if they had been used as spear-heads. 
 These latter (Xos. 13, 14, and 15, p. 182) are 
 probably Tuatha de Danann weapons, while the 
 others (Xos. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 16, pp. 180, 
 181, and 183) are of Firbolg origin. 
 
ANCIEXT AVEAPONS USED IX IKELAXD. 181 
 
 The axes Xos. 11 and 12 (page 181), represent 
 the weapon called a ^'palstave," by British anti- 
 quarians, and apaalstab, by German writers; but 
 this is certainly wrong, as the name implies a 
 pointed instrument, and not an axe. The old 
 ^ox^Q pdlstafir was a harpoon, 
 
 Xo. 10. Xo. 11. Xo. 12. 
 
 BRONZE BATTLE-AXES, OR " CELTS." 
 
 Figures 8 to 16 embrace all the forms of battle- 
 axe used in ancient Ireland, except the spardha, 
 which was a spear and axe combined, and closely 
 resembled the piked axe of the last two centuries. 
 
 The royal seal on page 184 (Xo. 17) is interest- 
 
182 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ino; on several accounts besides that for which it 
 is used here, which is merely the shape of the 
 king's sword. It will he seen that this weapon 
 corresponds in blade with the ancient bronze 
 sword (Xo. 3, page 177), and with the still 
 more ancient blades of the Tuatha De Danann 
 
 No. 13. No. 14. No. 15. 
 
 BRONZE BATTLE-AXES, OR ''CELTS." 
 
 (Nos. 5, 6, and 7, page 179). The latter swords, 
 judging from the rivet-holes, had, probabl}^, cross- 
 hilts. 
 
 The history of this antique seal is very interest- 
 ino'. The folio wino- from the ' ' Proceedinos of 
 the Royal Irish Academy," Vol. lY., pp. 484-5 
 (25th February, 1850), will suffice : — 
 
 " Sir William Betham exhibited an impression of an ancient 
 seal, lately found near Beverley, in Yorkshire, on which is rep- 
 
ANCIEXT AVEAPONS USED IN IRELAND, 
 
 183 
 
 resented a mounted cavalier, with a very long sword drawn in 
 his hand, round which is the following inscription : — 
 
 *S. BRIEX REGIS. DE KENEL. EOGAIN.' 
 
 !ll525E:riMii 
 
 Xo. 16. 
 FIRBOLG BATTLE-AXE.— Bronze. 
 
 "Brian O'Xeill was King of Cineal Eoghain (Kinel Owen, 
 or Tyrone) from a. d. 1241 to 1260, when, along with many 
 others of the Irish chieftians, he was slain in the battle of 
 
184 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AXD MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 Druim Dearg (i.e., of the Reel Hill, or Ridge, now Down). 
 His head was cut off, and s^nt to England to King Henry III. ; 
 and probably this seal fell into the hands of the English vic- 
 tors, who carried it to England, and this accounts for its being 
 found in Yorkshire." 
 
 Xo. IT. 
 
 AVCIEXT IRISH SEAL. 
 
 Found in Yorkshire, England. 
 
 Sir Eicliard Cox, in his '^Hibernia Ano^licana" 
 (p. 69), states that tliis Imttle was fought in the 
 streets of Down. His words are : " Many of the 
 Irish chiefs were sUiin, namely, Brian O'Neill, the 
 chief of Ireland [Macgeoghan's translation calls 
 him liing of the Irish of Ireland'] , and fifteen 
 chiefs of the family of O'Cathain (O'Kane) were 
 slam on the field." 
 
THE AVKAPOjS-IEATS OF CUCHULLIN. 185 
 
 III. 
 
 THE WEAPOX-FEATS OF CUCHULLIX. 
 
 CucHULLix, or Cuchiillain (literally the hound 
 of ChuUin), was the renowned champion of his 
 tmie (a. m. 4480). He was not only the ablest 
 soldier, but the best hurler in Ireland ; and after 
 his visit to a famous war-college in Alba, or 
 Scotland, the head of which was, strange to 
 say, a woman, named Scathach, he became the 
 greatest ''all-round" athlete in the Celtic world. 
 Scathach taught him various feats (^cleasa) of 
 championship, which are thus enumerated in a 
 very ancient Gaelic tale called " The Courtship of 
 Emer, and the Education of Cuchullain : " 
 
 ^'Ubhall-cleas, the ball-feat; faebhar-deas, the small, sharp- 
 edged shield-feat; Torand-cleas, the thunder-feat, which was 
 performed with the war- chariot; faen-cleas, the prostrate feat, 
 which I cannot explain; cleas-clitenech^ the dart-feat; ted-cleas, 
 the rope-feat; the cleas-cait, the cat-feat, of which I know 
 nothing; the corlecJi n-errld, or champions salmon-sault or 
 leap; the imarchor n-delend, or proper carrying of the chariot- 
 eer's whip; the leim-dar-n-eimh, the leap over a fence (?); the 
 filliud erred nair, the whirl of a vahant champion; the gae- 
 bolga, or feat of throwing the belly-dart; the bai-braisse^ liter- 
 ally sudden death (?); the roth-cleas, wheel-feat, something like 
 casting the sledge of the present day; the othar-cleas, invali- 
 
186 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 dating feat, as well as I can understand the term; the cleasfor 
 analaiUi, literally 'the feat of the breathings;' the hruid-gine^ 
 
 No. 18. No. 10. 
 
 MANAIS — BEAUTIFIL BROXZE SPEARS, TUATHA DE DANANX. 
 
 (See page 177.) 
 
 literally * gnashing of the mouth,' as well as I can understand 
 it; the sian-cauradh, or champion's war-whoop; the heim co 
 
THE WEAPON-FEATS OF CUCHULLIX, 
 
 187 
 
 famits, cutting off an opponent's hair with the sword; the 
 taith-beim, 'vertical stroke,' which fixed an antagonist to the 
 ground; thefodh-beim, ' sod-blow,' by which the sod was cut, in 
 contempt, from under the feet of an antagonist by a stroke of 
 the sword [hence, undoubtedly, the common Irish phrase, "cut- 
 ting the ground from under his feet"] ; the dreimfri foghuist, 
 
 So. 20. 
 
 No. 21. 
 
 No. 22. 
 
 MAXAIS — TUATHA DE DANANN SPEARS, BRONZE. 
 
 (See page 177.) 
 
 climbing a rock; thefonaldhm niadlifor rinnibh slegh, 'coiling 
 of a champion around the blades of upright spears ; ' and the 
 carbad-searj'dha, the feat of the armed or scythed war- 
 chariot." 
 
 Surely, the man who " held the record," in 
 modern sporting parlance, for all these feats, de- 
 
188 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 served to be called the champion of Ireland. 
 The Gaelic tale from which this detail is taken, 
 also states that the feats of championship which 
 distinguished the Knights of Emania (the ancient 
 capital city of Ulster, where stood the majestic 
 Craehh'Rhuadh, or House of the Eoyal Branch) 
 were limited to three, namely : the feat with 
 darts, the feat with balls, and the feat with edged 
 weapons, {fcehhar-deas) such as knives, swords, 
 and sharp-edged shields. 
 
 Many, if not all, of these feats, were not re- 
 garded as feats of arms intended for actual use in 
 comlxat, but were merely ornamental accomplish- 
 ments and proofs of skill. 
 
 In the Brehon Laws (the great Celtic code 
 observed by the Irish people from the earliest 
 historical days down to the year 1600) is particu- 
 larly enacted the education of the different social 
 classes, under the law of " Fosterage and Tutor- 
 age " ; and here we learn that the sons of kings 
 and chiefs were taught " riding, swimming, chess, 
 draughts, or backgammon ; with the use of the 
 sword, spear, and all other weapons offensive and 
 defensive." 
 
MILITARY ATHLETES OF IRELAND. 189 
 
 IV. 
 
 MILITARY ATHLETES OF ANCIENT IRELAND. 
 
 There is no reliable authority for the existence 
 of any national military organization or profession 
 of fio:htino;-men in Ireland, other than chiefs, 
 down to the reio*n of Conn '' of the hundred 
 battles," who w^as monarch at Tara from a. d. 
 123 to 157, in which year he was slain. Still, 
 it is stated that Conn himself came to the throne 
 from the command of the celebrated national 
 militia, popularly know^n as the Fianna Eireann^ 
 of w^hom Finn Mac Cumhaill, and his father, 
 Cumhall, were the most famous commanders. 
 
 This militia of ancient Ireland is highly inter- 
 esting in the history of athletics. Its members 
 w^ere tested athletes to a man, and their prepara- 
 tion and competition for enlistment were most 
 arduous and remarkable. 
 
 The name Fianna (hence the modern Fenians) 
 is explained in an antique glossary preserved in a 
 volume of Brehon Laws, This is the translation 
 from the Gaelic : — 
 
 '^ Fianna, a Venatione, id est. It was from the hunting 
 which they practised they were so named. Or, Fianna, that is 
 
190 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 fineadha (families) because it was in tribes they were formed. 
 Or, Jianna, that is feinneadha (champions) because they were 
 the champions of the Monarch of Erinn." 
 
 In a poem, written in Gaelic, by a bard named 
 Cineadh O'Hartaaan, in 975 a. d., while the 
 remains of the royal palace at Tara were still 
 distinct and intact, and while the written history 
 of that famous hill was still clear and a])undant, 
 there is a description of a spacious barrack, at 
 Tara, where seventy-five hundred of the Fianna 
 were lodired. 
 
 The following' are the stanzas of this most curi- 
 ous poem, which refer to the barrack at Tara : — 
 
 '' Tlie great house of tliousands of soldiers, — 
 To generations it was widely known ; 
 A beautiful fortress of brave men ; 
 Seven hundred feet was its length. 
 
 It was not filled with the foolish and ignorant, 
 Nor over-crowded with the wily and arrogant; 
 It was a large work to plan its divisions : 
 8ix times five cubits was its height. 
 
 The King had his place there, the King of Erinn. 
 Around whom the fairest wine was distributed. 
 It was a fortress, a castle, a wonder; 
 There were three times fifty compartments in it. 
 
 Three times fifty champions with swords 
 (No weak defence for a fortress). 
 That was the number, among the wonders, 
 Which occupied each compartment.'' 
 
 The whole of this hio:hlv interestinsr poem is 
 
MILITARY ATHLETES OF IRELAND. 191 
 
 published in Dr. Petrie's ''Antiquities of Tara," 
 a work that ought to be found in all our large 
 American libraries. 
 
 In A. D. 1024, died a poet named Cuan O'Loth- 
 chain, who had also written about the great 
 
 No. 23. 
 BRO>^ZE MACE. (See page 176. 
 
 barrack at Tara. Here is the stanza relatinof to 
 it: — 
 
 "I speak farther of the fortress of the champions; 
 
 (Which was also called the fortress of foolish women) ; 
 The house of the champions was not a weak one, 
 With its fourteen opening doors." 
 
 The best account of the Fianna Eireann is 
 given by the Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Keating, in his 
 
192 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 well-known abstract of the History of Ireland, 
 (written in the native Gaelic, about the year 
 1630, and translated into En^^lish about one 
 hundred and thirty years ago). 
 
 Dr. Keatino^ had before him numerous invalua- 
 ble Irish records and books of great antiquity, 
 many of which have since been destroyed or carried 
 ofl* by the English conquerors, whose policy has 
 always been to obliterate every record of Ireland's 
 national 2:reatness and ancient culture, and cast 
 discredit and ridicule on what could not be con- 
 troverted. I may here quote a striking para- 
 graph from Prof. O'Curry's work on '*Thc 
 Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish." (Vol. 
 2, page 354) : — 
 
 "It is very unfortunate that the important poem here 
 referred to [an ancient GaeUc poem mentioned in the ' Ogygia,' 
 describing an Irisli school of war in tlie tliird century] is not to 
 be found in any of tlie MS. collections knoAvn to us ; it is only 
 known to exist among those locked up in England in the cus- 
 tody of Lord Ashburnham, by whom Irish scholars are not per- 
 mitted to examine treasures properly belonging to our own peo- 
 ple ; but the legal ownership of which is at present, unhappily 
 vested in a stranger, unsympathizing alike with our pursuits as 
 Irishmen, and with those of the literary world at large. In this 
 poem there is, probably, much calculated to throw light on the 
 subject of education in ancient Erinn." 
 
 Prof. O'Curry's work was published in London 
 in 1873; and this precious Irish MS., locked up 
 by an ignorant English lord, has never seen the 
 light to this day. 
 
MILITARY ATHLETES OF IRELAND. 193 
 
 Dr. Keating wrote from books existing in his 
 time. He says, quoting from the " Leahhar-na-h- 
 Ua Ohongbhala;' or " Book of Xavan' ' : 
 
 "The :Moiiarcli of Erinn (Comiac MacAirt) appointed an 
 army over the men of Erinn, and over it he appointed three 
 times fifty royal Feinian officers, and he gave the command 
 of the vrhole and the High Stevv^ardship of Erinn to Finn Ua 
 Baiscne." 
 
 The Fianna had a fixed stipend ; but from May 
 to November they had to support themselves by 
 hunting. Their life was one of extreme absti- 
 nence and exercise. Their duty in peace times 
 was that of a national police : ^'to check thieves, 
 to enforce the payment of taxes, to check outlaws, 
 and all other evils which may affect the country.'' 
 
 After a long chase, before eating, they invari- 
 ably bathed, ''and then began to supply their 
 sinews and thews (by gentle exercise), until they 
 had in this manner put off from them their fatigue, 
 after which they ate their meal." 
 
 There were several conditions which every man 
 who was received into the Fianna was oblio-ed to 
 fulfill:— . ^ 
 
 '^The first condition was, that he should not accept any 
 fortune with a wife, but select her for her moral conduct and 
 her accomplishments. 
 
 I' The second was, that he should noc insult any woman. 
 
 '' The third was, that he should not refuse any person ask- 
 ing for food. 
 
194 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 " The fourth was, that he should not turn his back on (that 
 is, fly from) any less than nine foemen." 
 
 "Additional conditions Finn Mac Cumhaill attached to the 
 military degrees, which every man was obliged to accept before 
 he was received into the Fianna. 
 
 " The first was, that no person was admitted into them at the 
 great meetings of Uisneach, nor at the fair of Tailten, nor at 
 the feast of Tara, until his father and mother and relatives 
 gave security that they would never avenge his death on 
 another person, in order that he should not expect any one to 
 avenge him but himself, and no matter what evils he might 
 commit, that his friends were not to be sued for them. 
 
 "The second condition was, that candidates should have 
 read the Twelve Books of Philosophy, or Poetry. 
 
 " The third condition was, that no man was received into 
 the Fianna until a wide pit had been dug for him, in which he 
 was to stand up to his knees, with his shield in one hand, and 
 a hazel stake, the length of the champion's arm, in the other. 
 Nine warriors armed with nine slejlis (or spears), came to within 
 the distance of nine ridges (of ground) of him, and these used 
 to throw their nine spears all at once at him; and should he be 
 wounded despite the shield and the hazel staff, he was not 
 received into the order of the Fianna. 
 
 *' The fourth condition, no man was received into the Fianna 
 until his hair was first plaited, and until he was then chased by 
 selected runners through a forest, the distance between them at 
 the start being but one tree. If they came up with him, he 
 could not be taken into the Fianna. 
 
 " The fifth condition, no man was received into the Fianna if 
 the weapons trembled in his hands. 
 
 " The sixth condition, no man was received into the Fianna 
 if a single braid of his hair had been loosened out of its plait 
 by a branch in the wood (as he ran through it). 
 
 " The seventh condition, no man was received into the 
 Fianna whose foot had broken a withered branch in his course. 
 (This to insure light and watchful runners.) 
 
 *' The eighth condition, no man was received into the Fianna 
 
THE CHIEF GAME OF ANCIENT IRELAND. 195 
 
 unless he could jump over (the branch of) a tree as high as his 
 head, and stoop under one as low as his knee, through the 
 agility of his body. 
 
 '' The ninth condition, no man was received into the Fianna 
 unless he could pluck a thorn out of his heel with his hand 
 without coming to a stand. 
 
 *' The tenth condition, no man was received into the Fianna 
 until he had first sworn fidelity and obedience to the king (or 
 commander) of the Fianna." 
 
 This famous body of military athletes continued 
 to be the national guard of Ireland till they were 
 annihilated, at the battle of Gabhra, by Cairbre 
 and his forces, a. d. 284. 
 
 HURLING : THE CHIEF GAME OF ANCIENT 
 IRELAND. 
 
 The chief game, or sport, of the ancient Irish 
 was hurling. For over a century past, even this 
 game, and others, like football, wrestling, boxing, 
 etc., have been discountenanced by the English 
 rulers, whose object has ever been to unman and 
 deo:rade Irishmen until i<rnorance of conflict, even 
 in sport, had robbed them of self-confidence and 
 fitted them for the position of hopeless subjection 
 designed for them. But within a few years, all 
 
196 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 over Ireland, the ancient crames have been re- 
 vived ; and now there is a hurling club in almost 
 every parish in Ireland. 
 
 Tailten and Carman (now Wexford, or near 
 the present town of AVexford) were the two prin- 
 cipal places in ancient Ireland most celebrated 
 for games. 
 
 No. 24. 
 
 STUIC, oil IRISH WAR-HORN. 
 
 No. 25. 
 LIC-TAILME, OR SLING-STONE. 
 
 (See page 177.) 
 
 Hurling, iomain (pronounced wnnan)^ was the 
 great out -door game of the ancient Irish, /o- 
 manu'idhe (pronounced iomawnee) was the hurler, 
 or driver ; for it signifies that, also. The goal was 
 called haire (pronounced as spelled). The hurl 
 
THE CHIEF GAME OF ANCIENT IRELAND. 197 
 
 was caman (pronounced as spelled ; the a long) . 
 All through ancient Gaelic literature there is con- 
 stant mention of hurling. 
 
 The following is a description of a game of 
 hurling, from one of the best of the Ossianic tales, 
 ''The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne,'' trans- 
 lated and published in Dublin, in 1880, by the 
 Society for the Preservation of the Irish Lan- 
 guage : — 
 
 *' There arose a dispute between two women of tlie Tuatlia 
 De Danann, that is, Aoife, the daughter of Mananan, and 
 Aine, the other daughter of Mananan, the son of Lear, viz. : 
 Aoife had become enamoured of the son of Lughaidh, that is, 
 sister's son to Fionn Mac Cumhaill, and Aine had become 
 enamoured of Lear, of Lith Fliionnchaidh^ so that each woman 
 of them said that her own man was a better hurler than the 
 other; and tlie fruit of tlie dispute was that a great goaling 
 match was set in order between tlie Tuatlia De Danann and 
 the Fenians of Erin, and the place where the goal was played 
 was on a fair plain by Loch Lein, of the rough pools. 
 
 " The Fenians of Erin and Tuatlia De Danann answered 
 that try St e. . . . We, the Fenians of Erin, and they were for 
 the space of three days and three nights playing the goal from 
 Garbhabha na bh-Fiann, which is called Leamhaw, to Crom- 
 ghleann na bh-Fiann, which is called Gleann Fleisge now; and 
 neither (party) of us won a goal. Xow (the whole of) the 
 Tuatlia De Danann were all that time, without our knowledge, 
 on either side of Loch Lein, and they understood that if we, 
 the Fenians, were united (all) the men of Erin could not win 
 the goal of us. And the council which the Tuatlia De Danann 
 took, was to depart each again, and not to play (out) that goal 
 with us." 
 
 The first thing we hear about both Cuchullain 
 
198 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 and Finn, the i^reat chiefs, is in connection with 
 hurling, when they w^ere mere children. 
 
 Mr. T. O'Xeill Russell, in an interesting: letter 
 to me on this subject, says : — 
 
 '' I find from a very old man from the county Clare, that in 
 his time, 'and ever and always afore him,' great games of 
 hurley, between counties or parishes, were played with twenty- 
 
 No. 26. 
 
 MILITARY FORK. Distinctly Irish weapon (iron; drawing one-third 
 
 tlie actual size). 
 
 one men on each side, — mdrsheisir air lai\ mor'Sheisir air 
 g-cul, a^s mdrsheisir air fuadach ; that is, 'seven (hterally a 
 big six) in the middle.' " 
 
 ''In the 'Book of Rights,' it is recorded, that comain^ or 
 hurleys, are mentioned among some of the presents from the 
 
THE CHIEF GAME OF ANCIENT IRELAND. 199 
 
 Arch King to his clients. Foot -ball and hand-ball do not 
 seem to have been practised ; and I do not remember to have 
 
 No. 27. 
 MILITARY FORK. (Iron; one-third actual size.) 
 
 seen any mention of boxing or wrestling;* but the former 
 surely was known, for in the 'Death of Cuchullain,' in the 
 
 * The following extract from a very ancient Gaelic book, 
 "" The pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne,"' shows that wrestling. 
 
200 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 *Book of Leinster,' that chieftain is said to have given cne of 
 his assailants a blow of his fist, which knocked out his brains." 
 
 "Next to hurling, the great out-door sport of ancient Ire- 
 land was horse- racing. Tailten and Carman were the places 
 for it. There is much mention of horse -racing, a ' sport for 
 kings '; but I am glad to say that there is no mention of betting 
 at horse-races at all; but the Irish are mentioned as betting at 
 chess, and betting heavily, too. 
 
 "As for hunting, Irish MSS. are full of it. The game most 
 mentioned — in fact, the only game mentioned — is the deer. 
 The usual way of hunting was with hounds. There are the 
 names of more than a hundred hounds given in one of the 
 Ossianic poems I have. The boar is, to my knowledge, only 
 once mentioned, and that is in the ^Boyish Exploits of Finn,' 
 where he is said to have killed a fierce, wild boar, and presented 
 his first wife with its head. Chariot- racing was much prac- 
 tised. I do not remember any book in which there is any 
 particular account of it ; but I remember to have seen it 
 mentioned in many places. Swimming is often mentioned. 
 Another of Finn's boyish exploits was to drown nine boys who 
 enticed him to swim with them in order that they might drown 
 him. There is, also, some mention of boat -racing, but not 
 very much. So much was the deer hunted, that, in many parts 
 of Ireland, a hunt is still called fiacli instead of seilg, pro- 
 
 at least, was practised ; and that the ' cross-buttock ' was as 
 well known in ancient as in modern Ireland : " — 
 
 "Then, said Dubh-Chosach, that he, himself, would go to 
 fight with Diarmuid. . . . Then he and Diarmuid rushed 
 upon one another, like wrestlers, straining their arms and 
 their sinews. And this is the fashion of the sore strife that 
 took place between them : They threw their weapons out of 
 their hands, and ran to encounter each other, and lock their 
 knotty hands across one another's graceful backs. Then each 
 gave the other a mighty twist; but Diarmuid hove Dubh- 
 Chosach upon his shoulder, and hurled his body to the earth, 
 and bound him firm and fast upon the spot." 
 
THE CHIEF GAME OF ANCIENT IRELAND. 201 
 
 nonnced she! ig. Flack does not mean hunt; it means simplj 
 a deer; but. at last, it came to mean a hunt, because a deei 
 was the animal usually hunted. 
 
 No. 28. 
 
 ANCIENT CHESSMAN. 
 
 A king — found with several others in a bog, in the county of Meath, 
 Ireland. Preserved in the Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 "The great in-door game, — in fact, the only one men- 
 tioned, — is chess; Flth chill {^ronoxnic^d Fi chill ; feat-Jichille, 
 a chessman). Innumerable are the mentions of this game in 
 Gaelic MSS. There is every reason to think the game was 
 played just as it is now; but the pieces were very large, made 
 of bronze; some of them have been found. You will see a 
 drawing of one in the ' Book of Rights.' [See Figure N'o. 28.] 
 
 "You must bear in mind that we know only very little yet 
 about ancient Ireland, and cannot know all until all the 
 
202 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 MSS. are translated. One thing is certain: there was very 
 Uttle drunkenness amongst tlie ancient Irish ; to my knowledge, 
 there is only one mention of it, in a tract called the "" Meicera 
 Ulladh,' or ^ Drunkenness of Ulster,' when Cuchullain, and 
 some more of the ' boys ' of the period, got drunk, and for a 
 long time, too ; for they never stopped until they reached Kerry, 
 having set out from Armagh! Whiskey is never once men- 
 tioned in the old MSS. They seem to have known no drinks 
 but wine, ^o?i ; and lann, ale." 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE ANCIENT GAMES AT TAILTEN AND CARMAN. 
 
 The Corinth and Olympus of ancient Ireland 
 were Tailten and Carman, where the national 
 fairs were periodically held. 
 
 ''The great fairs anciently held in Ireland," 
 says Prof. W. K. Sullivan, of the Koyal College 
 of Science, "were not, like their modern repre- 
 sentatives, mere markets ; but were assemblies of 
 the people to celebrate funerals, games, and other 
 religious rites, during pagan times ; to hold par- 
 liaments, promulgate laws, listen to the recitation 
 of tales and poems ; engage in, or witness, con- 
 tests and feats of arms, horse-racin^:, and other 
 popular games. They were analogous, in many 
 ways, to the Olympian and other games of 
 ancient Greece." 
 
THE ANCIENT GAMES. 203 
 
 ''The Taltenian sports," says Ware, ''were a 
 sort of warlike exercises, something resembling 
 Olympic games ; consisting of racing, tilts, tour- 
 naments, or something like them, and other exer- 
 cises. They were held every year at Tailten, a 
 mountain in Meath, for fifteen days after the 1st 
 of August. Their first institution is ascribed to 
 Luo'aidh Lam-fadha, the twelfth kino; of Ireland, 
 who began his reign a. m. 2764, in gratitude to 
 the memory of Tailte, the daughter of Mao'h-jMor 
 (a prince of some part of Spain), who, having 
 been married to Eochaid, kinir of Ireland, took 
 this Lugaidh under her protection, and had the 
 care of his education in his minority. From this 
 lady both the sports, and the place where they 
 were celebrated, took their names. From King 
 Lugaidh, the first of August was called Lugnassa, 
 or the memory of Lugaidh, nassa signifj^ing 
 memory in Irish." 
 
 There is an ancient Gaelic tract on the origin 
 of the names of places in Ireland, which is called 
 the ''- Dindsenchas,'' From it we learn that the 
 fair of Tailte, or Tailten, was instituted to com- 
 memorate the name of Tailtin, the daughter of 
 Magh-Mor, king of Spain, and wife of the Irish 
 King Eochad Garbh, who built the "mound of 
 the foreigners" at Tara. According to the "Dind- 
 senchas,'' the fair of Tailten was instituted 3500 
 
204 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 years B.C.; according to the "Annals of the 
 Four Masters," a. m. 3370. These dates, what- 
 ever be their real value, certainly indicate the 
 great antiquity of the fair. 
 
 One of the greatest figures in the history of 
 Ireland, ancient or modern, is buried at Tailten ; 
 nameh% Ollamh Fodhla (pronounced Olav Fo- 
 lah), who is recorded to have become monarch of 
 Ireland a. m. 3882, and to have died in the year 
 A.M. 3922, after a reign of forty years. He w^as 
 the fortieth monarch of Ireland. The original 
 name of this prince was Eochaidh ; but, from his 
 o;reat learnino^, he obtained the distinction of 01- 
 lamh (chief poet, or doctor) before he became 
 king ; and, afterwards, he was called Ollamh 
 Fodhla, w^hich was one of the ancient names of 
 Erinn.* 
 
 Mr. Michael C. O'Shea, of Boston, a Gaelic 
 scholar of deep research, gives the following in- 
 teresting note relating to ancient athletic exercises 
 in the county Kerry : — 
 
 ''Insliigeelach, a town in the county of Cork, Ireland, 
 means intervale, or river-margin, of gymnastics, and is so called 
 from a broad and level piece of river margin, in close vicinity, 
 on which g\Tnnastic sports were practised in former times; and 
 the last of the princely O'Donoghues of Ross Castle, on the 
 
 * Ollamh Fodhla was the founder of the "Senchus More," 
 or " Great Law," the title of the Brehon Laws (translated by 
 
THE AXCIEXT GAMES. 205 
 
 shore of the lower lake of Killarney, was titled Donald na 
 Xgeelach^ Donald of the Gymnastics, from his wonderful gym- 
 nastic skill, which gained him the reputation of a necromancer, 
 or man of superhuman powers. He is the Merlin of the legen- 
 dary lore of the ancient Kingdom of Kerry, a chief who never 
 died, but rode his silver-shod steed into the lake, and still 
 appears once in every seven years, riding over its surface, view- 
 ing his ancient domain." 
 
 Teltowii (the ancient Tailten) is one of the most 
 famous spots in Ireland ; next to Tara, probably 
 it is the most ancient, if not the most notable. 
 The history of Tailten, Pagan and Christian, 
 would be the history of Ireland in symbol, — its 
 fairs, games, laws, sports, poetry, marriages, etc. 
 By the wa}^, it is w^orth noting that " a Teltown 
 marriage," often spoken of in Meath to-day, lasted 
 iust a year and a day. Sir William Wilde 
 (''Beauties of the Boyne and Blackwater,") 
 describes this singular old-time Irish marriage, 
 which took place at the fair of Tailten : — 
 
 " On the northeast side of the great fort {Bath Buhh) the 
 most remarkable of the Teltown ceremonies took place — the 
 marriages or betrothals. Upon one side of the great embank- 
 ment were ranged the boys, and on the other the girls ; the 
 
 O' Donovan and C Curry). He organized a triennial parliament 
 at Tara, of the chiefs, priests, and bards, who digested the laws 
 into a record called the "Psalter of Tara." He founded 
 schools of history, medicine, philosophy, poetry, and astronomy, 
 which were protected by his successors. Kimbath (450 b.c.) 
 and Hugony (300 B.C.), also, promoted the civil interests of the 
 kingdom in a remarkable and somewhat similar manner. 
 
206 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 former ogling, the latter blushing. Having had a good view of 
 each other they passed down to where there is a deex) hollow in 
 the land, called Lug-an-Ecnvj, where they became separated by 
 a high wall. In this wall, say the local traditions, there was a 
 door with a small hole in it, through which each girl passed her 
 middle finger, which the men on the other side looked at. If 
 any of them admired the finger, he laid hold of it, and the lass 
 to whom it belonged forthwith became his bride. The marri- 
 age held good for a year and a day. If the couple disagreed 
 during that time, they retm-ned to Tailten, walked into the 
 centre of Rath Dubli, stood back to back, one facing the north 
 and the other the soutb,and walked out of the fort, a divorced 
 couple, free to try their luck again at Lug-an-Eany,'''' 
 
 This very ancient site of the palace of Tailten, 
 one of the four royal residence^ of Ireland, in 
 early times, is situated on the northern bank of 
 the Bojaie, about midway bet\veen Kells and 
 Xayan. It is in the centre of the most fertile land 
 in all Ireland, and probably in all Europe. The 
 ancient earthworks of fort and rath are still 
 there — will be there while the earth lasts. The 
 remains of trench, embankment, and foundation 
 are greater, even, than those of Tara, at least 
 those now existing there. 
 
 In '' The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland 
 by the Four Masters " there is a notice of Tailten, 
 saying : — 
 
 ^' In the year of the world 3370, in the reign of Lugh 
 Lamhfhada, the fair of Tailten was established, in commemo- 
 ration and remembrance of his foster-mother, Tailte, the 
 daughter of Maghmor, King of Spain, and the wife of Eochaidh, 
 son of Ere, the last King of the Firbolgs." 
 
THE ANCIENT GAMES. 207 
 
 The fair of Tailten (Teltown) continued down 
 to the time of Roderick O'Connor, the hist mon- 
 arch of Ireland, and was hekl annually on the 
 1st of August, which month derives its name, in 
 the Irish language, from this very circumstance, 
 being called Lugh-nasadJi^ or Lugli's fair — the 
 Lammas day- — to which many ancient rites and 
 ceremonies still attach throuohout Ireland. 
 
 " Upon the occasion of the fair of Tailten," 
 says Sir AVilliam Wilde (*' Beauties of the Boyne 
 and Blackwater," p. 150), '' various sports and 
 pastimes, a description of Olympic games, were 
 celebrated, consistin^r of feats of strenath and 
 agility in wrestling, boxing, running, and athletic 
 manly sports, as well as horse-races and chariot- 
 races. Besides these, the people were entertained 
 with shows and rude theatrical exhibitions. 
 Among these latter are enumerated sham battles, 
 and also aquatic fights, which were exhibited 
 upon the artificial lakes, the sites of which are 
 still pointed out." 
 
 The most satisfactory account preserved of these 
 meetino;s, is that of the fair of Carman. This 
 account is preserved in the fragments of poems 
 in the precious old " Book of Leinster" (a work 
 known to have been compiled from ancient MSS. 
 in the year 1150), which is one of the treasures of 
 the library of Trinity College, Dublin. The 
 
208 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MAXLY SPOUT. 
 
 ancient Book of Bally mote, preserved in the li- 
 brary of the Royal Irish Academy, also contains 
 a description of the fair of Carman. 
 
 The complete obliteration of the ancient Car- 
 man, and the growth of another city, or a city 
 with another name in its place, is accounted for 
 by the fact that that part of Ireland was the 
 stronghold and for many generations the home of 
 the Danish invaders. Wexford is one of the few 
 cities that the Danes have named in Ireland ; and 
 nearly all the other places bearing Danish names 
 in Ireland are also on the east coast. 
 
 Considering how prominently the Danes fig- 
 ured in Irish history, this is a singular fact. 
 Worsae (page 71) gives a table of 1373 Danish 
 and Norweo^ian names in the middle and northern 
 counties of England, names ending in tliorpe^ 6y, 
 thicaite. with^ toft^ becTc^ noes, ey, dale, force, fell, 
 tarn, and haugh. 
 
 Dr. Joyce's " Irish Names of Places," Vol. I, 
 page 105, says: — 
 
 "We have in Ireland only a few Danish terminations, as 
 ford, which occurs four times; ey, three times; ster, three 
 times; and ore, which we find in one name. We have only 
 fifteen Danish names in Ireland, almost all confined to one 
 particular district.* ' This,' says Dr Joyce, ' appears to me to 
 
 * ' ' The only names 1 can find that are wholly or partly Danish 
 are Wexford, Waterford, Carlingford, Strangford (Lough), Old- 
 
THE ANCIENT GAINIES. 
 
 209 
 
 afford a complete answer to the statements which we see some- 
 times made, that the Danes conquered the coimtry, and their 
 chiefs ruled over it as sovereigns.' " 
 
 Nos. 29 and 30. 
 
 ORAiSECH, with Firbolg fasteninj 
 and Tnatha De Danann point. 
 
 (See pa^e 177.) No. 31. 
 
 FIKBOLG FIARLANXA, 
 OK CURVED POINTLESS BLADE. 
 
 The truth is, the Danes never had any perma- 
 nent settlement in Irehmd except in a few seaport 
 towns ; and even there they had not mucli owner- 
 ship of land, but were sea-traders and merchants. 
 
 erfleet, Carnsore, Ireland's Eye, Lanibay, Dalkey, Howth, 
 Leixlip, and Oxmantown . . The termination ford is the 
 northern word fiord, or inlet of the sea.'" (Joyce, ''Irish 
 Names of Places.'*) 
 
210 ETHICS OF 130X1XG AMJ> MAXLY SPOIIT. 
 
 The famous fair was held at ancient Carman 
 every three years. The Gaelic poem, or poems, 
 in which it is described, have been translated 
 1)y Prof. Eugene O'Curry, ]M. E. I. A. ; and -the 
 evidence goes to show that the fragments were 
 originally part of one contmuous poem. 
 
 This poem is of profound importance for the 
 ancient history of Ireland, which is lono' due to * 
 the world. All such expressions as this article, 
 though written with a special motive, Avill extend 
 the knowledge of these wonderful antique literary 
 treasures, will tend to show their value to readers 
 of the Irish race and others, and help toward their 
 future study by the scholars of the world. The 
 archaeologist, the philologist, the ethnologist, of 
 centuries to come, will find in ancient Erinn such 
 treasures as almost no other country has yet to 
 deliver up to the generations. 
 
 Carman was one of the seven chief cemeteries 
 of Erinn, the others being Tailten, Cruachan, the 
 Brugh of the Boyne, Cuile, Tallacht, and Teamar 
 of Dunn Finntain. 
 
 The poem on ''The Fair of Carman" begins ' 
 
 with Greek-like abruptness : — 
 
 '' Carman, why so called ? Answer: Three men who came 
 from Athens, and one woman with them, /. e., the three sons 
 of Dibad, — Difin, Dubh, and Dothnr, were their names, — 
 and Carman was their mother. By charms and spells and in- 
 cantations the mother blighted every place." 
 
THE ANCIENT GAMES. 211 
 
 " The grave of Carman, by whom was it dug ? 
 Will you learn, or do you know ? 
 According to all our beloved forefathers. 
 It was Bres, son of Gladen. Listen : — 
 
 " Four score and five full hundreds, 
 Is the number true of years. 
 From Carman of demoniac spells, 
 To the birth of Jesus after humanity. 
 
 '' And the people of Leinster celebrated this fair by their 
 tribes and by their families, down to the time of Cathair Mor. 
 There were seven races there, and a week for considering the 
 laws and the rights of the province for three years. It was in 
 the kalends of August they assembled there, and it was on the 
 sixth of August they used to leave it; and every third year 
 they were wont to hold it; and two years for the preparations." 
 
 Besides the markets of cattle, merchandise, 
 arms, etc., there were poems read, laws revised, 
 contests by bards, seven horse-races, and various 
 kinds of military shows and athletic contests, 
 chiefly with arms. 
 
 Another description of this ancient Irish as- 
 sembly, or fair, is given in the Gaelic poem 
 contained in the ancient '' Book of Ballymote," 
 translated by Prof. Eugene O'Curry, M.R.I. A. 
 
 ** Five kings and thirty, without sorroAv, here, 
 
 Of the Leinstermen, before the faith of Christ, 
 
 Their pride over Erinn had si)read, 
 
 From thy sweet-sounding harbor, O Carman ! 
 
 *' The Leinstermen continued to hold this fair, 
 By their tribes and by their families, 
 From Labraidh Loingsech — theme of poets — 
 To powerful Cathair of red-spears." 
 
212 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY 8PORT, 
 
 The poem speeities the })ositions allotted to the 
 kino's and the ureat chiefs, to witness the ofanies 
 and exercises of the fair. 
 
 *' 111 the Kalends of August, without fail, 
 They assembled in every third year, 
 They arranged seven well-fought races, 
 In the seven days of the week. 
 
 " Here they proclaimed in clear words 
 
 The i)rivileges and laws of the province ; 
 
 Every rule of our severe law, 
 
 In every third year they adjusted. 
 
 ^* Corn, milk, peace, ease, and prosperity. 
 Waters full and in abundance, 
 Kighteous rules and loyalty to kings, 
 With troops to guard Erinn were its care. 
 
 • ^' The hospitality of the Hy-Drona, 
 
 And the steed contests of the men of C^ssary, 
 
 And the dash of spear-handles 
 
 From the entire host, w^ere its termination." 
 
 From the poem contained in the ancient ''Book 
 of Leinster" (Prof. O'Curry's transhition) is the 
 following description of the fair of Tailten : — 
 
 •• The Leinstermen held this, the fair. 
 Both as tribes and householders. 
 
 Here they proclaimed, boldly and loudly. 
 
 The privileges of every law, and their restraints. 
 
 •' To sue, to levy, to controvert debts. 
 To abuse steeds in their career 
 Is not allowed here by contending racers, 
 Xor elopement, oppression, or arrest. 
 
THE ANCIENT GAMES. 213 
 
 "No man goes into the woman's assembly; 
 No woman into the assembly of the men ; 
 No abdnction here is heard of; 
 Nor repudiation of husbands, or of wives. 
 
 '^ Whoever transgresses the Law of the Kings, 
 
 Which Benen so accurately and permanently wrote,* 
 Cannot be spared upon family composition. 
 But he must die for his transgression. 
 
 " Here follow its great privileges, — 
 
 The rights and enjoyments of the fair. 
 Trumpets, harps, wide-mouthed horns, 
 CiLsifjhs^ timpanists, without fail; 
 Poets and groups of agile jugglers." 
 
 The poem goes on to enumerate the features of 
 the great fair; the reading of poems, histories, 
 etymologies, precepts; the annals of feasts and 
 fairs; ''"xhe History of the Hill of Mighty Tea- 
 mar " (Tara) ; the stor}^ of the noblest women ; 
 of courts, enchantments, conquests, kings ; the 
 
 * The law of Benen is the famous Irish ''Book of Rights " 
 {^' Lcahhar na g-Ceart'^), published by the Celtic Society, 
 Dublin, in 1847. It gives an account of the rights of the 
 monarchs of all Ireland, and the revenues payable to them by 
 the kings of the several provinces, and of the stipends paid 
 by the monarch to the provincial kings for their services, etc. 
 This Benen, or Benean, was St. Benignus the disciple of St. 
 Patrick, and his successor as Bishop of Ard Maclia (Armagh). 
 He resigned his bishopric in 405 ; died on the 9tli of November, 
 468, and was buried in Armagh. It is probable that the laws 
 and tributes mentioned in " The Book of Rights" were taken 
 from records of great antiquity, and were digested and, per- 
 haps, put into metre by St. Benignus. 
 
214 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 successions and battles of kinsfs ; the victories of 
 saints of Leinster. 
 
 Then follows this impressive outline of the field 
 and the fair of Carman : — 
 
 *' O Leinstermen of the tombs, pray listen! 
 Twenty-one ratlis of lasting fame, 
 In which hosts are laid under ground ; 
 A psalm- singing cemetery of renown 
 Is there by the side of noble Carman. 
 
 " Seven mounds without touching each other, 
 For the oft-lamenting of the dead ; 
 Seven plains, sacred, without a house, 
 For the sports of joyous Carman were reserved. 
 
 *' Three markets were held within its borders: 
 A market for food; a market for live cattle; 
 The great market of the foreign Greeks, 
 In which are gold and costly clothes. 
 
 *' The slope of the steeds; the slope of the cooking; 
 The slope of the assembly of embroidering women. 
 
 ** There comes of not celebrating this feast. 
 Baldness, cowardice, early grayness ; 
 A king without wisdom, without wealth. 
 Without hospitality, without truthfulness." 
 
 This remarkable poem, coming down to us 
 from remote antiquity, is one of the many proofs 
 Ireland has to offer of the early civilization and 
 refinement of her people. There are invaluable 
 stores of ancient Gaelic learning and poetry still 
 concealed in the museums and libraries of Europe. 
 *' These old poems show," says Prof. O'Curry, 
 
HEROIC COMBAT IX ANCIENT IRELAND. 215 
 
 " the nature of the Assemblies, or Fairs, of Ire- 
 land, and how the sfrave lousiness of leofislation 
 was performed on appointed days, in the midst 
 of others set apart for pleasure, or reserved for 
 mercantile pursuits." 
 
 Charles O'Conor, of Belanao^are, a famous 
 authority on Irish literary antiquities, says : — 
 "Placed in the extremity of Europe, secluded from 
 the rest of the world, unconquered, unmixed, and 
 never affected l\y the concussions of the fiill of 
 the Roman Empire, the Irish must have pos- 
 sessed primeval institutions, which these MSS. 
 are the best calculated to unfold." 
 
 VII. 
 
 AN HEROIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IRELAND. 
 
 The most interesting literary relic of ancient 
 Ireland is, probably, the heroic poem called the 
 ''Tain B6 Chuailgne'' (''The Cattle-Prey of 
 Cooley"), which is preserved in the Leabhar na- 
 h-Uidhri and in the ''Book of Leinster." It is 
 assigned to a period in or about the year 600, 
 A.D. ; at least one specimen of the same kind of 
 ancient verse, in the "Dindsenchas,'' was written 
 
216 ETHICS OF BOXING AXD 3IAXLY SPORT. 
 
 about A.B. 590, by Amergin, chief poet to 
 Diannait, son of Fergus Ceirblieoil. 
 
 '' These compositions prove," says Prof. 
 
 No. 32. 
 *' BROAD GREEN SPEAR " 
 
 Bronze. (See page 177.) 
 
 No. 33. 
 
 FIRBOLG DAGGER, 
 
 called coLG. 
 
 No.34. 
 
 MA^'AIS, or BROAD 
 THRUSTING SPEAR. 
 
 (See page 177.) 
 
 O'Curry, ''that the most enchanting form of 
 Irish music is purely native, independent of any 
 Saxon, Danish, or Norman aid." 
 
HEKOIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IKELAND. 217 
 
 The "Tain Bo Chauilgne'' contains many de- 
 tailed and picturesque accounts of personal con- 
 flicts, weapons, dress, armor, etc., and, in this 
 respect alone, it is interesting to glance at the 
 history of the noble poem. 
 
 Saint Ciaran, the founder of the church at 
 Clonmacnoise, in ancient Westmeath, and who 
 died in the year 548, transcribed this poem with 
 his own hand into a book called ''Leahliarna-li' 
 Uidliri,'' which book remained at Clonmacnoise 
 for hundreds of years afterwards. The poem was 
 again transcribed from St. Ciaran's MS. about the 
 year 1100, and in the year 1873 it was trans- 
 lated into English and published by the Koyal 
 Irish Academy, in the library of which the vellum 
 transcription of the year 1100 is still preserved. 
 
 The '^Tdin Bo Chuailgiie^^ is also preserved in 
 the " Book of Leinster," an almost contemporary 
 manuscript, four hundred large pages of which 
 still remain in beautiful preservation. The «^Book 
 of Leinster" was transcribed about the year 1150, 
 by Bishop MacGorman, of Kildare, who died in 
 1160. At this day, therefore, it is at least seven 
 hundred and thirty-eight years old. It contains a 
 splendid copy of the "Tdvi Bo Chuailgne,'' So 
 that we have this superb literary specimen of 
 ancient Irish poetry from two distinct sources 
 giving an assured copy of the poem as it existed 
 
218 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 in St. Ciaran's time, before the year 548, — or 
 over thirteen centuries as^o. 
 
 Let me here interpohite a word about the 
 artistic production of these and other ancient 
 Irish books. With reference to the execution of 
 the lettering and decoration, ]\Ir. Dig')y Wyatt 
 observes that in delicacy of handling and minute 
 but faultless execution, the whole range of pahe- 
 ography oflers nothing equal to the early Irish 
 manuscripts, especially " The Book of Kells,'' the 
 most marvellous of them all. One cannot wonder, 
 therefore, that Giraldus Cambrensis, when living 
 in Ireland, in the reign of Henry II., on being 
 shown an illustrated Irish manuscript, exclaimed : 
 " This is more like the work of angels than of men.'' 
 
 Sir William Wilde, himself a Protestant, writ- 
 ing of the destruction of Irish art ('' Sketches 
 of the Irish Past") , says : — 
 
 '' The gorgeous missals and illuminated gospels, instinct 
 with life, genius, holy reverence, and patient love, were des- 
 tined to be replaced soon after by the dull mechanism of print ; 
 while Protestantism used all its new-found strength to destroy 
 that innate tendency of our nature, which seeks to manifest 
 religious fervor, faith, and zeal by costly offerings and sacri- 
 fices. The golden-bordered holy-books, the sculptured crosses, 
 the jewelled shrines, were crushed under the feet of Cromweirs 
 troopers; the majestic and beautiful abbeys were desecrated 
 and cast down to ruin, while beside them rose the mean and 
 ugly structures of the reformed faith. . . . Since that 
 mournful period there has been no revival of art in Ireland. 
 
HEROIC COMBAT IX ANCIENT IRELAND. 219 
 
 *' The relics of a civilization three thousand years old may 
 still be gazed ui)on by modern eyes in the splendid and miri- 
 valled antiquarian collection of the Royal Irish Academy. The 
 golden circlets, the fibulas, torques, bracelets, rings, worn by the 
 Tuatha De Danann, are not only costly in value, but often so 
 singularly beautiful in the working out of minute artistic 
 details, that modern art is not merely unable to equal them, 
 but unable even to comprehend how the ancient workers in 
 metal could accomplish works of such delicate, almost micro- 
 scopic, minuteness of finish," (Sir William Wilde, ** Ancient 
 Dublin/') 
 
 I have siiid this much about those ancient and 
 precious Irish books to introduce a description of 
 a fight between two Irish chieftains, which is 
 related in the Tain Bo Cltuaihjne, 
 
 The poem is a picture of the time, an evidence 
 of the extraordinary development of Irish civil- 
 ization at a period when every country in Europe 
 north of Italy Avas in absolute barbarism. Even 
 at the time of its transcription l)y St. Ciaran, 
 nearly thirteen and a half centuries ago, litera- 
 ture had not l)een born in England ; indeed, that 
 country was in the rudest condition, just emerge 
 ing from the darkness of an utterly unsocial state. 
 
 I quote and condense from the book of the 
 Tain, entitled " The Fight of Ferdiad : '' 
 
 ''And then it was discussed by the men of Eiriu who should 
 go to combat and do battle with Cuchulaind at the early hour 
 of the morrow. [Cuchulaind, or Cuchullain, had challenged all 
 Queen Medb's warriors.] What they all said was: that it was 
 Ferdiad, son of Daman, son of Dare, the valiant warrior of 
 
220 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 the men of Domnand. For their mode of combat was equal 
 and alike. They had learned the science of arms, bravery, and 
 valor with the same tutors ; with Scathach, and with Uathach, 
 and with Aife. And neither of them had any advantage over 
 the other, except that Cuclndaind had the feat of the cjae-hoUj 
 (the casting of the belly-dart)." * 
 
 Messaofe after message was sent to Ferdiad, 
 asking him to come and light Cucliulaind. But 
 ''he knew wherefore they wanted him — -to fight 
 and combat witli his own friend and companion 
 and fellow-pupil, Cucliulaind, and he came not 
 with them." 
 
 Then Queen Medb (Meave or Ma1)) sent the 
 druids to urge, and the satirists to sting, Ferdiad ; 
 and, more out of fear of the bitter poets than 
 the priests, the warrior yielded. 
 
 " The subject of the strange belief in ancient Ireland, in 
 the power of a poet," says Prof. Eugene O' Curry, *' would be 
 one of great interest to investigate." By their satires they 
 were supposed to be able to bring fatalities on men. Laidcenn, 
 a poet of the fourth century, we are told, satirized the men of 
 Leinster, '^ so that neither corn, grass, nor foliage could grow 
 for them during a whole year." The belief in this occult power 
 of the poet was general in all the ancient history of Ireland. 
 
 * The gal-bul(fa, or gae-bolga (the belly-dart) is unique 
 among the weapons of Ireland. There is a common phrase 
 often heard in Ireland, ^' Put the gai-bolg on him" (meaning 
 a masterful stroke), which I have heard vulgarized in America 
 into, ^'Put the kye-hosh on him." It is strange to trace such 
 a phrase back to a mysterious weapon used thousands of years 
 ago in Ireland. 
 
 " This was the character of that dart," says the ancient 
 
HEROIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IRELAND. 221 
 
 But Ferdiiid was resolved not to fight Cuchu- 
 laind without hi<jh reward : 
 
 ^'Aiid when he arrived he was received with honor and 
 attendance, and he was served with pleasant, sweet, intoxicat- 
 ing liquor, so that he became gently merry. And great rewards 
 were promised him for making the fight, namely: a chariot, 
 with four-times-seven cumals; the outfit of twelve men of 
 clothes of every color; and the extent of his own territory of 
 the level plain of Magh Aie, free of tribute, to the end of time; 
 and Findebar, the daughter of the King, as his wadded wife, 
 and the golden brooch which was in Medb's cloak in addition." 
 
 Queen Medb urged Ferdiad to the fight with 
 promise of this great reward ; l)ut Ferdiad refused 
 to 0:0 without further iruarantee. He answered ; 
 
 o 
 
 '* I will not accept it without guarantee; 
 For a champion without security I will not be. 
 Heavily will it press upon me to-morrow. 
 Terrible will be the battle. 
 Hound, indeed, is the name of Culand; 
 He is fierce in combat." 
 
 Tclin Bo Chiiailgne : ''It was upon a stream it should be set, 
 and it w^as from between the toes it should be cast. It made 
 but the wound of one dart in entering the body; but it pre- 
 sented thirty inverted points against coming back; so that it 
 could not be draivn from a person's body without opening it." 
 
 "Concerning this w^eapon," says Prof. O' Curry ("Ancient 
 Irish," p. 310, vol. 11), "if we only knew of it from the exag- 
 gerated description of the manner in wdiich it tore its Avay 
 through Ferdiad' s questionable armor, its existence at all might 
 be very well doubted; but, in another ancient tale, we have 
 very fair authority to show that Cuchulaind had unwittingly 
 
222 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
 Again Medb offered treasures, and made prom- 
 ises of glittering reward. Ferdiad was resolute : 
 
 " I will not go without securities 
 To the contest of the ford. 
 It will live in fame until the judgment day, 
 I will not accept though I die, 
 Though thou excitest me in language." 
 
 Then Medb agreed to Ferdiad's terms, and he 
 
 agreed to fight six champions on the morrow, or 
 
 killed his oAvn son Conlaech with this very weapon, in an ordi- 
 nary combat on the shore, near Dundalk." 
 
 Like the Tathlum, or sling-ball, Avitli which the chami^ion 
 Balor >vas killed in the battle of the Northern Magli Tuireadh^ 
 the gae-bolga has been assigned an Eastern origin by a very 
 ancient Irish poet. His poem, in Gaelic, opens thus ; — 
 
 ** How was the gae-bolga discovered? 
 Or by whom was it brought hither 
 From the Eastern parts of the world ? 
 
 " Inform those who are ignorant 
 
 That this weapon originally came hither 
 From Bolg Mac Buain, in the East, 
 To Cuchulaind, in Muirtheimhne." 
 
 The poet goes on to relate that the champion Bolg Mac 
 Buain found, on the sea-shore, the bones of a monster called 
 the Curridd, and "made the wild spear from the bones of the 
 kingly monster." Mac Buain gave the gae-bolg to Mac Inbar; 
 who gave it to Lena, his friend ; who gave it to Dermeil ; who 
 gave it to Scathach, the teacher of the war college of Alba 
 (Scotland); who gave it to her daughter Aife (Cuchulaind' s 
 mistress); who gave the weapon to Cuchulaind. 
 
 " Cuchulaind brought the gae-bolg 
 Into Erinn, with all its barbs ; 
 By it he slew Conlaech of the shields, 
 And Ferdiad afterwards." 
 
 Such is the account of the origin and history of the famous 
 gae-bolg, as preserved in an extremely old Gaelic poem. 
 
HEROIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IRELAND. 223 
 
 combat with Cuchulaind, whichever he thought 
 easier. 
 
 Fergus, a warrior, proceeded in his chariot 
 to Cuchulaind's residence, to inform him of the 
 agreement. " Thine own friend," he said, " and 
 companion, the fellow-pupil, the co-feat and co- 
 deed and co-valor man, Ferdiad, is coming to 
 light with thee." 
 
 "I am here," answered Cuchulaind ; ''I do not 
 desire to fight my friend ; but, I trust, as I have 
 not yielded before any other man of Eiriu, I shall 
 not yield before him." * 
 
 *' Should we happen to meet at the ford, 
 I and Ferdiad of never-failing valor, 
 It shall not be a separation without history; 
 Fierce will be our conflict. 
 
 " I pledge my word and my vow, 
 
 Though w^e may be much alike in combat, 
 That it is I who shall gain the victory. " 
 
 Both champions prepared for the conflict, as- 
 sisted by their friends. In the morning, Ferdiad 
 ordered his horses to be harnessed. Whereupon 
 his charioteer tried to persuade him not to fight 
 Cuchulaind : — 
 
 "It Avere better* for thee to stay; 
 Thy threats are not gentle. 
 To encounter the chief hero of Ulster, 
 It is a meeting of which grief will come. 
 
 * Throughout this poem the name of the country is spelled 
 Eiriu, not Erinn. 
 
224 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 Long will it be remembered : 
 
 Woe is he who goeth that jom-ney." 
 
 Ferdiad would not be persuaded. He bad 
 made guarantee to figbt, and be would. He an- 
 swered tbe cbarioteer : — 
 
 •' What thou sayest is not right; 
 
 A l)rave champion should not refuse: 
 
 It is not our inheritance : 
 
 Be silent, then, my servant: 
 
 We will be brave in the field of battle; 
 
 Yalor is better than timidity ; 
 
 Let us go to the chaUenge." 
 
 Ferdiad, in bis cbariot, arrived first at tbe ford, 
 wbicb gave bim tbe cboice of weapons. Wbile 
 be waited, be lay down on tbe cusbions, and 
 slept. 
 
 Meanwbile, Cucbulaind bad ordered bis cbariot 
 to be prepared, saying: ''He is an early-rising 
 champion wbo cometb to meet us to-day." 
 
 Wben Cucbukind sprang into bis cbariot, tbere 
 sbouted round bim BocanacTts, and Bananachs, 
 and Geniti GUndi, and demons of tbe air ; for tbe 
 Tuatba De Danami were used to set up tbeir 
 sbouts around bim, so tbat tbe batred and fear 
 and abborrence and terror of bim sbould be tbe 
 greater in every battle. And soon tbe awful rat- 
 tie and roar of bis cbariot was beard coming ; and 
 • Ferdiad's servant awoke bis lord. "Good, O 
 Ferdiad," be cried, "arise; bere tbey come to 
 
HEROIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IKELAND. 225 
 
 the ford." And ao:ain the foteful charioteer fore- 
 bodes darkly for his master : — 
 
 ^' Woe to him who is on the hillock, 
 Awaiting the hound of valor ! 
 I foretold last year 
 
 That there would come a heroic hound — 
 The hound of Emain Macha — 
 The hound of a territory, the hound of battle. 
 I hear, I have heard ! " 
 
 Ferdiad reproached his charioteer as unfaithful, 
 and as havinof received bribes from Cuchulaind. 
 
 Then they saw the chariot of Cuchulaind ; " the 
 beautiful four-peaked chariot, with a green pavil- 
 ion, drawn by two fleet, broad-chested, high- 
 flanked, wide -hoofed, slender- legged, broad- 
 rumped horses ; one of which was gray, the 
 other black." 
 
 " And Cuchulaind reached the ford. Ferdiad 
 came on the south side ; Cuchulaind en the north 
 side of the ford." The champions saluted each 
 other ; Cuchulaind said he was sorry to have to 
 meet his friend in battle. Ferdiad replied, search- 
 ing for a reason for disagreement, that when they 
 were pupils in the war-schools of Scathach and 
 Uathach and Aife, Cuchukiind had been his at- 
 tendant, to tie up his spears and prepare his bed. 
 
 "It is true, indeed," said Cuchulaind, " but it was then as 
 thy junior I did this for thee; and this is not the story to be 
 told hereafter. For there is not in the world a champion I 
 would not fight this day." 
 
226 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Then they inveighed bitterly against each other ; 
 till at last they came to the question of how they 
 should fiaht. But once more the tenderness of 
 
 No. 35. 
 
 No. 36. 
 
 SLEGH. 
 
 Sharp-pointed Tuatlia De Danann Spears. (See page 177.) 
 
 their old friendship overcame Cuchulaind, and he 
 implored Ferdiad to withdraw from the combat : — 
 
 " Findabar, the daughter of the king, — 
 
 The reward which has been proffered thee, — 
 
 To numbers before thee has been falsely promised, 
 
 And many like thee has she wounded. 
 
HEROIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IRELAND. 22 
 
 Break not with me thy vow not to combat, 
 Break not thy bond — break not friendship, 
 Break not thy pledged word. 
 
 Unto fifty champions has Findabar been proffered, — 
 By me they have been sent to their graves." 
 
 No. 37. No. 38. No. 39. 
 
 SLEGH. 
 
 Tuatha De Dananii Spears. (See page 177.) 
 
 And he urges Ferdiad by all the dear old ties 
 between them not to enter on the combat : — 
 
 " We were heart-companions. 
 
 We were comrades in assemblies, 
 We were fellows of the same bed, 
 Where we used to sleep the deep sleep. 
 To hard battles, 
 
228 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 In countries many and far distant, 
 Together we used to practice, and go 
 Through each forest, learning with Scathach." 
 
 " O CuchulMind of the beautiful feats," said Fer- 
 diad, ''though we have studied arts of equal 
 science, and though I have heard our bonds of 
 friendship, of me shall come thy first wounds; 
 remember not thy championship. O Hound ! it 
 shall not avail thee, — O Hound! it shall not 
 avail thee." 
 
 Then Ferdiad cut short the discussion by ask- 
 ing with what arms they should fight. " Thine 
 is the choice of arms, till night," said Cuchulaind, 
 " for it was thou that first reached the ford." 
 
 Ferdiad chose javelins — light spears for throw- 
 ing. They took their shields, and ''their light 
 turned-handled spears, and their light little quill 
 spears, and their light ivory-hafted spears." 
 " They used to fly from them and to them like 
 bees on the wing on a fine day." Each continued 
 to shoot at the other with these missiles from 
 morn till midday, until all their missiles were 
 blunted on the shields. Neither was wounded. 
 
 Then they desisted, to change their weapons. 
 " They cast away their missiles into the hands of 
 their charioteers." Ferdiad now chose " straight, 
 smooth, hardened spears, with their hardened 
 flaxen strings in them ; " and the fight continued 
 
HEKOIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IRELAND. 229 
 
 till nightfall, when they ceased. ''They threw 
 their arms to the charioteers. Each of them ap- 
 proached the other forthwith, and each put his 
 hands around the other's neck and gave him 
 three kisses." 
 
 Their horses grazed in the same paddock that 
 night, and their charioteers sat at the same fire. 
 The warriors lay on beds of rushes ; and the 
 healers came with herbs and plants of healing, to 
 cure their wounds. Of every herb and healing 
 balsam applied to the wounds of Cuchulaind, he 
 sent part over the ford to Ferdiad, and he did like- 
 w^ise with the food and drink brous^ht to him. 
 
 Next morning they came again to the ford, and 
 this day Cuchulaind had the choice of weapons ; 
 and he chose the ''great l)road spear for thrust- 
 inir," to be used from their chariots. 
 
 All day the fight lasted, and at night the horses 
 were wearied and the charioteers dispirited. 
 Again they desisted, and again embraced and 
 parted for the night, " their horses in the same 
 field and their servants at the same fire." 
 
 This night Ferdiad sent to Cuchulaind part of 
 all the rich food and drink and healing herbs sent 
 him by the men of Eiriu. Xext day they met 
 again, and Ferdiad chose heavy swords for the 
 weapons. "We are nearer to the end of the fight," 
 said Cuchulaind, " than the thro wins; of the first 
 
230 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
 No. 40. 
 
 A^X'IE^T BRONZE SHIELD.* 
 
 * ''A very beautiful bronze shield, found in a bog forming a 
 peninsula or island in Lough Gurr, in the county of Limerick. 
 The Royal Irish Academy having purchased this beautiful 
 shield from M. Lenihan, Esq., of Limerick, it is now in the 
 national museum. It is a flat disc two feet three and three- 
 quarter inches in diameter. It has six concentric rings formed 
 by about two hundred small hollow bosses about an inch in 
 diameter; and in the centre a large somewhat flattened boss, 
 six inches internal diameter, called by the French OmblUr 
 cV Umbo, and by the Germans the ScMldnabel. The rim is an 
 inch and three-quarters in width. The handle is fastened 
 
HEROIC COMBAT IN ANCIENT IRELAND. 231 
 
 No. 41. 
 
 ANCIENT BRONZE SHIELD. 
 
 across the back of the central boss. On the back of the shield, 
 in the third circle from the rim, are two bits of bronze so 
 riveted that the heads of the rivets form two of the small 
 obverse bosses. These bits of bronze served to sling the shield 
 over the shoulders. [Figures 40 and 41 represent the face and 
 back of this shield.] The central boss or umbilicus of some 
 Irish shields must have been formed by a spike which could 
 be thrust into the face of an enemy. This was, perhaps, the 
 Gllech cuach coicrindi or flesh mangling cu^-Gilech or cup- 
 spear, which was on the speckled blow-dealing shield of Laeg- 
 haire Baadach.''^ — 0'' Curry s ''Manners and Customs,'''' 
 
2o2 ETHICS OF BOXING AND 31ANLY SPORT. 
 
 day or the thrusting of the seaond, by the hewmg 
 of to-day." They fought from behind their "long 
 great shiekls," and both men were many times 
 and deeply wounded, w^ien the darkness fell. 
 When they gave their weapons to the charioteers 
 they were mournful and silent ; they did not em- 
 brace each other ; their horses were not in the 
 same field that nii^iit ; their charioteers were not 
 at the same fire. 
 
 " Then Ferdiad arose early next morning, and went forward 
 alone to the ford of battle. For he kne^\' that that day would 
 decide the fight ; he knew that either of them should fall on 
 that day there, or that they both would fall." 
 
 "And it was then he put on his battle-suit of combat, before 
 the coming of Cuchulaind. And that suit of combat was 
 [as follows] : He put on his apron of striped silk, with its 
 border of spangled gold, next his white skin. He put on his 
 apron of brown leather, well sewn, over that, on the lower part [of 
 his body]. He put on a flat stone outside over this apron; and 
 again, outside this, a deep apron of purified iron, through fear 
 of the (jae-hohj (the belly-dart), on that day. He put his 
 crested helmet on his head, in which were forty gems, carbun- 
 cles, in each compartment, and it was also studded with crystals, 
 cruan, and rubies from the East. He took his sharp- i3ointed 
 strong spear into his right hand. He took his curved sword 
 upon his left side, with its golden hilt and pommels. He took 
 his large bossed shield on the slope of his back." 
 
 When Cuchulaind came to the ford the fight 
 began w^ith missive weapons (javelins,) and con- 
 tinued till noon. And when midday came, the 
 ire of the men became more furious, and they 
 
HEROIC C031BAT IN ANCIENT IRELAND. 233 
 
 drew nearer to each other. And then it was that 
 Cuchuhiind sprang from the l)rink of tlie ford, 
 and hiino; on the boss of the shield of Ferdiad 
 for the purpose of striking him on the head over 
 the upper rim of the shield. And Ferdiad gave 
 the shield a l^low of his riu'lit elbow and cast 
 Cuchulaind from him like a kid from the brink 
 of the ford. Cuchulaind sprang from the brink 
 and ao:ain cluno- to the boss of the shield, and was 
 again flung off*, Ferdiad striking the shield with 
 his left knee. 
 
 Then Laeir, the charioteer of Cuchulaind, 
 reproached his master, who, with a mighty spring, 
 again leaped at Ferdiad, caught the boss of his 
 shield, and was flun<>: headforemost into the 
 middle of the ford. 
 
 A dreadful close-fio'ht followed, in which the 
 very shields were unriveted and bent, and the 
 Bocanaclis and Bananachs and wild people of the 
 salens and demons of the air ''screamed from the 
 rims of the shields and the hilts of the swords, 
 and hafts of the spears." The champions fought 
 with heavy swords, and at length Ferdiad buried 
 his blade in Cuchulaind's body, making a deep 
 l)ut not deadly wound ; and still he rained on 
 Cuchulaind his irreat strokes. 
 
 ''Cuchulaind could not endure this; and he 
 asked Laeg, son of Kiangabra, for the gae-bolg." 
 
234 ETH1C8 OF BOXING ASD MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 " When Ferdiad heard the gae-bolg aien- 
 tioned, he made a stroke of the spear downward 
 to protect his k)wer body. Cuchuhund thrust 
 his spear over Ferdiad's shield and wounded him, 
 and then quickly setting the gae-bolg between 
 the toes of his feet, he cast it at Ferdiad. It 
 pierced the wrought-iron apron, broke the stone 
 beneath, and entered his body, ' so that every 
 cavity of him was filled with l)arbs.'" 
 
 " That is enough, indeed," said Ferdiad ; '' I fall 
 of that." 
 
 Cuchulaind ran to him, raised him tenderly, 
 and carried him across the ford, in order that 
 there should be no question of his victory. Then 
 laying him down, he swooned beside him. AVhen 
 he recovered, he himented over the corse of his 
 foeman. Laeg came and stripped Ferdiad. 
 
 " Good, O my friend Laeg," said Cuchulaind, 
 " open Ferdiad now, and take the gae-bolg out 
 of him, for I cannot afford to he icltliout my 
 iveapon,^' 
 
 Laeg came and opened Ferdiad, and took the 
 
 gae-bolg out of him ; and Cuchulaind laid his 
 
 red w^eapon l)y the Avhite side of Ferdiad, and 
 
 lamented anew : 
 
 " O Ferdiad! sorrowful is tliy fate! 
 That I should see thee so gory and pale ; 
 Having my weapon yet unwashed, 
 And thou a blood- streaming man. 
 
HEKOIC COMBAT IX ANCIENT IRELAND. 235 
 
 Sad is tlie deed wliicli lias come of it : 
 We the i)upils of 8catliacli, 
 I, all woiinded and red with gore, 
 Thou, thy chariot no longer driving." 
 
 " GoodjO CLicIiulaiiid/'saidLaeg, "let us leave 
 this ford now. Too loniz; are we here." 
 
 ''We shall leave now, indeed, O my friend 
 Laeo*,'' said Cucliulaind ; " but every other combat 
 that I have made was to me as a game and a sport 
 compared with this fight with Ferdiad ! " 
 
 It is impossible in brief space to convey the 
 richness of imagery, the subtle character-sketch- 
 ing, and the minute detail of this noble and 
 ancient poem. The future has brilliant crowns 
 for Erinn besides those she may win politically. 
 The re-establishment of her literary and artistic 
 genius, the verification of her ancient and unceas- 
 ing claim, the proving her root to have its deep 
 hold in the earliest known fields of the human 
 race, — this is part of the duty and responsibility 
 that rest^ on the shoulders of the Irish race of 
 the present. 
 
236 ET111C8 or BOXING and manly spokt. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A GLANCE BACKWARD AND FORWARD. 
 
 The retrospect induced by the study of these 
 Irish antiquities may well lead the modern reader 
 to a consideration of Ireland's native resources 
 and power to become once more a great nation. 
 The charges of those who declare that her present 
 poverty and unrest are natural and inevital)le, are 
 easily disproved l)y the records of past and pres- 
 ent. In all ages of her history, Ireland was re- 
 markable as a land of abundant wealth. Vener- 
 able Bede says of ancient Ireland, that " for 
 wholesomeness and serenity of climate, Ireland 
 
 far surpasses Britain The Island 
 
 abounds in milk and honey, is not without vines, 
 and is famous for the chase of fish, fowl, stags, 
 an I roes." * 
 
 Three hundred years ago the illustrious Eng- 
 lish poet, Spenser, who had lived many years in 
 Ireland, thus described the country: ''And sure 
 it is a most beautiful and sweet country as 
 any under heaven, being stored throughout with 
 many goodly rivers, replenished with all sorts of 
 
 *Eccl. Hist. bk. i., c. 1. 
 
A GLANCE BACKWARD AND FORWARD. 237 
 
 tish al)undanlly ; sprinkled with many very sweet 
 islands and goodly lakes, like little inland seas, 
 that will carry even ships upon their waters ; 
 adorned with goodly woods ; also filled with 
 good ports and havens ; l)eside the soyle itself 
 most fertile, lit to yield all kind of fruit that 
 shall be committed thereto. And lastely, the 
 climate most mild and temperate." * 
 
 Two hundred and liftv vears ao-o. Sir John 
 Davies, another eminent Englishman, wrote about 
 Ireland as follows : '' I have visited all the prov- 
 inces of that kingdom in sundry journeys and 
 circuits, wherein I have observed the good tem- 
 perature of the air, the fruitfulness of the soil, 
 the pleasant and commodious seats for habita- 
 tions, the safe and large ports and havens lying 
 open for traffic into all the west parts of the 
 Avorld ; the long inlets of many navigable rivers, 
 and so many great lakes and fresh ponds within 
 the land, as the like are not to be seen in any 
 part of Europe ; the rich fishings and wild fowl 
 of all kinds ; and lastly, the bodies and minds of 
 the people endued with extraordinary abilities by 
 nature." f 
 
 In Browne's " Essays on Trade," published in 
 
 * " View of the State of Ireland." 
 
 t '' Historical Tracts," by Sir John Davies, Attorney- Gen- 
 eral of Ireland. 
 
238 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 London in the year 1728, this is the report on 
 Ireland: '^Ireland is, in respect of its situation, 
 the nunil3er of its commodious harbors, and the 
 natural wealth which it produces, the fittest island 
 to acquire wealth of any in the European seas ; for 
 as by its situation it lies the most commodious 
 for the West Indies, Spain, and the Northern and 
 Eastern countries, so it is not only supplied by 
 nature with all the necessities of life, but can 
 over and above export large quantities to foreign 
 comitries, insomuch that had it been mistress of 
 its trade, no nation in Europe of its extent could 
 in an equal number of years acquire greater 
 wealth." 
 
 ''Ireland," says Newenham, writing eighty 
 years ago on industrial topics, ''greatly surpasses 
 her sister country, England, in the aggregate of 
 the endowments of nature. . . . Enirland, 
 abounding in wealth beyond any other country 
 in Europe, cannot boast of one natural advantage 
 which Ireland does not possess in a superior 
 de«:ree. 
 
 9' * 
 
 With respect to the soil," says M. Carey 
 (" Vindiciie Hibernicae," Philadelphia, 1823) , 
 Ireland is blest in the highest degree. Arthur 
 Young, an English traveller, who devoted half 
 
 *" View of the N'atural, Political, and Commercial Circum- 
 stances of Ireland," by T. N'ewenham, London. 1809. 
 
A GLANCE BACKWARD AND FORWARD. 
 
 239 
 
 his life to agricultural investigations, has pro- 
 nounced sentence on this point, from which there 
 is no appeal. He says, comparing England and 
 Ireland, that natural fertility, acre for acre, over 
 the two kingdoms, is certainly in favor of Ire- 
 land."* 
 
 ''There is probably not a country in the world," 
 says Newenham, "which, for its extent, is one- 
 half so abundantly supplied with the most pre- 
 cious minerals and fossils as Ireland."! 
 
 It is not too sanguine to express the hope 
 
 * '' Tour in Ireland." Edit. 1780. 
 
 t " There is not a county in Ireland which does not contain 
 some valuable mineral or fossil; several of them, it is now 
 ascertained, abound with treasures of this sort; and these, for 
 the greater part, are most happily situated for the exportation 
 of their products, either in a rude or manufactured state." — 
 Neivenham. 
 
 Ireland contains the following thirty different sorts of 
 minerals and fossils, the figures prefixed denoting the number 
 of counties in which they have been discovered, viz. : 
 
 2. Garnites. 
 7. Granite. 
 1. Gypsum. 
 19. Iron. 
 
 1. Jasper. 
 16. Lead. 
 
 2. Manganese. 
 9. Clays of various 19. Marble. 
 
 sorts. 15. Ochres. 
 
 5. Fuller's -earth. 2. Pearls. 
 
 1. Gold. 
 
 "The gold mine at Croghan, in the county of Wicklow, 
 began to attract attention about the year 1795. According to 
 
 2. Amethysts. 
 
 1. Antimony. 
 15. Coal. 
 
 1. Cobalt. 
 17. CoiDper. 
 
 1. Chalcedony 
 
 8. Crystals. 
 
 4. Pebbles. 
 
 2. Petrifactions. 
 1. Porphyry. 
 
 1. Silicious sand. 
 
 3. Silver. 
 6. Slate. 
 
 1. Soap-stone. 
 
 1. Spars. 
 
 2. Sulphur. 
 2. Talc. 
 
240 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 that at last the sun is risins; from the lono' nio'ht 
 of Ireland's sufferino' and heroic struo^o'le for a 
 nation's risfhts. It means much for civilization that 
 a people so originally gifted as the Irish should 
 have free scope to express its national genius in 
 all the forms of art, learning and freedom. The 
 ancient glory can be renewed, with increased lustre. 
 An island must become famous for wealth, even 
 among the wealthy, that is so full of natural 
 
 a calculation made on the subject, the sum of £10,000 was 
 paid, at the rate of £3 15s. per ounce, to the country i)eople, 
 for the gold which they collected. Before the government took 
 possession of the mine, there was found one piece of gold 
 which weighed twenty-two ounces, and which is believed to be 
 the largest ever found in Europe. From the commencement 
 of the works to June 1801, there were found 599 ounces of 
 gold." — Newenham. 
 
 "Mr. Lawson, an English miner, stated in evidence before 
 the Irish House of Commons, that the iron-stone at Arigna 
 [the iron- field of Arigna is six square miles in extent] lay 
 in beds of from three to twelve fathoms deep; and that it 
 could be raised for two shillings and sixpence the ton, which 
 is five shillings cheaiDcr than in Cumberland ; that the coal in 
 the neighborhood was better than any in England, and could 
 be raised for three shillings and sixpence the ton; and that it 
 extended six miles in length, and five in breadth. He also 
 stated that fire-brick clay, and free-stone of the best qualities, 
 were in the neighborhood, and that a bed of potter's clay ex- 
 tended there two miles in length, and one in breadth. Mr. 
 Clarke, on the same occasion, declared that the iron-ore was 
 inexhaustible. And our distinguished countryman, Mr. Kirwan, 
 whose opinions on mineralogical subjects few will attempt to 
 refute, affirmed that the Arigna iron was better than any iron 
 made from any species of single ore in England." — Newenham. 
 
A GLANCE BACKWARD AND FORWARD. 241 
 
 resources, of precious and useful minerals, gold, 
 silver, iron, copper, zinc, antimony, coal, of 
 marble, porphyry and various building stones, of 
 artistic and useful clays, of rare glass-sand, of 
 inexhaustible fisheries, of incomparable water- 
 power, of singular fertility of soil, of rare native 
 popular intelligence and versatility of mind ; and, 
 added to all these, with a position unequalled for 
 commercial advantages, set down in the high- 
 road of the w^orld's traffic, the first land in Europe 
 from the West, w^here every traveller across the 
 Atlantic w^ould land, and w^hence every traveller 
 for the outer world w^ould embark. 
 
 When the world w^as j^oung, Ireland proved 
 her capacity by leading in the civilization of 
 Northern Europe. Even the broken leaves 
 and branches of her native customs and litera- 
 ture, preserved in this article on ancient w^eapons 
 and games, are proof to the eye and the mind, 
 over-riding the aspersions of illiteracy and pre- 
 judice. 
 
 In her unexampled struggle of seven centuries, 
 during the latter three of which the nation has 
 been prostrate, bound, and gagged, the native 
 arts and industries and varied learning have died 
 or have been destroyed by the stupid conqueror. 
 The language of the Celt has been suppressed ; 
 but he has learned the tongue of his oppressor, 
 
242 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 and enriched it with memories and imaoinino^s of 
 his own. 
 
 And in the latest day, Irehmd is stronger and 
 more hopeful than when the long fight began. 
 She is conquering her enemy by the highest 
 form of victory — by conversion. 
 
 The illustrious Eno:lishman, who is leadino- the 
 higher morality and intelligence of his country- 
 men, Mr. Gladstone, says: "Under the most 
 cruel pressure of tyranny and torture, in every 
 form, without beino: invested with suffrasfe or 
 power, the Irish people has maintained its own 
 vitality and the integrity of its traditions. . . . 
 We must reverse the judgment w^hich the civilized 
 world has formed, to the effect that England, 
 great and pure, and bright in most of the recol- 
 lections of her history, has one dark, blurred and 
 blotted space on that page w^hich describes her 
 dealinofs with the sister island, and w^hich, instead 
 of beinof, as it ouaht to be, an honor to the 
 greatest of free countries, would be a dishonor 
 to the most despotic and enslaved. Irishmen 
 will hope, must hope, ought to hope, and in the 
 train of that hope will come victory ; and in the 
 train of victory, liberty ; and in the train of liberty, 
 peace ; and in the train of peace, the restitution 
 of that orood name to En«:land, which will then, 
 indeed, be relieved from the last blot resting 
 upon it." 
 
CANOEING ON THE CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The canoe is the American l)oat of the past and 
 of the future. It suits the American mind : it is 
 light, swift, safe, graceful, easily moved; and the 
 occupant looks in the direction he is going, in- 
 stead of behind, as in the stupid old tubs that 
 have held the world up to this time. 
 
 Who, amono: the hard workers of our eastern 
 cities, needs two months' vacation, and can only 
 get away from the desk or office for two weeks ? 
 
 Who feels the confined work tell on his lungs, 
 or his eyes, or shudders at that tremulousness of 
 the shoulders and arms which precedes the break- 
 ino:-down from over-w^ork ? 
 
 All this can be cured by the sun and the wind 
 and the delicious splash of the river on face 
 and breast and arms. Those are they to whom a 
 canoe is a godsend. They can get more health 
 and strength and memorable joy out of a two- 
 weeks' canoe trip than from a lazy, expensive and 
 
 i24P>) 
 
244 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 sea-sick voyage to Europe, or three months' 
 dawdle at a fashionable watermg-place. 
 
 Boats are for work; canoes are for pleasure. 
 Boats are artificial ; canoes are natural. In a boat 
 you are always an oar's-length and a gunwale's- 
 height away from Nature. In a canoe you can 
 steal up to her bower and peep into her very 
 bosom. 
 
 What memories are stored away in the canoe- 
 ist's mind ! My friend, Dr. Ramon Guiteras, and 
 I have canoed together in many rivers, in the 
 same little Racine boat (though w^e now believe 
 that it is preferable to have only one man to a 
 canoe), and we can enjoy rare hours of reminis- 
 cence, recallins: delis^htful scenes and amusino' in- 
 cidents from this or that excursion. And let two 
 canoeists, strangers, meet : their talk is an end- 
 lessly-pleasant comparison. 
 
 Going on this trip on the Connecticut, when 
 we took our boat to the Boston and Maine depot, 
 in Boston, we found another canoe in the baoforacre 
 car. I happened to know one of the gentlemen 
 who was tying it up, Mr. Morris Meredith, an 
 experienced canoeman ; and with him was a veteran 
 of many rivers, Mr. Frank Hubbard, of Boston. 
 What a chat of hours we had ! What rapids we 
 ran over again ! What tender touches of memory 
 w^hen some river scene familiar to all was brouo^ht 
 
CANOEING ON THE CONNECTICUT. 245 
 
 up ! And how unselfishly these two canoemen 
 (who were going on a two- weeks' cruise on Lake 
 Champlain) tore their chart in two, and gave 
 us that part which included the Connecticut 
 River. 
 
 When Dr. Guiteras and I started from Boston, 
 we intended to take water at White-River Junc- 
 tion ; but, when we reached that place, we found 
 the river full of logs, — the largest quantity ever 
 cut in one year going down this season. But the 
 '^end of the logs" was only a few miles above 
 the White River ; and we were told that, by go- 
 ing farther up, we should have it all clear as we 
 came down, and might follow the logs to Holyoke. 
 
 So we took our little boat farther up, till we 
 came to a favorable spot for launching, and there 
 we slid her into the river from a marvellous 
 white sand-bank, which ran into the deep, slow 
 stream, and from which we took our first glorious 
 " header" into the Connecticut. 
 
 All along the river, down to Middletown, hun- 
 dreds of miles aw\ay, we found, at intervals, this 
 remarkable kind of sand-bank on which one may 
 take a race, and dive directly into deep water. 
 And yet the bank is not straight, under water, 
 but a rapid incline, easy and pleasant for landing. 
 
 What need of details ? Miles in a voyage are 
 of no more account than years in a life : they may 
 
246 ETHICS or boxing and manly sport. 
 
 be filled with commonplace. Men live by events, 
 and so they paddle. 
 
 We had ten, fifteen, twenty days ahead, if 
 necessary ! We were rich in this. Hundreds of 
 miles of beautiful water, splendid days, a new- 
 moon, a well -stored locker, and a boat that 
 danced under us like a duck ! So we started, 
 dripping from the embrace of the sw^eet water. 
 
 We paddled about fifteen miles, when we saw a 
 tempting nook, a pine grove above a sand-bank, 
 with a dashing stream ; and, not far withdrawn, 
 a comfortable farm-house, where we might buy 
 milk and e^g's and bread. As we had started 
 late, we landed for the night, and one set off* for 
 the farm-house, while the other made ready for 
 supper. 
 
 We had a copious larder. We carried too 
 many things, observers said. So we did , but we 
 both liked many things when we stopped for 
 meals. Our table was the sand-bank, with a 
 rubber blanket spread. Olives, cheese, sardines, 
 bacon, Liebig's extract of beef, — these looked 
 well. Then came the farm supplies, — quarts of 
 rich milk, a dozen eggs, two loaves of bread, and 
 a lot of cooked green peas, thrown in by the 
 f irmer's wife ; a bottle of good claret. What a 
 dinner and supper in one ! Then coffee, then a 
 cigar, then the philosophies, — quiet talk as we 
 
CANOEING ON THE CONNECTICUT. 247 
 
 sat looking at the river with the darkness coming 
 down, the fro2:s sounding' resonant notes over on 
 the New Hampshire side, and the white light of 
 the young moon trembling up over the dark pine 
 hills. Then we wrapped ourselves in our blank- 
 ets, and slept till morning. 
 
 We had no tent ; we two had discovered that 
 w^e needed no tent in July or August, though we 
 do not advise others to follow our example. For- 
 tunately for us, w^e wake in the early morning 
 with the same feelins; of refreshment, — our lun^rs 
 full of the delicious air, and our faces w^et with 
 dew. On this first morning, I leaped up at sun- 
 rise, shouting: -^'This is the way Nature meant 
 men to live and sleep and wake ! '' 
 
 I shall never forsret that first o^lorious mornini>:. 
 For an hour before rising, I had lain awake look- 
 ino; out at the river, and listenino- to the strano-e 
 country sounds around me. All over the grass 
 and low l:>ushes, the spider's webs were stretched, 
 o^listenini^ with dew. What a Avonderful nio:ht's 
 industry ! Those webs were nearly all, or quite 
 all, new. The little ni2:ht-toilers had woven them 
 over our olive bottle, over the o:un, over our- 
 selves. The field above us was white as snow 
 with this incomparable cloth-of-silver. 
 
 As I lay and looked at one of those webs close 
 to my face, I saw a strange thing. A little gray- 
 
248 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 and-black spider ran up a tall grass blade, rested 
 a moment, and then ran off, through empty air, 
 to another blade, six inches off. I looked closer; 
 surely he must have a fine line stretched between 
 those points, I thought. No ; the closest scrutiny 
 could find none. I watched him ; he was soon 
 off again, straight for another point, a foot above 
 the srround, runninof on clear space, and turning 
 down and hanging to it, like a monkey, but still 
 going ahead. I called Guiteras, and he came and 
 saw and examined, and smiled in his wise way 
 when he don't know. We could not see the little 
 fellow's cable, or railway, or bridge. He Avas as 
 much finer than we as we are finer than mas- 
 todons. 
 
 And the birds, in that first rich morning speech 
 of theirs, full of soft, bubbling joy, not singing, 
 but softly and almost silently overflowing. Two 
 little fellows flew^ rapidly down to a twig near us, 
 and beo^an bubble-bubblino: as if in a OTeat flutter 
 and hurry ; and immediately they flew far and 
 high, as for a long journey; at which my philo- 
 sophic friend moralized : 
 
 "Those little fellows are like some canoeists 
 who wake up, and don't wait for breakfast; but 
 bubble-bubble, hurry -hurry, get-afloat, we-have- 
 a-long-way-to-go ! Now, ive don't do that." 
 
 Indeed, we do not. This is what we do. We 
 
CANOEING ON TJIE CONNECTICUT. 24J 
 
 light our little alcohol stove, and boil two quarts 
 of the rich milk, into which we put our prepared 
 coffee (Sanford's, — a great and precious com- 
 pound, which we heartily recommend to all men 
 fond of outing). Then we plunge into the river 
 for a «^ood swim, oetthio- the first of the sun as he 
 comes over the hill. The sand-bank is soft to 
 land on ; and so up we go to the meadow^ above, 
 for a four-round bout with l)oxino*-cyloves ; and, 
 when this is done, we are in good trim for break- 
 fast. 
 
 Here let me say that we were never sorry when 
 we selected a white sand-])ank or a pine grove to 
 sleep in ; the latter to l)e preferred, on account of 
 the soft pine needles, the healthy fragrance, and 
 the absence of mosquitoes. If the sand-bank is 
 chosen, first scoop out a hollow for the hips and 
 shoulders; spread the rubber blanket, and then 
 the woollen blanket ; turn the latter bag-like up 
 from the feet, and draw the rubber over all. 
 Then your couch is as soft as a feather-bed, and 
 a hundred times healthier. 
 
 After ])reakfast, two hours of easy paddling, 
 during which we keep the gun ready, and usually 
 kill about a half dozen birds to enrich our dinner. 
 Then follow two hours of hard paddling, which 
 prepares us for dinner and a rest. After this, 
 two hours of easy paddling, and two hours of 
 
250 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 hard paddling. Then supper ; after which, a 
 slow and easy, meditative paddle in search of 
 pine grove or sand bank. This was our regular 
 daily programme, and its worth was shown by 
 our excellent condition when we reached the end 
 of the river. 
 
 Events by the way — how shall I recall them, 
 crowded as they are ? AVe were upset : it was in 
 this way. We had carried our boat round a ftill, 
 where the logs ran so furiously that nothing else 
 had a chance to run. At about eis^ht o'clock in 
 the evening we floated her, below the falls, in- 
 tending just to paddle down till we found a place 
 to sleep. We did not know, from the dusk, that 
 the rapids extended for miles below the falls. 
 We soon found the water extremely strong and 
 swift, full of eddies and whirls, and mixed up 
 with tumbling and pushing logs. It was the 
 ugliest race we had seen or did see on all the 
 river. We swept down like an arrow for about 
 half a mile, and then a thunder-storm of ex- 
 traordinary violence and continuity burst. The 
 night became pitch-dark. We could only see 
 the black river, runninof like a wolf at the irun- 
 wale, and the liaiitnino- ziofzaorofino; the nis^ht 
 above. Suddenly, we realized that the logs on 
 our left were stationary, while those in the stream 
 on our riirht were tearins; down like batterinoj- 
 
CANOEING ON THE CONNECTICUT. 251 
 
 rams. So long as you go icitli the logs they are 
 gentle as friendly savages, just rubbing you softly 
 like livino^ thins^s, and movable with a fino^er. 
 But get fast, and let them come down on you, 
 and the ribs of a boat will smash like a match- 
 box under their brutal drive and the jagged fibres 
 of their tapered butt-ends. The logs on our left 
 were stationary ; but the rapid water boiled up 
 between them. AVe ran swiftly along two great 
 logs — then suddenly stopped. An immense log 
 had been forced up and across its fellows, and as 
 its farther end was driven swiftly forward, its 
 heavy butt came straight for the canoe. Dr. 
 Guiteras got the first blow, on the head and 
 shoulder, which rather keeled us. Then the log 
 took me fairly on the chest, and over and down 
 we went. For some seconds, Guiteras's feet 
 havino; o;ot fast somehow in the boat forward, he 
 was in a bad way ; but he soon kicked free, and 
 we swam at our ease with the boat down the 
 river. 
 
 To men who can swim well enough not to lose 
 their presence of mind by a sudden upset, there 
 is little danger m canoeing — probably no more 
 than in ridins:. It is well, thouo^h, to know what 
 to do when you find yourself rolling into the 
 water. When you come up, the canoe is, of 
 course, bottom-side up. By catching hold of her 
 
2o2 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 keel, she is easily righted. If there be two 
 swimmers, they should take the two sides, hold- 
 ins: her with one hand and swimmins; w^ith the 
 other. They can pass through any kind of sea 
 in this fashion, safely, and even w^ith pleasure. 
 If there be only one in the canoe, he ought to 
 hold her by the stern or painter ring w^ith one 
 hand, and swim with the other. If he attempt 
 to hold her by the side he will surely upset her 
 again. It is good drill to upset your canoe in 
 safe water half a dozen times, and get used to it, 
 as we did on the day following our ducking. 
 
 We lost, strange to say, only a few insignificant 
 articles. Everything in the locker w^as safe, and 
 even dry, including our watches. The gun had 
 not rolled out. 
 
 To ^o into further detail would o:ive the affair 
 more weight than it deserves. I shall only say 
 that in our difficulty we were kindly and courage- 
 ously helped by Mr. Woodman, a farmer on the 
 shore, for whom we shall long keep a friendly 
 feelinir. 
 
 This w^as our only mishap of a serious nature. 
 Of course, we got into many tight places ; canoe- 
 ists must expect it. But we emerged without 
 turning a hair, and we paid for all our troubles 
 with endless interest and enjo3^ment. 
 
 We laughed at all thinijs that came : at a 
 
CANOEING ON THE CONNECTICUT. 253 
 
 memory of last year ; at simple questions by the 
 country lads, who sat with us at times while we 
 feasted, but who never would join us, being shy 
 and proud ; at a certain stupid kind of bird that 
 waited every day to be shot ; we laughed infinitely 
 at the logs, when we learned their waj^s ; we 
 named them, patted their rough backs, or rubbed 
 the old bald ones ; we leaped out and rode on 
 them, and tried to walk on them like the logmen, 
 and always tumbled in, and came up blowing and 
 laughing. 
 
 This reminds me of a story. We had stopped 
 near a camp of logmen, and they paid us a visit. 
 Among them was a l)ig brawny fellow, who evi- 
 dently was full of conceit, and who, we were 
 quietly told, had been l)ragging all the season of 
 his prowess as a boxer. It was Sunday evening, 
 and he was dressed as a heavy swell, cloth trou- 
 sers, silver watch, a ''biled" shirt, etc. When 
 the loggers saw the l)oxing-gloves, they wanted 
 their heavy man to spar. Guiteras (the best 
 heavy-weight ever known at Harvard and the 
 Cribb Club) was willing to set-to with him. But 
 the big fellow "didn't feel Avell to-day"; he 
 would only smile in a superior way. 
 
 At last we got afloat and shoved oft\ Then the 
 big fellow jumped up and ran out on some logs in 
 the river, and bared his arm to the shoulder. 
 
254 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ''Look at that!" he shouted, as his biceps 
 crept up to his shoulder like a cat. 
 
 At that moment, he slipped off the log and dis- 
 appeared in the deep water, starched shirt, watch, 
 cloth trousers and all : and the hills roared in 
 concert with the loainen and canoemen as he 
 floundered out and crept, dripping, to the shore. 
 
 We had another queer experience with an an- 
 tagonist ^vho " took it out of us," at least for a 
 day — the sun. We make a point of wearing as 
 little covering as possible — no hats, no sleeves, 
 no shoes while in the boat. Healthy men are 
 never sun-struck. Alcohol-stroke or toil-stroke 
 or stomach-stroke is the real name of sun-stroke. 
 If the bare head feels warm in a boat, moisten it 
 and it becomes deliciously cool. 
 
 But sun-burn is another thino;, and it must be 
 looked to until the skin touo^hens. It must not 
 be cooled with water, for every drop becomes a 
 burning lens, to score a deeper mark. On our 
 fourth day out we were badly sun-burnt. Guite- 
 ras on that day had swam from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m., 
 making about fifteen miles. The sun had taken 
 hold of our shoulders, arms and face, and next day 
 we were both feverish and cross-grained. Every 
 movement was painful. We stopped at a village 
 and bought half a pound of bi-carl)onate of soda 
 (common baking soda). That night we made a 
 
CANOEING ON THE CONNECTICUT. 255 
 
 thick solution, poured it over the burnt parts and 
 put on tight cotton shirts with long sleeves In 
 the morning the pain was gone, though the l)lis- 
 tered flesh remained. 
 
 Here is an experience of ''cures " for sun-burn ; 
 we tried many remedies, some on one arm, some 
 on another; some on our faces, and others on our 
 necks. We tried Nature's remedy — let it alone — 
 and the burns treated in this way were the first 
 to get well. Moral: do nothing for a sun-burn 
 but to take it out of the sun for a day or two. 
 
 As we came down the river one thing was 
 noticeable and very enjoyable — the courtesy and 
 kindness of every one on the banks. At Brattle- 
 boro we found two gentlemen who owned canoes 
 (Mr. Harry Lawrence and Mr. Fred. L. Howe), 
 who lent us a pair of single paddles, and who were 
 otherwise exceedingly kind. 
 
 At Springfield we stopped long enough for me 
 to lecture in the evening (by previous arrange- 
 ment). There was a large audience, and Guiteras 
 sat on the platform, brown as an Indian, and fell 
 asleep. Fortunately he was shielded by a large 
 tropical plant. We stopped that night at the 
 hospitable house of my friend Father O'Keefe, of 
 West Springfield, who made the hours short for 
 us. 
 
 We had been told that the beauty of the Con- 
 
256 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 necticut ended at Springfield ; but it is not so. 
 Indeed, one of the loveliest stretches lies between 
 Hartford and Middletown, though the river under 
 Mt. Tom and Mt. Holyoke is surpassingly beau- 
 tiful. 1 never saw more deliohtful scenerv than 
 in the river valley just above and below North- 
 ampton. 
 
 And- let no canoeist pass Springfield without 
 visiting the famous United States arsenal, where, 
 
 " From floor to ceiling, 
 Like a huge organ, rise tlie burnished arms." 
 
 Now^here in the w^orld is there a nobler view than 
 from the tower of this building. This is a super- 
 lative word, but it was the opinion of the great 
 Humboldt, who, on a famous European river, 
 said: "There is nothing finer than this, except 
 the view from the Arsenal at Springfield." 
 
 At Hartford, the Canoe Club met us most 
 kindly, and its commodore, Mr. Jones, made our 
 stay bright and our departure memorable. 
 
 From Hartford to Middletow^n is one of the 
 finest stretches of the Connecticut, and it is bv 
 no means low-banked or monotonous. One of 
 the peculiarities of the river is that it is almost 
 as wide and apparently as deep at Hanover as in 
 this latest reach. 
 
 It is not necessary to go a great distance up 
 
t 
 
CANOEING ON THE CONNECTICUT. 257 
 
 the Connecticut to find splendid canoeing water. 
 If one had only a week's time, and entered the 
 river at Brattleboro', or below Turner's Falls, he 
 would find enough beauty to remember for a life- 
 time. 
 
 The distances on the river appear to be quite 
 unknown to residents on the l)anks, who evidentlv 
 judge by road measurement. We found, in most 
 cases, that the river distance was at least a third 
 to a half longer than the road. 
 
 One of our rarest pleasures came from paddling 
 for a few miles up the smaller rivers that run into 
 the Connecticut. They are invariably beautiful, 
 and the smaller ones are indescribable as fairy- 
 land. 
 
 One stream, particularly (1 think it is a short 
 distance below White-River Junction, on the New 
 Hampshire side), called Bromidon, was, in all re- 
 spects, an ideal brook. It had the merriest voice ; 
 the brownest and most sun-flecked shallows ; the 
 darkest little nooks of deep, leafy pools ; the most 
 happy-looking, creeper-covered homesteads on 
 its banks. We could hardly paddle into it, it 
 was so shallow ; or out of it, it was so beau- 
 tiful. Guiteras wanted to write a poem about it. 
 '' The name is a poem in itself," he said ; '^ any 
 one could write a poem about such a stream." 
 All the way down the river his muttered '' Brom- 
 
258 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOUT. 
 
 idon ! " was like the self-satisfied bubble-bubble 
 of the morning birds. 
 
 This leads me to say that, in the rapid growth 
 of canoeino-, which is surely coming, it is to be 
 hoped that the paddle will be the legitimate 
 means of propulsion, and not the sail. If men 
 want to sail, let them get keel-boats and open 
 water. The canoe was meant for lesser surfaces. 
 Indeed, the smaller the river, the more enjoyable 
 the canoeing. A few feet of surface is wide 
 enoush. With the quiet paddle, one can steal 
 under the overhanging boughs, drift silently into 
 the deep morning and afternoon shadows ; study 
 the ever-changing banks, birds, even the splendid 
 dragon-flies and^butterflies among the reeds and 
 
 rushes. 
 
 As an athletic exercise, paddling is one of the 
 best, or can easily be made so. A canoe trip of 
 a couple of weeks, diversified by two good swims 
 daily, will bi-ing the whole muscular system into 
 thorough working condition. Dr. Guiteras, who 
 has had unusual experience in athletic training, 
 and has given it special attention, is of opinion 
 that no other exercises are so excellent as paddling 
 and swimming in conjunction. 
 
 A word about the logs. They are not so bad 
 as they look, nor as their general reputation. 
 We should, of course, prefer a river without 
 
canoei:n^g on the Connecticut. 259 
 
 them ; and canoeists on the Connecticut can easily 
 avoid them by finding out when they start and 
 cease running. But they always keep in the cur- 
 rent ; they people the river with odd and interest- 
 ing felloAV-voyagers, and they are as harmless as 
 sheep in a meadow when you know how to handle 
 them. 
 
 Since this trip on the Connecticut, w^e have 
 canoed many other rivers, some of them streams 
 of much greater volume. We had in these the 
 width of w^ater, the calm greatness of the flow, 
 the splendid reaches unbroken by falls and rapids 
 and dams ; but we often missed the over-hanging 
 branches, the flash and twitter among the leaves, 
 the shadows that made the river look deep as 
 the sky, and the murmur of the little brown 
 brooks that are lost in the great stream, leaving 
 only their names, like Bromidon, clinging to the 
 water like naiads. 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA IN 
 CANOE. 
 
 ''This river runs palpably down hill!" said 
 my friend in the other boat, as our two canoes 
 rounded a sweeping curve, and ran down an 
 unbroken slope of half a mile. 
 
 So it did. Beautiful ! That first air-borne 
 sensation of a sheer slide was not beaten on the 
 next hundred miles of river. The water was not 
 three feet deep ; clear as air — every pebble seen 
 on the bottom, and none larger than your hand; 
 and the whole wide river slipping and sliding like 
 a o:reat sheet of o-kss out of its frame ! At the 
 foot of the sloping water was a little rapid, our 
 first on the Susquehanna, which is even more 
 truly a river of rapids than a river of bends,, 
 thous^h the latter is the meanino: of its melodious 
 Indian name. 
 
 We had stopped paddling on the " palpable 
 hill," and we let the stream carry our canoes into 
 
 (261) 
 
262 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 the noisy rapid at its foot. Zigzag it crossed the 
 river ; and as I led into a well-defined rushing V, 
 aimin- at the ansle, I felt the first grumble of 
 a rock along the keel. Next moment we were 
 pitchin<r on sharp little white-caps below the rush, 
 and sco°oting down toward the swift, deep water. 
 We had launched our canoes at Binghamton, 
 J. Smith and I, because the river above is too 
 low in September. Shame that it should be so I 
 The beautiful hills above Binghamton, that a 
 few years ago were clothed with rich foliage for 
 unbroken leagues, are shorn like a stuhble-field. 
 The naked stumps are white and unsightly on the 
 mountains, like the bones of an old battle-field. 
 
 A monster has crept up the valley and devoured 
 the strono- young trees. Every trunk has been 
 swallowed ; and the maw of the dragon is belch- 
 i„<r for more. On both sides of the river, and 
 throuirh many of the valleys that open back to 
 the t^^rm-lands, the railroads wind like serpents ; 
 and every foot-long joint in their vertebra is the 
 trunk of a twenty-year old tree. The hills stand 
 up in the sun, cropped and debased like convicts ; 
 their beauty and mystery and shadowed sacred- 
 ness torn from them ; their silence and lonelmess 
 replaced by the selfish chirp of the grasshopper 
 among the drv weeds. Never did the hard utility 
 of civilization appear less disguised and less 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 263 
 
 lovely. An Indian warrior begging on Broad- 
 way ; a buffalo from the wilds yoked to a market- 
 wagon ; any degrading and antagonistic picture 
 of life were more endurable and more hopeful 
 than these majestic ridges stripped and burned 
 into commonplace and repulsive bareness. 
 
 But the injured hills, like all old and strong 
 children of nature, curse their destroyer as they 
 die. The railroads have killed the trees, and the 
 death of the trees is as surely killing the river. 
 Year by year its life-blood decreases ; it grows 
 narrower, shallower, yet more fitfully dangerous. 
 Scores and hundreds of miles it runs, drinking in 
 the volume of the streams ; but in all this distance 
 its own volume does not increase. 
 
 Marvellous and shocking ! The Susquehanna is 
 no deeper at Harrisburg than at Towanda. Its 
 evaporation equals its growth. The shorn hills 
 can hold no moisture. The rain and dew are 
 dried in the morning sun like a breath on a mir- 
 ror. But when the heavy clouds roll in and rain 
 for weeks, there are no thirsty roots to hold the 
 water, no myriad-leafed miles to be drenched 
 before a rill is formed below. Then the dried 
 veins are suddenly and madly filled, tearmg down 
 to the lowlands with unchecked violence. The 
 river, swollen with drunken fury, becomes the 
 brute that civilization is always making — leap- 
 
264 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ing at the bridges, devouring the fields, dehiging 
 farm-houses and streets, until its fury is glutted 
 on the blind selfishness that gave it birth. 
 
 Pittsburgh riots and Susquehanna devastations 
 are children of the same parents, — Greed and 
 Ignorance. Beautiful trees and beautiful souls, 
 steeped in the coal-pits, scorched by the cinders, 
 thundered over by the roaring wheels that carry 
 treasures to the cultured and luxurious, there is a 
 curse in your defilement and mutilation. Yet our 
 moralists and socialists will not listen and under- 
 stand. 
 
 But who shall be didactic in a canoe on a river 
 that laughs into little rapids every few hundred 
 yards ? It was delightful to see Smith take his 
 first rapid. He had only canoed before in still 
 water. A few miles below Binghamton we heard 
 the break of the water, and saw the ziOTao: line 
 ahead. Not knowinsr the nature of the thins:, 
 whether it was a dam, an " eel-rack," a wood- 
 shoot, or a natural shoal, I paddled ahead, and 
 took a look at it. There was just one place in 
 the line, about three feet wide, where the water 
 rushed down like a sluiceway ; and we must go in 
 t-here. On one side of this passage, a thin spur 
 of black stone rose above the surface, and made 
 a good mark to steer by ; but on the other side of 
 the sluice was a great round stone, covered with 
 
DOAVN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 265 
 
 about ^ix inches of rushing water. I paddled 
 back and asked Smith to observe exactly where 
 my boat entered ; and, turning her head, I let 
 her o^o in '^ with the swim." It was a deliirhtful 
 little shoot cf about fifty yards, and when I had 
 reached the smooth water, I turned to see my 
 friend coming down. He neared the rapids, not 
 letting his boat drift, but paddling with all his 
 force, and moving at tremendous speed down the 
 swift water. He was not heading for the open- 
 ing, but was coming straight for the big stone at 
 the riirht side. No use shouting'; the din of the 
 water drowned all other sound. I expected to 
 see him strike and swing round, and probably 
 get upset and rolled over ; but instead of that, 
 the bow of his plucky little boat rose at the stone 
 like a steeple-chaser, till I saw half her keel in 
 the air, — and then over she came, without a 
 scratch, and buried her nose in the deep water 
 below the stone, while the canoeist sat straio:ht, 
 laughing with excitement, and dripping with the 
 shower of spray from the plunge. 
 
 " How did it feel?" I asked." 
 
 " Glorious ! " he shouted. 
 
 He thought he had come down secitiidum artem. 
 But before night he knew all about it, for the 
 river was so low that every shallow had an angry 
 brawl. Next day, with a steady hand and cool 
 
2(56 ETHICS or boxing and manly spokt. 
 
 head, he found the way out for me when I had 
 got mto a bad place. 
 
 It was in this way : I had gone in first on rather 
 a lon^ and rouo:h descent. There was a bend on 
 the rapid, and in going round I struck heavily 
 and unexpectedly, and swung right athwart the 
 race, amidships fast on a huge brown shelf-rock. 
 The divided water caught l)ow and stern, and 
 held the canoe against the stone. I got one foot 
 out against the rock and stopped her trembling ; 
 and there I was, fast. I could hold her steady, 
 but could do no more. The stone was so shaped 
 that I could not stand on it. The water ran deep 
 and strong, and if I pushed off altogether I 
 should be apt to go down broadside or stern first. 
 So I sat thinking for a second or two ; and then I 
 looked back to wave to Smith to keep oflt\ I saw 
 his boat, but not him. He was swimming, " ac- 
 coutred as he was," right across the river above, 
 to give me a hand. His judgment had told him 
 that I was badly placed. In a few minutes he 
 had reached the head of the rapid, stepped from 
 stone to stone till he caught hold of my ''painter," 
 and next moment my bow came round to the race, 
 and down I shot like a rocket. In a few minutes 
 he followed in the same course. 
 
 Just below that rapid we had an unpleasant 
 experience, — the only one on our whole voyage. 
 
DOWN THE 8U8QUEHANNA. 267 
 
 We fell in with a sordid lout, and up to this day 
 I am sorry we did not thrash him or duck him in 
 the river. We had gone up to a farm-house on 
 the bluff to buy milk and eggs for dinner. Two 
 old women had very kindh' served us, and we 
 were coming away when the lout appeared. He 
 was evidently the master of the place : a big, 
 raw-boned, ragged-whiskered, and dirty-skinned 
 brute. He had just caught a snake, about two 
 feet long, and he held it wriggling in his hand, 
 while he laughed a vile chuckle, and opened his 
 filthy mouth in derision as the older woman, his 
 mother, probably, fled, almost screaming with 
 terror. Then he came toward us, and seeing 
 Smith's bare ankles he deliberately put the snake 
 down to bite them, chuckling all the time, and 
 mumblins: : ''You hain't o^ot the sand ! He won't 
 bite. / ain't afeard. I^ve got the sand, /ain't 
 afeard o' snakes," and so on. 
 
 We stepped aw\ay from him, and at last told 
 him, in a tone he minded, to drop the snake. He 
 did so at once. His mother said to him from the 
 door : ''If you did that to me, and I was a man, 
 Fd hill you!'' 
 
 Then the brute insisted on selling us ten cents' 
 worth of honey, which he called ''Th' bam'f a 
 thaousand flaours " (balm of a thousand flowers) ; 
 and, comino^ to the boat, he besfged for a drink, 
 
268 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 and, at the last moment, wanted us to buy a gal- 
 lon of ''old stock ale, seven year old." 
 
 It took us some hours to forget the 1)arbarian. 
 A handsome young trapper, logman, and railroad 
 worker, lower down, who knew him well, told us 
 that the lout was known along the river as a cow- 
 ard, a braggart, and '^a man that was no good, 
 
 anyhow." 
 
 The Susquehanna is, in one respect, quite un- 
 like any other river on which I have canoed. 
 There is an endless recurrence of half-mile and 
 mile long deep stretches, and then a brawling 
 rapid. The river rarely makes a bend without 
 shoaling to a foot or two of water ; and this is 
 invariably ended by a bar, with a swift descent 
 beyond. These shallow places have been utilized 
 as '' eel-racks," by driving stakes or piling stones 
 in a zig-zag line across the river. From Towanda 
 down to Wilkesbarre, with a bold, wooded hill, 
 or "mountain," always on one side, and some- 
 times on both, the deep stretches become deeper 
 and longer ; but in a very few places is the " slow 
 water" more than two or three miles in length. 
 
 We had brought a small tent with us, and we 
 carried some provisions, — prepared coftee. Lie- 
 big's extract of beef, a jar of delicious butter 
 (which we broke and lost on the third day), a 
 can of corned beef, some " hard tack," and some 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 2G9 
 
 bacon. We had tin cups, a little alcohol stove, 
 and a bottle of very old Jamaica (for the malaria). 
 
 We had two canoes of the " Shadow" model, 
 Mr. Smith's, a Eushton, decked and hatched; 
 mine without hatches, and built by Partelow, of 
 Riverside, Mass.,— both good boats of their kind, 
 from good builders. But the " Shadow " is not a 
 good kind of canoe for river work. Her keel is 
 too long and too deep. This makes her heavy in 
 turning sharp curves ; and, when she runs on a 
 stone, — even a round or flat one, —the keel 
 throws her on one side; and this is really a 
 canoe's unpardonable sin. A canoe should have 
 no keel. The " Shadow" model is really not a 
 canoe at all, but simply a light boat. 
 
 The Indian round-bottomed, birch-bark canoe 
 is the best model for American rivers ; and it is a 
 pity that our builders do not keep it as their radi- 
 cal study. It should be modified and improved, 
 of course; narrowed for double paddling, and 
 shortened and lightened for portage ; but its first 
 principle, of a bottom that can run on or over a 
 stone without capsizing, ought never to be for- 
 gotten. In my opinion, paper will win against 
 lapstreak in the canoe of the future ; all that is 
 needed to insure* this is a method of patching the 
 wound on a paper bottom. 
 
 Never have I seen river-water so clear and 
 
270 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 wholesome us the Susquehanna. One of our daily 
 pleasures was to dip our bright tin cups into the 
 river, drink a mouthful, and pour the rest into 
 our mouths without swallowing. 
 
 The sun flamed on the water every day of our 
 trip ; the records ashore made it the hottest fort- 
 niofht of the year. . So we lovini^ly hu2:2:ed the 
 banks when there was any shade ; and, unex- 
 pectedly, this habit led us into the two greatest 
 pleasures of our voyage. 
 
 The first occurred a few miles above the village 
 of Appalaken. We left the main river to run to 
 the left of an island, where the stream was only 
 twenty feet wide. The island was perhaps three- 
 quarters of a mile long, and the trees on both 
 sides reached over, interlaced, and made the 
 stream as dark as late evening. There was a 
 turbulent little rapid at the entrance, as we swung 
 in from the big river and the noonday blaze ; and 
 the water all down the narrow^ stream ran with 
 incredible rapidity. When we felt ourselves car- 
 ried along in this silent cool shadow, and looked 
 up at the light sifting through the dense foliage, 
 we both exclaimed, '' This is too lovely to be re- 
 peated ! " And the word was true. Such a super- 
 lative canoe-ride one could hardly ever expect to 
 enjoy twice. We laid down our paddles, only 
 fearing to come to the end of our marvellous green 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 271 
 
 archway, w^ith its dark gleaming floor ; and when, 
 at last, we did sweep out into the broad glare of 
 the river, we sighed and looked back wistfully, 
 as men will. Ten minutes later we were wadins; 
 over a shallow place and hauling our canoes by 
 the painter. 
 
 The other peak of our enjoyment was reached 
 about four miles below the town of Athens. Ah, 
 me ! how we did enjoy our evening in that little 
 town ! But let the tale bide a little. We had 
 gone down some miles below the bridge at Athens, 
 where the river widened out and grew consumedly 
 slow and commonplace. There was an island, with 
 a narrow opening to the left and a rough little 
 rapid at the entrance, — almost a repetition of the 
 Appalaken archway. After that other experience 
 we did not hesitate, but turned from the big sheet 
 of water, and shot into the narrow turmoil, to the 
 left of the island. Again we dashed into a splen- 
 did sweep, but about three times as wide as the 
 Appalaken archway. The water was about four 
 feet deep all the way down, and the bottom was 
 of small pebbles, every one as clearly seen as if 
 laid on a mirror. Once more our paddles were 
 crossed before us, and we sat in profound enjoy- 
 ment of water, wood, and sky, as we were sw^ept 
 along by the current. Half-way down, we landed 
 on the island, intendinoj to float in the water and 
 
272 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 be carried down after the canoes, holding on by 
 the '' painter." 
 
 And here we made a discovery that will re- 
 dound to the fame of Athens, — a discovery which 
 we present to that town in memory of the genial 
 hospitality of one of its chief citizens, the Rev. 
 Father Costello, who gave us an evening not to 
 be forgotten. Here let me tell how, baked and 
 burned and tired and hungry and thirsty, on the 
 night preceding our discovery, we walked up to 
 the house of the good priest at sunset, and were 
 met at the open door with outstretched hands of 
 welcome; and how, before a word was spoken, 
 we were handed two great goblets filled with iced 
 ^vine, — rich, fruity, American wine ; and how we 
 sat down to a dinner for epicures, even if it were 
 Friday ; and how we then were taken into the 
 little moonlit garden, with good cigars, and other 
 comforts, while our amiable and accomplished 
 host charmed us with quaint fancy and strange 
 learning, and played for us on the flute so softly 
 that it could not be heard fifty feet away, but so 
 exquisitely that we knew we were listening to 
 the soul of a poet and a master ; and how simply 
 and tenderly he told us that he had discovered a 
 similarity between his little Athens in the Penn- 
 sylvania hills and the immortal Athens of the 
 Acropolis. 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 273 
 
 ''Look around," cried Father Costello, point- 
 ing to the perfect circle of bold mountains, that 
 were blue even in the moonlight ; " those hills are 
 a perfect coronet. This, too, is the City of the 
 Violet Crown!" 
 
 Now for our discovery : we give it to Athens 
 with only one condition, — that henceforth the 
 citizen who shall call his town Aythens shall ))e 
 disfranchised or excluded from good society, or 
 both. 
 
 Half-way down between the island and the 
 shore we plunged into the swift current, intend- 
 ing to float after the canoes, holding on by the 
 painter, — a most enjoyable and interestino; thino; 
 to do. When you lie at utter rest in the water 
 and watch the shore go by, it seems too delicious 
 for waking life ; but this is not the best. Let 
 your whole body and' head sink well under the 
 surface, keeping your eyes open ; the river be- 
 comes an aquarium, — you see the weeds, the 
 stones, and the fishes as clearly almost as if they 
 were in the air. This is because you have no 
 motion except the motion of the water itself; 
 your eyes are fixed in a crystalline medium, and 
 nothing can express the sense of ease, of utter 
 luxury, which the supporting fluid gives to every 
 limb. You are lolling on or in an air-cushion 
 without surface or friction. The mere swimmer 
 
274 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 can never feel this, nor even he who is towed after 
 a boat, — thou«:h that is an ideal method of takins; 
 an invigorating bath. To see the river's inner 
 life, and to enjoy this complete luxury of resting 
 in the water, you must float in and with the 
 stream, without effort or motion, supported by 
 the painter of your boat. 
 
 But our discoveiy w\aits : half-way down this 
 lovely and lonely island passage we plunged in, 
 as I have many times said ; and we had no sooner 
 struck bottom than Smith uttered a strange shout 
 and threw^ up his hands. I was startled till I 
 looked at his face ; and then I was puzzled beyond 
 measure by his motions and expressions. With 
 his hands above his head, he seemed to be danc- 
 ing on the bottom of the river, and with every 
 step he gave a shout of pleasure. While I looked 
 at him, astonished, I began to feel the infection 
 of his strano'e conduct. A thrill like soft music 
 ran through me, and seemed to tingle in my ears 
 and under my tongue ; and every movement I 
 made brought a repetition of the inexpressible 
 sound, for a sound it w^as, like a musical echo. 
 
 ''What is it?" I cried at length. ''This is 
 wonderful ! " 
 
 " It is a musical beach, — a singing beach ! '* he 
 answ^ered. "And I should say it was the finest 
 in the world ! " And then he said, for by strange 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 275 
 
 chance he knew something about such a queer 
 thing, " I believe there are only two or three 
 ' singmg beaches' known in the whole world; 
 and this certainly must be the best." 
 
 You may be sure we lingered over that mellif- 
 luous swim. We pushed the boats ashore, and 
 went in for the weird, sweet music of the stream. 
 It was enouo'h to make one howl with sheer sen- 
 suous enjoyment. As we pushed or scraped the 
 pebbly bottom with our feet we felt or heard, I 
 hardly know^ which, a rich resonance passing 
 through us, clear and sweet as the soft note of 
 distant cow-bells. The slightest displacement of 
 the gravel brought it up, as if it had just escaped 
 from the earth. 
 
 When we had tried it a hundred and a thousand 
 times, it occurred to us that neither could hear 
 the note caused b} the other, — we only heard 
 the sound of our own feet. A<>:ain the tenacious 
 memory of my friend found an explanation. He 
 remembered that divers can only talk under 
 water by placing their heads on the bottom. 
 
 Another discover}^ here : you can't get your 
 head to the bottom of a four-foot stream, unless 
 you catch hold of a stone on the bottom and pull 
 yourself down. You can dive, and get your 
 hands or feet or knees down ; l)ut not your chin. 
 We are both good swimmers, and we tried in 
 
27(3 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 vain. While under water, on the dive, or crawl- 
 ins: alono' the bottom on hands and knees, the 
 river was a drear and silent sluice. At last we 
 got our chins on the bottom, each on a stone, and 
 we heard it, — oh ! we heard such melodious dis- 
 cord, such a mixture of near and remote ^cho-like 
 sweetness as can only l)e imagined in dreams. 
 The river became as full of music as it was of 
 water, and the inexpressi))le fusion of notes played 
 throui]^h our senses like intoxication. Smith was 
 twenty or thirty feet from me, and in deeper 
 water; but eveiy sweep he gave the pel)bles 
 sounded to me like a thousand cow-bells 
 melted into liquid harmony. Xever, until we go 
 to the same spot again, shall we hear such strange, 
 suppressed, elfin music. 
 
 Now, Athens, go down and l)athe at the place 
 where we had this intoxicating bath ; and believe 
 that never was there siren or naiad in the rivers 
 or si)rini>;s of old Athens to ravish with sweeter 
 melod}' than your own 1)eautiful Susquehanna 
 holds for you. 
 
 It would be better, perhaps, if I could follow 
 the river features seriatim, as we saw them ; but 
 then there are so many miles of every river that 
 are only one uninteresting feature. No one cares 
 for the names of little unheard-of villages, them- 
 selves quite featureless. Some whole days we 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 277 
 
 did nothing l)ut run insignificant rapids, until at 
 last we came to despise them, so that we some- 
 times i-an our canoes at them without searchino- 
 for an opening, and for our pains always narrowly 
 escaped upsetting, and always, too, had to get 
 out and wade. The rapids of the Susquehanna 
 teach as much patience and wariness as the loo's 
 of the Connecticut. You can manage both, like 
 little children, when you take the trouble of find- 
 ing the right way ; otherwise they will crush your 
 boat and you like the insensate brutes they are 
 when opposed. 
 
 About ten miles above Towanda we entered on 
 a memoral)le experience. The river was wide, 
 about half a mile, and we heard an unusually 
 loud rapid about a quarter of a mile ahead. It 
 was noon, and we landed on a pretty shaded bank 
 on the right, to eat our dinner. The day was 
 hot, and the shade was luxurious. We ^rave 
 plenty of time to cooking and eatinir and swim- 
 ming and smoking, and, like Brer Eabbit, " en- 
 joyin' the day that passes." 
 
 About two o'clock, a poor-looking fellow, in a 
 poorer-looking old flat-bottomed boat, drifted 
 past, going towards the rapid water. We asked 
 him on which side the current ran. 
 
 ^' Don't know," he answered, sounding all his 
 r's like a true native: "1 was neverr hearr be- 
 
278 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 foarr. I'm a strangerr ! " And, looking anxiously 
 ahead, he drifted towards the breakers. We 
 were then dining, and we watched him for our 
 own instruction as we ate. AVe saw the swift 
 stream take him, changing his course a little, and 
 carry him into the rapid. He went down a few 
 boat's lengths and struck. He jumped out, and 
 saved the scow, hauling his boat back. Why he 
 did not try to drag her down, instead of coming 
 back was a mystery. At last we forgot him ; and 
 an hour later we got afloat. The first thing we 
 saw was the old boat, empty and aground, at the 
 side of the rapid. The man Avas nowhere to be 
 seen. What had become of him? He could 
 hardly have been drowned in three or four feet 
 of water, however rapid. And yet he had said 
 he was a stranofer. 
 
 We paddled to the other side of the river and 
 shot down a rare piece of swift water without 
 difliculty. We were in a hurry, for the sky behind 
 us was ''black as thunder" with an enormous 
 cloud, and already the air was filled with dead 
 leaves from the mountain, carried out on the 
 river by the first gusts. A few heavy drops of 
 rain struck our fiices and arms, and made little 
 towers on the river. 
 
 The river was running with extreme rapidity, 
 and the increasing wind, right behind us, ruflied 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 279 
 
 it into white-caps in a few minutes, and drove 
 us ahead at an exciting pace. We hardly knew 
 what to do, beino^ i2:norant of the manner of 
 storms in those parts ; but as the gale was in our 
 fivor we simply steered straight, and held on. 
 The stream ran ''palpably down hill," deep and 
 swift. On our left was a grand mountain, almost 
 precipitous, but wooded to the top, and black 
 with the comino; irloom. The river almost ran 
 under its brow. 
 
 As w^e plunged ahead we heard the sound of 
 rapid water above the roar of the gale ; we had 
 no time to search for an opening ; but fortunately 
 the water was deeper than usual. We kept to 
 the left, as the river fell toward the mountain and 
 dashed for the rapid. Two fishermen in a boat 
 were running before us, about a hundred yards 
 ahead. Suddenly we saw them lurch forward, 
 w hile the boat swung round and the water leaped 
 into her. They had kept tw^o yards too far to 
 the left, but they had shown us the way. They 
 w^ere in the water up to their w^aists, holding their 
 boat, as w^e shot past them without a word. They 
 looked at us with grim faces, quite silent, as if 
 dumbfounded. We were fairlv lifted over the 
 stones of that rapid by the wind and weaves ; and 
 a few minutes later we knew what reason we had 
 to be thankful, when the whole fury of the storm 
 burst on us. 
 
280 ETHICS OF BOXING AND 3IAXLY SPORT. 
 
 AYe had learned that an unbroken stretch of 
 river lay before us, clear to Towanda, six miles 
 away. We could see the spire of a church against 
 the lurid sky far down the valley. The sky ahead 
 was fast filling with heaps of dark clouds, racing 
 faster than I have ever seen clouds move. Be- 
 hind, from horizon to zenith, the air was like a 
 slate colored cavern, with masses and feathery 
 sheets of dark-brown vapor, tumbling and rush- 
 ing low down, so low as to strike the mountain. 
 There was no rain — nothing l)ut wind, and it 
 was right astern, and held there by the towering 
 mountain on our left. The waves combed out 
 before us, higher than the boats. YVe could not 
 have kept a quarter of a point off such a l)la.st. 
 We felt the gale on our backs like a physical 
 pressure. It was a magnificent race. AVe had 
 not even to steei:. We sat still and were driven 
 straight ahead, and, had there been a bend in the 
 river, we should have had to run ashore. As 
 quickly as the storm had risen, it subsided or 
 passed. Far sooner than I would dare to write, 
 we saw the tall bridge at Towanda half a mile 
 ahead of us. We had run down five or six miles 
 of river in as quick thiie, I think, as canoes could 
 safely travel. 
 
 Before Ave reached Towanda the storm had 
 crossed the mountain and the sun was out. We 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 281 
 
 kept to the left of the river, ran under the bridge, 
 round an isUmd, and then dashed through a splen- 
 did little rai)id, right in front of the city, and ran 
 across to a l)oat-house. 
 
 This reminds me of one of the greatest pleas- 
 ures of canoeing on the Susquehanna — the 
 courtesy and kindness one meets from every 
 one, farmers, townsmen, rivermen, or railroaders. 
 Only one class of men want to take advantage — 
 the expressmen. They are the same everywhere 
 — exorbitant, if not dishonest, in charge, and 
 careless in work. It is not to the credit of the 
 express s^^stem that a traveller must truly say so 
 harsh a thing. 
 
 At Owe2:o, or Ah- we irah, as we found its old 
 Indian name to be^ we went to the hotel for 
 dinner. We were roughly dressed, sunburnt, 
 and hungry. The landlord, an old man with a 
 singularly pleasant face, observed us as we ate. 
 Then he went out, probably to see the canoes, 
 which were down at the wharf before his house. 
 
 ''Having a good time, are you?" he said, as 
 he returned. 
 
 " Yes," we told him ; and we outlined our plan 
 for him as we went on eatinsf his excellent dinner. 
 
 " Forty years ago," said the old man, " 1 went 
 down the Ohio River in a dug-out, just for fun, 
 as you are doing. AVe had a splendid time ; but 
 
282 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 we got strapped, — do you know what that is? 
 We spent all our money, and for days and days 
 we hadn't a cent. But every one was kind to us, 
 and we never w^anted for anything. We enjoyed 
 it all ; and I hope you'll do the same." 
 
 He shook hands with us w^armh\ When we 
 w^ent to pay our bill, the clerk said, ''AH paid 
 for, gentlemen. Glad you came to see us. Pleas- 
 ant trip down the river ! " 
 
 The kind old landlord was ''getting even" with 
 the Ohioans, who had treated him Avell forty years 
 ago. 
 
 Another pleasant memory from Owego : when 
 we w^ent down to the canoes we found that Smith's 
 boat was leaking, probably strained on a stone. 
 He went to bail her out with his tin cup. 
 
 "You want a sponge," said a handsome big 
 fellow, in shirt-sleeves, standing in the little 
 crowd on the wharf. We hardly answered, the 
 need being obvious. 
 
 "You can't get a sponge between here and 
 Harrisburg," he added. 
 
 " That is not very consoling." 
 
 " But I'm going to give you a big sponge," he 
 continued. "Come with me and I'll fix you 
 out." 
 
 One of us w^ent with him ; he was the chief 
 livery-stable-keeper in Owego ; his name was 
 
DOWN THR SUSQUEHANNA. 288 
 
 Dean. He gave us a tremendous sponge, which 
 was of very great service. 
 
 '' Good-by, Mr. Dean; good-by, all of you," 
 we said, as we swung out. 
 
 A little dark-faced man had just come down 
 the wharf. He was in a hurry. 
 
 " Oh, I say ! " he shouted ; "1 bring you the 
 compliments of the Owego Rapid, Wanted to 
 interview you on the political situation ! " (I may 
 say here that our voyage was made during a heated 
 National campaign, of which more hereafter.) 
 And we heard Dean and the crowd lauofhino; at the 
 little man, who waved his note-book and pencil. 
 
 It was the first we had heard of " the political 
 situation" since leavini^ Bino;hamton. I mi^-ht 
 have mentioned that when we launched our canoes 
 near that city we were accompanied to the river 
 bank by quite a number of well-wishers, and 
 among them two gentlemen from the daily papers 
 of Binghamton, w^ho industriously wrote down 
 our ''views." As we paddled away from the 
 wharf at Owesfo we conoratulated ourselves that 
 Ave had broken the last link, and henceforth could 
 go along like sensible men with no ''views" to 
 air. But the "situation" had not done with us 
 yet. 
 
 Of our nio;hts on the banks of the river the 
 details are too varied to be written. We enjoyed 
 
284 ETHICS OF boxing axd manly spokt. 
 
 them intensely after the first three days, when 
 the heat of the sunburn had abated. The onlv 
 drawback was caused by our own persistent mis- 
 take ; we did not pitch our camp early enough, 
 and the darkness closed on us before we were 
 quite ready for rest. VCg were tempted each day 
 to go on paddling till the sun had reached the 
 tops of the mountains ; and we had not realized 
 how the mountains hurry on the sunset. 
 
 The story of one night will do for all. AVe 
 pulled our canoes ashore under a wooded bank, 
 twenty feet high, and pitched our camp in a 
 lovely little meadow above. It was six o'clock 
 when we left the boats. The river was exceed- 
 ingly beautiful from our meadow, reminding me 
 of the Connecticut in its superb reaches below 
 Northampton. Across the river, against the 
 distant hills, rose the spire of a church ; but there 
 was not a house in sialit. The nearest village 
 was Tioga Centre, five miles away. The current 
 in the river was almost still ; the water under our 
 bank w^as about ten feet deep. Though we had 
 much to do before we lost the sun, we could not 
 help giving a few minutes to drink in the extreme 
 beauty of the evening scene. 
 
 Firewood was not to l)e had for the picking up, 
 as usual ; but we found a dead tree, partly fallen, 
 supported by its fellow^s fringing the river. We 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 285 
 
 cut it down in quick time with our axe, chopped 
 off some punky lengths of the trunk, tied one of 
 our painters to the remainder, and ^'snaked" it 
 out of the underbrush. The dry branches broke 
 and burned like tinder, and the larger ones, with 
 the trunk, made us a roarino; fire till mornino*. 
 That night for supper we l)roiled some bacon and 
 boiled some tinned beef, putting in a lot of 
 Liebig's extract. Then coffee, eked out with our 
 precious I)ut ill-fated butter and marmalade. 
 
 Then — let us tell the truth, so that the price 
 may be paid — we went to a stack of coarse hay 
 in the meadow, and took two great armfuls, 
 which we spread in our tent, and which was 
 softer that niglit than down-of-eider. About the 
 hour of this dark deed, the full moon rose over 
 the hills and sailed into a sky black-blue, star- 
 lit, and absolutely clear from mist or cloud. The 
 only vapor to l)e seen was a slight smoke that 
 clung m a thin, wavy line to the middle of the 
 river. The only sound, except our own voices, 
 was the screech of an owl on the hills and the 
 leap of the bass in the water. 
 
 The night was breathless; but we raised the 
 bottom of the tent, and made a pleasant draft. 
 Before ten o'clock we were asleep. How long 
 that sleep lasted I cannot tell — perhaps three 
 hours ; but it was ended in a most awful uproar. 
 
28G ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 In my sleep I had heard for hours, so it seemed, 
 the thunder of rapids and falls greater than Ni- 
 agara, into which the canoe was slipping against 
 all my power to steer or stop her. Nearer and 
 nearer the horror came ; there were people on the 
 shore shoutino;, and one of them blew a whistle 
 that would wake the dead, and I sprang up in the 
 tent at the same moment that Smith jumped to 
 his feet. AVithout moving farther we saw the 
 cause of the disturbance. AVithin forty yards of 
 us ran a railroad, along which was thundering one 
 of these interminable coal trains, that are longer, 
 I am sure, than any other trains in the world. 
 The noise had affected us both in almost the same 
 way ; and we were so completely awakened that 
 to sleep again seemed out of the question. 
 
 So we piled up our firewood till the flames illu- 
 minated the sombre hills. Then we mixed with 
 sugar and water a stiff dose of our remedy for the 
 malaria ; but before enjoying this, the night was 
 so warm and lightsome and the river so tempt- 
 ing, I plunged into the deep water for a short 
 swim. When I came in, Smith was sin«:ino: ; and 
 we sat by the fire and sang on and on, and the 
 screech owl stopped to listen ; and the fire and 
 the tobacco burned as if they enjoyed it ; and it 
 was well for the malaria that it did not come 
 around that niaht. 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 287 
 
 Say what you will there is no other form of 
 outing that makes possible, within sight of con- 
 ventional life and labor, such days and nights of 
 utter freedoin, health, natural beauty, and manly 
 enjoyment. 
 
 But the river proceeds — as the canoes could 
 not — below Towanda. There were immense 
 stretches where the river widened, and the depth 
 nowhere exceeded three or four inches. There 
 was little pleasure in wading' and drasfSfins: our 
 boats till the bottoms were worn out ; so we car- 
 ried them up to the railroad (which hugs the 
 river all the way), and shot the iron rapids till 
 we came to fair water again. 
 
 It was sometime in the forenoon when we ran 
 into AVilkesbarre, passing through that lovely 
 historic valley, 
 
 "On Susquehanna's tide, fair Wyoming." 
 
 Surely, in all the world, there is nothing to 
 exceed the quiet, large beauty of this valley, that 
 is enriched with so many forms of wealth ; with 
 the stamp of sublimity from the hand of God ; 
 with the deep coloring of pathetic and patriotic 
 association, and with the priceless mineral treas- 
 ures that lie deep in field and hill. 
 
 " This is the richest valley on the face of the 
 planet," said a Wilkesbarre man to us ; and he 
 
288 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AXD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 was only thinking of the coal-veins hidden in its 
 bosom. 
 
 But let there be a few uncivilized ones, at least, 
 who shall regard the shafts and chimneys and 
 hideous coal-heaps as marks of desecration and 
 disease. AVealth and civilization, vou sav ; ave, 
 wealth and civilization for the owners of the 
 mines, for tlie lordly '' coal operators," whose 
 summer palaces are set on the shoulders of the 
 noble hills. But for the thousands of workers in 
 the bowels of the earth ; for those whose minds 
 and souls, as well as bodies, are darkened with 
 the coal-2:rim : for their wives and little children, 
 existing that a race of sul)ject-worlvers may be 
 perpetuated, what portion of our wealth and 
 civilization belongs to these? Does civilization 
 necessarily mean the degradation and starvation 
 intellectually and spiritually of ten, for the lux- 
 ury and over-development of one ? 
 
 Civilization impinges on humanitv in Pennsyl- 
 vania perhaps not more unfairly or cruelly than 
 elsewhere ; but the contra.^ts are shockins^lv 
 apparient. 
 
 But we came to look at the hills and the river, 
 not at the social relativities. And the hills are 
 as sadly marked as the human moles who burrow 
 into them. There is no desecration of a mountain 
 so bliMitino; as the sinkino- of a mine into its 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANXA. 281) 
 
 heart. The dark mouth of the shaft, high up on 
 the side of the hill, is repulsive as a cancer to the 
 eye searching for beauty. Storms might shatter 
 the forests, or fire sweep them, and the grandeur 
 of the hills would be untouched. But in the 
 midst of billowed foliage, and within sound of 
 the rills, the puft' of a steam-engine beside a black 
 hole in the mountain-side robs the scene of all 
 loveliness, and hurries the observer out of sisfht 
 of the profanation. 
 
 But where was I ? At Wilkesbarre only ! "We 
 put our boats up at a pretty boat-house above the 
 bridge, and we thought we should stay an hour 
 to see the city, and then proceed. It is very 
 pleasant to recall the manner and face of the man 
 who kept that boat-house, and who was, we learned 
 later, no other than " Commodore Brobst, of the 
 Wilkesbarre Xavy," a well-known and popular 
 person. He was very kind indeed ; but while he 
 was showing us his handsome boats, his little 
 boy was scudding off to a newspaper office, and 
 ''The Commodore" seemed to enjoy himself 
 hugely when, a few minutes later, a reporter 
 stepped down to the float and said : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, we have been expecting you. 
 The editor of my paper is coming here presently 
 to welcome you ; and also a committee of recep- 
 tion, which was appointed three days ago." 
 
290 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Upon hearing this amazing announcement we 
 sat down upon the float to gaze at the reporter. 
 Within ten minutes his astoundino; words were 
 made true. 
 
 " Grentlemen you will speak here to-night in 
 the court-house, on the political situation. You 
 will have an immense audience ! " 
 
 This was the first word that impressed itself on 
 my mind. We could not laugh, and we could 
 not boorishly get into our Ijoats and paddle away ; 
 so we weakly listened to the voice of the seducers, 
 who would draw us from our beautiful rapids and 
 woods and hills into the narrowins; wrano^le of 
 worldly ways. But the editor was such a clever 
 and earnest fellow, and the chairman of the com- 
 mittee was so genial and hospitable, that, after 
 hours of entertainment and enjoyment, we compro- 
 mised : we promised to return two days later 
 and make political speeches in Wilkesbarre ! It 
 was then noon of ]\Ionday ; we would go on our 
 way down the stream, and come back for Wednes- 
 day night. 
 
 From that moment we knew that a beauty had 
 departed from the river. It seemed to sink and 
 become commonplace. Some charm of fidelity 
 or sympathy was broken. We were disloyal to 
 the Susquehanna ; we could not, as yesterday, 
 look the beautiful river in the face. 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 291 
 
 But we went along, and, in keeping with our 
 new prosaic feeling, we hooked on to a little 
 steamer running down to Nanticoke, and escaped 
 nine miles of paddling. At Nanticoke we could 
 not cross the dam, — so we went into the canal 
 which begins there. Deeper and deeper we were 
 sinking into the prosaic ; and the sense of a 
 departed sympathy made us silent and almost 
 irritable. I heard Smith repeating to himself the 
 sad lines of Wordsworth : — 
 
 " The moon doth with delight 
 Look round her when the heavens are bare ; 
 Waters on a starry night 
 Are beautiful and fair; 
 The sunshine is a glorious birth; 
 But yet I know, where'er I go, 
 That there hath passed away a glory from the earth." 
 
 We regretted the promise that bound us to 
 return, and necessitated at least ^ome preparation. 
 We resolved to telegraph back recalling it. But 
 there was no telegraph-office for a long distance 
 down the canal. The current was slow, but in 
 our favor. We paddled steadily ahead, almost 
 silent, till the sun bent down to the mountains, 
 and the canal seemed to become a mere gloomy 
 ditch. Then we began to think of camping 
 and getting supper ; but for miles no suitable 
 place appeared. Just about sunset we overtook 
 
292 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 II canal-boat, and asked the man at the \yheel 
 where he was going to stop for the night. 
 
 " We don't stop ; we go on all night," he said ; 
 " and if you fellows want to come on board, 
 you can lift your boats on deck, and you're very 
 welcome." 
 
 We thanked him; read 'M^es" in each other's 
 eyes ; and in five minutes the canoes were on 
 l)oard, and we were having a new and pleasant 
 sensation. 
 
 The canal-boat is no greyhound : it moves 
 solemnly and firmly at the rate of two miles an 
 hour ; l^ut it pushes ahead day and night, and, 
 like the tortoise of the fable, it might win a race 
 against a heedless hare. The Susquehanna Canal 
 Company's service employs about two thousand 
 men and boys, and heaven knows how many 
 mules. And splendid mules they are, big as 
 horses almost, and comely to the eye. They 
 impressed my companion so much that in his 
 speech at AVilkesbarre, two daj^s later, he made 
 the audience gasp by opening with the emphatic 
 assertion that the Democratic party was like a 
 mule? ''Because," said he, ''it is patient, 
 intelligent, good-humored, hard-working, — and 
 handsome I " The Jefiersonians breathed a sigh 
 of relief, and then enjoyed the simile. 
 
 Tom Elder was the captain's name, and he had 
 
DOAVX THE SUSQUEHANNA. 293 
 
 on board a man to cook and steer and clean — a 
 silent man who answered questions, but never 
 once looked at us ; also a youth of nineteen, a 
 carpenter from Tom's town down the river, who 
 had run away from home, and was now returning- 
 through his townsman's kindness ; and, lastly, a 
 little tough, red-headed fellow of fifteen, the 
 mule-driver, — another Tom, — who had a phenom- 
 enal voice deep down in his chest, from roaring 
 at the mules, and who swore more profoundl}^ 
 and unconsciously than any one I had known up 
 to that time. In this respect, however, little 
 Tom, we found, was distanced by competitors on 
 the tow path. 
 
 Once on ])oard no one spoke to us or noticed 
 us. Their indifierence w^as Indian-like. About 
 an hour after boarding the boat Captain Tom 
 came up from the cabin kitchen-bedroom of the 
 ship's company, and, without looking at us, said : 
 
 ''If you fellows want some bean soup there's 
 plenty of it down there, and you're very wel- 
 come." 
 
 ''Much obliged, captain," said Smith; "and 
 perhaps you would'nt mind taking a little of this 
 — for the malaria. And a ci^rar." 
 
 The captain came down w^ithout waiting to be 
 shot. 
 
 We had plenty of provisions with us, and we 
 
294 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 made a memorable supper. The rmiaway car- 
 penter " washed up" after us. Then we " made 
 our beds " on the deck, between the canoes, drew 
 our blankets over us, and looked up at the stars, 
 which seemed, from the motion of the boat and 
 our position, to be moving in a grand, slow pro- 
 cession. It was a beautiful night, and our enjoy- 
 ment was 2:reat. The trees reached over the 
 canal nearly all the way. On one side, below us 
 some fifty yards, was the river, with a black 
 mountain on the other side. Above us, about 
 the same distance, was the railroad, cut out of 
 the mountain foot ; and sheer above that the 
 " eternal hills," lifting to the stars. 
 
 There was no sound but the swish of the o^reat 
 boat and the distant quick hoofing of the mules. 
 About midnio:ht we heard a stranae, hard roar, 
 rising and falling in a certain cadence. It was 
 only little Tom, who had just waked from his 
 first nap on the mule's back, and was cheering 
 them with a sons:. The children who drive the 
 mules for this great corporation soon learn to 
 sleep on the animals' backs. 
 
 In the morning, before breakfast, we saw a fair 
 place for lowering our boats to the river ; and we 
 shook hands with Captain Tom Elder, and the 
 serious cook, and the runaway carpenter, and 
 little Calliope-Tom. We had, it appeared, won 
 
DOWX THE SUSQUEHANNA. 295 
 
 their hearts ; and for one brief second I causfht 
 the retiring eye of the cook as we parted. 
 
 Returning to the river rejoiced us ; it was like 
 coming back to an old friend, — a renewal of 
 fealty. And it was w^ell for us that we had some 
 compunction to work off', for a viler ten miles 
 than that before us I have never seen, — not even 
 excepting the upper end of the Charles River. 
 
 First of all, the water was like milk-and-w^ater 
 in color, and it was limy to the taste. There w^as 
 a new sort of rock in the bottom, long ledges of 
 slate that crossed the river like bars, upon every 
 one of which we stuck. We never dreamt of 
 dressing : jerseys and shoes were enough. We 
 w^ere w^adinof half the time. At last we came to 
 an island, and we parted company, Smith going 
 to the riofht, and I to the left, close under the 
 mountain. The river was more than half a mile 
 wide ; and the island turned out to be many miles 
 long. It was a dismal experience, going alone, 
 and each wonderino^ how the other was o:ettin«: 
 on. For five miles I had not an unbroken run of 
 fifty yards. The side of the hill had evidently 
 fallen into the river, and crumbled into pieces 
 from the size of a foot-ball to the size of a cab. 
 The sluice-ways between some of these were 
 fierce and swift, but irritatingly short. 
 
 When I was about half-way down I began to 
 
29() ETHICS OF BOXING AND INIANLY SPORT. 
 
 fear that Smith might be worse off; so I hauled 
 toward the island and went ashore. Nowhere 
 could I see him, nor get an answer to a bush 
 " coo-ee ! " So I walked back to the end of the 
 island, only to find that he had had open river 
 all the way down, and nmst, therefore, be miles 
 ahead. An hour later I found him at the end of 
 the island, on a mos;jy l):rik, under tall beeches, 
 — a little bit from fairyland. 
 
 As we were about to a'et into our canoes, after 
 several hours' rest here, we saw a stranae siaht. 
 In the reflection under the boats oreat numbers 
 of little fish had gathered, and ranged themselves 
 in a line, evidently enjoying the only scrap of 
 shadow on the wide river. As Ave ran down a 
 grand reach of deep and swift water, below the 
 village, we saw another strange thing — a tre- 
 mendous iron pipe crossing the river in a lonely 
 place, like a huge serpent half-buried in the mud, 
 under eight feet of clear water. It was probably 
 the pipe of one of the great oil lines. Ten miles 
 farther down we came to another villa2:e ; and as 
 we shot a little rapid in its front a man ran down 
 to the river waving a letter. It was addressed to 
 me, ''On the Susquehanna River in a Canoe." It 
 was from the political committee at Wilkesbarre, 
 which we had almost forgotten, telling us that 
 we should have " an immense audience next 
 
DOAVN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 297 
 
 evening," and asking, ''On what train may we 
 expect you ? " 
 
 About a score of little boys, the oldest not 
 more than twelve, who had been swinnning, 
 gathered round as we read the letter, and sat in 
 the water like fowl, eying us silently. When we 
 started off they rose in a bevy, and plunged after 
 us, swimming splendidly, one blue-eyed little 
 fellow following my boat with extraordinary 
 rapidity, using the overhand stroke like an expert. 
 
 It was then four o'clock, and we were about 
 twelve miles from Danville. We paddled along 
 dejectedly, knowing that our trip had lost its 
 charm by this political interruption. But it was 
 too late to regret. We were delayed soon by 
 shallows and insignihcant rapids, and before we 
 had gone four miles the sun had sunk behind the 
 hills. 
 
 To cheer us up we floated at last into deep 
 water, and saw before us a scene of surpassing 
 loveliness and repose. The narrow valley on the 
 left was a marvellous picture of rural taste and 
 comfort. A farm-house smothered in soft foliaoe, 
 with roses trained over the porch, and in the 
 garden the largest and most beautiful weeping- 
 willow either of us had ever seen. A mile farther 
 down we passed a fisherman, and he told us there 
 were two strong rapids, some miles below, which 
 
298 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 could not be safely run in the dark. So we 
 carried our boats up to the tow-path, intending 
 to paddle into Danville that night on the canal. 
 
 But when we had eaten our supper we resolved 
 to stay where we were. It was a lonely and 
 lovely place. A high wooden bridge on stone 
 piers crossed the canal and railroad, and led up 
 into a road that was cut into the steep hillside. 
 
 We sat on the high bridge and enjoyed the 
 moonrise over the gloomy hill ; but, though we 
 did our best to forget it, the coming speech-mak- 
 ing disturbed us like the distant roar of rapid 
 water that we knew had to be considered and 
 crossed. 
 
 ''I wish Tom Elder would come alono- " su^-- 
 gested Smith. '^ We could go into Danville on 
 his canal boat." 
 
 But Tom was miles astern ; and we went and 
 raided on a wood-pile near the bridge, though no 
 house could be seen, and flung a dozen big sticks 
 down to the tow-path beside the boats. Just 
 then we heard a buggy, or light wagon, passing 
 on the road ; and Smith ran up on the bridge and 
 hailed it, meaning to ask some questions. 
 
 ^'Ho! I say! I say, sir!" he shouted, as he 
 sprang out in the moonlight. The driver of the 
 wagon started up his horse, evidently alarmed. 
 We heard the swish ! swish ! of the whip, quicker 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 299 
 
 and harder as Smith ran and shouted, and soon 
 the fri2:htened teamster was out of dan2:er. 
 
 We learned next day that the phice at which 
 we stopped had been the scene of numerous rob- 
 beries, and tliat people dislilved it even in the 
 daytime. It was well for us that the scared 
 driver had no o'un with him. 
 
 We lit our fire and made our beds beside it, 
 just withdrawn from the tow-path, and were soon 
 sleeping soundly. Once, about midnight, we 
 were awakened by a passing canal-boat ; but we 
 slept again, with a kindly " Good-night, fellows," 
 from the sleepy child on the back of the hind mule. 
 
 The dawn was just creeping over the hill when 
 another sound disturbed us, — a loud, hard, ca- 
 denced roar, Avhich was familiar. It was little, 
 red-headed, Calliope-Tom, singing his matins to 
 the mules. In ten minutes we had all our goods 
 in the boats, and we started up the tow-path to 
 meet our friends. Little Calliope-Tom saw us 
 afar off, and welcomed us with a long shout and a 
 loud. Captain Tom Elder greeted us cordially ; 
 the serious cook and the runaway carpenter came 
 up and gave a hand with our embarkation ; and in 
 a few minutes more we were sound asleep in our 
 blankets on the friendly deck. 
 
 At Danville, in the morning, we went to the 
 hotel, Captain Tom escorting us. We left our 
 
300 ETHICS GF BOXING AND 3IANLY 8PORT. 
 
 boats at the landing. After breakfast and a morn- 
 ing paper (the first for days) we resolved to 
 2:0 to AVilkesbarre at noon, and " think over our 
 speeches " by the way. 
 
 No need to tell of our reception, our audience, 
 our eloquence. We had a famous day, and a 
 night to be remembered, at the hospitable house 
 of a Pennsylvania gentleman of the old school, 
 who gave us much that the palates of wandering 
 men hanker after. 
 
 But the next day dawned, and we were far 
 from our canoes. We breakfasted with an etibrt at 
 cheerfulness. When the boy brought to us, at the 
 table, the morning paper, with a report of our 
 speeches, we brightened at once. But, lo ! it was 
 the Kepublican paper, the Democratic sheet hav- 
 ing only an evening issue. And therein we read, 
 with ghastly merriment, words of scorn for our 
 eloquence and pity for our arguments. 
 
 "Wait till evening, till you see the Leader/'' 
 said a friendly caller. "I tell you the Leader 
 will do you justice." 
 
 But no; we said " Good-by," and started for 
 Danville. On our way we concluded to go no 
 farther in the canoes, but to run on to Harris- 
 l)urg, taking them up as we passed Dan- 
 ville. That was the end of our voyage on the 
 river, though we followed it lovingly from the 
 
DOWN THE SUSQUEHAXXA. 301 
 
 window of the train all the way to Harrisburg. 
 AVe saw the marriage of the lovely eTuniata Avith 
 the Susquehanna, recalling the exquisite poem of 
 my friend, John Brown : — 
 
 " Oh! never such a sight: 
 He sweeping round the vahey's bend, 
 While she, on maiden tip-toe rising, 
 Feasts loving glances on the friend 
 She has so lonesome been abiding ; 
 He, helpless, seeks the fatal shore. 
 Charm-blinded by her eygs, dark-flashing 
 Within the portals of the door 
 Through which her slender form is passing: 
 He opens wide his giant arms, 
 The yomig and lordly Susquehanna ; 
 She nestles there her virgin charms, 
 The soft-voiced, lovely Juniata ; 
 
 There in the bright sunlight! " 
 
 And so, good-by for another season to the 
 sweet waters, the dancing boat, and the biceps- 
 building paddle. There is no sport or exercise so 
 complete as canoeing a river, for it embraces all 
 spoits, — the excitement of rapid water, the deli- 
 cious plunge, the long swim down stream, the 
 fishing and shooting, the free camping out at 
 night, and the endless beauty of the panoramic 
 scene. Canoe-clubs may meet and vote and com- 
 pete and sail regatta races on the lakes. But the 
 true canoeist knows not sail nor prize, but searches 
 with the paddle all the bends and rapids and shad- 
 owed reaches of our peerless American rivers. 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER IN A 
 
 CANOE. 
 
 " You can run everything on the river but the 
 Big Foul," said the teamster at Port Jervis, as 
 he helped us launch the canoes from a gravel 
 bank. 
 
 ' ' Where is the Big Foul ? " 
 
 ''Below Belvidere : you'll strike it in a few 
 days. Xo boat can run that rift at this stage of 
 the water.*' 
 
 " Oh, it's a rift," said Moseley, standing knee- 
 deep in the river, and packing his canoe. ''I 
 thought it was a bird. Why is it called the Big 
 Fowf? " 
 
 '' It is the foulest rapid on the Delaware," an- 
 swered the teamster. ''I know the river to 
 Trenton : went down last May on a fresh. You 
 can run all the rest ; but you'll have to carry 
 round the Big Foul Eift." 
 
 We had before heard about this rapid with 
 
 (808) 
 
304 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 the ominous name. A discussion in Forest and 
 Stream, a few years ago, directed the attention 
 of canoemen to its alleged dangers and extreme 
 rapidity of current.* 
 
 I had with me also the notes of one of the best 
 canoemen in the country, who had run the Dela- 
 ware in the spring of last year, to which I re^ 
 ferred, and found these words : — 
 
 ''Great Foul Rift, short distance below Belvidere. Ran 
 do\^Ti on rafting fresli in May. Length almost a mile and a 
 half from head of Little Foul to foot of Great Foul. Rapidity 
 of water and danger much exaggerated." 
 
 ''That's all right for a spring fresh," said the 
 teamster, who had heard this note read. ''But 
 
 * Two canoemen of East Orange, X. .J., who ran the rapids 
 in 1878, and who claimed to be the first to do it, wrote as fol- 
 lows: "After passing through two or three smaU rifts, we 
 arrived at Great Foul Rift, which is considered the most dan- 
 gerous one in the river, on account of the number of rocks and 
 the swiftness of the current. How to describe our passage 
 through here, we hardly know; all we can say is, we saw it, 
 we entered it, and we passed it. You can see the big slate 
 rocks on all sides of you. and are unable to tell what minuta 
 you will strike them. This rift is two miles long, and we 
 passed through it in three minutes exactly, being carried that 
 fast by the current, without using our paddles." This state- 
 ment was received with astonishment. Two miles in three 
 minutes, or forty miles an hour, is not the speed of a rapid, but 
 almost that of a waterfall. 
 
 Among the critics was Mr. A. H. Siegfried of Louisville, who 
 had also run the Great Foul Rift. He wrote: "We were 
 warned against Foul Rift for two days above it, and came to it 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVEK. 305 
 
 the river is ten feet lower now ; and it's the 
 bottom of a river that's dangerous, not the top." 
 
 Guiteras was the first in his canoe. ''Here 
 goes for Philadelphia ! " he cried, as he pushed off. 
 ''Are there any rapids near us, down the river?" 
 
 " Listen ! " and the teamster smiled. 
 
 We listened and heard one, the sound coming 
 from the bend of the river half a mile below. 
 
 " It's only a little one," shouted the teamster, 
 as we started. " Keep well to the left, and you'll 
 find a channel. It is a smooth rift." 
 
 We were three, in three canoes,— Mr. Edward 
 A. Moseley in a stoat boat built by Partelow, of 
 the Charles Eiver ; Dr. Ramon Guiteras, in a 
 
 determined not merely to run it, but to examine it carefully, 
 and see if it is as dangerous as the natives tliink. We went 
 through it without paddle, save for steering purposes, but 
 losing no time from speed of actual current, and were just 
 eleven minutes from the time we entered until we left the swift 
 water. That vre thought a quick run, considering the windings 
 of the channel, following which the distance is fully three miles, 
 though a straight line will measure nearly one-third less. The 
 rift is very swift and crooked, whirling among many and such 
 recklessly distributed boulders that the speed claimed by ' F. P. 
 and E. P. D.' would have been sure death to both boats and 
 men if it had been possible." 
 
 The official measurements of the Little and Great Foul Rifts 
 are: Little Foul Rift, 768 ft.; Great Foul Rift, 4,620ft.; dis- 
 tance from head of Little Rift to foot of Great Rift, 1^ mile. 
 These measurements are probably by the straight line, and not 
 according to the windings of the channel. 
 
306 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY 8POUT. 
 
 stroiiof Racine ; while mine was a keelless, decked 
 canoe, by the best builder in tlie world, Rushton, 
 of Canton, N. Y. 
 
 It was two in the afternoon of a glorious day 
 when w^e started from Port Jervis. After a long, 
 dusty railroad ride, it is impossible to convey the 
 exhilarating sense of freedom and enjoyment 
 wdiich one feels during the first moments in his 
 canoe. To plunge the bare arms to the elbow 
 into the river as you go, and let the cool water 
 curl up to the biceps ; to feel the soft breeze on 
 bare head and neck ; to be far from the busy 
 crowds in the cities, with all the senses awake to 
 new and fascinating objects — the swirl of rapid 
 w^ater, the brown and yellow stones on the bot- 
 tom of the river, the large, free movements of 
 clouds, the strange flowers on the bank ; to grip 
 the paddle with an agreeable sense of power in 
 shoulder and hand ; to brace the feet strongly 
 against the foot-rest and feel the canoe spring 
 with the elastic force of the stroke ; to shout un- 
 restrainedly to your companions, and hear them 
 shout in return like hearty, natural men ; to 
 laugh consumedly with slight cause ; and in the 
 midst of all this joyous wakefulness, to be aware 
 of the nearing rapid ahead — to hear its low, 
 steady roar, as if the sound clung to the water ; 
 and to be aware also of a new preparation of 
 
J^OWX THE DELAWARE KIVEU. 3U7 
 
 nerve, sight, and muscle — a purely animal and 
 instinctive alertness — for the moment of rushing 
 excitement into which you are swee})ing, — all 
 this we experienced w^ithin ten minutes of leav- 
 ino; the caravel bed at Port Jervis, and while the 
 teamster still shouted to us from the shore. 
 
 We w^ere silent at first, and surprised. It took 
 us some moments to realize that the surprise was 
 delight. The river was not deep — three or four 
 feet at most ; but it ran down hill like a hunted 
 hare. There w^as something quite new in it, too, 
 w^hicli I concluded to be the long, w^avy green 
 weeds near the bottom, that floated straight w^ith 
 the current like a yacht's pennant in a gale, and 
 by their swaying and glistening in the depths in- 
 dicated the course and the extraordinary rapidity 
 of the water. 
 
 ^' This is superb!" said one. The others 
 echoed the word. 
 
 Almost before we knew, we w^ere in the rush of 
 the first rapid. We had not carefully followed 
 the teamster's instructions to keep to the extreme 
 left ; and we had passed the narrow mouth of the 
 channel. Before us ran an oblique bar of heavy 
 stones, over which the river poured like a curtain. 
 It ran clear across the river, and we found our- 
 selves far into the closed ano-le. The water on 
 the curtain to the left roared like a heavy surf, 
 
308 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 and we knew that we could not o-et over or 
 through. There was no opening between the 
 stones more than two feet wide, and beyond or 
 below w^as a hundred yards of chaotic rock and 
 roar. 
 
 We turned and paddled up stream — I might 
 have said up hill. Inch by inch we gained, work- 
 ing with feverish speed, the paddle slipping back 
 in the o'lancino- stream as if it were in air, holdino- 
 hardly any force. 
 
 But we climbed the first descent, and steered 
 across to where the channel hugged the right 
 bank. Guiteras went in first ; he had not oone 
 up far enough by a boat's length, and as he shot 
 across into the narrow channel, his canoe lurched 
 upon one side, stood a moment and swung athwart 
 sU'eain. He had struck ; l)ut before a thought of 
 danger could follow, the paddle was buried, and 
 with a lifting push, his boat slipped over the stone 
 and rushed down the rapid like a leaf. 
 
 The other canoes followed, avoiding the buried 
 stone. It was a vigorous little rush — about two 
 hundred yards in length, and not fifteen feet in 
 width. The water was deep, l)ut its speed made 
 it rise in a leap over every stone on the bottom, 
 and hurl itself in all kinds of rido-es and furrows 
 and springing white-caps. 
 
 At the bottom of the rift we plunged into a 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 309 
 
 heap of boiling breakers, still running like mad. 
 Next moment we floated into smooth water, and 
 turned and looked back at our first rapid with 
 much lauo'hin^: and con^rratulation. 
 
 The rapid, or rift (on the Upper Delaware all 
 rapids are r!fts; on the Lower Delaware all rifts 
 are/«//8; the change beginning, I think, about 
 Easton, as, for instance. Saw-mill Rift, Death's 
 Eddy Eift, Big Foul Rift; and below, Welles's 
 Falls, Trenton Falls, etc.) — the rapid w^e had 
 passed, on looking back, seemed insignificant in 
 descent and rouo-hness ; but we were fairly aston- 
 ished at the speed of the water, and I think we 
 had a vague consciousness that it would have been 
 no child's play to steer through that channel had 
 it been of any considerable length, and broken Iw 
 rocks. The teamster had called it ''a little one," 
 and -^a smooth rift;" what, then, were the bio- 
 ones ? There w^as no mention at all of this rift in 
 the notes of the canoeman which I hud with 
 me. What was the ominous Great Foul Rift in 
 comparison ? 
 
 As we gazed back at the rapid, it receded from 
 us swiftlv. We were on the quiet surface of 
 deep water, but going down at the rate of several 
 miles an hour. 
 
 The current still kept to the left bank, and an 
 odd bank it was, — worth describing, because 
 
310 ETHICS OF BOXING AMD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 it continued intermittently quite down to Trenton, 
 where the last rapid on the Delaware pitches the 
 canoeman into tidal water. The bank resembled 
 molten metal that had hardened. It was ahiiost 
 black, a clean, smooth stone, with round puff- 
 holes in it, no vegetation whatever on the 
 steep slope of, say, twenty feet from the water's 
 edge, above which rose a wooded hill, almost a 
 mountain. The metallic bank ended alnniptly in 
 the stream, and the deep current alongside ran 
 with astonishing swiftness. 
 
 I realized in brief time that up to that day I 
 had not known rapid water, continued in a long 
 stream. The Susquehanna rapids are short and 
 sharp descents, followed by slow and gentle 
 reaches, some of which are miles in length. The 
 Connecticut, in a memory of six years' distance, 
 spreads out like a lake, with here and there a log 
 moving alongshore, showing that there actually is 
 a current. The Merrimack was remembered as 
 a very millpond, except on the short descent of 
 Miller's Falls, near Haverhill, and in the power- 
 ful tidal rush under Deer Island Chain-bridge at 
 Xewburyport; while many lesser streams were 
 quite forgotten in presence of this grand artery 
 which carried us onward almost as fast as we 
 could paddle on slower rivers. 
 
 I have given too much space to our first rapid 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVEK. 311 
 
 on the Delaware, which, we soon found, was 
 only one of scores before us, and a small one — 
 even a ''smooth one." But it will save other 
 descriptions ; and it gives our first impression of 
 the river. Havinir run the Delaware from Port 
 Jervis to Philadelphia, Ave found that this first 
 rapid was singularly characteristic. All the 
 considerable rapids are of a somewhat similar 
 formation, — except the Great Foul Rift, which 
 is unique. 
 
 The rapids of the Delaware are formed in the 
 main by an oblique line of rocks crossing the 
 river, Icavino: a narrow channel on one side, or 
 sometimes the opening is almost one-third of the 
 way across, with reefs on both sides. 
 
 With deep water, say in May or June, when 
 the river is from eight to ten feet higher than it 
 was in the last week of August, a canoeman may 
 run two hundred miles of this incomparable river 
 without striking a stone. But every foot of fall 
 in the stream makes a totallv new river ; and he 
 who goes down on a freshet in early summer 
 cannot imagine what the river is like at low 
 water in late autumn. 
 
 The Delaware is a river of extraordinary pitch, 
 the fall from Port Jervis to Philadelphia being 
 nearly 1,200 feet. 
 
 On that first afternoon we intended to run down 
 
312 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AXD MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 to Milford, twelve miles distant, where, we had 
 been told, there w^as a famous hotel. But we 
 lingered on the way. In the sweltering heat we 
 pulled the canoes ashore and plunged into the 
 delicious water, drinkinir it as we swam — a sensa- 
 tion for epicures. AVe la}' prone in the rapid 
 stream, our arms outspread, and our faces under 
 water, floating quickly down, and looking at the 
 yellow and white pebbles on the bottom. 
 
 At last w^e came to a lovely spot, a soft white 
 sand-bank on the left, the Jersey side, formed by 
 the junction of a bright little river with the Dela- 
 ware. Every paddle was laid down. Half a mile 
 below we heard the dull roar of a rapid. Here 
 the river was very deep and swift, and not more 
 than eighty 3'ards wide. On the right, a wooded 
 but precipitous mountain rose ahnost straight 
 from the water to a heiu'ht of at least 800 feet. 
 From his eyrie far up we had disturbed a white- 
 headed eagle which floated and tipped its great 
 winofs above us as it moved slowlv down river. 
 
 The sand-bank was in the angle where the little 
 river fell over a short rapid of twenty yards into 
 the Delaware. The bank was hemmed in bv a 
 dense wood. 
 
 "We camped on the sand-l)ank for the night. 
 One man erected the tent ; another cooked dinner ; 
 the third went in search of a farmhouse for milk, 
 
DOAVN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 313 
 
 eggs, melons and peaches — the staple of our food 
 for the next fortnight. 
 
 While the dinner simmered we had a trial of 
 strength with the Delaware itself, breast to breast. 
 Swiftly we struck across and down the river for 
 a hundred yards, and then turned and faced the 
 stream. Three strong swimmers, — two of the 
 three extraordinary. Moseley, with the over-hand 
 stroke, which sends him about eiixht feet a stroke 
 in still water, made progress at the rate of about 
 one foot a stroke. Guiteras barely held his own, 
 swimmins: as if he were anchored; and, watchino- 
 the bank, I saw that I was actually going down 
 stream. Under such circumstances you can do a 
 great deal of swimming in a quarter of an hour. 
 
 The sun went down on the left, al)ove the low 
 trees, without cloud or haze. For a lono- time 
 after its disappearance the upward rays flamed 
 on the face of the great clift' across the river, the 
 red o'leam movins; hia'her and higher, and the 
 darkness creeping up the wooded wall like a vast 
 tide. When the line of light had cleared the brow 
 of the cliff* the trees above, diminished to a fino-er- 
 leno:th, blazed in o'old and crimson : and then, 
 almost suddenly, the li<rht left them, — rose over 
 them, and was lost in space, and they, too, were 
 swallowed up in the night. 
 
 " The lio'ht that shoots over the heads of trees 
 
314 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 or pe()})le,*' said Moseley, 'Miiiglit as well not 
 exist.'' 
 
 With which philosophic reflection, we spread 
 our rubber blankets on the sand of the tent, over 
 these our woollen blankets ; and then, with a big 
 fire blazing a few feet from the tent's mouth, we 
 lav or sat for our cofiee and ci^'ars. 
 
 Throughout our trip this quiet smoking hour, 
 each evenino: with a stranire scene before us, was 
 a most enjoyable part of the day. 
 
 We slept as if the night were an hour long, 
 and we woke to plunge into the sweet unchilled 
 water. We started without breakfast, hoping to 
 reach ^Milford and the " famous cook" at an early 
 hour. 
 
 The miles were long, and the river unendingly 
 broken. It was down hill all the time, rift suc- 
 ceeding rift. Do what we could with careful 
 steerino', we struck aizain and airain, and we were 
 in constant danger of smashing boats or paddles. 
 So common became the striking that we coined a 
 word for it — 'Miung up." And we could not 
 help laughing, when one struck, as we swept past 
 and saw him grimly poling his canoe over a rock, 
 or raisino- his feet over the aunwale, as he orot 
 out to haul her over. For this we had to be 
 always ready ; trousers tucked up, and canvas 
 shoes on. 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE KIVER. 315 
 
 It came to •be a jesting habit, that when one 
 led into a rapid he would do so ^vith a boastful 
 shout. This was my part, at one time on this 
 second day. I had gone into a rift with much 
 flourish, and, a third of the way through, had 
 been ''hung up." Down rushed the others with 
 loud derision, avoiding' the bad ])lace. Imao-ine 
 mv feelinir of disa'ust at their selfishness, as I saw 
 their backs, leavino- me there. Xext moment, in 
 the worst part of the rapid, I saw one of them 
 strike and hold his boat with his paddle against a 
 rock ; and a second or two later the other struck 
 just beside him. Who could help smiling? And 
 that moment, by a fortunate lurch, my canoe 
 floated and rushed down toward the two, who 
 were now struggling knee-deep in the stream. 
 They held on to let me pass, and scowled as if 
 my laugh were in bad taste. 
 
 At ten o'clock we reached Milford, Penn., and 
 climbed the hundred feet of steep bank on which 
 the little town stands. Over the town, all round, 
 rose still many hundred feet of grandly-wooded 
 mountains. The hotel, they told us, was over 
 twelve hundred feet above sea level. The hotel 
 ^ve found to l)e even better than its report. 
 
 Ever since starting at Port eTervis, Mosele}^ 
 had kept referring to the beauty of the scenery at 
 Walpack Bend, some fifteen or twenty miles be- 
 
316 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SrORT. 
 
 low Milford. He had a camera with hnn, and 
 his desire to get out and take a view grew on him 
 like a disease. Xo impatience, or protest, or 
 prayer affected him. " When we get home," he 
 would unselfishly say, ''these pictures will be 
 the best part of the trip," — and he was right. 
 
 The banks on l)oth sides now rose into moun- 
 tains, w^ooded to the top. The river was a series 
 of deep and swift reaches, and then a leaping 
 rift, with a steep descent. 
 
 In the very centre of one of these rapids, an un- 
 usually deep one, my canoe struck on a covered 
 rock and I knew in a flash that she must either o-et 
 instantlv over or be rolled down stream. Thouo^ht 
 and act united. I lifted her by a vigorous push, 
 and was whirled down, stern foremost, with my 
 paddle broken. 
 
 Fortunately, the channel below was deep, 
 though rough and very rapid. To meet the emer- 
 gency I knelt up, instead of sitting as heretofore, 
 and used the broken end of the paddle as a pole, 
 fending ofl* rocks, and steering occasionally with 
 the blade end. 
 
 Before I had cleared the rapid I knew that my 
 loss was a a'ain. The best wav to steer a canoe 
 down a rapid is to kneel and use a long paddle 
 until one Uade^ the other end to he used as apole. 
 
 I had a spare paddle in the canoe, a delicate spoon 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE KIYER. 317 
 
 paddle, only fit for deep water. As soon as the 
 rift was past, I jointed this and used it ; l)ut when 
 the next rift was heard, kiid it aside and took up 
 the broken paddle. 
 
 The memory of tliat day is wholly confused 
 with the noise of rapid water. We were no 
 sooner through one rift than we heard another. 
 The names of the rapids were quaint and sugges- 
 tive : such as Death's Eddy, Fiddler's Elbow, 
 Milliner's Shoe, Sambo and Mary, Vancamp's 
 Nose, and Shoemaker's Eddy. 
 
 One must use colors, not words, to paint the 
 beauty of the scene that opened before us on our 
 third day, when we ran the upper rapid at Wal- 
 pack Bend, and floated into a reach of river that 
 can hardly be surpassed in the world. On our 
 right and left the banks were low and richly 
 timbered; and straioht ahead, barring' our way, 
 about half a mile oft', a high mountain, wooded 
 from the water to the crest. 
 
 The river runs straio-ht to the mountain-foot, 
 and there turns directly to the left. It is not a 
 curve or a sweep, but distinctly a right angle ; 
 and then, for one mile with the hill to the right 
 and the low farms on the left, and for two miles 
 with the mountain to the left and the farms to 
 the right, the grand stream paces slowly, like a 
 proud horse in the eye of a multitude. 
 
318 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Here we had a striking illustration of the 
 power of color. The wooded height before us 
 rose at least twelve hundred feet. The river l)e- 
 low was o'reen with the immense reflection. But 
 on the very line of union, where the leaves met 
 and kissed in air and water, was a little flame of 
 crimson, which held the eye and centered all the 
 immensity. 
 
 It was one small cardinal flower, a plant that 
 grows all the way along the Delaware. The 
 intensity of its color is indescribable. After this 
 superb exhibition of its power, one little red 
 flower ao:ainst a mile of green and silver, I 
 gathered every day a handful of the lovely 
 blossoms and set them on the bow of the 
 canoe. 
 
 When one thinks of the marvels of this river, 
 the regret becomes painful that they are unknown 
 to the outer world, that they are only seen by the 
 natives of the scenes and the accidental canoe 
 voyager. 
 
 The rivers are the veins and arteries of a 
 country, the railroads and roads the nerves and 
 sinew^s. 
 
 He has seen the land truly, with its wealth 
 and strength, who has followed the rivers from 
 their sources in the hills down to the tide-pulsat- 
 incr ocean-heart. But the railroads are familiar, 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 319 
 
 the rivers unknown. " Sin writes histories," 
 says Goethe : " goodness is silent." 
 
 The river aftects men in a difterent way from 
 the road. The dweller by the railroad is keen 
 and quick to trade, and dicker, and undertake. 
 The inhabitants of the river valleys are placid 
 folk ; farmers content with their peaceful and 
 laborious lives. 
 
 Such homes as the poets have imagined are 
 realities on every mile of the Delaware's banks. 
 Xever before, in the same space, have I seen so 
 many quiet, contented, and gentle working peo- 
 ple. Scores and hundreds of farm-houses we 
 passed, surrounded with flowers and foliage, the 
 easy-chairs waiting on the wide porch, with the 
 women sitting sewing, the children playing near 
 the house, the men Avorking in the farmyard or 
 in the spreading melon or peach fields, and the 
 bright river moving forever before their eyes, 
 with its great homely ferry-boat waiting below, 
 where the shaded paths comes down the bank. 
 Softly come to one's memory the lines of Bryant, 
 
 ^' O River, gentle River! gliding on 
 In silence underneath this cloud -flecked sky 
 Thine is a ministry that never rests, 
 Even while the living slumber. 
 
 At dead of night the child awakes and hears 
 Thy soft, familiar dashings, and is soothed, 
 And sleeps again." 
 
320 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 But one is tempted to linger too long on such a 
 scene as this at AValpack Bend. Here, for the 
 first time since we left Port Jervis, the water ran 
 slowW. It is hard to leave a spot so beautiful, 
 where so few strangers are led. Here was Nature 
 at first hand. To impress it deeper on iny mind, 
 I retrace our course, on the bank, to where, a 
 hundred yards above the bend, a little singing 
 river flows into the Delaware. Only a few inches 
 deep, babbling over brown pebbles, bright as the 
 sun itself in its flashes, coming down under a dim 
 arch of trees and fringing underwood — a very 
 dream of a little singing brook, that 
 '■ Knows the way to the sea." 
 Here, sitting on a stone, enjoying the soft susur- 
 rus in my ears and in the leaves and in the rip- 
 ples, comes along a country boy, fishing — down 
 the dim arch, walking in the little river, bare- 
 footed. 
 
 ''Bushmill Creek is its name," he says; and 
 he knows no more about it — not how long it is, 
 nor whence it comes. But yet a commentator 
 and critic, this barefooted fisher. 
 
 " How far have you fellows come?" he asked, 
 examining the canoes. 
 
 " From Port Jervis." 
 
 " And how far are you going?" 
 
 ^'To Philadelphia," 
 
DOWN THE DEL AWAKE KIVER. 321 
 
 ''Well," — a long pause — ''you fellows must 
 want something to do I " 
 
 A song sung l)y some country girls and boys 
 in a boat, passing close to the mountain foot, 
 makes a memory of music and echo as vivid as 
 the gleam of the cardinal flower. They slowly 
 move their unwieldly-looking crooked oars, char- 
 acteristic of the Delaware — the flat blade set on 
 the oar at an obtuse ano'le. But this oar, hino:ed 
 on the gunwale of the flat-bottomed boat, or 
 l)ateau, is suited to a river of rifts, the bent blade 
 enabling the rower to sweep the shallow water 
 without striking;. 
 
 The river is rich with bass, and the fishers are 
 numerous. Below Walpack Bend, a lady in a 
 boat, excited and joyous, holds up a splendid fish 
 as we pass. 
 
 " See ! I've just caught it ! " she says. It was 
 at least five pounds weight. A gentleman in the 
 boat tells us that we can run all the rapids down 
 the river — ' ' except the Great Foul Eift ! " 
 
 Here it was again ; and from this time forward, 
 almost every one to whom we spoke warned us 
 in about the same words. Hence grew an unex- 
 pressed desire in each of our minds to get away 
 from this croaking rapid ; we longed to reach and 
 run it, and have done with it. 
 
 But we were approaching one of the glories of 
 
322 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 the Delaware — the most famous and certainly the 
 most sublmie — the Water Gap. AVe reached it 
 unexpectedly. We knew when it was only a few 
 miles awav, but we could see nothinof ahead but 
 the unbroken mountain ran2:e on each side. One 
 mile aw^ay, and the range had closed ai'ound us in 
 a bight, leaving no perceptible opening for the 
 river. 
 
 ' ' Where is the Water Gap ? " we asked a boat- 
 ful of fishers, anchored under a bridire. 
 
 " Youll see it in half a minute," they answered. 
 ''And look out! for just round the turn there, 
 you will be in the rapid." 
 
 We did not need the warnino- ; we were in the 
 quick water already. Looking into the stream, 
 we saw the yellow stones on the bottom fly stern- 
 ward at an extraordinary pace. The roar of a 
 powerful rapid reached us as we came to a sharp 
 turn in the river ; and below us we saw a memo- 
 rable scene. 
 
 I do not know the descendins^ anale of that 
 rapid, nor the measure of its fall; but it seemed 
 as if we were on the top of a hill of rushing water, 
 at the bottom of which, less than a mile away, 
 was a vast wooded basin, its green slope broken 
 by two white hotels set on the hillside, but still 
 seemingly far below us. 
 
 There was no time for admiration, or for any- 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. o2o 
 
 thing but steering. We ran down the Jersey 
 shore, close to the rocky mountain foot, in the 
 fastest rush so far. The river plunged from ledge 
 to ledge fiercely ; but the channel was deep. At 
 the foot of the fall, we were shot into a whirlpool 
 of yelloAV breakers that curled up and washed 
 clean over the canoes, drenching all, and almost 
 swamping one of them. 
 
 We stopped at the Water Gap that night, and 
 sat long on the wide veranda of the hotel, looking 
 at the wonderful scene. The river passes between 
 two mountains, as through a tremendous gateway ; 
 and one feels, without knowing, that beyond that 
 imperial portal, the scene must change into some- 
 thing quite new and strange. 
 
 This we found to be true : the Delaware may 
 be said to have left the mountains when it pours 
 through the Water Gap. Henceforth, its banks 
 are bold, or even precipitous, as the right bank 
 surely is in a wonderful cliff some miles below 
 Reiofelsville ; but it is a mountain river no longer. 
 
 In the morning, before starting, we climbed 
 the mountain and looked down on the wild beauty 
 of the Water Gap. From that height the fall in 
 the river was imperceptible ; and the rapid that 
 had astonished us the day before looked like a 
 mere shallow brawl. 
 
 Few people are aware of the force and danger 
 
324 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 of rapid broken water. To the person who 
 drives or walks along a river, the rapid seems 
 the safest spot, because it is obviously the shal- 
 lowest. But, as the teamster said at Port Jervis, 
 it is ''the bottom that is to be feared, not the 
 
 top." 
 
 ''It is just the same with humanity," says 
 
 Guiteras, when this thought is spoken ; '' it is the 
 
 superficial and hasty people who make all the 
 
 trouble. Depth of mind is as safe as depth of 
 
 w^ater." 
 
 The last word to us from the boat-keeper at 
 the Water Gap was, of course, a warning about 
 the Great Foul Eift. We ran two or three rapids 
 that day that tested nerves and boats, and were 
 exasperated to hear that they wwe ''smooth 
 rifts," and " nothing at all to the Big Foul." 
 
 In the high heat of the afternoon, we came to 
 a place wdiere a little waterfall leaped down a 
 bank almost twenty feet into the river. The 
 falling water was white as snow. We w^ent 
 under it and enjoyed a glorious shower bath, but 
 found that in the centre the water fell in lumps 
 almost as heavy and hurtful as clay. 
 
 That day, too, we had another novel and de- 
 lightful experience, ^^e came to an unbroken 
 reach of river on which the descent was so great 
 that a stretch of two miles before us resembled a 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 325 
 
 coasting-hill of ice. The river was about five 
 feet deep, with a gravel bottom. We let the 
 canoes float, and we followed, with outspread 
 arms and faces in the water, fairly coasting down 
 that wonderful liquid slope. 
 
 Late in the evening, not finding a pleasant 
 camping place, we settled at last on a tolerable 
 spot, on an island. We were tired, and we soon 
 fell asleep — to be awakened by a shout of hor- 
 ror from Guiteras, over whose hand a snake had 
 crawled ! He had flung the reptile from him, out 
 of the tent. 
 
 After such a start, sleep was out of the ques- 
 tion. AVe lay, however, and tried to rest. But 
 every rustle of the leaves outside, every insect 
 that stirred in the grass, brought a chill and 
 creepy feeling. 
 
 ''I am going to sleep in the canoe," at last 
 said one ; and at the word we gathered our 
 blankets and abandoned the tent. 
 
 If it were not for the danoer of strainino- the 
 boat if pulled ashore, or of catching malaria if it 
 be left afloat, the canoe is the pleasantest and 
 easiest sleeping place. 
 
 In the morning a swim, a solid breakfast, and 
 an extra careful packing of the canoes. No one 
 spoke of it ; but that morning we were each con- 
 scious of a particular attention paid to the trim of 
 
326 ETHICS OF J?OXING AND MAXLY SPORT. 
 
 the boats and the stowing of duiiiuige. At about 
 eleven o'clock in the forenoon we would reach 
 Belvidere ; and the Great Foul Rift was only a 
 mile fiirther. 
 
 There was a camp of bass iishers near us, and 
 they came to see us start. They learned our in- 
 tention of going down without portage, rift or no 
 rift. They did not dissuade us. One of them 
 said he knew the Big Foul Rift, and he gave us 
 precise, too precise, instructions. All I could 
 recall half an hour later was : " Keep to the right 
 when you come to the big white stone —if there's 
 water enough to float your boats." 
 
 It was noon when we came to the town of 
 Belvidere, and paddled into deep water under a 
 mill. AVe needed some necessaries for our dinner, 
 and we could buy them here. The school-boys 
 flocked to the bank to see the canoes, and the 
 mill-workers (it was the dinner hour) came down 
 to have a chat. 
 
 "You are not soinsr to run the rift?" asked 
 
 one. 
 
 " Yes, we are." 
 
 ''Thev can do it: thev don't draw more than 
 two inches," said another. 
 
 We knew that at least one of the canoes, heavily 
 laden with baggage, and with a heavy man in her, 
 drew more than six inches. We could get no 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 327 
 
 information worth having, except a repetition of 
 the fisherman's word : ' ' Keep to the right of the 
 big rock, two-thirds of the way down, — if you 
 can/' 
 
 ' ' Xobody has gone down the rift for five weeks," 
 said the man who had first spoken. 
 
 Guiteras was o-oins; ashore for the necessaries ; 
 and as he stood in his canoe, about to step on a 
 log that edged the bank, he slipped, and pitched 
 head-first into the deep water. We were so used 
 to going into the water anyway, that the other 
 two sat quite still in the canoes, as if not heeding, 
 while Guiteras climbed out and shook himself, in 
 a matter-of-course kind of way. This nonchalance 
 created an impression on the crowd ; and shortly 
 after, when we started, the general prediction was 
 audibly in our favor. 
 
 " Keep to the right of the big white rock, and 
 you will strike the channel," shouted a man as we 
 started. 
 
 Haifa mile or so below Belvidere, we felt the 
 water quicken and sweep to the right — the Penn- 
 sylvania bank. We knew we were in the first 
 reach of the rapid that had been roaring for us 
 since we started. 
 
 There are two distinct rapids, — the Little Foul 
 and the Great Foul, — divided by a reach of safe 
 but swift water of half a mile. 
 
328 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 From the moment we struck the Little Foul 
 Eift, we knew we were in the grip of a giant. 
 We were as much astonished as if w^e had never 
 run a rapid before. AYe shot dow^n the river — 
 each one finding his own channel — like chips; 
 and, with all our careful steering, we grazed 
 several dano'erous stones. 
 
 There was no stopping at the foot of the Little 
 Foul Rift ; but we ran with the stream without 
 paddling, and examined the entrance to the Great 
 Rapid ahead. 
 
 There w^as no bar or ledge formation here, as 
 in the minor rifts behind us. The rocks stood 
 up like the broken teeth of a sperm whale, irregu- 
 larly across the river, and as far ahead as we 
 could see from the canoes. Some of the stones 
 were twelve feet out of the water, others of lesser 
 height, and of all shapes ; some were level with 
 the surface, and some covered with a few^ inches 
 of w^ater. These last were the dangers : to strike 
 and o'ct " hunof up " on one of these meant certain 
 upsetting : for no boat coukl stand the rush, and 
 there was no footing for tlie canoeman if he tried 
 to get out to push her over. 
 
 But more threatening than the tall rocks, that 
 looked like a disorganized Stonehenge, was the 
 terrible nature of the bed rock, and the broken 
 stones on the bottom. AVe could steer between 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 329 
 
 the teeth we saw, but we suddenly became con- 
 scious of unseen teeth that lay in wait to lacerate 
 the boats under the water-line. 
 
 The whole bed of the river is formed of a rock 
 that is worn and wasted in a stranofelv horrible 
 way, as if it were pitted with a hideous small- 
 pox. Round and oval holes are seen everywhere 
 in the rock, some of them as much as two feet 
 deep and three feet across ; and the upper edges 
 of these bowls are as sharp as scythes. 
 
 We saw the process of this singular pitting. 
 Heavy stones are caught on an angle of the bottom 
 and rolled over and over without proceeding, till 
 they wear out these cup-like holes, and are buried 
 deeper and deeper in their ceaseless industry. As 
 the bowl increases in size, it catches two workers 
 instead of one, and these grind each other and 
 grind the matrix till the very heart of Xature 
 must admit their toil, and pity their restlessness. 
 
 Some of these great stone cups were high out 
 of water, empty and dry ; and their round tor- 
 mentors lay in peace on the bottom. Some were 
 above the surface, but still half full of water that 
 had dashed into them from the rapid. 
 
 But there was a keener evil than the circular 
 knife tops of these vessels ; and it was their 
 broken edges. 
 
 When the torrents of winter and spring thun- 
 
330 ETHICS OF BOxma and manly sport. 
 
 der through the Great Foul Rift, whirling and 
 drao:oino' trunks of trees and massive stones down 
 the surcharged channels, the pitted ledges of bot- 
 tom and bank are smashed like potsherds, the 
 imprisoned stones are released and shoot down 
 the river, and the fractured rock remains to cut 
 the water with irregular edges as sharp as a shat- 
 tered punch-bowl. 
 
 We were going into the Great Foul Eift all 
 this time, at the rate of — but who can tell the 
 rate of rapid water? The best canoeman I know 
 says there is no canoeing- water in America over 
 twelve miles an hour, — I think he places this on 
 the Susquehanna, below Columbia, — and that 
 eight miles is very rapid indeed. He may be 
 right; but, were Tasked how fast we went into 
 the Great Foul Rift, I should say, at least, at the 
 rate of twelve miles an hour, and, in parts of the 
 descent, much faster. 
 
 Guiteras went first, but was caught on a cov- 
 ered flat stone in the quick, smooth water ; and 
 Moseley led into the rapid, Guiteras, who had 
 floated oflF, following. I came about fifty yards 
 behind. 
 
 From the first break of the water, the sensation 
 was somewhat similar to that of falling through 
 the branches of a tree. The river was twisting- 
 do wn-hill in convulsions. We rushed through 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 331 
 
 narrow slopes of ten or twenty feet as if we were 
 fallino; and then shot round a rock, flino:in2^ the 
 whole weight of our l:)odies on the steermg-pad- 
 dle. The tall stones ahead seemed to be rushing 
 at us with the velocity of an ocean steamer. 
 
 All the time we were painfully conscious of the 
 presence of the incisive edges under water, as 
 one mio^ht feel the nearness of buro^lars' knives 
 in the nioht. If we struck one of these stones 
 on a downward shoot, it Avould rip the canoe 
 from bow to stern. 
 
 Moseley steered skilfully, and we cleared two- 
 thirds of the tortuous descent without a shock. 
 A quarter of a mile ahead we saw the smooth 
 water at the foot of the rift. We had crossed 
 the river, and were runnins; down on the Penn- 
 sylvania shore. Suddenly, the channel we were 
 in divided at a areat white stone, the wider water 
 going to the left, toward the centre of the river, 
 and a narrow black streak keeping straight down 
 to the right. 
 
 A memory of the warning came to me, " Keep 
 to the right of the big rock, — if you can." But 
 it was too late. A man could not hear his own 
 shout in such an uproar. The white rock rushed 
 past us. The canoes ahead had turned with the 
 main stream, and were in the centre of the river 
 in a flash. Suddenly both canoes ahead were 
 
332 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 shot out of the channel, their bows in the air 
 resting on a liiclden rock ; and the current, just 
 then turning a sharp curve, swept hy their sterns 
 with a rush. . Fortunately they w^ere out of the 
 stream, driven into an eddy, or that had been 
 the end of them. 
 
 I had time to profit by their mishap. Kneeling 
 in the canoe, using the long-handled paddle, I 
 rounded the curve within a foot of the grounded 
 canoes, and fairly leaped downhill on a rounded 
 muscle of water. In the rush, a thrill swept my 
 nerves — and anotlier — as if tAvice I had touched 
 cold steel. I found later that my canoe had 
 twice been pierced bv the knife-like edij^es under 
 w^ater. 
 
 Before I realized it, the end had come, and the 
 canoe shot across the river in a sweeping eddy. 
 The Great Foul Rift was behind me. 
 
 A fisherman on the bank had been watching 
 our passage. ''You ought to have kept to the 
 right of that stone," he shouted. "See, there's 
 the channel !*' And, looking up, I saw it, straight 
 as a furrow from the big white stone, keeping- 
 swift, close to the Pennsylvania shore, unbroken, 
 and safe. Had we kept in this straight way the 
 Great Foul Rift would to us have been no more 
 than an exa2:i>'erated name. 
 
 The grounded canoemen pushed free, and were 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 333 
 
 down in a minute ; and then w^e went ashore, and 
 while Moseley photographed the Great Foul Rift, 
 the others phniged into the delicious water, that 
 seemed too peaceful and sweet ever to have been 
 violent and brutal. 
 
 Half a mile l)elow the Great Foul Rift, we 
 came to the pastoral scene of the voyage, par 
 excellence. It was ideal and idyllic — sunny and 
 varied as a AVatteau paintin<r. It was not irreat 
 or grand in any way; but simply peaceful, pas- 
 toral, lovely. 
 
 It was a sloping hillside, of two or three farms, 
 rising from the river. There were low-roofed 
 homesteads, smothered in soft domestic-looking 
 foliage. A round-arched stone l)ridge spanned 
 a stream in the foreground. Cows and horses 
 stood in the shadow of the trees in the fields, and 
 a drove of cows stood in the river, the reflection 
 as distinct as the cow — like Herrick's swans, that 
 "floated double — swan and shadow." Dark 
 woods framed the scene on both sides and on 
 top, children's voices at play filled the air, and a dog 
 barked joyously, joining in some romping game. 
 
 We laid our paddles on the canoes in front of 
 us, and floated a full mile through the lovelv 
 picture. It can never be forgotten. In its 
 quiet way, nothing equalled it on the whole river. 
 
 " Photograph the place," I said to Moseley. 
 
334 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY 8POKT. 
 
 ^'No," he replied. ''It is too good for any 
 thino; but memory/' 
 
 And then foUoAved a rare picture of another 
 kind, or rather a piece of statuary. We had 
 stopped to cook and eat a nol:)le bass. AVe sat 
 on the bank, near a cose}^ farm-house, which 
 nestled in trees a little withdrawn from the riyer. 
 The farmer, a young, roughly-clad man, with 
 laughing bright eyes and a brown, good-humored 
 face, came down the shady road, riding a great 
 drauo'ht-horse, and leadins; another. Followinof 
 him, were his two little sons, perhaps ten and 
 twelye years old. 
 
 He chatted pleasantly with us, while he unlaced 
 his heayy boots, and undressed. 
 
 '' Are you going to swim?" asked Guiteras. 
 
 " I am o^oins^ to wash my horses," he said. 
 
 Just then he pulled his gray woollen shirt oyer 
 his head, and stood naked beside the horse, pre- 
 paring to jump on his l)ack. We fairly shouted 
 with admiration, the man was so superb!}^ hand- 
 some, and so maryellously muscular. He smiled 
 pleasantly, as if not surprised, jumped on his 
 horse and rode into the deep water ; his two 
 yellow-haired boys sitting on the bank, with 
 theu' hands clasped in front of their legs, watch- 
 ing their father with profound pleasure. 
 
 We were accustomed to seeins: athletes in train- 
 
DOWN THE DELAWAKE KIVEK. 385 
 
 ing ; but none of us had ever seen the equal of 
 this man. He swam his horses out in the deep 
 water for a quarter of an hour, riding like a Cen- 
 taur, every muscle on his lithe body sinking, 
 gathering, contracting, disappearing, in the most 
 astonishing Avay. He was not a tall or heavy 
 man. When dressed, he was almost common 
 looking. But never a Greek or Roman gladiator, 
 in life or marble, was more beautiful or more 
 powerful than that young Jersey farmer. 
 
 AVhen we came to float the canoes, after dinner, 
 I saw, with dismay, that mine was almost half full 
 of water. In a oiance, I realized the meanino- of 
 the quick tremors that had chilled me in the last 
 rush of the Great Foul Rift. The canoe had been 
 struck twice under the water-line by the keen- 
 edged rocks. 
 
 I feared that the end of my trip had come ; but 
 we emptied the water and found that the leaks, 
 which were clean-cut, as if l)y a knife, had swelled, 
 and almost closed. Eastonwas a dozen or fifteen 
 miles away ; and when we got there, Moseley 
 thought he could patch the canoe with resin and 
 linen and make her water-tio'ht. 
 
 But it was a heavy paddle, though the stream 
 raced downhill. One of the cuts was bruised 
 afresh, in a rapid about four miles above Easton, 
 and the water spurted into the canoe. 
 
336 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 It was dark to blackness on a Saturda\' nii^lit 
 as we paddled down to Easton. AVe had l)een 
 told of a strong rapid just above the city, but we 
 could not see it ; we could only hear it, the roar 
 doubled by the night and the imagination. We 
 had run two or three small rifts in the dusk, and 
 had escaped pretty well ; and there was nothing 
 for us but to venture again, in the dark, for 
 nowhere could we find a place to land or leave 
 our canoes. 
 
 Heavy as a sick animal, my poor little water- 
 loo'aed boat wallowed alono\ To strike now was 
 doubly dangerous, for her weight would smash 
 her, bow or beam. The other canoes w^ent ahead. 
 We had been instructed to keep " on the Jersey 
 side of the island." When we entered the rapids, 
 we only paddled for steerage-wa}". The men 
 ahead kept shouting tome; but, when the rush 
 of the fall came, I was too far to the right, and 
 I brought up heavily on the very outermost stone 
 of the reef. 
 
 The canoe was so firmly fixed, that I could 
 have stayed there all night, by sitting quiet. I 
 tried to push oft', l)ut could not. I tried to get 
 out ; l)ut the stone was sloping, and oftered no 
 footing. The w^ater, visible only for a few feet, 
 like a flood of ink, ran with tremendous force on 
 both sides of the stone. The other canoes were 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE KIVER. 337 
 
 out of hearing ; and the night was as black as the 
 inside of a cave, with the l)right, electric lights 
 of the city, a quarter of a mile away, set upon 
 what seemed high cliffs above the river. 
 
 However it was to be done, I must get out, and 
 ease the canoe off the rock. This was one of the 
 minutes in which the disgusted canoeman resolves 
 to give up the sport. If I pushed her over, down 
 stream,' I could never hold her to get in : she 
 must ])e pulled back, and then pushed round the 
 stone. Slowly and cautiously, I got out, and into 
 the water behind the stone, which was almost 
 waist-deep. AVhen the canoe was pulled back, 
 I got in, with some trouble; and a few minutes 
 later joined the others at the end of the rift. 
 
 Then began a hunt for a landing. We found 
 that, in the city of Easton, there is not a single 
 landing-place where we could put up our l^oats 
 for the night. At last vre were directed to a 
 place where boats were kept on the l)ank, on the 
 Jersey side ; and there we found an oldiging and 
 interesting man named John Horn (the hoys 
 called him -Tippy" Horn), who allowed us to 
 carry the canoes up on his rocks, and who stored 
 our baggage, and then rowed us across to Easton. 
 He was an old river-man ; and he said that he 
 had never seen the water so low as it was then. . 
 He was a type of the calm, polite, and intelligent; 
 
338 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 common people we had met everywhere on the 
 Delaware. He spoke so slowl}^ and enunciated 
 his syllables so clearly, with his r's l)urring 
 strongly, that you listened to his sensible sen- 
 tences with odd pleasure. 
 
 That night Ave stopped at an excellent hotel in 
 Easton ; and, while enjoying the pleasant rest of 
 room and bed instead of tent and sand, we re- 
 ceived a visit from two aenial canoemen, who 
 were on a pedestrian tour through the mining 
 districts, and who recoo;nized our names on the 
 register. One was Mr. Kirk Monroe, then presi- 
 dent of the Xew York Canoe Club ; and the other, 
 Mr. Ro2:ers, the artist, whose clever sketches in 
 ''Life" and other periodicals have made his re- 
 putation national. 
 
 We found the citizens of Easton suffering from 
 the intolerable system of the '' Law-and-Order " 
 fanatics, who controlled the town, and who had 
 established a system of secret espionage of which 
 the police were used as the tools. 
 
 Next day, on the rocks, assisted by IVIr. Horn 
 and Mr. Horn's two or three children, and pleas- 
 antly watched by a sitting ring of smoking foundry- 
 men, Moseley heated his resin, and patched the 
 damaged Blanid from stem to stern. We found 
 that the sharp edges of the Great Foul Rift had 
 cut her as a bravo cuts his victim. When we 
 
DOWi^ THE DELAWARE KIVER. 339 
 
 floated her, she had anything but a racing ))ottoni ; 
 but she was as tight as a drum. 
 
 Below Easton, opposite the great rolling-mill, 
 we saw a sight of striking efl^ect, — a multitude of 
 
 men and l)oys — perhaps a hundred altogether 
 
 stripped for swimming, and standing on the high 
 1)ank. They were outlined against the sky ; and 
 as we passed them a hundred yards off, they 
 seemed models of lightness and grace. It wrl 
 probably the great number Ox^ white bodies that 
 made the scene so strano-e. 
 
 Such peaches as we lived on that day such 
 
 cantelopes, such melons ! Such an island as we 
 camped on, with clean sand as soft as flour ! Such 
 a spring pouring out of the mountain across the 
 river, the water as cold as ice, and as clear as 
 liquid diamonds ! We enjoyed it with the keen- 
 ness born of regret ; for next day one of our party 
 would have to leave the river. 
 
 At Reigelsville, next day, a little Jersey town 
 on a high bank, :Moseley boarded the train with 
 his canoe. The other two proceeded; but it was 
 lonely for a day or two, and we sadly missed the 
 strong 'canoeman and the cheery companion who 
 had left us. 
 
 A few miles below Reigelsville the river makes 
 a dive down hill, without breaking, so that we 
 seemed to be on a level with the^tops of trees 
 
340 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ofrowin^: on the bank a mile ahead. At the foot 
 of such a decline, we heard the growl of a rapid, 
 and found a division m the river, formed by an 
 island. We kept to the left : we ought to have 
 kept to the right. AVith a few touches, I got 
 through; but Guiteras was ''hung up" in the 
 worst part of the rajoid. He tried all ways to 
 get oif without leaving the boat : but he had to 
 come to it in the end. And a dangerous time he 
 had for a few minutes. The water was deep, and 
 the powerful current swept the boat against his 
 body, and nearly upset him. He had hard work 
 to hold her back, and get in without capsizing. 
 
 Then we came to one of the noblest features of 
 the whole river. On our right, rising sheer as a 
 wall from the water, was a clift', which must be 
 several hundred feet high. It was formed of 
 layers of rock, each layer perhaps forty or fifty 
 feet deep, and each differing a little in color from 
 the others, so that it looked like a vast storied 
 buildins:. On the narrow ledo'e at the foot of 
 each layer, trees and shrubs grew, so that the 
 whole face of the clift' was softened with foliage 
 which was so feathery that still the entire wall 
 was visible. In places it was like the outer 
 barrier of a miu'htv fortress ; and in others there 
 was an absolute likeness to artificial masonry. 
 
 This majestic clift' ran for perhaps a mile. 
 
DOWN THE DELAAV ARE RIYEK. 341 
 
 and then ended abruptly in a soft green hillside 
 of cultiv^ated fields. 
 
 But our last rapid had started the leaks in my 
 canoe, and I was bailing every few hundred 
 yards. As the evening was closing, and it threat- 
 ened rain, we resolved to carry the canoes into 
 the canal, get aboard a canal-boat, and mend the 
 broken Blanid. 
 
 The tow-path was only a hundred yards from 
 the river. A hearty canal-man made us Avelcome 
 on his -boat which had a hundred tons of coal on 
 board. His name, he told us, was "Johnnie 
 Curran, from Bristol, down the river." His mate 
 wns a small; foxy man, called " Billy," who spoke 
 and walked like a paralytic ; but a civil fellow 
 when he got a little present. 
 
 '' Johnnie " Curran was about thirty-three years 
 old ; rather below middle stature, but sti'ong and 
 active, with a stern fiice, like a fighting man ; 
 l)ut with a merry eye and a smile in keeping, so 
 that his features were lit up with constant good- 
 humor and ofood-nature. He had lost two front 
 teeth, and there was a deep scar on his forehead. 
 
 Everyone knew him on the tow-path and the 
 canal. He was constantly hailing some friend, 
 man or woman, by familiar names, or returning 
 like friendly salutations. He had been canalling 
 " twenty years, like his father before him." He 
 
342 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 had never known so poor a year as this for canal- 
 men. But, poor as he was, he threw a loaf or 
 something else to every poor tramp we passed on 
 the tow-path. 
 
 He was called, and he called himself, '' John- 
 nem." In the night (we slept on his boat, which 
 was tied to the bank) we heard passing hails : 
 ' ' Who are you ? " " Johnnem . " " Hello , John- 
 nem ; hope you're well ! " 
 
 A memoral)le incident occurred while Ave Avere 
 on Johnnem's boat. We passed a canalside inn, 
 where men and mules are housed. The landlord, 
 an old canaller, sat at the door, and hailed us 
 warmly. 
 
 ''Who did you have over Sunday?" asked 
 Johnnie Curran. 
 
 " Oh, we had a good time — a lot of the right 
 sort. We had Barrett, and Patterson, and Al- 
 leghany — and a lot more; and then — Ave had 
 MUve ! " 
 
 ''Mike! Well, then, you did have a good 
 time. Where Avas he going?" 
 
 " Went down to Lambertville, last night." 
 
 "Good by!" 
 
 " Good luck, Johnnem ! " 
 
 Then Johnnie told us what a "good felloAV " 
 Mike Avas, and how popular on the canal. We 
 soon had evidence to that effect. A boat, passing, 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVER. 343 
 
 entertained us with an account of ^ ' a great time " 
 with Mike the nio-ht before. 
 
 Presently we passed a pretty little cottage be- 
 tween the canal and the river ; over the low garden 
 irate leant a vounir woman, whom Johnnie Cur- 
 ran saluted thus : 
 
 ^' Evenin', Julia." 
 
 ''Evenin', Johnnem.'' 
 
 Johnnie, with a wink at us, to cover his 
 duplicity : 
 
 " ]Mike here Sunda}^? " 
 
 " No," sulkily ; " but he was up at Steele's." 
 
 " Well — he'll come next Sunda^^" 
 
 '^ Don't care if he never comes." 
 
 " Oh, yes you do. Good-by, Julia." 
 
 " Xo, I don't. Good-by Johnnem." Pause of 
 moment. 
 
 " Say, Johnnem ! " 
 
 ''What is it?" 
 
 " You needn't tell Mike I said that." 
 
 '' No fear, Julia. I'll tell him to come up 
 Sunday." 
 
 And Johnnie Curran laughed low to himself, 
 as if he knew the ways of womankind. It was a 
 dismal drizzly eyenino' and we had to a'o alons: 
 till ten o'clock. Then, at Lambertville, we were 
 to tie up till morning. As the night grew the 
 rain increased, and at ten it was a stead}^ down- 
 
344 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
 pour. AVe were grateful for the shelter of the 
 stifling little cabin of the canal-boat, where 
 '' Billy " snored, and ''Billy's" dog had convul- 
 sive dreams, in one of which he plunged over 
 Guiteras, and scratched his face. 
 
 It was about five next niornino' when we started. 
 I was half asleep in the cabin when I heard a man 
 shout from the tow-path. 
 
 " Johnnem, did you hear about Mike?" 
 
 There was somethino; in the man's tone that 
 made me sit up and listen. 
 
 ''What about him?" 
 
 " He's down there on the lock — drowned ! " 
 
 " God I " hissed Johnnie Curran, as if he had 
 been struck by a missile. " Drowned, you say?" 
 
 " Dead I We took him out of the canal last 
 nio:ht. He fell in comin' aboard. Poor Mike !" 
 
 AVhen we came to the lock, Johnnie Curran 
 jumped ashore and joined the group of canal-men, 
 who stood near the Ijody. They moved aside to 
 let Johnnie see ; and he stood with folded arms a 
 full minute lookins: down at Mike. Then he drew 
 a long breath, and turned away, rapidly brushing 
 his eyes with his hand, and came aboard. He 
 went on with his work without a word, thou^'h it 
 was obvious that the dead man had been an old 
 and close friend. 
 
 We crossed the river in Johnnie Curran's boat, 
 
DOWN THE DELAAVARE KIVER. 345 
 
 and left him soon after, carrying our canoes down 
 to the river. Welles's Falls, at Lanibertville, had 
 not water enouo-h to float us throu«:h. The run 
 before us was about ten miles to Trenton, and the 
 stream was swift. It was a perfect afternoon, 
 clear, warm, and calm. The scenery above Tren- 
 ton is surprisingly beautiful, though there is no 
 elevation higher than the tree-tops. It was a 
 superb open picture of river and reflection, wood 
 and cloud, with the city spires in the distance 
 seen under the square openings of tw^o extraordi- 
 narily-handsome ])ridges. It would l)e diflScult to 
 name, in the world, a more beautiful opening to 
 a city than the four miles of the Delaware above 
 Trenton. 
 
 "The Trenton Canoe Club" was the legend 
 printed on a boat-house under the shadow of the 
 city bridge ; and there we stopped. 
 
 The house was closed ; but we went up to the 
 genial toll-keeper of the bridge, — a venerable 
 man, with a face like George Washington, and a 
 manner to equal it, — who stored our traps and 
 directed us to the hotel. The old man pointed out 
 the difliculties of Trenton Falls, below the brido;e, 
 and said that he had hardly ever seen the water 
 so low. 
 
 " 111 go with you myself, to-morrow !" said the 
 courteous veteran; ''I'll take a boat and show 
 vou the wnv dowai the falls." 
 
346 ETHICS OF BOXIXG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Next morning he was " as good as his word ;" 
 but we had with us the president of the Canoe 
 Club, who ran down the intricate channel of 
 the falls, readily and pleasantly chatting all the 
 while. He was in a light canoe, which he handled 
 splendidl^^ 
 
 ''A few years ago, before we began canoeing 
 here," he said, ''everyone dreaded these falls. 
 Nobody ever ran them but the lumbermen. Now 
 we come down in our canoes for fun, and drag the 
 boats back alongshore." 
 
 At the bottom of the falls, which are more por- 
 tentous in name and aspect than in descent or 
 velocity, we entered tidal water. No more rapids 
 or rifts to Philadelphia, or the sea. The kindly 
 Trenton canoeman left us w^ith a manly grip that 
 was pleasant to remember ; and, with the wind 
 and tide against us, we started for Philadelphia, 
 forty-five miles away. 
 
 Below Trenton the Delaware is uninteresting 
 for canoemen. We were so used to swift water 
 that we seemed to be anchored while paddling 
 under adverse circumstances. We stopped at 
 Florence that night, and next day shipped our 
 canoes on a river steamer, and ran down to Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Looking: back, we salute the Delaware with 
 love and admiration. It has filled our minds with 
 
DOWN THE DELAWARE RIVEU. 347 
 
 memories and pictures to be cherished for a life 
 time. Noblest of rivers for canoemen, but only 
 for those who come before the middle of July. 
 In the freshets of May and June, a run down the 
 Delaware must be a revelation of joy. Then, not 
 one rock of all that beset our way would be visible 
 or dangerous. We came down a depleted vein : 
 in early summer the Delaware is a full artery. 
 But with all these drawbacks, on our list of 
 canoeing-rivers we must give the first place to the 
 Delaware. 
 

 - • vMV»V 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP 
 
 The Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North 
 Carolina is one of the celebrated features of the 
 American continent. Its name is almost as famil- 
 iar as Niagara or the Rocky Mountains. Its limits 
 are not easily defined, no careful survey or good 
 map of the region having ever been made. It lies 
 in two States, on the Virginia side in the counties 
 of Nansemond and Princess Anne, and on the 
 North Carolina side in the counties of Gates, Pas- 
 quotank, Camden, and Currituck. Almost in the 
 centre lies Lake Drummond, or '^ the Lake of the 
 Dismal Swamp," which is seven miles by five in 
 extent, according to local records, but three miles 
 by two and a half by our measurement. The area 
 of the swamp is between eight hundred and one 
 thousand square miles. Its reputation is that of a 
 morass of forbidden and appalling gloom, a region 
 impenetrable to the search of student or hunter; 
 the fecund bed of fever and malaria, infested with 
 
 (351) 
 
352 ETHICS OF BOXING AKD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 deadly serpents and wild beasts ; the old-time refuge 
 
 of fugitive slaves, who preferred life in its lonely 
 
 recesses to the life-in-death of the slave-quarter 
 
 and the man-market. It is supposed by the outer 
 
 world, and even by those who reside on its borders, 
 
 to be a hopeless wilderness, an incurable ulcer on 
 
 the earth's surface, a place that would have been 
 
 long ago forgotten but for its shadowy romance, — 
 
 for its depths were once enlightened, though it 
 
 is over fourscore years ago, by the undying song 
 
 of a famous poet. Some of this evil character is 
 
 true, but most of it is untrue, and much of the 
 
 slander has not been accidental, but deliberate. 
 
 It is true that the hunted slave often heard the 
 baying of the bloodhounds as he crouched in the 
 cane-brake of the Dismal Swamp, or plunged into 
 its central lake to break the trail, and true also 
 that its hundreds of miles of waterlogged forest is 
 infested w^ith repulsive and deadly creatures, rep- 
 tile and beast, bear, panther, wild-cat and^ snake ; 
 but it is not true that the Dismal Swamp is an 
 irreclaimable Avilderness, the pestilent source of 
 miasma and malaria. 
 
 The Dismal Swamp is an agony of perverted 
 nature. It is Andromeda, not waiting for the 
 monster, but already in his grasp, broken and 
 silent under the intolerable embrace. 
 
CAKOEES'G IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 353 
 
 The Lake of the Dismal Swamp is the very eye 
 of material anguish. Its circle of silvery beach is 
 flooded and hidden, and still the pent-up water, 
 vainly beseeching an outlet, is raised and driven 
 in unnatural emnity to the roots of the tall 
 juniper, cypress, and gum trees, that completely 
 surround its shore. The waves that should mur- 
 mur and break on a strand of incomparable 
 brilliancy, are pushed beyond the'ir proper limits, 
 and compelled to soften and sap the productive 
 earth; to wash bare and white the sinews of the 
 friendly trees, and inundate a wide region of 
 extraordinary fertility. The bleached roots of 
 the doomed trees seem to shudder and shrink from 
 the weltering death. There is an evident bend- 
 ing upward of the overtaken roots to escape 
 suffocation. The shores of the lake are like a 
 scene from the "- Inferno." Matted, twisted, and 
 broken, the roots, like living things in danger, 
 arch themselves out of the dark flood, pitifully 
 striving to hold aloft their noble stems and 
 branches. The water of the lake, dark almost as 
 blood, from the surface flow of juniper sap and 
 other vegetable matter, is forced from six to ten 
 feet above its natural level, and driven by winds 
 hither to this bank to-day and thither to-morrow, 
 washing every vestige of earth from the helpless 
 
354 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 355 
 
 life-givers, till its whole circumference is a woful 
 net-work of gnarled trunks and intertwined fibres, 
 bleached and dry as the bones of a skeleton, and 
 sheltering no life, but that of the blue lizard and 
 red-throated moccasin. 
 
 These bare roots and blasted stumps circle the 
 water like a hideous crown, till the lake becomes 
 a realization of the Medusa. Here, far from the 
 voices of mankind, the Gorgon stares at heaven, 
 but sees with introverted eye only the writhing 
 horror of her own brow ; hears only the hiss, and 
 shrinks from the kiss of her serpent locks, gazing 
 into no living eyes but those of her own damnable 
 strands. 
 
 The Lake of the Dismal Swamp is a victim 
 waiting for deliverance. Release her, and she is 
 no longer Medusa ; the snake hair will give place 
 to bands of gold and light ; the region contami- 
 nated by her oppression will rejoice and blossom 
 like a garden. 
 
 The Lake of the Dismal Swamp is the well of 
 the swamp's desolation. The SAvamp is not from 
 itself, but from the well. 
 
 The region of the Dismal Swamp was intended 
 by nature to be a pleasure ground, a health resort, 
 and a game preserve for the eastern side of the 
 continent. In spite of all that has been done and 
 
356 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 left undone to destroy it, the swamp itself is, 
 probably, the healthiest spot in America. Its 
 delicious juniper water prevents malaria more 
 effectually and perfectly than the famed eucalyp- 
 tus of Australia. The flying game of the continent 
 centres in this region, and the lake in winter is 
 the best shooting ground in the country. Now 
 that wealthy clubs and individuals are buying up 
 the coast shooting, this incomparable natural pre- 
 serve ought to be secured for the nation or the 
 State. 
 
 Its original undoing was probably some acci- 
 dent or cataclysm of nature, changing a water 
 course or opening a crater-like spring or number 
 of springs. 
 
 But the remedy from the first was as easy and 
 as open to intelligence as the tapping of a vein to 
 prevent plethora. The lake, it is probable, was 
 the centre and the cause of the swamj), as is 
 proved by the streams flowing out of, instead of 
 into, it. Its overflowing Avaters, when swelled by 
 rains or springs, finding no natural channel of 
 escape, rose foot by foot to the very lip of the 
 cup, covering the beach and reaching the densely 
 wooded shore. 
 
 In this way has been brought about the singular 
 condition of the lake, which, instead of being the 
 lowest, is the highest portion of the Dismal Swamp. 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL enVxlMP. 357 
 
 It could ba pierced and drained at any point, and 
 reduced to natural and beautiful proportions. Its 
 overflow, instead of constantly deluging the sur- 
 rounding land, could be guided in ten thousand 
 sparkling channels to enrich and adorn its won- 
 derful environment. 
 
 The Lake of the Dismal Swamp is, by survey, 
 about twenty-three feet higher than the sea, and it 
 is not fifteen miles from tide-water, the interven- 
 ing land being a level slope, and, except for the 
 trees, exceedingly easy to channel. 
 
 And, stranger still, the channels have been dug 
 for over one hundred years ; but they are locked up 
 at the outer ends w ith wooden gates. 
 
 Ponder on this marvellous fact : the Lake of 
 the Dismal Swamp, three miles by two and one 
 half in extent, and from seven to fifteen feet in 
 depth, is situated on the side, and almost on the 
 top, of a hill, beside a tidal river, and yet it 
 creates by overflow all around it for about one 
 thousand square miles, one of the densest and 
 darkest morasses on the surface of the earth. 
 
 In 1763, George Washington surveyed the Dis- 
 mal Swamp, and discovered that the western side 
 was much higher than the eastern, and that rivers 
 ran out of the swamp, and not into it. He then 
 wrote that the swamp was " neither a plain nor a 
 hollow, but a hill-side." 
 
358 ETHICS OF BOXING AND IVIANLY SPOKT. 
 
 A member of the National Geological Survey 
 recently entered the Dismal Svv^amp, proceeding 
 westward from the Dismal Swamp Canal toward 
 the lake, and found that the rise in the land was 
 five and one-half feet in seven miles. We met 
 this gentleman, Mr. Atkinson, within the bounds 
 of the swamp, and on hearing his statement asked 
 him, '' Coukl the lake be lowered and the swamp 
 drained with such an incline?" 
 
 '' Certainly," he said. " It is a very decided 
 water-shed. An opening from the lake to the 
 tide, on the Elizabeth River on the one side and 
 the Pasquotank on the other, would have a fall of 
 twenty-two and six-tenths feet in a distance of less 
 than fifteen miles." 
 
 Why, then, is not the lake tapped and its 
 superfluous and injurious water drained? 
 
 If the Dismal Swamp lie on the side of a hill, 
 as science proves, and the flow of the water 
 demonstrates, why does not its superfluous water 
 run off into the sea ? 
 
 If the whole extent of the Dismal Swamp, land 
 and lake together, is from twelve to twenty-fis^e 
 feet higher than the sea level, while actually ad- 
 joining the sea, why, in the name of reason, is it 
 not drained and reclaimed? 
 
 These are the vital questions relating to the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 359 
 
 Dismal Swamp. I shall answer them one by one, 
 and the answer in each case shall not be an 
 opinion, but a demonstration. 
 
 In the month of May, 1888, two sunburned white 
 men in cedar canoes turned at right angles from 
 the broad water of the Dismal Swamp Canal, and 
 entered the dark and narrow channel, called the 
 Feeder, that pierces the very heart of the swamp, 
 and supplies the great canal with water from Lake 
 Drummond, or the ''Lake of the Dismal Swamp." 
 The men in the canoes Avere Mr. Edward A. 
 Moseley and the writer of this article. 
 
 These were almost the first canoes, except the 
 "white canoe" of the poet, that ever paddled on 
 the breast of the dusky lake since the disappear- 
 ance of the Indian hunters a century ago. The 
 only boats known to the lake are the long, rude 
 " dugouts," of the negroes, and the flat-bottomed 
 dories or punts, of the farmers along the east side 
 of the canal. 
 
 While we were in the main canal we found the 
 banks high, especially on the western side, where 
 the diggings and dredgings of the channel have 
 been heaped for a century. On this side, behind 
 the bank, lay the unbroken leagues of swamp, 
 crowded with dense timber and canebrake jungle, 
 the surface of the land or mue being considerably 
 
3(30 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKTo 
 
 lower than the surface of the canal. On the east 
 side ran the road, and beyond this, long stretches 
 of level country, formerly part of the Dismal 
 Swamp, but now more or less cleared, with here 
 and there a farm of astonishing superiority, and 
 at long intervals a straggling village, usually con- 
 nected Avith a saw-mill for juniper and cypress. 
 Originally the canal ran right through the swamp, 
 which it now borders on the eastern side. 
 
 The land east of the canal has been cleared, 
 because it has been drained into the sea. The fall 
 is to the east. But all the land west of the canal 
 is still unrelieved and "dismal" swamp. 
 
 How is this ? Does not the land on the west 
 side drain into the canal, as the land eastward has 
 drained into the sea ? No ! the canal has com- 
 pletely stopped drainage ; it is higher than all the 
 western swamp. 
 
 Then came the startling suggestion, striking us 
 both at the same time. Tliis canal is a cruel liga- 
 ture on the vitals of the swamp, shutting it in on 
 itself and suffocating it. The canal is higher than 
 the swamp, and instead of draining it, drowns it. 
 The canal is a straggler, and here before our eyes 
 was a deliberate process of land murder ! 
 
 But I have outstripped the canoes. Let me 
 begin at the beginning, and tell this story of a 
 
362 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 delightful summer outing, and stop this '' damna- 
 ble iteration " of the sufferings and wrongs of the 
 Dismal Swamp. The sw^amp cannot grieve at 
 whatever infamy may be put upon it. What does 
 it care, or who does care w^hether the wonderful 
 lake be ringed with silver sand or hedged with 
 bleached roots and twisting serpents ? " But the 
 pity of it, lago ! Oh, lago, the pity of it ! " 
 
 Go back again to Norfolk with me, and try to 
 forget that you have been inside the gates of this 
 brown-water canal of the Dismal Swamp. It was 
 not fair to begin my tale in the middle. Surely I 
 have made a mistake and told the story of the 
 swamp too soon. But I have only told the story; 
 it remains for me yet to prove it. 
 
 It is seven o'clock in the morning, and we two 
 are in the market of Norfolk buving bacon, salt 
 pork, hard bread, cheese, a ham, an alcohol stove, 
 and all the necessaries for a few weeks' sojourn in 
 the wilderness. 
 
 At eight o'clock, breakfast over, we are getting 
 into rough suits in the office of Gen. Groner, of 
 the Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Com- 
 pany, whose courtesy we shall remember with 
 pleasure. 
 
 At ten o'clock we are on board a tug, kindly 
 placed at our disposal by Mr. R. B. Cook, the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 363 
 
 virile manager of the N. Y., P. & N. Railroad, to 
 take us to the first lock or. the Dismal Swamp 
 Canal, which runs into the Elizabeth river about 
 seven miles from Norfolk. Just think of it ! the 
 entrance to the Dismal Swamp only seven miles 
 from the busiest city in the South, a city that is 
 destined to become one of the greatest commercial 
 ports on the continent ! 
 
 Let me stop here to moralize over this laggard 
 among the great commercial cities, this voluntary 
 Cinderella, who was born with the diadem on 
 her brow, but allowed it to grow tarnished, and at 
 last to be taken from her head by a less favored 
 rival. Norfolk has vast advantages over any other 
 seaport on the Atlantic coast. They are apparent 
 to every observing stranger ; but they have never 
 been properly estimated or developed by her own. 
 Norfolk could have led the van of all the Eastern 
 cities in the race for commercial prosperity ; but 
 she let the breeze go past without unreefing her 
 sails ; and she saw the slower hulls of Baltimore, 
 Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, pass her 
 under clouds of canvas and sail clean out of sight. 
 
 What is the matter with Norfolk ? What ails 
 Virginia, that she is not the proud mother of a 
 greater New York ? The possibilities of Norfolk 
 have always been in full view. Thomas Jefferson, 
 
364 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 who was a student of the favored localities and 
 resources of the country, and especially of his 
 own State, declared that Norfolk was destined to 
 be " the great emporium of the Chesapeake." 
 Madison agreed with Jefferson, holding it to be 
 " the true interest of Virginia to foster the pros- 
 perity of Norfolk, as among the prime objects of 
 her policy." But Virginia acted like a step- 
 mother, stolidly spending twenty million dollars to 
 improve Richmond, to one hundred and ninety 
 thousand dollars to develop Norfolk. 
 
 In later days, Maury said : '' Norfolk is in a 
 position to have commanded the business of the 
 Atlantic seaboard. It is midway on the coast ; it 
 has a back country of great fertility and resources ; 
 and as to the approaches from the ocean, there is 
 no harbor, from St. John to the Rio Grande, 
 which has the same facility of ingress and egress 
 at all times and in all w^eathers. * * * 
 Virginia saw those advantages, and slept on 
 them." 
 
 But she is waking ; or at least Norfolk is waking 
 to her own interests ; and with men of extraor- 
 dinary intelligence and energy, like Gen. Groner 
 and Mr. Cook, above mentioned, who are each 
 building up enormous commercial enterprises, it is 
 probable that even in our own time, we shall see 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 365 
 
 the radiance of this aroused Soatheni Cinderella, 
 as she reaches northward for Yibv borrowed coronet. 
 
 But we have kept the tug waiting more than an 
 hour, and the captain, a manly, weather-tanned 
 fellow, apologizes for having to keep an engage- 
 ment to tow a railroad float across the harbor, 
 before he starts with us for the lock. 
 
 What matter for a few hours' delay here or 
 there ? We have cut our social and orderly bonds, 
 and we gladly sit and smoke on the tug, while she 
 pulls and pushes and screams and at last backs 
 the tremendous float into open water, and buckles 
 to her heavy tow with the grunting earnestness of 
 honest toil. We also improve the waiting by 
 arranging our baggage, oiling gun and rifle, fixing 
 hooks and lines, and otherwise giving a last touch 
 to the arrangements. 
 
 At one o'clock the tug started with u.s for the 
 lock. There was a queer nervousness about us as 
 we neared - the place, caused by our complete 
 ignorance of what the swamp was like. 
 
 " You see that schooner yonder? " said the cap- 
 tain of the tug, looking across the fields round 
 which the crooked river Avinds. " She is lying at 
 the lock of the canal, loading with lumber from 
 the swamp." 
 
 Presently one of the hands on the tug pointed 
 
366 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOET. 
 
 to the water ; the river had grown dark like the 
 stream from a dye-works. ''See," he said, ''that 
 is the juniper water of the Dismal Swamp." 
 
 It was singular that neither the captain nor his 
 men could tell anything about the swamj). Their 
 knowledge ended at the lock. This is character- 
 istic of the' whole neighboring poj)ulation. Rich- 
 mond knows as little about the swamp as Boston ; 
 even Norfolk and Suffolk know little more. 
 
 "All I know," said the captain, "is that there 
 are lots of snakes in there." 
 
 "And bears," says another. 
 
 " And panthers," says a third, and so on, and 
 so on, while each one gave a friendly hand to 
 launch the canoes as we closed to a wharf near the 
 lock, where about thirty colored men were loading 
 a schooner with lumber and bundled shingles of 
 juniper and cypress. 
 
 "If I were going in there, I'd keep my Smith- 
 and- Wesson handy," said the second hand on the 
 tug, as we touched the shore. Before we could 
 ask the meaning of the unpleasant hint (which 
 we found to be a libel on the swamp), the sturdy 
 little steamer had backed out, and was whistling 
 "Good-by," 
 
 The crowd of colored workmen stopped and 
 stared at our heap of baggage, and at the hand- 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWJlMP. 367 
 
 some, varnished little boats, but soon were recalled 
 to their work, and we were left to go on packing 
 the canoes. 
 
 The lock-keeper, a gaunt, badly-dressed white 
 man, sauntered down from his lock to take a look 
 at the strange boats. He was very obviously 
 chewing tobacco, and he spoke slowly and nasally. 
 
 Before the loading was half done, our first and 
 almost our last misfortune occurred. Mr. Mose- 
 ley's canoe, with timbers warped from a winter's 
 storage, was leaking like a sieve. Out must come 
 the packages again — pork, blankets, camera, am- 
 munition, etc. 
 
 "• What shall we do now ? " 
 
 ''- Hire a mule to tow us, and keep bailing the 
 canoe till the wood swells and stops the leak." 
 
 ''Mr. Lockman," we asked, ''can you let us 
 have a mule?" 
 
 " Yes," very slowly, and looking at the boats, 
 not at U3. " I have a mule ; but them boats won't 
 tow." 
 
 " But we know better. They will tow. Can 
 we have the mule?" 
 
 " Them boats won't tow," still more slowly. 
 
 " Can we have the mule ? " impatiently. 
 
 " Not to tow them boats. They won't tow, I 
 tell ye." 
 
868 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 Argument and entreaty were in vain. It was 
 none of his business we held, and we knew better 
 than he, anyway ; but the man was stubborn, 
 though not at all sullen. 
 
 It was getting late in the afternoon, and we 
 had intended reaching, that evening, the house of 
 Capt. Wallace, who had a large farm in the swamp, 
 about twelve or fifteen miles up the canal, and to 
 whom a friend of Moseley's had written about our 
 trip. 
 
 At last we compromised with the lockman, who 
 let us have the mule and a cart, with a one-legged 
 colored driver, to carry our baggage to the village 
 of Deep Creek, a few miles up the canal. 
 
 Then we entered the first lock of the Dismal 
 Swamp Canal, directly from the tide-water of the 
 Elizabeth River, and were raised probably eight 
 feet to the lowest level of the canal. This means 
 that if this lower lock were opened, the whole 
 Dismal Swamp could be drained to the depth of 
 eight feet. 
 
 We parted from the unreasonable lockman with 
 no kindly feelings ; but we learned before night 
 that his intentions had not only been kind, but 
 exceptionally honest, and his knowledge quite 
 correct of the towing qualities of an eighty-pound 
 canoe. 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 369 
 
 A word about the history of the canah A 
 company for the cutting of the Dismal Swamp 
 Canal was chartered by the States of Virginia 
 and North Carolina, in 1787, and both States sub- 
 scribed generously to the stock. The United 
 States Congress also became a large stockholder. 
 The names of George Washington and Patrick 
 Henry were among the first subscribers for the 
 stock; though this canal for commerce must not 
 be confounded with an earlier system of canals or 
 ditches, devised by Washington himself for the 
 purpose of reclaiming the swamp by lightering 
 the timber to the frontier. These canals still 
 exist ; but the charter of the commercial canal 
 gave it absolute rights over the waters of the 
 lake and all other canals in the swamp. It was 
 not opened till 1822, in which year the first 
 vessel passed through to Norfolk from the Albe- 
 marle Sound. It was completed in 1828. 
 
 The cost of cutting the canal and its tributaries 
 was about tAvelve hundred thousand dollars, and 
 it is estimated that the expense of the earlier 
 canals, also largely from public money, was 
 several hundred thousand dollars more. 
 
 The Dismal Swamp Canal runs nearly north 
 and South, joining the Elizabeth River to the Pas- 
 quotank, above Elizabeth City, N. C, the distance 
 
370 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 between those points being about forty miles. 
 The canal is forty feet wide, chartered to be eight 
 feet deep, fresh water, the color of dark brandy or 
 strong breakfast tea (the color caused by the juni- 
 per sap and other vegetable qualities), but clear 
 and palatable, and singularly wholesome. The 
 banks, where we could see the cutting under the 
 foliage, were composed of fine yellow sand mixed 
 with broken shells. A profusion of wild-rose 
 bushes, myrtle, sweet bay, fiow^ering laurel, white 
 blackberry blossoms, and honeysuckle leaned over 
 the water and made a most lovely border. 
 
 The afternoon was pleasant, with a cool wind 
 in our favor, and, though Mr. Moseley had bailing 
 enough to do, we reached Roper's enormous saw- 
 mill and factory, at Deep Creek, in about an hour. 
 The yards of the factory swarmed with colored 
 workmen, and the works covered a large area. 
 There were immense piles of railroad ties, cypress 
 shingles, laths, and juniper saw-logs on the side of 
 the canal, which here widened out like a harbor. 
 The violent rising scream ot the saws sounded 
 everywhere, something like ''p-sh-sh-sh-sh — hai- 
 ai-Ai-AI ! " the last note an ear-splitting squeal, 
 like a pig in direful pain. 
 
 Mr. John L. Roper, the owner of this saw-mill, 
 leases the timber land of almost the entire swamp 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. ^ 371 
 
 to supply his mill. He keeps in the swamp 
 probably one hundred men or more, in different 
 gangs, cutting juniper and cypress, which they 
 drag by mules over the ''gum roads " to the lake, 
 whence it is lightered through the Feeder to the 
 Dismal Swamp Canal, and by this means carried 
 to the saw-mill at Deep Creek. The colored 
 workers in the juniper groves of the swamp are 
 its only inhabitants ; they are called '' swampers." 
 Let me here explain that Lake Drummond is the 
 centre of the swamp's organism, acting precisely 
 like a heart. Except the Dismal Swamp Canal, 
 which runs along the border, all the roads, canals, 
 and ditches that pierce the swamp, radiate from 
 the lake like spokes from a hub. 
 
 The swamp has only one natural feature — the 
 lake. All the rest is simply swamp. The canals 
 and roads are accidents. 
 
 Whoever would know the Dismal Swamp must 
 study it from the lake, not from the exterior. 
 This is the reason that even those living in its 
 neighborhood know so little about it. Their 
 knowledge is local, not constitutional. 
 
 A ''gum road " is a road formed by trunks of 
 trees about eight feet long, laid close together, 
 and bearing two rude wooden rails. On these 
 run low mule wagons or trucks, loaded with logs 
 
372 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
CANOEING ON THE DISMAL SWAMP. 373 
 
 cut in the interior. The mule goes securely on 
 the ''gum road," and the negro driver usually 
 walks ahead on one of the broad rails. 
 
 There was no one at Roper's saw-mill who could 
 give us any information, so Ave paddled on to the 
 village of Deep Creek, before reaching which we 
 passed through another lock. Here the Dismal 
 Swamp proper may be said to begin. At this lock 
 we were again raised several feet, so that we were 
 noAv, although only a few miles from tidal-water, 
 probably sixteen feet above the sea level. 
 
 '' Shall we pay toll here ? " Ave asked the lock- 
 man. 
 
 '' Not till you come out," he answered, making 
 it clear that there was only one entrance and exit 
 on this side of the Dismal Swamp. 
 
 "' Does the swamp begin here ? " 
 
 '' Yes," said the lockman, leaning at an angle of 
 forty degrees, and slowly pushing the great beam 
 with his back. " It begins here, and it runs all 
 the way to Florida." 
 
 This was true, in a way. The Avhole southern 
 coast is margined by swamp lands ; but the Dismal 
 Swamp is not of them. It is high land instead of 
 low land; its water is fresh, instead of salt or 
 brackish. Among swamps it is an abnormality. 
 It leans over the sea, and yet contains its own 
 
374 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 moisture, like a bowl. Indeed, the Dismal Swamp 
 is a great bowl, forty miles long, and ten to twenty 
 miles wide, and, strange to say, with its highest 
 water in the centre. The sides of the bowl are 
 miles of fallen and undecaying trees, fixed in a 
 mortar of melted leaves and mould. Deep in the 
 soft bosom of the swamp are countless millions of 
 feet of precious timber that has lain there, the 
 immense trunks crossing each other like tumbled 
 matches, ''since the beginning of the world," as a 
 juniper cutter said. 
 
 At the village of Deep Creek, the lockman, 
 evidently the leading person of the place, was a 
 handsome and intelligent man, referred to by every 
 one as " Mr. Geary." A crowd of mingled white 
 and black awaited our arrival on the canal bridge ; 
 and when we landed, I was somewhat surprised to 
 see '' Mr. Geary " and Mr. Moseley shake hands 
 most w^armly, and proceed arm in arm like old 
 friends. A lank white man offered me an expla- 
 nation. ''Mr. Geary," he said, "is a high Mason. 
 Them two are above me and you. I'm an Odd 
 Fellow, I am ; but them fellows are higher'n me 
 or you." 
 
 Mr. Geary was a kindly man, "liigh Mason " or 
 not. We found later on that he was widely known 
 as a famous hunter, who probably knew the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 375 
 
 Dismal Swamp as well as any man living. He 
 had shot over it all his life. He told us that the 
 fishing at the lake was " wonderful." 
 
 Moseley's canoe still leaking, we hired a team 
 from " Mr." Johnson of Deep Creek, to carry the 
 baggage to Capt. Wallace's house, and we started 
 to paddle up the canal. 
 
 It was a lovely evening, and the surroundings 
 were so novel and so unexpectedly attractive, that 
 we can never forget the impression. Far before 
 us as the eye could reach, ran the canal, narrowing 
 in perspective, till it closed to a fine point. On 
 the right, rose from the water, a dense forest of 
 cypress and juniper, flowering poplar, black gum, 
 yellow pine, maple, and swamp oak, with a mar- 
 vellous underwood of laurel in ravishing flower, 
 the very air heavy with the rich perfume, which 
 resembles that of a tuberose, honeysuckle heaped 
 in delicious blossom, yellow jessamine, bay, myrtle, 
 purple trumpet flowers of the poison oak-vine, 
 with the ever-present roses, and white-flowering 
 blackberry hanging into the water. 
 
 As the evening darkened, with a clear sky 
 overhead, and a red glow from the west, reaching 
 over the trees, the effect was almost oppressively 
 beautiful. No other tree darkens in evening sil- 
 houette so impressively as the two queen trees of 
 
376 ETHICS OF BOXING AXD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 the Dismal Swamp, the juniper and cypress. 
 With the low sun behind them, the clear-cut deli- 
 cacy of their foliage reminds one of the exquisite 
 fineness of dried sea mosses on a tinted page. But 
 when the sun has gone down, and the sky is still 
 flushel with its glory, the cypress takes on a 
 mystery of dark and refined beauty that is all its 
 own. It rises still blacker than the dark under- 
 wood, the tallest among the trees, lonely, like a 
 plume. It is not heavy or hearse-like, but thin, 
 fibrous, the twilight showing through its delicate 
 branches, and tracing every exquisite needle of its 
 leafage on the air. It seems to be blacker than 
 the coming night ; blacker far in its fine filaments 
 than the clustered laurel at its feet. The dark- 
 ness and delicacy of the cypress are its genius. 
 It does not oppress, it thrills. In the twilight it 
 is the very plume of death, but of a death uncom- 
 mon. A yew or a willow is a sign of mourning; 
 but a cypress in the evening is a symbol of woe. 
 
 But wdth the decline of the lovely day came 
 such a jubilant chorus of sweet voices! Never 
 have w^e heard, except in the air of dreamland, such 
 a concert of delicious bird music. In number and 
 variety the singers were multiplied beyond con- 
 ception. Far a 3 we could see along the canal we 
 knew that the air Avas vibrant with this harmony. 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWA^NIP. 377 
 
 
378 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOBT. 
 
 The thought of such unbroken melody following 
 the eye into the remote distance was a more de- 
 lightful music in itself than that which w^as ravish- 
 ing the senses. Here the mocking-bird ceased to 
 mock, and poured out its own ecstatic soul. The 
 catbird, discordant no longer, shot its clear joy 
 through the great harmon}% and the wren and 
 swamp canary twined their notes like threads of 
 gossamer through the warp and woof of this mar- 
 vellous tapestry of sound. 
 
 I shall have to speak by and by of the noxious 
 and horrible denizens of the swamp. Let me dwell 
 lovingly and gratefully on the pleasure derived 
 from those that were innocent and delightful. 
 
 We let the evening fall on us unresistingly, to 
 drink in the sweet thing that was around us. We 
 were miles from our destination, but we could not 
 settle to mere travelling till this incredible vesper 
 song was done. We sat silent, absorbed, witness- 
 ing ^'the deathbed of a day, how beautiful." 
 
 The charm was broken by the happy hailing of 
 two colored boys on the towpath, who were driv- 
 ing "• Mister " Johnson's team with our baggage, 
 and who had now overtaken us. Then came the 
 thorn of our rose. Moseley's canoe was still leak- 
 ing, and while he had been floating off with the 
 divine mocking-bird, the water had gained on him 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 379 
 
 like a temptation. In an instant the concert had 
 vanished. The curtain of the commonplace fell 
 over that finer tympanum that almost hears spirit- 
 ual voices, and the canoe man was bailing his boat 
 with a tin dipper, while he grumbled at fate. 
 
 The dusky drivers waited on the towpath, and 
 we soon started again, keeping up a lively conver- 
 sation from boat to wagon. But the leak grew, 
 the night was closing, and we were in a very 
 strange land. 
 
 '-'• Let us tie a rope to the cart and tow the boats," 
 we cried, and the picture of riding indolently up 
 the canal was like a charm. 
 
 We fastened the canoes boAv and stern and tied 
 thejongest painter, thirty or more feet in length, 
 to the tailboard of the cart, and away we Avent. 
 But before we had proceeded twenty feet the light 
 rope, slackened by the rapidit}^ of the light and low 
 boats, caught on a stump by the water side. The 
 leading canoe felt the pull, and darted headlong to 
 the bank, and had not the boys at once stopped the 
 horse the canoes would have been pulled to pieces, 
 or dragged clean up on the towpath. 
 
 We tried again and again, with the same result, 
 and then we felt ashamed of our superior knowl- 
 edge of a few hours before, and interiorly begged 
 the nasal lock-keeper's pardon. 
 
380 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 " H'ist de kunnues right out, boss," said one of 
 the boys, a little fellow, exceedingly black, with 
 strongly marked features ; '' and put 'em on de 
 wagon." 
 
 No sooner said than done. Moseley's boat had 
 about one hundred pounds of water in her when 
 we turned her over on the bank. The little black 
 fellow (the other was a head taller and yellow) 
 had a perfect genius for management. He directed 
 the fastening and arrangement of the canoes ; he 
 was almost too small to assist. He spoke such a 
 hasty and softened dialect that we could hardly 
 understand him, but he was one of the brainiest 
 and readiest boys I have ever met, white or black. 
 
 The conversation of the boys, as we jogged along, 
 was very interesting. The yellow fellow was an 
 indefinite character; he knew nothing certainly; 
 the black fellow answered *' yes "or '^ no," like the 
 working of a trap. 
 
 '' What bird is that singing now? " 
 
 "- 1 t'ink dat a swamp canary, boss," says the 
 yellow youngster, with a doubtful glance at his 
 companion, who remains silent, till we ask him, 
 "• Is it a canary ? " 
 
 "No, dat's a wren," and you feel sure that a 
 wren it is. 
 
 '' Whose farm is this on the left? " we ask, look- 
 
> 
 
CANOEING IK THE DISMAL SWAMP. 381 
 
 ing over a most fertile and admirable farm several 
 miles in extent. 
 
 '^ I t'ink dat farm 'longs to ole man Douglass ? " 
 says the yellow fellow, with a sound, as usual, like 
 a note of interrogation at the end of his assertion. 
 
 ''Does it belong to Mr. Douglass?" we ask the 
 black boy. 
 
 "No, dat farm Muss Lindsey's," answered the 
 firm little oracle. And the yellow boy never re- 
 sented or questioned the black boy's knowledge, 
 while the black boy never derided or corrected 
 the yellow boy's ignorance. 
 
 Lindsey's superb farm, stretching four miles 
 along the canal and reaching eastward nearly five 
 miles, is as level as a floor and wonderfully fertile. 
 It was originally dismal swamp, most of it having 
 been reclaimed within the last thirty years by its 
 present owner, who is a first-rate farmer, judging 
 from his estate. The canal at first ran right 
 through the swamp, but now all the land to the 
 east has been cleared. (See map, page 350.) 
 
 One of the striking features of this superb Lind- 
 sey farm was a row of enormous barns about three- 
 quarters of a mile apart, and placed along its 
 centre. Not another building was to be seen. 
 
 Were this the time and place for such consider- 
 ation, we might dwell on the landlord system evi- 
 
i 
 
 382 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 denced by this large estate, with its many barns, 
 but no dwelling-houses. This is the mistaken 
 economical system of the South, and particularly 
 of Virginia. The war has not destroyed the plan- 
 tation system. The great southern farmers of to- 
 day stand in about the same relation to their work- 
 men and tenants as the owners formerly did to 
 their slaves, but with less responsibility. The 
 homes of the tenant farmers of Virginia and North 
 Carolina, as we saw them, are a discredit to America. 
 Sooner or later Virginia will have to face the 
 necessity of establishing real and permanent small 
 farm proprietorship. 
 
 It is hardly fair to criticise the land ownership 
 of such a farm as this, saved from the Dismal 
 Swamp by the energy and intelligence of its pro- 
 prietor. If any ownership be absolutely righteous 
 it must surely be that of the farmer who not only 
 cultivates, but has reclaimed his farm from the 
 wilderness. 
 
 Nothing could so convincingly demonstrate the 
 inestimable advantage of reclaiming the Dismal 
 Swamp as this and other wonderful farms along 
 the canal, that a few years ago were wilderness, 
 infested with reptiles and wild beasts. 
 
 Before the light had quite gone from the tow- 
 path, a rabbit, and then another and another, came 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 383 
 
 out of the brushwood and played about quite near 
 to the horses' heads. With the masculine instinct 
 of destructiveness, a gun was loaded with evil in- 
 tent, but wise little bunny had an instinct too, for 
 he went out of the w^ay of the slaughter. 
 
 But while the muzzle was regretting its lost 
 roar, a fat partridge hopped out of the bush about 
 fifty yards ahead. 
 
 '' Look ! look ! " cries the yellow youth, stop- 
 ping the horse. "• Dere's a cock shot, boss ! " 
 
 The gun was raised and the little brown hen 
 covered, when a quiet protest was heard from the 
 black boy. 
 
 " 'Tain't right to shoot, a bird in de mating 
 season ! " 
 
 But the remonstrance was late, the hammer fell, 
 the explosion followed — and the partridge, by 
 good luck, escaped across the canal. The enjoy- 
 ment of the black boy was as evident as the dis- 
 appointment of the yellow^ one. If anything were 
 needed to make the sportsman ashamed of himself, 
 it was the timid little "cluck-clucking" of the 
 covey in the grass, alarmed for the welfare of the 
 absent one. The tameness of the birds at this sea- 
 son made the offence all the meaner ; and the double 
 reproach of the black boy's eye and the frightened 
 little family in the field had its full effect. 
 
384 ETHICS OF BOXIKG AKD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Soon after, through the gathering gloom, we 
 saw the outline of a large house to the left of the 
 canal, with outbuildings and white fences, and 
 other large buildings on the right side of the canal. 
 This was Wallaceton, where, at Captain Wallace's 
 house, we received a most hospitable welcome. 
 In a few minutes the canoes were cared for, many 
 willing hands helping, and we Avere enjoying an 
 excellent supper. After supper it was hard to 
 realize, from our refined surroundings, and the 
 gracious hospitality we were enjoying, that we 
 were within the bounds of, and not very far from 
 the very heart of the Dismal Swamp. Three gen- 
 tlemen connected with the National Geological 
 Survey, Mr. Atkinson, Mr. Towson, and Mr. Ken- 
 nedy, were stopping at Captain Wallace's, and 
 they told us much about the swamp region, which 
 they were then surveying, and of which an ac- 
 curate map is soon to be published. 
 
 That night we could only see the interior of 
 this charming home ; next morning we witnessed 
 with astonishment the extraordinary wealth, fertil- 
 ity, beauty, and wonderful cultivation of Captain 
 Wallace's magnificent farm. Every acre of this 
 land, both east and west of the canal, has been 
 saved within forty years from the Dismal Swamp. 
 Forty years ago the elder Mr. Wallace, a man of 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 385 
 
 high intelligence and indomitable spirit, whose im- 
 mense farm joins his son's, with his own hands cut 
 down the first tree in the swamp, which marked 
 the beginning of this estate. He and his son, 
 Capt. John G. Wallace, have now, in the first order 
 of cultivation, many thousand acres of land not 
 inferior to the best on the continent. 
 
 We were awakened in the morning by a chorus 
 of bird song rivalling that of the evening before. 
 On looking from our window we saw a field like a 
 dream — 1100 level acres without a fence — in 
 which it appeared that not one inch was left 
 neglected or unproductive. The splendid area 
 of fertility was marked in squares of varying 
 color like a map; here the rich dark brown of 
 ploughed loam ; there the green ridges of early 
 potatoes and corn ; yonder a long stretch of clover, 
 and so on until every foot of the fine field was 
 filled with natural wealth. 
 
 This field, called the Dover Farm, lies on the 
 west side of the canal ; that is, it reaches into the 
 very depths of the swamp for nearly a mile and a 
 half. Its position is between the lake and the 
 canal. 
 
 How, then, if Lake Drummond and the canal 
 be higher than the swamp, could this 1100 acres 
 of land be drained? The answer has in it the 
 
386 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 demonstration of the iniquity and stupidity of 
 the canal system. Captain Wallace ran a deep 
 drain around this Dover Farm, bringing the end of 
 it to the canal ; there he stopped, and waited until 
 the canal was emptied some years ago, for the pur- 
 pose of being cleansed from stumps and sand. 
 The indefatigable farmer took advantage of the 
 dry water-course and dug his culvert under the 
 bed of the canal, bridging it securely. His drain 
 was then several miles long, and he continued it 
 until it emptied into the Northwest river, which 
 runs out of the swamp. Last year the lake being 
 swelled by heavy rains, the canal company did 
 not, of course, open their locks and let the water 
 escape ; instead, they adopted a lazier, easier, and 
 more ruinous plan ; they raised the banks of the 
 canal, one consequence of which was that the 
 confined water percolated through the surround- 
 ing land, forced itself under Mr. Wallace's drain, 
 and inundated and destroyed several hundred 
 acres of his cleared land. Of course, from such 
 an injury he had no protection. 
 
 The energy and intelligence of these two gen- 
 tlemen, father and son, working with such sur- 
 roundings, are remarkable. The elder Mr. Wallace, 
 a man considerably over 70, spoke with almost 
 enthusiastic earnestness of the work he had him- 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 387 
 
 self done, and the greater work of general recla- 
 mation which is possible in the Dismal Swamp. 
 
 ''A railroad," he said, '' instead of the canal, 
 would open up and enrich this whole country. If 
 the locks at both ends of the canal were opened, 
 almost the entire land of the Dismal Swamp could 
 be reclaimed. Or," he added, looking at the 
 canal, which must have cost him manj^ a bitter 
 thought, ''if this water were only lowered four 
 or five feet the land all around here could be 
 saved." 
 
 After an early breakfast we started up the canal, 
 intending to reach the Feeder early in the fore- 
 noon, and, if possible, arrive at the lake about 
 noon. Still the leaky canoe bothered us ; but 
 while we were considering how to make her carry 
 her load, a handsome young farmer, Mr. R. E. B. 
 Stewart, courteously offered us his boat and man 
 to take our baggage to the Feeder lock, near the 
 lake. In a few minutes the boat started ahead 
 of us. 
 
 The canal above Wallaceton resembled the 
 stretch from Deep Creek to that place, the only 
 change being that the trees in the swamp become 
 thicker and taller. The majority of the trees 
 here appeared to be black gum, with an outer 
 border of poplar, maple, and swamp-oak. 
 
388 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 The Feeder is a deep cutting, about 18 feet in 
 width, running at right angles from the canal to the 
 lake. It is four miles in length, with a lock about 
 a quarter of a mile from the lake. 
 
 The current in the Feeder runs strongly from 
 the lake to the canal. The banks of the Feeder 
 are thickly covered with canebrake, the bamboos 
 of great height. On the right, going toward the 
 lake however, the swamp is more open and has 
 large timber. 
 
 The condition of the Feeder was a shocking 
 revelation. There was no raised bank here, as in 
 the main canal. For miles of its length the water 
 flowed freely over the banks into the swamp, 
 creating a morass of dreadful appearance. No 
 living thing could there find footing. Even birds 
 were rarely seen, although we saw a few of beauti- 
 ful plumage, one of which is known to the negroes 
 of the swamp as the red bird. It resembled a 
 flame in the brilliance of its coloring, as it passed 
 through the shaded light of the swamp. 
 
 In the Feeder we met several lighters, heavily 
 piled with juniper logs, on their way from the lake 
 to the sawmill. These lighters had each two men, 
 colored, who poled them from the banks. At 
 times, when the sides of the Feeder will permit, 
 they walk on a line of logs laid along the mud 
 
CANOEING IN THE PISMAL SWAMP. 389 
 
390 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 bank, pushing the lighter with their poles resting 
 against the breast. 
 
 Our passage up the Feeder was against a strong 
 current. It was a steady and monotonous paddle 
 through dim light, the canebrake and the boughs 
 reaching over our heads. The air had a dense 
 warmth as though we were in a closed room. 
 Outside on the canal, there was a strong breeze 
 with a decided chill in it ; here, we were stifled as 
 if in an oven. And yet, up to this time we had 
 not seen a mosquito in the swamp; and as for 
 snakes and other wild creatures, we had almost 
 made up our minds that they were a tradition or a 
 popular romance. 
 
 " How far to the lake ? " we asked a magnificent 
 fellow who was poling a timber skiff down the 
 Feeder. He was a giant in black bronze, large- 
 eyed, large-browed, large-motioned — a man born 
 to be distinct among his fellows. He stopped his 
 lighter by holding her against the canes, and he 
 looked with an ample smile at the canoes. We 
 had to repeat our question, when he started as if 
 ashamed. 
 
 ''Beg yo' pahdon," he said, with a grace that be- 
 came him; "I didn't hear yo', dem boats is so 
 putty. It's 'bout a mile to de lake. What yo' call 
 dem boats?" 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 391 
 
 ''Canoes." 
 
 " Kunnues ! nebbah heahcl 'bout clem befoah." 
 
 We remarked that he looked in good condition, 
 and asked him was the swamp a wholesome place. 
 
 ''Yes," he said. He had worked on the lake for 
 seven years. He had come there from South Car- 
 olina, sick with chills, to be cured in the swamp. 
 
 "Do people come here to be cured?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, sah ! Dismal Swamp's de healthiest 
 place in all de worl'. Dere's nothing like junipa 
 watah to cu' de chills." 
 
 " Do you like the swamp ? " 
 
 " Yes, sah ! I like de swamp. I wouldn't wuk 
 nowheres else. I could get moh wages by going 
 out to wuk on de high land. I get twenty dollars 
 a month heah ; could get thirty dollars out on de 
 bank, but I like to wuk in de old Dismal best of 
 any." 
 
 This was free testimony, and we heard it repeated 
 scores of times by "swampers " before we left the 
 lake. Interesting in this respect and others was 
 Ned Boat, a very old colored man, who has lived 
 in the swamp altogether for seventy-four years. 
 He has never been sick. He is now employed by 
 Mr. Roper as a counter of logs and marker of time, 
 and earns forty dollars a month. He says the 
 swamp water will cure almost every disease. 
 
392 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Another man, the blackest man we had ever seen, 
 his skin being quite as black as ebony, had come 
 from South Carolina five years ago, with chills and 
 fever, had been cured by the juniper water, and 
 had lived in the swamp ever since. White folk as 
 well as black added their testimony as to the ex- 
 traordinary salubrity of the swamp. 
 
 The phrase '' Going out to the high land " is the 
 usual expression of the '' swamper " for going to 
 the exterior world. He speaks as if the swamp 
 were in a hollow, instead of being higher than 
 " the high land." He says, " I came in," and again, 
 " I went out to the bank ; " a phrase that is 
 impressively significant of his footing in the 
 swamp. 
 
 We said good-by to our colored Hercules, whose 
 mighty arms were bare to the shoulder and his 
 ragged shirt open to the w^aist. He had on a thick 
 white cotton cap, without a visor, that looked like 
 a wadded turban. It became him mightily. In 
 front he had sewed a strip of red cloth, not across, 
 but upright, and behind he had fastened the long 
 bushy tail of a squirrel, that hung down his back. 
 " I killed dat fellow last night," he laughingly said, 
 seeing our eyes fixed on the ornament. 
 
 No great tragedian on the stage ever dressed 
 himself so becomingly as this black Ingomar. 
 
CAKOEING IK THE DISMAL SWAMP. 393 
 
 There was no chance harmony here, it was nature's 
 own decoration. He saw himself in no mirror, 
 except the mirror of the canal. He knew how 
 to dress better than any belle in Boston or New 
 York. The wave of his large hand as he said 
 " good-by " was as kindly and as eloquent as if he 
 stood in a lion-skin cloak on the banks of the Niger, 
 a chief among his own. 
 
 We could not help thinking as we left him that 
 this man at least was properlj^^ placed in the Dismal 
 Swamp, where he was as free as were his fathers 
 in Africa. Like scales from our eyes began to fall 
 the impressions of " Dred," and all the other dis- 
 mal stories we had read and heard about the 
 Dismal Swamp. Every day of our stay on the 
 lake this conviction grew upon us ; the slaves who 
 escaped to the Dismal Swamp in the old time must 
 have lived happily in their absolute freedom. The 
 negro in the swamp is at home. He has helped to 
 spread and exaggerate the terrors of the place to 
 keep it more securely for himself. If I were a 
 slave, in slave time, and could get to the Dismal 
 Swamp, I should ask no pity from any one. 
 
 But all this time we kept laboriously paddling 
 against the strong current, for the lock ahead, only 
 a quarter of a mile from the lake, was this day 
 letting pass an unusual volume of water. Every 
 
394 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 stroke of the paddle now sent us deej)er and deeper 
 into the heart of the swamp. Suddenly, Moseley, 
 who was ahead, stopped paddling and peered 
 through the matted underbrush. 
 
 "What is it?" I asked. 
 
 " A cow and a calf ! What can they be doing 
 here in the middle of the swamp ? " 
 
 There they were, sure enough ; a red and white 
 pair. They heard our voices, stopped chewing, 
 stared a moment, then turned and picked their 
 way into the jungle. 
 
 A few minutes later the lock came in sight, and 
 we saw two men waving their hats. One was the 
 man in Mr. Stewart's boat with our traps, and the 
 other was " Abeham " (not Abraham), who was to 
 be our guide, philosopher, and friend on the lake. 
 Abeham had been sent from Suffolk to meet us by 
 Mr. Rudolph A. King of Washington, a gentleman 
 deeply interested in the Dismal Swamp, of whom 
 I shall have more to say by and by. 
 
 "What are that cow and calf doing in the 
 swamp? " was our first question. 
 
 " Wild cattle, sah," said Abeham. 
 
 " Are there wild cattle in the swamp? " 
 
 " Yes, hund'eds and hund'eds of wild cattle ; I 
 saw lots of 'em dis mawnin'. Yo' ought to have 
 shot dat calf ; we'll want him to-morrow." 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 395 
 
 This lock at the very lip of the lake keeps the 
 water back to another height of several feet, so 
 that lock after lock, from first to last, had backed 
 up the lake to the height of almost twenty-three 
 feet above tide water. 
 
 Never can we forget the view that met our eyes 
 as we were raised to that last level, and looked 
 along the canal to the lake. 
 
 The lockhouse and the whole Feeder were com- 
 pletely overhung with tall trees. So close was 
 their interlacing over the canal that the view to 
 the lake was like looking through the barrel of a 
 gun. The air along the dark and narrow sheet 
 was actually green from the light sifting through 
 the foliage. We were in the shadow ; it was all 
 shadow to the end, but the end of the view glittered 
 like an immense diamond. 
 
 A ball of glorious and unshaded brilliancy lay 
 at the end of the Feeder. A '' talisman's glory " 
 it was, set on the low water and framed in the 
 dense cypress. 
 
 " What is that? " we asked after a long look of 
 bewildered pleasure. 
 
 '^Dat's de openin' to de lake," said Abeham. 
 
 We sat there for an hour. We ate our dinner 
 and smoked a cigar ; and the wonder lessened as 
 the strange glory grew. The radiance of the dia- 
 
396 ETHICS OF BOXING AKD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 mond became subdued till it had taken the form 
 of a perfect arch, with its perfect reflection in the 
 Avater. 
 
 We were looking along a dark, straight stream, 
 shaded over like the low arch of a bridge, until the 
 gun barrel simile was the most likelj^, and, at the 
 end or muzzle, the vision was carried across three 
 miles of open and smooth water flashing to the sun. 
 
 Mr. Moseley photographed the scene. It was 
 the first time, in all probability, that this picture, 
 incomparable of its kind, had ever been taken by 
 a camera, though Tom Moore surely must have 
 sketched it when he stood at this same feeder lock 
 eighty -five years ago. 
 
 At the request of the good-natured colored boy 
 from Wallaceton we photographed the lockhouse, 
 including him. He asked, could he have the pic- 
 ture, and Mr. Moseley promised to send him one. 
 
 '' Send it," he said, with the importance of a 
 serious child, as he named his many initials, '' to 
 D. J. L. Griffin, care of Abeham." 
 
 Then we started down the gun barrel toward the 
 lovely bridge, the perfection of which remained 
 unbroken to the last. Here was no effort of land- 
 scape art, but the living hand of nature completing 
 its own picture and putting all art as gently out 
 of question as the mountain does the mole. 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 397 
 
 A weirdly beautiful view opened on us as our 
 canoes shot under the outer leaves of the Feeder's 
 bridge, and we floated at last within the marvel- 
 lous ring of the lake of the Dismal Swamp. 
 
 Vividly came to our minds the picture in Moore's 
 touching ballad. 
 
 Here, we thought, is the very scene, water, wood, 
 and sky, that the poet saw generations ago. These 
 trees growing out of the dark flood ; this weeping 
 moss hanging from the sad queenliness of the ele- 
 gant cypress ; these '' deadly vines " with their 
 purple trumpet flowers that poison the very water 
 into which they pour their tears ; these " beds of 
 reed " and '' tangled juniper " ; these white roots 
 round the border of the lake, where glide and coil 
 " the copper snake " and the fearful red-bellied 
 moccasin. 
 
 And here let the lapse of time be forgotten and 
 the association be renewed. There is no age in 
 art. The song of a true poet is as unrelated as the 
 song of a bird or a brook. This is my excuse, if it 
 be needed, for repeating here Moore's ballad of 
 ''The Lake of the Dismal Swamp," written at 
 Norfolk, in Virginia, in 1803. 
 
 " They tell of a young man who lost his mind 
 on the death of the girl he loved, and who, sud- 
 denly disappearing from his friends, was never 
 
398 ETHICS OF BOXIKG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 afterward heard of. As he had frequently said in 
 liis ravings that the girl was not dead, but gone to 
 the Dismal Swamp, it was supposed he had w^an- 
 dered into that dreadful wilderness and had died 
 of hunger, or had been lost in some of its dreadful 
 morasses." — Tradition, 
 
 " They made her a grave too cold and damp 
 
 For a soul so warm and true, 
 And she's gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, 
 Where all night long, by her fire-fly lamp, 
 
 She paddles her white canoe. 
 
 Her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see. 
 
 And her paddle I soon shall hear ; 
 Long and loving our life shall be, 
 And 111 hide the maid in a cypress tree 
 
 When the footstep of death is near.-' 
 
 Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds, 
 
 His path was rugged and sore, 
 Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds, 
 Through many a fen where the serpent feeds, 
 
 And man never trod before. 
 
 And when on the earth he sank to sleep, 
 
 If slumber his eyelids knew. 
 He lay where the deadly vine doth weep 
 Its venomous tear and nightly steep 
 
 The flesh with blistering dew ! 
 
 And near him the she-wolf stirred the brake. 
 And the copper-snake breathed in his ear. 
 
 Till he stirring cried, from his dream awake, 
 
 ** Oh, when shall I see the dusky lake, 
 And the white canoe of my dear ? " 
 
CANOEIKG IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 399 
 
 He saw the lake, and a meteor bright 
 
 Quick over its surface played — 
 ** Welcome ! " he said, ** my dear one's light ! " 
 And the dim shore echoed for many a night 
 
 The name of the death-cold maid. 
 
 Till he hollowed a boat of the birchen bark, 
 
 Which carried him off from shore ; 
 Far, far he followed the meteor spark, 
 The wind was high, and the clouds were dark, 
 
 And the boat returned no more. 
 
 But oft, from tlie Indian hunter's camp. 
 
 This lover and maid so true 
 Are seen at the hour of midnight damp. 
 To cross the lake by a fire-fly lamp, 
 
 And paddle their white canoe. 
 
 How wonderful was the truth of the poet's 
 vision I A century is as a day, leaving the picture 
 unchanged. True in romance and reality, Moore's 
 poem on the ''Lake of the Dismal Swamp " is as 
 faithful in its natural history as in its melody. 
 
 It may be interesting here to recall the incidents 
 of the poet's visit to the lake in 1803. To one 
 man in Norfolk is due special thanks for the con- 
 stant attention which of late years has been given 
 to this memorable visit. Mr. M. Glennan, editor 
 of the Norfolk Virginian, has often agitated the 
 reclaiming of the Dismal Swamp, making use of 
 
400 ETHICS OF BOXIKG AKD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 Moore's ballad to keep the popular interest from 
 flagging. Mr; Glennan writes me the following 
 interesting account of Moore's two visits to Nor- 
 folk:— 
 
 " In 1803, Tom Moore received the appointment 
 as registrar of the admiralty court at Bermuda ; 
 and in September, 1803, he sailed from Ports- 
 mouth, Eng., in a ship of war that was taking out 
 Mr. Merrj^, minister to the United States. The 
 ship arrived in Norfolk Nov. 7 following, and 
 while Mr. Merry went to Washington, Moore 
 remained in this city, the guest of Col. Hamilton, 
 then the British consul, who resided at that time 
 in the building now the residence of Mr. Copps, on 
 Main Street, opposite Fenchurch. During his 
 stay here Moore made many friends and delighted 
 the young ladies of the borough by his skill upon 
 the harpsichord. While in Norfolk he wrote the 
 famous ballad ' The Lake of the Dismal Swamp.' 
 In December he started for his destination in 
 Bermuda, on the man-of-war Driver. He was 
 disappointed in his anticipations as to the Ber- 
 mudas, and after he had been there about three 
 weeks he wrote to his parents that 4ie was coming 
 home.' He accordingly appointed a deputy, and 
 in the spring he took advantage of the sailing of 
 the frigate Boston^ to come to New York, where 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. . 401 
 
 he shortly arrived. He remained in New York 
 but a short time, when he again made up his 
 mind to visit Norfolk, arriving here with Capt. 
 Douglass. During his second stay in Norfolk, it 
 is believed that Moore was the guest of Mr. 
 William Plume, who resided where the Hospital 
 of St. Vincent de Paul now stands. Mr. Plume 
 was a native of Ireland, whose real name was 
 Moran. He had taken a very active part in the 
 rebellion of 1798 in Ireland against the English 
 rule, and with Commodore Barry, Hhe father of 
 the American navy,' and other kindred spirits, 
 had to flee the land. He settled in Williamsburg, 
 Va., but afterward removed to Norfolk, married a 
 Mis3 Elizabeth Hazzard of Princess Anne county, 
 Va. For some reason, presumed to be the fear of 
 persecution by the English government, he never 
 revealed that he was the Irish rebel Moran until 
 the time of his death. He was greatly respected 
 and the soul of society, Avhose house was always 
 open. His descendants of to-day are the Morans, 
 Barrys, and Kings of the city of Norfolk." 
 
 When Moore visited the Lake of the Dismal 
 Swamp, no doubt with the purpose of putting into 
 ballad form the legend he had discovered in Nor- 
 folk, he naturally went alone in the " dugout " of 
 a negro boatman, so that he might not be dis- 
 
402 ETHICS OF BOXING AKD MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 turbed. He passed up the canal, came through 
 the Feeder and entered the lake, just as we did, 
 beneath the living arch of cypress. " He wrote all 
 the time he was in my boat," says the man who 
 brought him to the lake. This negro boatman, 
 called ''Uncle Tony," was a well-known character. 
 From his own lips the story of the poet's visit has 
 been written down by Mr. Robert Arnold of Suf- 
 folk, Va. Here is Uncle Tony's story : — 
 
 " I shall never forgit dat time. One mornin' I 
 war gittin' my skiff reddy to go to de lake, a 
 mighty nice-lookin' man cum up to me an' sed : 
 ' Ar you de man dat will carry me to de Lake ob 
 de Dismal Swamp for Avhich I will pay you XI ? ' 
 De gentman talked so putty dat I tole him to git 
 in my skiff an' I wood carry him. to de lake. I 
 notice dat he kep writin' all de way. When I got 
 to de horse camps (a large encampment of negro 
 wood-cutters), I stopped to git somefin' to eat. He 
 cum outen de skiff an' ax me what I stop for. I 
 tole him I stop to eat some meat an' bread. He 
 ax me if I would have a drink. I tuk off my hat 
 an' tole him dat I would be much obleeged to him 
 for it. He fotched a silber jug, wid a silber cup 
 for a stopper, an' sed: 'My man, dis is Irish 
 whiskey, brung it all de way from home.' He tole 
 me dat his name was Thomas Moore, and dat he 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 403 
 
 cum fom 'way ober j^onder, an' was gwine to de 
 lake to write 'bout a spirit dat is seed dar paddlin' 
 a kunnue. De liar 'gin tu rise on my lied, an' I 
 ax him ef dat wus a fac'. He sed dat he wus tole 
 so in Norfolk. I shal nebber forgit dat gentman. 
 I fotch him back, an' he gin me de poun' which 
 war five dollars, an' he lef ' for Norfolk, bein' mitey 
 glad dat I had carried him to de lake. He tole nie 
 dat he had trabbled an' seen sites, but dat he 
 nebber wus so 'stonish befo' ; he did not 'spec' to 
 see at de end ob de kunel sich a putty place, an' 
 dat I wood hear some time what he was gwine tu 
 say 'bout it." 
 
 Our camp lay on the northwest corner of the 
 lake, three miles from the Feeder's mouth. At 
 the start we struck out to the middle of the lake 
 before turning north, so that we took in at first 
 glance the whole wonderful view. For myself, I 
 longed to lay down my paddle and sit there 
 motionless until the sun sank and the moon rose, 
 for a dream and fascination that had drawn me 
 from childhood was now fulfilled and completed. 
 Only the lake of mj^ fancy was much smaller and 
 gloomier than the true lake. 
 
 There is no other sheet of water like this any- 
 where. No other so far removed from the turbu- 
 lence of life, so defamed, while so beautiful. It 
 
404 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 fills one with pity and wonder — the utter silence 
 and loneliness of it. It is a dead sea, but neither 
 bitter nor barren. 
 
 I could not help the feeling, that increased as 
 time passed, that this pure eye of water, ringed by 
 one distinct line of dark trees, no farther horizon 
 visible, was not on a plain, but on a high moun- 
 tain. Later on, as we sailed around the borders of 
 the lake, another delusive thought persisted in 
 coming. It always seemed that the wooded shore 
 rose abruptly thirty yards or so back from the 
 water, and that I verily could see the uplifting of 
 the trees and underbrush. Probably because it 
 was unnatural that the shore should be just as Ioav 
 or lower than the water surface, the senses refused 
 to accept it as true. 
 
 The first deep impression made on me by the 
 lake was its size. I had expected to see a sheet 
 not a tenth part as large, and gloomy with the 
 shadows of its tall, overhanging trees. Instead, 
 from the centre the trees were a low, dark border 
 on the far horizon. 
 
 From the centre, the lake is the very ideal of 
 loneliness and stillness, strangely emphasized by 
 the solitary wide-winged hawk, tipping on his high 
 circle. No smaller bird can be seen at this dis- 
 tance in the trees on the shore — though birds are 
 there, and in rich variety. 
 
CANOEING IX THE DISMAL SWAMP. 405 
 
 % , 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 > 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 M 
 
 
406 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 Here, for instance, are some of the birds we 
 noted in a few days, many of them in great num- 
 bers : the catbird, robin, swamp canarv^ wren, 
 sparrow, mocking-bird, whip-poor-will, red bird (a 
 blaze of plumage), thrush (with a crown), yellow- 
 hammer, woodpecker, owl (immense fellows), 
 hawk, eagle, kingfisher, jay, heron, quail, wdld 
 turkey, woodcock, buzzard, crow, and numerous 
 brilliant little birds of many species, whose names 
 we did not know. In the winter the lake is fairly 
 covered with geese, swans, and all kinds of duck. 
 The bat, which I believe is not a bird, is at home 
 here. 
 
 But crossing the lake that first day we saw only 
 one bird, a hawk of great size. The water of the 
 lake was deliciously cool in the centre, where the 
 average depth is about fifteen feet. Again and 
 again we drank the sweet draught. Looking into 
 it, no mirror could be more perfect in reflection. 
 The flash of the paddles was brown, not cry^stal. 
 On a day when the water broke (and we crossed 
 the lake one day before the rush of a gale), the 
 brown brandy-light through the lifting waves and 
 the warm ruddiness of the breakers were singu- 
 larly beautiful. 
 
 The lake is full of fish of many and excellent 
 kinds, though it has never been fished in the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 407 
 
 deeper water. The " swampers," who live on the 
 borders, never fish beyond the Ime of stumps, 
 which are at farthest a hundred yards from the 
 shore, so that the fish of the lake are not at all 
 completely known. The garfish, because he jumps, 
 has been seen sometimes eight feet long, but no 
 other fish is seen in the deep water. You cannot 
 see one inch into the lake ; it is like looking into a 
 bowl of ink. This makes it dangerous for light 
 boating, for the snags are numerous, and though 
 they may not be a nail's breadth under water, they 
 are quite invisible. 
 
 The fish in the lake, great quantities of which 
 we caught, and on which, indeed, we chiefly lived, 
 are the speckled perch or " Frenchman," a delicious 
 fish, the raccoon perch, chub (a black bass), yellow 
 perch (small), flyer, garfish, catfish (very numer^ 
 ous), gaper, blackfish (thirty inches long), roach 
 and eel. There are plenty of pike in the canals. 
 
 The following story has been told me about the 
 strange disappearance of a fish from the lake: 
 " There was a very numerous fish known there as 
 the brown perch, which was esteemed as the finest 
 of all fresh-water fish. One year, about 1866 or 
 1867, they disappeared and never have been caught 
 since. It was the year of the great swamp fire, 
 which lasted through a continuous drought of more 
 
408 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 than two months. It is supposed that the strong 
 alkali imparted to the water from the timber and 
 other vegetable ashes destroyed this fish, for soon 
 after the rainy season had set in, immense quanti- 
 ties were found floating dead on the edges and 
 surface of the lake." 
 
 In the town of Suffolk, on the northwest border 
 of the Dismal Swamp, Mr. Rudolph A. King of 
 Washington has a large property, which has led 
 him to consider the advantages of the swamp 
 region as a game preserve. He has started a pro- 
 ject of getting five thousand men to form a game 
 club, paying about ten dollars each a year, and 
 lease the whole Dismal Swamp. He writes to me 
 as follows : — 
 
 ''It is within the reach of men of moderate 
 means, by combination in sufficient number, at 
 trifling expenditure, so small as scarcely to be felt, 
 to secure ownership, maintain and extend to a 
 magnitude never attempted on this continent, with 
 large enough area and attractions for thousands, 
 ' The Pioneer Shooting Park, Game Preserve, and 
 Health Resort of America,' exclusively for busi- 
 ness men, to provide shooting, fishing, and outdoor 
 recreative attractions similar to the English and 
 European style, for those seeking health or pleas- 
 ure in pursuit of game or fish, canoeing, yachting, 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 409 
 
 or kindred diversions, such as are becoming more 
 necessary every year. By these means we could 
 attain more practical results in protection of forest 
 game, fish, and other natural luxuries of this 
 country, for the benefit of those concerned, than 
 legislation has been able to reach." 
 
 One has only to listen to Mr. King to be con- 
 verted to his project, which is certainly one of the 
 straws in the wind that have a significance for the 
 future of this region. 
 
 The lake itself was discovered in 1775, by a 
 Scotchman named Drummond, after whom it was 
 named. He had followed a deer so far into the 
 swamp, which Avas then regarded as impassable, 
 that he lost his way. He wandered through the 
 dreadful aimless avenues of the morass for three 
 days and nights, afraid to lie down and sleep on 
 account of the serpents and panthers. He had 
 almost abandoned hope on the third day, and, the 
 story goes, was meditating self-destruction to 
 escape the horrors of a lingering death in the 
 swamp, when he parted the canebrake before him 
 and found himself on the verge of the wonderful 
 lake. He had discovered the jewel hidden in the 
 heart of the swamp ! The poor fellow thought at 
 first he was crazy ; that this was the wild vision 
 of delirium, till he had waded into the dark water 
 
410 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 and drank of it. Then, hope and strength returned. 
 He took his bearings by the sun and succeeded in 
 reaching his home that night, with the almost in- 
 conceivable tidings of a great lake in the centre of 
 the Dismal Swamp. 
 
 George Washington, in 1763, in his twenty-first 
 year, made a complete survey of the Dismal 
 Swamp, with profound results. Throughout his 
 life the secrets of nature he had there discovered 
 were never forgotten ; and years afterward, when 
 the Revolutionary War was over, and he was " the 
 father of his country," he purchased the swamp, 
 and organized the Dismal Swamp Land Company, 
 which still exists and continues its ownership. 
 
 Washington's original design was not the mere 
 cutting of timber, but the entire reclamation of the 
 swamp. He had perceived the immediate possibility 
 of bringing almost its entire area into cultivation. 
 His great project failed in this its first purpose ; 
 not because it was impracticable, but because the 
 company found that the timber-cutting alone 
 yielded an unexpected and almost incredible reve- 
 nue. The reclamation of the land was gradually 
 given up, and as it was found that by holding and 
 raising the water the timber could be more easily 
 taken out, the locks began their work of still fur- 
 ther drowning the whole district. Then came the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 411 
 
 commercial canal, with power over all the water 
 in the swamp, and devoid of intelligence and pub- 
 lic spirit, and the land of the Dismal Swamp was 
 doomed. 
 
 Washington himself surveyed the swamp for 
 the route of his canals. His first cutting, running 
 from the northwest corner of the lake in a westerly- 
 direction, ended at what is called the Reed Farm, 
 on the Edenton road, seven miles from Suffolk. 
 It is still called ''Washington's Ditch." It has 
 for many years been abandoned as a means of 
 travel, a more direct route — the Jericho Canal — 
 having been made at a later date. The Jericho 
 Canal leaves the lake at the same lock as " Wash- 
 ington's Ditch," and ends within two miles of 
 Suffolk, running into the Nansemond river. 
 
 I paddled up both these canals from the lake, 
 and more oppressive surroundings it is hard to 
 conceive. The Jericho Canal is ten miles long and 
 eighteen feet wide, but the encroaching bamboo 
 jungle reduces this width by over two feet on each 
 side. The dense canes rise at least fifteen feet 
 high on both banks, so that it is like canoeing in 
 an unroofed sewer. To enliven the passage, the 
 moccasins, on sunny days, climb to the tops of the 
 bamboo canes, and are seen constantly dropping 
 into the water. It is a common thing to have them 
 
412 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 drop into the open dugout of the "swamper," out 
 of which they wriggle without delay. But the 
 thought of a five-foot venomous snake dropping 
 into a fourteen-foot canoe, with decks forward and 
 aft, under which he would be sure to dart, and out 
 of which there was no escape except by returning 
 to the centre of the boat, was a dismal imagining. 
 To make sure of no such visitor, I kept firing now 
 and then into the canes ahead. 
 
 The water in the Jericho Canal runs into the 
 lake ; but at one-third its length the stream turns 
 and runs the other way, emptying into the Nanse- 
 mond river. 
 
 This line where the watershed divides is un- 
 questionably the highest portion of the swamp. It 
 has not been surveyed; but calculating the rise 
 from the Feeder to the northwest corner of the 
 lake to be two feet, and three feet for the old lock 
 at the opening of the Jericho Canal, I predict that 
 the extreme height of the swamp will be from 
 twenty-eight to thirty feet above tide water. 
 
 The condition of the wholly abandoned " Wash- 
 ington's Ditch " is even more forbidding than that 
 of the Jericho Canal. The heavy trees are crowd- 
 ing its banks and leaning into it ; the bamboos 
 meet across it for long distances. It is, I think, the 
 most sombre and evil-looking waterway on the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 413 
 
 earth, and yet no foot of it but is beautiful. The 
 water moves slowly toward the lake (any move- 
 ment is a relief in the gloom and silence, for even 
 the birds have deserted the place), but after a 
 short distance, as in the Jericho Canal, the floAV 
 changes and goes outward, 
 
 Washington had undoubtedly discovered the 
 deepest secret of the Dismal Swamp, and appre- 
 ciated its importance. He had read, most probably, 
 the only description of the swamp in existence in his 
 time, in a manuscript journal kept by Col. William 
 Byrd of Westover (on the borders of the swamp), 
 a man of great intelligence, who had surveyed the 
 Dismal Swamp in 1725, at the request of the 
 Governor of Virginia. Col. Byrd's manuscript is 
 to be seen in the National Library at Washington. 
 After his survey, he reported to the Governor of 
 Virginia that the Dismal Swamp could be drained 
 and reclaimed, and a petition was sent to George 
 III., asking that a company be formed for that 
 purpose, the company agreeing in advance to bear 
 all the expenses, to pay themselves by the owner- 
 ship of the reclaimed land, which was to remain 
 untaxed for fifty years ; and they bound them- 
 selves also to complete the work in ten years. 
 
 One hundred and sixty-seven years have passed 
 since then. King George's answer has not yet 
 
41-i ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 been received in Virginia, and the Dismal Swamp 
 remains undrained and abandoned. Surely this is 
 one of the most remarkable facts of modern times. 
 
 Colonel Byrd, in his journal, describes the 
 dreadful dangers of his exploring expedition into 
 the Dismal Swamp. '^ We hoped to gain immortal 
 reputation," he says, " by being the first of man- 
 kind that ventured through the Dismal Swamp." 
 He started on his exploring expedition in March. 
 He could not have selected a more unfavorable 
 month, for the swamp was then drowned with the 
 winter rain almost as completelj^ as it is in the 
 same month in our own times. The lake is five 
 feet lower in September than in March. No won- 
 der that after a week's attempt he had only suc- 
 ceeded in entering to a distance of three miles. 
 His party could find no solid ground to rest on at 
 night, and their fires went out on the soggy earth. 
 
 Colonel Byrd says he succeeded at length in 
 reaching the North Carolina side of the swamp, 
 and of course he is to be believed. But he must 
 have skirted the eastern border all the way, for he 
 missed the lake, which was not discovered until 
 another quarter of a century had passed. 
 
 Colonel Byrd based his favorable report to the 
 governor, no doubt, on the fact, apparent then as 
 now, that the swamp lay between three tidal 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 415 
 
 rivers, the Elizabeth, the Nansemond, and Pasquo- 
 tank, and was liigh above them. 
 
 It needed no wizard to see that such a swamp 
 could be drained. 
 
 Washington, in 1763, in his own words, entered 
 the Dismal Swamp, and '' encompassed the whole." 
 He camped on the east side of the lake, and un- 
 questionably considered the problem of its forma- 
 tion, for he was astonished, and he astonished 
 others by declaring that all the rivers in the swamp 
 flowed out of it instead of into it. 
 
 "The Dismal Swamp," wrote Washington, "is 
 neither a hollow nor a plain, but a hillside." He 
 had discovered, what measurement has since 
 shown, that the lake was 23 feet higher than the 
 sea I 
 
 Scientists have accounted for the water in the 
 Dismal Swamp, from cursory observations, hy 
 the rainfall, even denying the existence of springs 
 in the lake. I venture, with much hesitation, to 
 disagree with this conclusion, believing it to be 
 impossible that the rainfall can account for the 
 enormous supply of water, not only contained 
 within the swamp, but which is, and always has 
 been, flowing out of it. 
 
 First, it is granted that no more rain falls on 
 the Dismal Swamp than on any other piece of 
 
416 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MAKLY SPOUT. 
 
 Virginia 40x30 miles square. Second, it is certain 
 that it does not draw from the surrounding coun- 
 try, for it is higher than all its environment. 
 
 Yet, out of the Dismal Swamp run no less than 
 nine rivers, some of them very considerable, and 
 still the lake continues to overfloAv, and the whole 
 vast extent of the swamp remains inundated. 
 
 These are the rivers that, if traced to their 
 source, will be found to take their rise in the Dis- 
 mal Swamp : the south branch of the Elizabeth, 
 the west branch of the Elizabeth, south branch of 
 the Nansemond, the Deep Creek, the North River, 
 the Northwest River, the Little River, the Per- 
 quimans, and the Pasquotank. 
 
 Granting that the dense foliage of the Dismal 
 Swamp lessens evaporation, there is still nothing 
 like a proportion between the rainfall and the 
 water that remains in and flows out of this dis- 
 trict. 
 
 There is no field in America more deserving of 
 scientific investigation than the Dismal Swamp. 
 "The first thing" is not known about it — how it 
 was formed. Fortunately the attention of the 
 National Geological Survey has now been turned 
 in this direction. A survey of the entire district 
 has been ordered and begun. Within a year, it is 
 hoped, a perfect map of the Dismal Swamp, show- 
 
CANOEING IN THK DISMAL {SWAMP. 417 
 
418 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 ing its surface, with the accuracy of five-feet con- 
 tours, will be published. 
 
 '' The bed of the lake was formed by a fire that 
 burned the trees and the peaty earth, making a 
 hollow where the water lodged," says ''general 
 opinion." 
 
 But then it must have been a swamp before the 
 fire, or there would have been no peaty earth to 
 burn, and the rivers must have been flowing out 
 of it as they do to-day. The fire could not make 
 the rivers, even if it did make the lake ; and if it 
 were originally a swamp, the fire could not burn 
 deep enough to form the present bed of the lake, 
 which is from 7 to 15 feet in depth. The fires 
 still yearly occurring never burn below two feet, 
 for at that depth is the percolating water, and it 
 must have been there always. 
 
 The bottom of the lake is composed almost 
 wholly of fine white sand, and the temperature 
 varies greatly in parts. In our long rubber boots 
 we waded in the shallow water near the shore in 
 several places, and found this fine sand bottom. 
 
 Prof. N. B. Webster, in an interesting article on 
 certain physical features of the swamp, says, — 
 
 " The vast swamp appears to be retained above 
 the level of the adjacent land in a way similar to 
 the peat mosses of Solway and Sligo, until they 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMxVL SWAMP. 419 
 
 burst and overwhelmed the neighboring country. 
 What known force but that combination of molec- 
 ular force known as capillarity can supply and 
 sustain the waters of the lake and swamp above 
 described?" 
 
 It is hard to answer as to the supply, but it is 
 obvious that the force that sustains the lake at its 
 present height is not molecular, unless a lock be a 
 molecule. " The outlets at the canal locks," said 
 old Mr. Wallace, ''are inadequate to let out the 
 overflow, and it has to flood the land." He was 
 speaking of the pane-like openings in the locks to 
 lower the water. 
 
 But suppose the locks were opened altogether, 
 and left open, what would be the result ? 
 
 The middle level of the Dismal Swamp Canal 
 is, or is supposed to be, eight feet deep. If the 
 middle locks were opened, the lake would be 
 lowered eight feet, and the whole swamp west of 
 the lake would drain into it, while that portion to 
 the east would drain into the canal. 
 
 If there be a doubt of the consequence, look at 
 some of the wonderful farm lands lying east of 
 the canal from Deep Creek to South Mills. Miles 
 and miles of fertility almost incomparable on the 
 surface of the earth. Half a century ago every 
 foot of this land was Dismal Swamp, forsaken 
 morass, full of reptiles and wild animals. 
 
420 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 " There is some peaty land in the swamp," said 
 Mr. Wallace, " and I don't know that it could be 
 reduced to cultivation ; but there are hundreds of 
 miles of land as good as this I have reclaimed." 
 
 "Would the land burn if it were drained, as 
 some people say? " I asked Captain Wallace, whose 
 reclaimed land runs within a few miles of the 
 lake. 
 
 "No," he answered, smiling at the question; 
 " why doesn't our Dover Farm (which lies west of 
 the canal) burn if that be true ? The whole sur- 
 face of the swamp becomes dry enough to burn in 
 the summer months; but it does not burn; at 
 least it burns no more than any other closely tim- 
 bered country." 
 
 Another objection offered is that the drainage 
 of the swamp would produce malaria. 
 
 Shame on the pretence ! The people who are 
 responsible for the swamp have not been able to 
 make it malarial in a hundred years of treatment 
 inductive to malaria. They have drowned it, and 
 rotted it, and cut away its purifying juniper wood, 
 and still it remains the healthiest portion of the 
 State of Virginia, if not of the United States. 
 
 If I were sick to-morrow of malaria contracted 
 on some New England river, I should go at once 
 to the Dismal Swamp to be cured. Depend on it, 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 421 
 
 the tree that can kill malaria in snch a morass can 
 drive it out of the human blood. ' 
 
 What reason is there to believe that malaria 
 would follow if a remedial and sanative, rather 
 than a destructive and mephitic course were 
 adopted ? 
 
 But who are " they " who thus have the doing 
 or undoing of the swamp in their hands ? 
 
 " They " are the people who devised the policy 
 of the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Land Com- 
 pany or Timber Company, and all who support 
 their past and present management. " They," too, 
 are the farmers of the swamp district who do not 
 agitate for the removal of the obstructions to their 
 prosperity offered by those persons or corporations. 
 " They," too, are the whole people of Virginia and 
 North Carolina who tolerate in their States an evil 
 that the early eighteenth century resolved to re- 
 move, and that is a double discredit to the nine- 
 teenth century. 
 
 The Dismal Swamp Canal was chartered in 
 1787 as a public highway, to be forever free from 
 taxes on condition that it served certain important 
 purposes, one of which was that ''as the said 
 canals, the main canal and feeder, may^be of great 
 utility in affording the means of draining the 
 sunken lands through which tliey pass « , . it 
 
422 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 shall be lawful for the proprietors of the said ad- 
 jacent lands to open cross-ditches into the said 
 canals." I copy from the charter. 
 
 This condition has been outrageously abused by 
 the corporation. Instead of kee23ing the canal as 
 a means of draining the adjacent lands, the banks 
 have been raised to store the water till the canal is 
 much higher than the lands adjoining. If a farm- 
 er on the west side wants to drain his land, he 
 must adopt the heroic course of Captain Wallace 
 and tunnel under the canal. ^ 
 
 On this vital condition, which accounts largely 
 for the immense sums of public money voted for 
 the canal in Congress and the State Legislatures 
 of Virginia and North Carolina, the Canal Com- 
 pany has long ago forfeited its charter. Instead 
 of using the public money for the good of the 
 farmers owning the swamp lands, it has used it to 
 destroy those lands, with the view, probably, of 
 eventually buying them at its own price. 
 
 But they have overshot the mark, and have 
 ruined their own property more hopelessly than 
 they have injured the land. They have allowed 
 another canal to be run almost parallel to theirs 
 (the Chesapeake & Albemarle), which has diverted 
 all their trade, and which bears large vessels and 
 steamers. The new canal has a much longer 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 423 
 
 course, with other disadvantages ; but it has beaten 
 its old and pampered rival out of the field. Only 
 one little steamer plies on the Dismal Swamp 
 Canal, and even this must disappear as soon as a 
 necessary railroad is run through the eastern 
 swamp region. 
 
 But let us return to our canoes and recall some 
 of the pictures of the lake and swamp. 
 
 ^'Abeham," said Moseley, on our first afternoon 
 at the lake, " put some bait in my boat ; I am 
 going to fish till supper time." 
 
 And he goes one way from the camp in his 
 canoe with his rod and his gun, while I go another 
 out on the lake. The camp is a rude frame house, 
 with a few bed places or "bunks" in it, built on 
 the edge of the lake by Captain Busby of Suffolk, 
 probably to induce sportsmen and fishermen to 
 visit the place. Instead of pitching our tent in a 
 snake country, this safe and dry shelter is most 
 gratefully accepted. Contrary to our expectations, 
 the nights were quite cold, and I had reason to be 
 thankful that I had brought with me a large raw 
 silk blanket (one of those made by George S. 
 Brown of Boston, whose excellent goods ought to 
 be known to all who are fond of athletics and 
 outing). 
 
 Our camping ground had associations, too, that 
 
424 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 are worth mentioning. Over thirty years ago (in 
 1855), an attempt was made by some enterprising 
 men of Suffolk to open the beauties of the lake to 
 the outer world. It was a worthy project, but it 
 began at the wrong end ; the beginning ought to 
 have opened the eyes of the outer world to the 
 beauties of the lake. Colonel Hollidway and 
 others of Suffolk built a large hotel here in the 
 swamp, near where our camp stood. " There were 
 accommodations for one hundred and fifty persons," 
 we read in a Suffolk man's letter, '' and a band of 
 music was kept continuously playing." Is this a 
 true story ? we ask ourselves, standing on the very 
 site, where not a vestige of hotel remains. To 
 whom did the band play continuously ? If people 
 wanted to hear a band why did they come here for 
 it? What business had a band here, anyway? 
 How did the guests reach the lake ? Through the 
 Jericho Canal in a lighter, under the snake-fruited 
 bamboo ? What a most singular vein of questions 
 we open, thinking of this vanished hotel with its 
 incomprehensible band, " playing continuously ! " 
 
 " Where did this hotel stand ? " we ask Abeham. 
 
 " Out dere in de lake, at dat black stump. Dat 
 part of hotel. Dat's all dere's lef. Lake cover'd 
 it all up." 
 
 The stump was two hundred yards out in the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 425 
 
 lake. This bears out the words of Mr. R. A. King 
 •that " the lake has widened on the west side, by 
 washing of the waves, over two hundred yards 
 since 1857." 
 
 We left Abeham to cook a supper of fish which 
 he had caught while waiting for us in the Feeder. 
 Your southern darky is a natural fisherman. Like 
 a thrifty housewife who takes out her knitting 
 between-whiles, he will bait a hook and fish while 
 he is " doin' nuffin'." And what a picture of con- 
 tentment he is while fishing ! Look at Abeham, 
 here, just waiting while we have gone up a " gum 
 road," —for we tried faithfully to explore all the 
 avenues, wet and dry, leading into the swamp, on 
 our way round the lake. 
 
 The southern negro is the freest man in civiliza- 
 tion, as he ought to be, for Heaven knows he has 
 had enough of bondage. He is striking the balance 
 now. He works just when he chooses, and he loafs 
 when he chooses. He is not only politically, but 
 socially, free. He has no ambitions, no pretensions, 
 and hardly any responsibilities. He is the sugary 
 element in the grinding sand of our civilization. 
 Lazy ? Why shouldn't he be lazy if it seems best 
 to him? Suppose he begins to dig and scrape and 
 grow thrifty and hard and mean as progress and 
 society make us ? Suppose he learns to sell with 
 
426 ETHICS OF BOXING AKD MANLY SPORT. 
 
 light weights, and lend at usury, to live above his 
 income, not because he wants to, but because Mrs. 
 Cuffee in the next shanty gave a party, and 
 Mrs. Abeham across the way has set up a mule 
 carriage, and his wife and family must do as much 
 as they ? Will he be a happier or a better man by 
 this way of living than he is now with his old hat 
 and his cheery smile and his pleasant manners and 
 his little niggers singing and laughing with their 
 mother in the humble but sufficient cabin ? 
 
 Not he ; he is choosing the wiser and happier 
 way. Let him go fishing while he may. He has 
 a right to a holiday for at least two whole genera- 
 tions. If the white folks grumble at their work 
 left undone, let them go and do it themselves. 
 They made him do it long enough. Now, let him 
 work just when he likes, or not at all, if he likes. 
 
 Keep on, Abeham, just as you are. Have a rest. 
 Your clothes are good enough, and you can hunt 
 for food any time. Civilization will catch you and 
 tame you and dress you and educate 3^ou, and make 
 you a provident, careworn, dependent, miserable, 
 compromising, respectable element of society soon 
 enough. 
 
 But was that a signal Moseley made to me? 
 Yes, a nervous, quick wave of the hand that says, 
 '^ Come here ! Come here at once ! " 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 427 
 
 ivN'^: 
 
428 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPO^T. 
 
 I join him in a dozen strokes of the paddle. 
 He is excited. 
 
 " Quiet, now," he says, being most unquiet; ''do 
 you see that tall gum tree on the very edge of the 
 water a quarter of a mile away ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " An eagle, a bald-headed eagle, do you hear ? 
 has just lighted in the top of that tree. We must 
 have him. We will get as near as we can and 
 start him up. If I miss him, you make sure of 
 him." 
 
 We proceeded quietly toward the tree. Abeham, 
 watching us, and scenting sport, had joined us. 
 When within a hundred yards of the tree we saw 
 the great bird standing on a high bough, a tall, 
 gaunt, black body, with white head and tail. The 
 intervening branches made it a risky shot, but 
 when we had got fairly within range Moseley fired, 
 and down came the bird head-first, as if plunging 
 into the lake. 
 
 There was a fallen tree growing beneath, and he 
 was caught in its branches about ten feet from the 
 water. He hung heavily, his great curved yellow 
 beak on his breast, his eyes closed, and his enor- 
 mous talons extended helplessly. He seemed to 
 be quite dead. 
 
 " Get him down, Abeham," said Moseley. 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 429 
 
 Abeham pushed his boat under the branches and 
 stood up, reaching his hand toward the bird. 
 Next moment he shrank back in open-mouthed 
 terror, with his eyes fixed on the eagle, and actually 
 fell into the seat at the end of his punt. 
 
 What a change had come over the wounded 
 creature I The dying king had arisen in his har- 
 ness. He had rallied for a last stroke as his ene- 
 mies closed upon him. The head that was droop- 
 ing a moment ago was raised with infinite pride 
 and defiance, and the neck stiffened with wrath. 
 The eyes glared with piercing anger at the foe that 
 dared to touch him ; the massive yellow legs were 
 drawn up to strike, and the talons opened and shut 
 with ferocious passion. 
 
 This was the dread vision that had terrified 
 Abeham, and no wonder. The bird at that 
 moment could have torn him limb from limb. 
 
 But it was only a flash, only the agonized effort 
 of despair and death. Next moment a gray film 
 spread over the fierce eye, the yellow beak dropped 
 on the breast, and the legs reached downward piti- 
 fully and found no footing. Then, once more mak- 
 ing us start in our boats, he rallied with raised head, 
 gave a wild look around, and with a desperate 
 struggle raised himself from the branches, and 
 dashed toward the low bank twenty feet away. 
 
430 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 He alighted on the ground, and stood there with 
 his head lowered and pushed into a dark angle of 
 the bank, with his back to his enemies. 
 
 There could hardly be a doubt that it was a de- 
 liberate preparation for death, not an effort to 
 escape. He had seen his enemies close beside 
 him, and he knew he was in full sight. A proud 
 savage, badly wounded, in the power of merciless 
 foes, would have done precisely what this eagle 
 did. 
 
 Next moment another gun flamed, and he fell 
 backward^ dead. He was a noble specimen of the 
 bald-headed eagle — the national bird. This is the 
 strong-winged one that, Audubon says, " can 
 ascend until it disappears from view without any 
 apparent motion of the wings or tail, and from 
 the greatest height descends with a rapidity which 
 cannot be followed by the eye." 
 
 ** The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls ; 
 He watches from his mountain walls, 
 And like a thunderbolt he falls." 
 
 Who said that the bald eagle was a coward? 
 Audubon, I am sorry to see, believes the aspersion. 
 Benjamin Franklin regretted that the bird was 
 taken as the national emblem, because it was said 
 to be mean, ungenerous, pusillanimous ; that he 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 431 
 
 would not fight a dunghill cock in the same cage. 
 No, perhaps he cannot fight in a cage ; such a bird 
 as this was not built to fight in a cage. But who- 
 ever thinks the bald eagle a coward had better see 
 one die. At the last moment of life, at least, no 
 nation need ever seek for mightier dignity or cour- 
 age than his. Woe be to that power that ever 
 meets the look of a nation preparing for the death- 
 grip as we beheld that of this majestic bird. 
 
 He was awfully solemn and stern, even as he lay 
 dead in the canoe. I never saw a head, human or 
 animal, with such tremendous lines. The long, 
 curved bone of the skull over the deep-set eye 
 ''gave an expression of profound suffering and 
 power. In one view he seemed to be veiy old and 
 gray, and reminded one of the loneliness and king- 
 liness of Lear; but the general suggestion, not of 
 the beak, but of the side brow and sunken eye, 
 was of the head of Daniel Webster. 
 
 We hung him on a stump till morning, till we 
 could send him by canal to Suffolk to have his 
 skin preserved. He was, as all great birds and 
 beasts are said to be, covered with foul parasites, 
 that must have made his life a torment, and that 
 probably deepened the patient and enduring lines 
 of his head. These vile things hurried from the 
 dead king they had feasted on while his blood was 
 
432 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
 warm ; and in the morning, when we took his body 
 away, we saw them clinging hopefully to the sun- 
 warmed stump. '' Long live the king I " one 
 fancies their sycophantic word, as they kissed the 
 senseless edges of the heated bark. For three 
 whole days some of them hung to the place, 
 through dew and rain, till a drenching night 
 washed them into perdition. 
 
 So it is always when a great man dies. He 
 must have his parasites in life, and it is a cold 
 world for the vermin when he is gone. 
 
 What more about the swamp? Snakes? I wish 
 I could close without saying a word defamatory of 
 the poor, maltreated swamp. But one thing is 
 true : it is no more to be blamed for its vermin 
 than the eagle. In fair hands the swamp would 
 purify itself and be as wholesome in its life as in 
 its air and water. 
 
 ''Pity 'tis, 'tis true." We have told of the 
 birds and flowers and other lovely features of this 
 strange region. Now we must go down into the 
 recesses of its sins and let them see the day. 
 
 Booted to the thigh, armed with knife and gun, 
 is the only safe way to enter the canebrake, or, 
 indeed, to depart in any way from the open spaces 
 of the swamp. During our exploring we did not 
 see bear or panther or wildcat ; but whoever leaves 
 
|A^ 
 
 
 
 »iiM 
 
 
 .^^^v ^ 
 
 
 f:.-.>^ 
 
 m^; 
 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 433 
 
 the beaten ways of the swamp must be prepared 
 to meet these inhabitants. 
 
 For three days, with a cool wind and nightly 
 rain, with the exception of one large king-snake 
 which we killed on a ''gum road," we had seen 
 nothing more noxious than a blue lizard with a 
 red head, a harmless and friendly little fellow who 
 seems to have no fear of man, for he will go on 
 eating his invisible food and glancing up in your 
 face in a most amusing and taking way. But the 
 shape of the creature is against it, and the color 
 of his ^head, which is exactly the hue of the moc- 
 casin's belly. When Moseley woke up from a 
 doze one wet afternoon, and found one of these 
 lizards (the negroes call them scorpions) on his 
 pillow, still eating invisible food and smacking his 
 lips with a friendly glance, it was well the reptile 
 didn't understand American, or he might have 
 been offended. 
 
 Our first snake was killed in this way : On our 
 second day, while passing up a " gum road," we 
 came upon a large dark-skinned snake lazily coiled 
 on a sunny log. Having killed him by striking 
 him with a heavy cane, we were afterward told by 
 Abeham that it was a harmless king-snake, and 
 that, moreover, it spent its time destroying the 
 poisonous snakes in the swamp, which it does by 
 crushing them. 
 
434 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT, 
 
 On the morning of the fourth day — and what 
 a day that was, with a copper cover on it, and a 
 crater underneath — sweltering, we woke up, and 
 both had the same thought — a swim. "Jim," a 
 very interesting colored " boy " from a neighbor- 
 ing " swampers' " camp, was outside, and he stared 
 aghast at our preparations. 
 
 '' No, no, don't do dat ! " he said earnestly. 
 
 ''Why not?" 
 
 ''Moccasins! " with a grave head-shake. 
 
 We did not jump in; we contented ourselves 
 with a bath in the boat. But we lauglied at 
 " Jim," and sat down to breakfast in the open air. 
 In a few minutes we stopped laughing. 
 
 " What is that swimming out there ? " asked 
 Moseley, pointing to a slight dark streak about 
 twenty yards out in the lake. 
 
 " A moccasin ! " cried Abeham, getting on his 
 feet excitedly. Abeham was used to snakes, but 
 terribly afraid of them. " Shoot him ! " 
 
 We shot him; slight and short as he looked 
 swimming, he was four feet seven inches in length. 
 In a minute another — his mate probably — swam 
 past and was killed, and was exactly the same 
 length. 
 
 The moccasin swims with its head and about 
 fourteen inches of its back over the water. The 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 435 
 
 head is very small for the thickness and length of 
 the snake. It swims rapidly with a wavy motion. 
 It is dark on the back, with a violently red belly, 
 like inflamed scales, from the loose skin of the 
 under jaw to the tail. Most of those we saw (and 
 after that day we ceased to count them) were of an 
 average length of about four and a half to five 
 feet, thick as a man's arm, and repulsively fat. 
 The prevailing suggestion of the creatures when 
 you kill them is fatness. 
 
 All the snakes of the Dismal Swamp are shy and 
 timid. Very rarely do they bite, and then only 
 when driven by fear. The largest snake in the 
 swamp is the king-snake, which grows to be ten 
 feet in length. The rattle-snake is fortunately 
 rare in the swamp. It is mostly seen near the 
 Feeder, and is the diamond or water rattle-snake, 
 the largest and most sullenly ferocious of its dread 
 family. It has a brown back, and a dirty yellowish 
 belly. A ''swamper" said he had seen one this 
 year that was eight feet long. 
 
 The most dangerous snake in the swamp is one 
 of the smallest, called the poplar snake. He is 
 about twelve inches in length, green in color, like 
 that of the poplar tree in which he lives. We 
 escaped him most fortunately, for before we heard 
 of him we had deflowered many poplars of their 
 
436 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 beautiful blossoms. This snake is a direful pest ; 
 from his size and color he is not easily seen ; and 
 his poison is said to resemble the rattle-snake's. 
 
 The water moccasin is a venomous snake, and it 
 is surprising, considering his countless presence in 
 the swamp, that so few people are bitten. This 
 reptile literally infests all quarters of the swamp. 
 Other snakes, more or less numerous, are the black 
 snake (sometimes nine feet long), the horned 
 snake, and the jointed snake. Abeham and Jim 
 said that they had often killed this latter question- 
 able rei)tile, and that it had '^ broken into pieces 
 about two and a half inches long." 
 
 In case of snake bites the unvarying practice of 
 the '' swampers " is to bind the limb above the 
 wound tightly, twisting a stick in the ligature, 
 then suck the wound thoroughly, and afterward 
 drink copiously of whiskey. They say that this 
 treatment invariably cures all bites in the swamp, 
 excepting the rattler.'s. But we only met three or 
 four persons who had known of actual snake bites. 
 
 One quality of the moccasin is interesting and 
 worthy of record, his curiosity. These snakes 
 escape rapidly on the approach of a man, but will 
 often return to the place they left to take a look 
 at him. We had a singular instance of this in- 
 quisitiveness. One day, on our Avay round the 
 
/ 
 
 y: 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 437 
 
 lake, we came to a deserted '' gum road," from 
 which the workers had departed years ago. Mr. 
 Moseley remained at the landing to take a photo- 
 graph, and I went slowly up the "gum road," hop- 
 ing to shoot some squirrels. About a hundred 
 yards up the road I came to the rotten old log hut 
 of the " swampers," and there on a heap of bare 
 ashes that still remained in the midst of the grass, 
 lay in loose coils a long, dark snake, which I 
 thought, from his similarity of color to that we 
 had killed some days before, was a king-snake. I 
 resolved to let the benevolent creature go free. 
 He raised his head and looked at me, perhaps for 
 a second, and then, with an easy and graceful slow- 
 ness, glided into the canebrake. I passed up the 
 road, and was joined by Mr. Moselej^ and Abeham. 
 On our return I was telling them of the snake, and 
 when we came to the place, all speaking loudly 
 and laughing, I said : " That heap is where the 
 snake laj^," and, behold, there he was again, in the 
 same place. He was not ten feet from where we 
 stood. He had concealed his long body behind 
 some leaves and earth, and had placed his head 
 cunningly, as he thought, on the top of the ash 
 heap, Avhere it very closely resembled a dark 
 creeper leaf. He was evidently prepared for a 
 good look at the intruders. He made no motion 
 
438 ETHICS OF BOXIKG AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 as we stood looking at him and talking about him, 
 but stared at us unwinkingly. We were amused 
 at his audacity, and went on calling each other's 
 attention to his method of concealment, and his 
 evident purpose of observation, all the while think- 
 ing it was a king-snake. At last Abeham went»to 
 stir him up, to see how long he was, when the 
 snake slowly lifted its head, and again Abeham 
 retired in dismay, crying out : ^ It's a moccasin ! 
 Shoot him I " We killed him, and found him to be 
 an unusually large moccasin, not quite five feet 
 long, but very thick and heavy. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, the chief drawbacks of 
 the Dismal Swamp are not its serpents, or bears, 
 or other formidable wild creatures, but its flies, 
 most pestilent of which are the yellow fly, before 
 which for six weeks in July and August even the 
 colored "swampers" are forced to abandon the 
 " gum roads." The yellow fly raises a burning 
 blister with every bite ; and, helped by the " red- 
 horse mosquito," gnats and gallinippers, they can, 
 it is said, kill a mule. 
 
 The largest wild animal (except cattle) found 
 in the Dismal Swamp is the black bear. Captain 
 Wallace killed thirty on his farm last winter (by 
 spring guns set around his cornfields), one of 
 which weighed 850 pounds ; and " Jim " the 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 439 
 
 friendly " swamper " said he had counted twenty- 
 seven bears crossing a " gum road " one morning 
 on their way to a field on the- Suffolk side of the 
 swamp. There are also hog bear (from the size), 
 Seneca bear (white breast), panther, wildcat 
 (numerous and large, about three times the size of 
 the ordinary cat), deer (quite numerous, and some 
 with noble antlers), coon, opossum, rabbit, fox, 
 squirrel, otter, weasel, and muskrat. 
 
 One word more about the snakes. One night 
 (the early summer nights are cool in the swamp) 
 we had an immense fire outside the hut, the logs, 
 five or six feet long, standing on end and sending 
 up a roaring flame. Several ''swampers," who 
 had come to sit at our fire and chat, began fishing 
 for catfish, which are attracted by a light. They 
 were pulling them in briskly, and one pulled in a 
 large eel, over two feet in length and very thick. 
 They instantly beheaded him and pulled his skin 
 off, leaving the flayed body to wriggle about in the 
 dust. It was horribly like a snake, and we had to 
 tell Abeham to throw it into the water. The 
 circle had drawn closer to the kindly flame, when 
 one said, pointing to a dark, round object about 
 three yards from the fire : " Is that another eel ? " 
 
 Every eye was fastened on it, and no one spoke, 
 but Abeham quietly went for a gun, and without 
 
440 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 a word shot the intruder. It was a moccasin that 
 had come out of the canebrake and coiled himself 
 to enjoy the fire. 
 
 One day Moseley was out on the lake fishing, 
 and I was paddling quietly under the trees on the 
 bank, hoping to shoot a red-bird or a crowned 
 thrush for specimens. I heard Moseley hail me, 
 and answered, but then he went on in a very 
 queer way talking with some one in the swamp 
 beyond me. At last I went out to him and found 
 that he had discovered an echo of wonderful clear- 
 ness, and w^hich was otherwise interesting. Near 
 the shore I had not heard it, but a quarter of a 
 mile out it was startlingly distinct. 
 
 The sound was quite unlike the hard resonance 
 thrown back from cliff, mountain, or cave. It 
 smacked of the swamp in a manner hard to de- 
 scribe. The repetition was largely magnified, 
 though it seemed to be thrown to a distance, and 
 to come from a great height, as if it had bounded 
 up from the wide field of the swamp. The sound 
 had an elastic click about it, like the remote stroke 
 of a woodman's axe. It was the echo from a 
 wood, unmistakably, and not from a wall. 
 
 Strange to say, tlie best word to throw to an 
 echo is its own name. It loves to fling it back un- 
 dipped and sudden. Divide the syllables, stop- 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 441 
 
 ping at the '' ech," and it seems to wait impatiently 
 for the '^o." We had a long conversation with it, 
 and wondered whether it resided in the dense 
 canebrake and higher foliage that lined the water 
 front, or rebounded upward like a boy's ball that 
 had fallen on the vast concavity of the tree tops. 
 
 Abeham said he had never heard of the echo 
 before, and he listened with all his ears, laughing 
 consumedly when the echo shouted defiance ; but 
 he would not try it, from shyness as we thought. 
 
 We spent the days exploring lake and swamp, 
 returning to camp tired at night, but repaid by our 
 experience. We were seeing the lake and swamp 
 as no one can ever see them without such boats as 
 ours. A heavy boat, with oars, cannot pass 
 through the ditches and canals, nor even coast the 
 lake inside the line of stumps. The negro ''dug- 
 out " is available for lake and canal, but it is 
 heavy and slow, and it cannot face the lake in 
 rough water and high wind. The birch-bark canoe 
 would get snagged at every length. The only 
 safe and pleasant boat for the swamp is the cedar 
 canoe, and an open one is better than a decked one, 
 to let the moccasins wriggle out if they happen to 
 fall in Avhile you are passing through the narrow 
 canals. 
 
 During our passage round the lake we came to 
 
442 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 very many old and new '' gum roads '' running 
 into the swamp. We followed these until we saw 
 the nature of each. Some had been deserted appa- 
 rently scores of years ago, and it was a sorry sight 
 to see the effect of the ruthless timber-cutting 
 which is going on to-day as it was 50 or 100 years 
 ago. No intelligent forestrj^ has ever been applied 
 to the swamp; the selection of the trees has 
 been wholly left to ignorant men. Where whole 
 groves of juniper or cypress were cut down, the 
 cleared land was lef* to grow up in jungle, and 
 the jungle that follows this cutting is an impene- 
 trable canebrake, through which an elephant could 
 not force his way for a mile. During these wan- 
 derings Mr. Moseley never lost an opportunity of 
 capturing a characteristic sketch or photograph, 
 and his pictures faithfully preserve many of the 
 striking features of the swamp. 
 
 The beauty and profusion of the vegetation seen 
 from these " gum roads " is indescribable. The 
 greens of the underwood are the intensest hues of 
 nature ; the ferns dripping with moisture, the 
 yellow jessamine climbing the great trees, the 
 familiar Virginia creeper rioting in its leaps and 
 lovely hangings. Again and again, not knowing, 
 we were tempted to gather the attractive trumpets 
 of the poisonous oakvine, that is so virulent that 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 443 
 
 to bathe in water in which it hangs will blister 
 
 and corrupt the flesh. This is Moore's "' deadly 
 
 vine," that 
 
 *' doth weep 
 
 Its venomous tear, and nightly steep 
 
 The flesh with blistering dew ! " 
 
 " There are two things I should like to know,'' 
 said Moseley, during our last day on the lake, 
 '' and one is what that fellow in the Norfolk tug 
 meant by advising us to keep our pistols handy? 
 Surely there could be no men more good-natured 
 and lawful than these poor fellows who work in 
 the swamp." 
 
 This was emphatically true. Considering the 
 wild life the '' swampers " lead, they are the most 
 harmless, amiable, and, I should say, innocent men 
 I have ever met. Their conversation with us and 
 among themselves was about as light, cheerful, and 
 curious as that of children. They carry no 
 weapons ; they are sober, play-loving, and oblig- 
 ing. Only on one colored man in the swamp did 
 we see anything like a weapon, and that was a 
 razor, ostentatiously carried in his waistcoat pocket 
 by a jaunty mulatto ; but he had been a great trav- 
 eller, he said, and he had only come into the swamp 
 to see some friend among the juniper-cutters, 
 though perhaps he had some other reason for a 
 
444 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 little retirement from society. The swamp is a 
 fine place for a retreat. 
 
 " What is the other thing you are in doubt 
 about? " I asked Moseley. 
 
 " The Avild cattle. We have seen only that red 
 and white cow and calf, though they say they are 
 numerous. I can't believe that that tame-looking 
 cow was wild." 
 
 '' But what business would a tame cow have in 
 the depths of the swamp, and how could she get 
 home if she had a home to go to ? " 
 
 He admitted that it was hard to find a domestic 
 reason for the cow being in the swamp, but still 
 he doubted. We were passing at the time through 
 a narrow and dark waterway, where the sheets of 
 deep water under the trees lay like black glass. 
 We came to a dry bank in the morass, and, stand- 
 ing there, quietly and proudly looking at us as we 
 approached, was a red bull about three years old. 
 We stopped paddling and returned the stare. He 
 stood beside our only passage, a narrow one. 
 Abeham was behind, and he shouted, '' Look out, 
 dere ; dat wild bull dang'ous ! " 
 
 We shouted at him, but he paid no heed. He 
 was a superb creature, dark red all over, round- 
 headed and very small. We broke branches and 
 waved them and shouted, at a distance from him 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMi*. 445 
 
 of about twenty yards. Not an eye winked, 
 but his tail gave one or two quiet waves from 
 side to side. Abeliam wanted us to load a rifle, 
 and kill him ; but this would be wanton, as we 
 were to leave the swamp the next day. Still we 
 must pass, and he would not move. He paid no 
 attention to a gun pointed at him. The poor 
 fellow was only half wild, one could not help 
 thinking ; the hereditary taint of human associa- 
 tion was in his blood. Probably his grandfather 
 had fed in a fenced field, and had submitted to be 
 '' driven home " by a bare-footed boy. 
 
 At last a shot fired into the canebrake close to 
 him gave him a shock. He looked at the canes 
 where the small shot rushed, and then turned and 
 trotted into the swamp. 
 
 That night we decided to leave the lake next 
 day, passing through the Feeder and keeping along 
 the main canal until we reached the Pasquotank 
 river in North Carolina. 
 
 It rained in torrents in the early part of the 
 night, and then cleared up, and the full moon 
 shone on the lake. It was a scene of marvellous 
 beauty, which color alone, not words, could repro- 
 duce. The lake was smooth, and incredibly black, 
 the water retaining absolutely no light," and only 
 appearing to be liquid by surface shining. The 
 
446 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 moon's reflection, on the contrary, was whiter than 
 it would be on common water, and it crossed the 
 lake like the avenue to a king's palace. 
 
 It was five o'clock in the morning, and the east- 
 ern sky was paling the moon, when we stood on 
 the edge of the lake, with ''A health to thee, Tom 
 Moore ! " and then we broke camp. 
 
 As our canoes shot out on the lake and we 
 looked back on the camp, we knew that the days 
 and nights spent there could never be forgotten. 
 
 We crossed the lake in the teeth of a stiff breeze 
 that made the beautiful brown waves leap at us in 
 play, as if to stay our going. It was still early 
 morning when we reached the mouth of the Feeder, 
 and took our last look at the lake, in memory 
 of which Moseley carried the scene off in his camera. 
 
 This last look at the lake, between the trees, 
 showed us a tall cypress with immense roots stand- 
 ing up in the deep water, like a suffering mytho- 
 logical tree, condemned and metamorphosed for 
 offending the gods. 
 
 Then we set ouriaces toward the outer world, 
 or toward '' the bank," as our friends " the swamp- 
 ers" would say, and a lovely passage we had, run- 
 ning with the swift current through the shadowy 
 Feeder. We stopped only twice on our way, once 
 to capture a terrapin that was sunning himself on 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 447 
 
448 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 a log, and again to fire at a snake in the reeds, a 
 shot which was admirably captured with an in- 
 stantaneous photograph. 
 
 Reaching the canal, we turned southward toward 
 North Carolina, and at two o'clock reached a 
 station on the canal where there was a store kept 
 by a little man who was as consequential and dis- 
 obliging as it only lies in the power of a rural 
 magnate to be. Though we had breakfasted early 
 and not very well, we had to proceed hungry on 
 our way. 
 
 The locks we came to now lowered us step by 
 step, until at last, having passed South Mills, the 
 largest village on the canal, we were dropped into 
 the tide-water of the Pasquotank river. 
 
 After a long and winding way between densely 
 wooded banks, the lonely river gradually widening 
 into a large sheet, we ran after nightfall under a 
 railroad bridge, and saw the lights of a toAvn, or, 
 rather, one solitary lantern set on a wharf, and 
 knew we had reached Elizabeth City, N. C. 
 
 We could only see that the main street was 
 shaded with noble elm trees, as we went to the 
 Albemarle Hotel ; and it is pleasant to record here 
 that we had a supper and breakfast in this little- 
 heard-of place that would have done credit to 
 Delmonico^s for material, cooking, and service. 
 
X ^. 
 
 X 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. -149 
 
 Next morning we had a look at the city, and a 
 sad one. This was a noted seat of culture, wealth, 
 and fashion before the war, the dread marks of 
 which were still plainly seen on every hand. The 
 main street, that was a pride to the State thirty 
 years ago, was burned by the Confederates them- 
 selves to save it from the '' invaders." Large 
 squares of house lots are vacant still, grass-grown, 
 and ruin-covered, with here and there a poor, 
 shaky-looking store cheek by jowl with a board 
 shanty filled with negro children. 
 
 In walking through this city one could not help 
 moralizing on the awful affliction that befalls a 
 defeated country. Here are the men, middle-aged 
 and still young, who remember the proud and 
 gracious old times, and who are doomed forever to 
 contrast them with the sordid and compromising 
 efforts of hopelessly broken fortunes. Over all 
 the country round about Elizabeth City the fierce 
 waves of war had rolled, leaving a fearful mark. 
 We saw noble houses, once filled with beauty and 
 luxury, now crowded with colored working people ; 
 gardens in which the roses, reverting to single- 
 petalled wildness, struggled for sunlight under 
 burdened clothes-lines. 
 
 But we saw one house to remember with pleas- 
 ure, with a rose garden in front of it like a picture 
 
450 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPORT. 
 
 from sensuous Pompeii ; and then we came aivay, 
 thinking that Elizabeth City might, indeed, once 
 more awake to proud and prosperous days. But, 
 said the thought, it will take more than a genera- 
 tion for the revival, and the people of the old 
 glory shall not be those of the new. The wealth 
 that was based on slavery was a bubble, and the 
 pride that went Avith it was a poison for the very 
 earth. God's hand is heavy when the scales come 
 to be balanced. Expiation and atonement are 
 always bitter, however they may be sweetened by 
 the spirit of renunciation. 
 
 We intended to return to Norfolk by the Chesa- 
 peake & Albemarle Canal, the flourishing water- 
 way, croAvded with ships, which ought to be only 
 a young rival of the Dismal Swamp Canal, for the 
 latter had all the natural advantages, and also con- 
 trolled the field. 
 
 But the Chesapeake & Albemarle Company had 
 an inferior route, plus intelligence, and the conse- 
 quence is that it is crowded with commerce, while 
 the Dismal Swamp Canal is traversed by one poor 
 little steamer, the Thomas Newton^ that looks like 
 the working model of Fulton's first steamship. 
 
 There was a storm raging along the coast, and 
 we could not face bad weather outside in our 
 canoes to get to the other canal, so we shipped our 
 
CANOEING IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. 451 
 
 effects on the Thomas Newton to return on our 
 tracks along the whole course of the Dismal 
 Swamp Canal. 
 
 The Dismal Swamp could be drained and re- 
 claimed, and a property of very large value would 
 be added to the States of Virginia and North 
 Carolina. While in process of reclamation, and 
 perhaps afterward, the present canals could be re- 
 tained to get out the timber, which is enormously 
 valuable ; but the locks making the central or 
 higher level could be abolished. This would 
 lower the canal and the lake about seven feet. It 
 would be comparatively inexpensive to dredge this 
 level down to the outer levels. 
 
 A fall of seven feet in the lake would reduce it 
 perhaps half a mile, leaving all round it a beach 
 of white sand of exquisite fineness. This would 
 at once purify it from the water snakes that make 
 its banks hideous. 
 
 The surrounding swamp would drain into the 
 lake, the Feeder and the canals, leaving their banks 
 dry. A road could easily be made on one side, 
 and a clearing on the other, along all these canals, 
 sweeping away moccasins and other water reptiles. 
 
 The reduction of the water could be made 
 profitable to the OAvners in another way. The city 
 of Norfolk needs a water supply, and here is the 
 
,452 ETHICS OF BOXING AND MANLY SPOKT. 
 
 i 
 j 
 
 best water in the country at its very door. If the 
 color of the water be objectionable it could be 
 passed through a filter and made crystal, though it 
 is possible that in the change it might lose its anti- 
 malarial quality. 
 
 A narrow-gauge railroad ought to be run from 
 Portsmouth to South Mills. (Since writing 
 this the programme of the Portsmouth & South 
 Mills railroad has been sent to me, and the promo- 
 ters have paid me the compliment of inserting as a 
 preface part of my report of the Dismal Swamp. 
 This railroad will complete the ruin of the canal 
 as a commercial way, and will leave it valueless 
 except as a drain.) 
 
 And now I have told the story of the Dismal 
 Swamp as two men saw it who had no other inter- 
 est than that of chance voyagers through the wil- 
 derness. I have tried to convey to others exactly 
 the impressions left on my mind, often using re- 
 straint in order not to overstate the good or evil 
 qualities of the Dismal Swamp. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Academy, Royal Irish, 169. 
 
 Air-bag, The, Use of, 1:33. 
 
 Alcohol, Its Use in Training, 124. 
 
 Althorp, Lord, Opinion of Boxing, 2. 
 
 America, Athletics in, 80. 
 
 American Fairplay Rules, C6. 
 
 Amycus and Pollux, IT. 
 
 Appalaken, Description of Susquehanna River at, 270. 
 
 Appendix, The, 88. 
 
 Art, Ancient Irish, 218. 
 
 Athens, Singing Beach at, 274. 
 
 Athletes, Diet in Training, 11'4. 
 
 " Leading Irish, lTl-2-3. 
 
 " Xot Short Lived, 104. 
 
 '' Training of, 103, lOG. 
 
 *' The Grecian, Definition of, 18. 
 
 '' " '' Diet in Training, 115. 
 
 *' '' " How Esteemed, 19. 
 
 '' " '' Training of, 22. 
 
 Athletics, See Introduction. 
 Athletics in the School, Necessity of, 147, 152. 
 Back Sword, Definition of, 44. 
 Ballymote, See Book of. 
 Banting, Mr., Plan for Reducing Flesh, 155. 
 Bare Hand Fighting, 6. 
 
 (349) 
 
350 INDEX. 
 
 Bare Knuckle Battle, The Longest, 80. 
 Baronoff, Capt., 73, 
 
 Battle Axes, When First Used in Ireland, 179. 
 Benen, The Law of, 213. 
 Belly-dart, Gai-bolga, 220. 
 Big Foul Rift, See Great Foul Bift. 
 Binghamton, Description of the River at, 262. 
 Binns, Dr., Anatomy of Sleep, 159. 
 Book of Ballymote, 208, 211. 
 '' " Kells, 218. 
 
 " " Leinster, 200, 207, 212, 215, 217. 
 '' '^ Navan, 193. 
 " " Rights, 198, 213. 
 Boston School Board, Ext. From Report of Hygiene Com., 147, 
 Boxers, Races who have produced them, 62. 
 
 " British, History of, 51. 
 Boxing, Antiquity of, 1, 11. 
 
 '' Comparative Value of, 1. 
 
 " Distinction between Ancient and Modern, 13. 
 
 " English Claim to Invention Unfounded, 15. 
 
 " English Style, The Brutalities of, 5. 
 
 '' With Greeks and Romans, 14, 29. 
 Breakfast, The, in Training, 127. 
 Breathing, How to Breathe Properly, 144. 
 
 " See also Deep Breathing. 
 
 Brehon Laws, 188, 204. 
 British Boxing, 6. 
 Bromidon, an Ideal Brook, 257. 
 Bronze Weapons in Ireland, 175. 
 Broughton, John, 48. 
 
 " The Father of Modern Boxing, 11. 
 Broughton' s Rules 48, 50. 
 Caxoe, The Comparative Value of, 243, 244. 
 Carman, 196, 200. 
 
 '' See Fair of Carman. 
 Cattle-Prey of Cooley (Tain-BO'Chuailgne), 215. 
 *'Celt," 180, 181. 
 
INDEX. 351 
 
 Cestus, The Greek, Use of, 13, 15, 16. 
 
 '' '' Roman, 10, 30. 
 
 Challenges, Specimens of, 47. 
 Chambers, Dr. T. K., Quotation from, 117, 153. 
 Champion's Iland-Stone, 177, 17*^. 
 Chaucer, Geoffrey, on Irish bowmen, 179. 
 Chess, Antiquity of, in Ireland, 201. 
 Chopper, The, 16. 
 Clasi)er, H., Quotation from, 128. 
 Clinch, The, 06, 90. 
 Closed Windows, Evil of, 137. 
 Conn, of the Hundred Battles, 189. 
 Connecticut River, The, its Value to Canoeists, 259. 
 Cooper, George, 54. 
 Corpulence, How to Reduce, 153. 
 Costelio, Rev. Fr., Hospitality of, 272. 
 Craisech, The, of the Firbolgs, 170. 
 Cribb, Thos., 58. 
 Cross-buttock, 57. 
 
 '' " Antiquity of, 200. 
 
 Cross-counter Blow, 27, 29,61, 81. 
 Cuchullain, See Cuclmllin. 
 Cuchullin, 185, 219. 
 Curragh, The, of Kildare, 53. 
 Cynisca. 25. 
 Cyrene, 23. 
 
 Dares and Entellus, Episode of, 29, 31. 
 Davies, Sir John, Quotation from. 237. 
 Delaware River, Description of, 311, 319. 
 Delaware Water Gap, 322. 
 Deep Breathing, Necessity of. 111, 144. 
 Deer-Island, Xewburyport, 310. 
 Diagoras of Rhodes, Story of, 20. 
 Diet in Training, 114, 
 
 '' " " by Dr. F. A. Harris, 119. 
 Diet of Greek Athletes, 21, 115. 
 Dindsenchas, a Gaelic Tract, 203. 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dinner, The, in Training, 129, 
 Donald na Xgeelach, 205. 
 Donnelly, Dan, 52, 60. 
 Donnelly's Hollow, 55. 
 '*' Ducking" in boxing, 9. 
 Dumb-bells, Hoav to Exercise with, 135. 
 
 " The Use of, 183, 137, 
 
 Entellus and Dares, Episode of, 29, 31. 
 Eochaid Garbh, 203. 
 Epeus and Euryalus, Episode of, 29. 
 Exercise in Daily Life, 141, 162. 
 '' " Training, 129, 1.34. 
 Faik of Carman, 207, 208, 210, 214. 
 
 " '•' Tailten, 207. 
 Fairs, Ancient Irish, 202. 
 
 Fair-riay Kules. See American Fair-Play Rules. 
 Famous Prize-fighters, List of, 105. 
 Fenians, Etymology of, 189. 
 Ferdiad, Fight of, 219, 220. 
 Feudalism, Its Influence on Athletics, 37. 
 
 *' Formal Introduction into England, 40. 
 
 Fianna Eireann, 189, 193. 
 
 " '' Ten Conditions of Membership, 193, 195. 
 
 Fiarlanna, The, 177, 209. 
 Figg, James, 43. 
 Fight, Longest bare-hand, 80. 
 glove, 80. 
 "' for Largest Stake, 80. 
 " First in America, 80. 
 Finn, Boyish Exploits of, 200. 
 FirbolgCraisech, 176. 
 Firbolgs, 175. 
 Food, Conditions for taking, 122. 
 
 '' How to Prepare it for Training, 120. 
 *' See also Diet. 
 Fresh Air, Value of, 138, 141. 
 Gai-bolga. See Belly Dart. 
 
INDEX. 353 
 
 Gladiatorial Games, Abolition of, 3H. 
 
 *' Shows, 32, 33. 
 
 Gladiators, Origin of, 33. 
 Gladstone, Wm. E., Quotation from, 242. 
 Glove Fighting, Superiority of, 6. 
 
 " " The Longest, 80. 
 
 '' '' What Sullivan has done for it, 8. 
 
 Gouging, 61. 
 Great Foul Rift, Description of, 304. 
 
 '' '' '' Running Through, 330. 
 
 Greek Athletes, Diet of, 21, 115. 
 
 '' '' List of most Celebrated, 22, 23. 
 
 '' "• Training of, 22, 25, 
 
 Greek Boxers, Position of, 14. 
 
 '' '' Skill of, 2G. 
 
 Greek National Games, 18. 
 
 " Sacred Games, 23. 
 Guiteras, Dr. Ramon, Canoeing Trip. 244. 305. 
 Hall, Thos., Fight with Donnelly, 52. 
 Hanging-bag, The, 132, 164. 
 
 '' See also, Air-bag. 
 
 Harris, Dr. Francis A., Treatise on Diet in Training, 118. 
 Harvard System, The, of Training. 117. 
 Heenan, John C, 63. 
 
 '' " Physical Condition in Fight with King. 109. 
 
 Holmes, Oliver W., Quotation from, 2, 103. 
 Horse Racing, Ancient Irish, 200, 
 Hunting, Ancient Irish, 200. 
 Hurling, Antiquity of, 195, 19T. 
 Hurst, " Staley Bridge Infant,'^ 66, 
 Illustrations, The, 88. 
 Ireland, Ancient Games of, 170. 
 '• Ancient Weapons of, 171. 
 '' Minerals of, 239, 241. 
 " Xatural Resources of, 236. 
 Irish, The, Their Comparative Rank as Athletes, 170. 
 Irus, Fight with Ulysses, 27. 
 
354 INDEX. 
 
 Joyce, Dr., on the Danes in Ireland, 208. 
 
 Kane, Sir Rob't, L.L.D., on Strength of Irishmen, 170. 
 
 Keating, Rev. Dr. Geoffrey, 191, 193. 
 
 Kells, See Book of. 
 
 Kilrain, 79. 
 
 King, Tom, 65. 
 
 Laflix, John M., '' The Model Man," 163. 
 
 Laighin, The, 177. 
 
 Lancet, The, Quotation from, 109. 
 
 Leinster, See Book of Leinster. 
 
 LiaLamha Laicli, Champion's Hand-Stone, 177, 178. 
 
 Lic-tailme, 177, 196. 
 
 Liquids, Use of in Training, 123, 129. 
 
 London Prize Ring Rules, 89, 90. 
 
 Lugaidh Lam-fadha, 203. 
 
 Mac, Queen, 220. 
 
 Mace, Bronze, 65. 
 
 '* Jem, fight with King, 65. 
 3Iaclaren on Respiration, 111. 
 Magh Tuireadh, Battle of, Weapons L^sed, 177. 
 Manais, The, 177, 186, 187, 217. 
 Marquis of Queensberry Rules, 89, 95. 
 Meat, Use of in Training, 115, 120. 
 Mendoza, Daniel, his Blows, 61. 
 Milk, Use of in Training, 120, 123. 
 Milo, 21. 
 
 Mitchell, Chas., Contest with Sullivan, 6, 75. 
 Modern Boxing, How Improved l)y Sullivan, 5. 
 Molineaux, Thos., 54, 62. 
 Molyneaux, See Molineaux. 
 Morgan, Dr. John, Statistics of Training, 104. 
 Moseley, Edw. A., Canoeing with, 305. 
 Muscular Power, Its Comparative Value, 111. 
 Museum, Royal Irish Academy, 169. 
 Music, Ancient Irish, 216. 
 Musical Beach, 274. 
 Nations Who Have Produced National Boxers, 62. 
 
INDEX. 355 
 
 IS'avan, See Book of. 
 
 Xewenliam, T., on Resources of Ireland, 238-240. 
 
 Normans, The, in England, 39. 
 
 O'CuiuiY, Prof., ITS, 192. 
 
 O'llartagan, Cineadli, Poem, 190. 
 
 Oliver, Fight with Donnelly, 58. 
 
 Ollamh Fodhla, 204. 
 
 Olympian Games, Order of, 24. 
 
 " " Preparation for, 25. 
 
 '' *' Prizes of, 19, 24. 
 
 O'Keefe, Father, Hospitality of, 255, 
 O'Shea, Michael C, on Ancient Exercises, 204. 
 Over-Training, Effects of, 108. 
 Oxford, A Day's Training at, 116. 
 Oxygen, its place in [N'ature, 140. 
 Palstave, 180, 181. 
 Pancratium, The, 22. 
 Peel, Sir Robert, Opinion of Boxing, 1. 
 Perelchine, Lieut. Michael, 72. 
 Petit, Fight with Slack, 50. 
 Pherenice, 25. 
 Pillows, The Use of, 162. 
 Poets, Ancient Irish, Power of, 220. 
 Pollux, The God of Boxing, 16. 
 Prize Fighters, Ages of most Famous, 105. 
 Prize Ring, Rules of, 89-96. 
 Prizes for Boxing among the Greeks, 19. 
 Pugilism among the Greeks, 14. 
 
 " Why Essential to Education, 1 
 
 QUEEXSBERRY RULES, 89, 95. 
 
 Rapids, The, of the Susquehanna, 207. 
 
 " Best Way to Run, 316. 
 Respiration, Value of, 111. 
 Rest after Meals, 123. 
 Rift, Definition of a Delaware, 309. 
 Rights, See Book of. 
 Round Blow, Antiquity of, 8. 
 
356 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Kouiid Blow, How Delivered, 10, 11. 
 
 " Mendoza's Opinion of, 61. 
 Rowing, 128, 131. 
 
 Eoyal Irish Seal, The History of a, 182, 184. 
 Eoyal Irish Academy, see Academy. 
 Rules of the Ring, Definition of, 4, 5. 
 
 See also Broughton, London, Marquis of O 
 American Fairplay. 
 Running, The Value of, 113. 
 
 " in Training, 132. 
 
 Rushton, great Canoe Builder, 306. 
 
 Russell, T. 0']S'eill, Letter of, 198. 
 
 Russian Sea Fight, 72. 
 
 Saixt Ciakax, 217-219. 
 
 Sand-Bag, The, its Use in Training, 133. 
 
 Sayers, Tom, 62, 63. 
 
 Scathach, War College of, 185. 
 
 Second Wind, The, 112. 
 
 Shadow, Canoe Model, Use of, 269. 
 
 Shaw, British Life-Guardsman, 70. 
 
 Shelley, P. B., on Diet, 157. 
 
 Slack & Petit, Story of, 50. 
 Sleep, how to Induce it, 159. 
 
 *' Its Value in Training, 124, 130. 
 Slegh, The, 177, 226, 227. 
 Sling-Stone, The, 177, 196. 
 Smith, Sydney, On Eating and Drinking, 156. 
 
 '' Opinion of Boxing, 3. 
 
 Spardha, The, 181. 
 Sparring, Its Value in Training, 127. 
 
 '' With whom to Spar, 132. 
 Spenser, Edmund, Description of Ireland, 236. 
 Springfield, a Day at, 255. 
 Stakes, The Largest, 80. 
 Staley Bridge Infant, The, m. 
 Straight-Counter, 73. 
 Striking Bag. See Hanging Bag. 
 
INDEX. 357 
 
 Stuic, or War Horn, 196. 
 
 Sullivan, John L., Contest with Mitchell, 0, 75. 
 
 *' '' Analysis of His Style, 79. 
 
 Sunburn, The Remedy for, 254. 
 
 Susquehanna River, Description of,. for Canoeists, 268. 
 Swimming, S3. 
 Sword, Relationship to Boxing, 12, 38. 
 
 The Use of, 45. 
 Tailtex, Ancient Irish Games at, 195, 200, 202, 203, 205. 
 Tain-B6-Chuailgne, 215. 
 Tchernoff, Lieut.-Colonel, 72. 
 Telemachus, 36. 
 
 " Telltown Marriage," 206. See also Tailten. 
 Thackeray, AYm. M. , Poem on Heenan and Sayers, 64. 
 Tuatha De Danann, 176, 179, 182. 
 Tipton Slasher, The, 63. 
 Tobacco, Its Use in Training, 124 
 Training, The Danger of, 103, 106. 
 
 " The Purpose of, 106, 107. 
 
 " " Advice on, by Dr. Harris, 118. 
 
 Trenton, Beautiful River at, 346 
 
 Canoe Club, 346. 
 Ulysses and Irus, Episode of, 27. 
 Upper-Cut, 62. 
 
 Vegetables, Use in Training, 115, 120. 
 Venerable Bede, Opinion of Ancient Ireland, 2.36. 
 Vesta, 71. 
 
 Walkixg before Breakfast, 126. 
 Walpack Bend, Description of, 317, 320. 
 Wapentake, .39. 
 
 " When and how Abolished, 40. 
 
 Water, Use of in Training, 123, 129. 
 Water-Gap, Description of, 322. 
 Weapons, Ancient Irish. 
 
 Weapon Feats, Ancient Irish, List of, 185-187. 
 Westhall, Charles, Suggestions on Training, 127. 
 Whateley, Dr. , Exercise to Induce Sleep, 160. 
 
358 INDEX. 
 
 Wilde, Sir Wm., Quotation from, 20-3, 207, 218. 
 
 Wilkesbarre, Canoeing Episode at, 289. 
 
 Women, Greek and Roman, their Relation to the National 
 
 Games, 25. 
 Woodford, W. B., on Reducing Corpulency, 154. 
 Woodgate, W. K., Exercise in Training, loO. 
 
 Food in Training, 114 
 Wrestling, Antiquity of, 199. 
 
 Wyatt, M. Digby, on Early Irish Manuscripts, 218. 
 Yale System of Training, 117. 
 Young, Arthur, on Resources of Ireland, 288. 
 
THE 
 
 STATUES IN THE BLOCK, 
 
 AXn OTHER POEMS. 
 
 BY JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. 
 
 OPIXIOXS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 From The Boston Bally Advertiser. 
 
 "Mr. O'Reilly excels in dramatic poetry. When he has an 
 heroic story to tell, he tells it with ardor and vigor; he appreci- 
 ates all its nobleness of soul, as well as its romantic and pictur- 
 esque situations; and his 'Song for the Soldiers,' and 'The 
 Mutiny of the Cha ns,' in his last volume, show with what 
 power he can portray the daring and heroism that have stirred 
 his own heart. He writes with ease and freedom, but his 
 poems of love and of discontent are not superior to those of 
 other well-known English poets. His best work in this way are 
 ' Her Refrain,' a sweet, tender poem, true to life; and 'Wait- 
 ing,' that is far more impassioned. The cynical verses and 
 epigrams scattered through the book are piquant, and enhance 
 its sweetness, as bitter almonds do the richness of confection- 
 ery. There is another side still to Mr. O'Reilly's poetry, and 
 it would be easy to represent him as chiefly religious, earnest, 
 and tender. His poems abound in passages like the following 
 from ' Living ' : — 
 
 " * Who waits and sympathizes with the pettiest life, 
 And loves all things, and reaches up to God 
 With thanks and blessing — he alone is living.' 
 
 (1) 
 
2 THE STATUES IN THE BLOCK. 
 
 " And ' From the Earth a Cry,' this hue: — 
 
 " ' God purifies slowly by peace, "aiul urgently by fire.' 
 
 '' From ' The Statues in the Block ' : — 
 
 " * And I know 
 That when God gives to us the clearest sight, 
 He does not touch our eyes with Love, but Sorrow.' " 
 
 From The New York World, 
 
 "Nobody can look over Mr. O'Keilly's poems without being 
 convinced that they are poems ; that is to say, tiiat the writer 
 has really something to say, and something which could not be 
 said so Avell or so completely in prose. Those who are in the 
 habit of looking over current volumes of Averse will recognize 
 that this is very much to say of them. Mr. O'Reilly's verses 
 are, indeed, quite out of the common. There is not one of the 
 poems in this thin volume that is not a genuine poem in the 
 sense that it records a genuine and poetical impression. His 
 talent is essentially, we should say almost exclusively, dra- 
 matic, as strictly dramatic as Browning's. The most success- 
 ful of these poems are those which are professedly dramatic 
 rather than those which are contemplative. This excellence in 
 dramatic verse is national. From Thomas Davis down, the 
 Irish lyrists, who are worthy of classification at all in poetry, 
 excel in representation of rapid action and of the emotion which 
 is connected with rapid action; and this is what we call dra- 
 matic excellence. Mr. O'lieilly's chief successes are in such 
 poems as 'A Song for the Soldiers,' and ^ The Mutiny of the 
 Chains,' in the present volume." 
 
 Newark (N. J.) Morning Begister. 
 
 *' Roberts Brothers, Boston, have just published ' The Statues 
 in the Block, and Other Poems,' by John Boyle O'Reilly. The 
 poem that gives the book its title is the story of four persons 
 looking at a block of marble and seeing an ideal in it. One, her 
 he loved, his jewel, and the jewel of the world. Another, her 
 upon whom he lavished coin — he drank the wine she filled and 
 
THE STATUES IN THE BLOCK. 3 
 
 made her eat the dregs, and drenched her honey ^vith a sea of 
 gall ; he, however, was but one, who swooned with love beside 
 her. The third Avas suffering 'Motherland,' and, as may be 
 supposed, the author's pen Avaxes strong at picturing the sor- 
 row, because — 
 
 " ' No love but thine can satisfy the heart, 
 For love of thee holds in it hate of wrong, 
 And shapes the hope that moulds humanity.' 
 
 "The fourth sees in the block his lost child, and the pen 
 softens as he sees — 
 
 " ' The little hands still crossed — a child in death; 
 My link ^vith love — my dying gift from her 
 Whose last look smiled on both when I was left 
 A loveless man, save this poor gift, alone. 
 
 I see my darling in the marble now — 
 
 My wasted leaf — her kind eyes smiling fondly. 
 
 And through her eyes I see the love beyond. 
 
 The binding light that moves not ; and I know 
 
 That when God gives to us the clearest sight 
 
 He does not touch our eyes with Love, but Sorrow.' 
 
 "Here and there through the collection are little unnamed 
 wavelets, of which these four lines are a good examx^le: — 
 
 '' * You gave me the key of your heart, my love; 
 Then why do you make me knock ? ' 
 *0, that was yesterday, saints above !^ 
 And last night — I changed the lock ! ' " 
 
 Dr. Shelton M'Kenzle in the Philadelphia Evening Neivs. 
 
 "Good poetry, which constitutes a considerable portion of 
 literature, has been rather scarce of late. The odds and ends 
 of verse which get into the magazines are generally aimless 
 and crude. The poet sits dow^n to write what he has thought, 
 but the poetaster takes pen in hand to think what he shall 
 think. There is a world of difference between the results — 
 that is, between true poesy and merely mechanical verse. . . 
 The poem which leads off, covering only thirteen pages, is the 
 longest in the volume, and is full of deep-thoughted expres- 
 
4 THE STATUES IN THE BLOCK. 
 
 sioii; but it is probable that ' Muley Malek, the King/ a lay of 
 chivalry, will have more numerous admirers. There is also 
 'From the Earth a Cry,' reviewing the leading events of the 
 decade which closed in 1870. The heart-poems here are highly 
 impressive in their truth. Here and there, on casual fly-leaves, 
 we find curt truths ; thiis : — 
 
 "'Life is a certainty, 
 
 Death is a doubt; 
 Men may be dead 
 
 While they're walking about. 
 Love is as needful 
 
 In being as breath; 
 Loving is dreaming, 
 
 And waking is death.' 
 
 "Here is another leaflet; an epigram if you please to call it 
 so: — 
 
 " ' You gave me the key of your heart, my love, 
 Then why do you make me knock ? ' 
 * O, that was yesterday, saints above ! 
 And last night — I changed the lock I ' 
 
 *' Apropos of the season, which holds back its beauty and 
 bloom, here is a bit of truth : — 
 
 " ' O, the rare spring- flowers I take them as they ccmie; 
 Do not wait for summer buds, they may never bloom; 
 Every sweet to-day sends, we are wise to save; 
 Roses bloom for pulling, the path is to the grave.' 
 
 ''In conclusion, we earnestly hope that Mr. Boyle O'Reilly, 
 who writes so well, will challenge our attention, our admira- 
 tion, far more frequently than he yet has done.-' 
 
 From the Xew York Herald, 
 
 "Mr. O'Reilly has treated with a beautiful purpose the 
 theme of four men, each imagining the statue that may be 
 carved from a block of marble. Love is the first, Revenge the 
 second. Suffering Motherland the third, and Sorrow the last. 
 All these are strongly, nay, passionately drawn, with that 
 
THE STATUES IN THE BLOCK. 5 
 
 inner relation to actual experience in the narrator, which so 
 intensifies the interest. The first is a lovely woman : — 
 
 " * O Love! still living, memory and hope, 
 
 Beyond all sweets, thy bosom, breath and lips — 
 My jewel and the jewel of the world.' " 
 
 "The second, a faithless woman, cowering above the form 
 of her newly-slain paramour : — 
 
 " ' O balm and torture ! he must hate who loves, 
 And bleed who strikes to seek thy face, Revenge.' 
 
 "The third a chained woman — Mother and Motherland: — 
 
 " O star. 
 That lightens desolation, o'er her beam, 
 . . . Till the dawn is red 
 Of that white noon when men shall call her Queen.' 
 
 " The fourth is a figure of a dead child : — 
 
 " ' I know 
 That when God gives to us the clearest sight 
 He does not touch our eyes with Love, but Sorrow.* 
 
 "In 'Muley Malek, the King,^ Mr. O'Reilly bursts over the 
 bounds of metre; but in the swing of his utterance there is a 
 certain forceful rhythm, indicating an earnest endeavor to 
 preserve some of the characteristics of song. In 'From the 
 Earth a Cry,' however, all reserve is thrown off, and he 
 launches formlessly forth. Walt Whitman chopped up Car- 
 lylesque sentences into lines at hazard, but rapidly debased the 
 model. Mr. O'Reilly takes a high strident key, and follows 
 Whitman's most ambitious endeavors. It is an eloquent in- 
 vective, and its fitfulness and spasmodics have a certain 
 relation to its grievous story of human oppression. It is as 
 formless and as forcible as the onrushing mob it invokes. All 
 that is, is wrong; what need of nice measuring of feet ? It is 
 not the measured tramp of an army that can be expected where 
 the undisciplined millions rise to bear down drilled thousands. 
 
 " ' O Christ! and O Christ ! In thy name the law! 
 In Thy mouth the mandate ! In Thy loving hands the whip ! 
 They have taken Thee down from Thy cross and sent Thee to scourge 
 the people; 
 
6 THE STATUES IX THE BLOCK. 
 
 They have shod Thy feet with .«pikes, and jointed Tliy dead knees with 
 
 iron, 
 And pushed Thee, iiiding behind, to trample the poor dumb faces.' 
 
 " Opi)ression lias its leagues and its triumphs, but 
 
 " ' Never, while steel is cheap and sharp, shall thy kiuglings sleep 
 without dreaming.' " 
 
 From The Buffalo Union. 
 
 " The strength, tenderness, and exceeding power and aptness 
 of expression conspicuous in a former volume — (' Songs, Leg- 
 ends, and Ballads,') — are all here, intensified. The poet goes 
 beyond the limits of any one land or nationhood. He sings 
 here for all time and for every nation. His inspiration is 
 Hiunanity^ wherever it agonizes under tyrannical bonds or 
 struggles to break them. 'From the Earth a Cry,' is a very 
 epitome of the history of the manifold uprisings, all the world 
 over, of the weak against the strong during the decade just 
 ended — the voice of the oppressed clamoring to Heaven for ven- 
 geance — an arraignment of the 
 
 *' 'Landlords and Lawlords and Tradelords ' 
 
 before the bar of justice, and in face of the terrible growth of 
 
 " ' Communists, Socialists, Nihilists, Rent-rebels, Strikers ' — 
 
 from the seed themselves have sown. 
 
 "We wish we could speak in detail of some of the other 
 poems, with their rugged but splendid versification, in which 
 the poet has taken 
 
 '"No heed of the words, nor . . . 
 the style of the story, 
 but 
 
 " ' Let it burst out from the heart, like a spring from the womb of the 
 mountain; ' 
 
 or of that majestic opening poem, ' The Statues in the Block,' 
 through which this true note rings: — 
 
 " 'AVhen God gives to us the clearest sight, 
 He does not touch our eyes with Love, but Sorrow.' 
 
THE 8TATLES IN THE BLOCK. 7 
 
 *'We strike on a vein of keen but kindly sarcasm at the 
 expense of poor human nature here and there through the col- 
 lection, especially in a few of those gem- like stanzas that pre- 
 lude the different sections. But the poet has a sweet voice for 
 tender themes ; and there are some exquisite lyrics here, too, 
 like fragrant, delicate flowers, blooming in the clefts of the 
 massive rock. Such, notably, are ' Iler Refrain,' ' Waiting,' 
 ' Jacqueminots,' and ' The Temple of Friendship.' The book is 
 inscribed 'To the ^Memory of Eliza Boyle; My Mother.' " 
 
 From The Boston Journal. 
 
 '' The little volume containing ' The Statues in the Block, and 
 Other Poems,' by John Boyle O'Reilly, will commend itself to 
 those for whom fresh and spirited verse has charms. The 
 pieces, which number about twenty, are of two very different 
 styles; the one graceful in form, and conveying some light 
 fancy or suggestion, and the other careless as to form, usually 
 barren of rhyme, and irregular with the pulses of stern and pas- 
 sionate emotion. Of the former type are ' Jacqueminots,' ' Her 
 Refrain,' and 'The Temple of Friendship'; of the latter, 
 'From the Earth a Cry,' ' A Song for the Soldiers,' and ' The 
 Mutiny of the Chains.' The first poem mentioned in the latter 
 group, and indeed some others belonging to the same group, 
 have a Walt Whitmanish turn to them which, we are free to 
 confess, we do not like. Take, for example, such lines as these : 
 " ' Lightning! the air is split, the crater Imrsts, and the breathing 
 Of those below is the fume and lire of hatred. 
 The thrones are stayed with the courage of shotted guns. The warning 
 
 dies, 
 But queens are dragged to tlie block, and the knife of the guillotine 
 
 sinks 
 In the garbage of pampered flesh that gluts its bed and its hinges.' 
 
 " The story of the mutiny in the final poem is finely told, as 
 is also the story of the defence of the Cheyennes, in the poem 
 preceding it. Mr. O'Reilly is at his best when his blood is hot 
 and his indignation roused by the thought of human wrongs ; 
 and some of his pieces, Avritten imder this inspiration, have a 
 ring like anvil strokes, and stir the blood of the reader as by the 
 sound of trumpets." 
 
OPINIOXS OF TTTE PRESS. 
 
 "SOiVGS FROM THE I^^OUTHERN SEASP 
 
 ]}Y JOHX BOYLE O'KEILI.Y. 
 
 'NexK York Arcadian. 
 
 "Like the smell of new-mown hay, or the first breath of 
 spring, or an miexpected kiss from well-loved lips, or any other 
 ^weet, fresh, wholesome, natural delight, is to the professional 
 reviewer the first perusal of genuine poetry by a new writer. 
 Not for a long time have we experienced so fresh and joyous a 
 surprise, so perfect a literary treat, as has been given us by 
 these fresh and glowing songs by this young and hitherto 
 utterly unknown poet. There is something so thoroughly new 
 and natural and lifelike, something so buoyant and wholesome 
 and true, so much original power and boldness of touch in 
 these songs, that we feel at once that we are in the presence of 
 a new power in poetry. This work alone places its author 
 head and shoulder above the rank and file of contemporary 
 versifiers. . . . The closing passages of ' Uncle Xed's ' 
 second tale, are in the highest degree dramatic, — thrilling the 
 reader like the bugle-note that sounds the cry to arms. Finally, 
 several of the poems are animated by a spirit so affectionate 
 and pure, that we feel constrained to love their writer, offering, 
 as they do in this respect, so marked and pleasant a contrast 
 with too much of the so-called poetry of these modern times." 
 
 (9) 
 
1() SONGS FROM THE SOUTHERN SEAS, 
 
 Baltimore Bulletin. 
 
 "Mr. O'Reilly is a true poet — no one can read his stirring 
 measures and his picturesque descriptive passages without at 
 once recognizing the true singer, and experiencing the conta- 
 gion of his spirit. He soars loftily and grandly, and his song 
 peals forth with a rare roundness and mellowness of tone that 
 cheers and inspirits the hearer. His subjects belong to the 
 open air, to new fields or untrod wilds, and they are full of 
 healthy freshness, and the vigor of sturdy, redundant life. 
 We hail Mr. O'Reilly with pleasure, and w^e demand for him 
 the cordial recognition he deserves," 
 
 ChicxKjo Inter-OcecDi. 
 
 " We may safely say that we lay these poems down with a 
 feeling of delight that there has come among us a true poet, 
 who can enchant by the vivid fire of his pictures without 
 having recourse to a trick of v/ords, or the re-dressing or re- 
 torturing of old forgotten ideas. These poems, for the most 
 part, are fresh and lifelike as the lyrics which led our fore- 
 fathers to deeds of glory. With scarce a line of mawkish 
 sentiment, there is the deep heart-feeling of a true poet. His 
 descriptions bear the impress of truth and the realism of 
 personal acquaintance with the incidents described. There is 
 the flow of Scott in his narrative power, and the fire of Macau- 
 lay in his trumpet-toned tales of war. We are much mistaken 
 if this man does not in the course of a few years walk the 
 course, and show the world how narrative poetry should be 
 written. He has it in him, and genius cannot be kept under 
 hatches. Passing over ' The Dog Guard,' a fearful picture, we 
 come to ' The Amber Whale.' It is impossible to describe the 
 intense interest that surrounds this dramatic description. A 
 more exciting chase could hardly be conceived, and as we stand 
 with bated breath, while the mate drives his lance home to 
 the vitals, and the boats go hissing along in the wake of the 
 wounded monster, we seem to behold the sea red with blood, 
 
SONGS FKOM THE SOUTIIEUX SEAS. 11 
 
 and mark the flukes as they sweep the captain's boat into 
 
 eternity. Here is a portion of the story : — 
 
 ♦' ' Then we heard the captain's order, *' Heave! " and saw the harpoon 
 
 flv, 
 As the whales closed in \Yith their open jaws: a shock and a stifled cry 
 Was all that we heard; then we looked to see if the crew were still 
 
 afloat, — 
 But nothino- was there save a dull red patch, and the hoards of the 
 
 shattered boat. 
 " ' But that was no time for mourning words: the other two boats came 
 
 m, 
 And one got fast on the quarter, and one aft th- starboard fin 
 Of the ^mber AVhale. For a minute he paused, as if he were in doubt 
 As to whether 'twas best to run or fight. " Lay on ! " the mate roared 
 
 out, , ^ 
 
 "And I'll give him a lance ! " The boat shot in; and the mate, when he 
 
 saw his chance 
 Of sending it home to the vitals, four times he buried his lance.' 
 
 *'We next come to 'The Dukite Snake,' a tale so simply 
 told, so beautifuhy sad, that the heart goes out in pity to the 
 poor young husband in his terrible grief. The Dukite Snake 
 never goes alone. When one is killed the other will follow to 
 the confines of the earth, but he will have revenge. Upon this 
 fact the poet has wrought a picture so true and so dramatic 
 that it almost chills the blood to read a tale so cruel and so 
 lifelike. . . . Among the remaining poems of length, Ave 
 have 'The Fishermen of Wexford,' 'The Flying Dutchman,' 
 and ' Uncle Xed's Tales.' Ah are good ; but the last are simply 
 superb. We doubt if more vivid pictures of war were ever 
 drawn. The incidents are detailed with such lifelike force, 
 that to any one who had ever felt the enthusiastic frenzy of 
 battle, they bring back the sounds of the shells and the shout 
 of advancing columns. They are lifelike as the pages of 
 Tacitus, and stir the blood to a fever heat of wariike enthus- 
 iasm. They are strains to make soldiers.'' 
 
 London Athencevm. 
 " Mr. O'Reilly is the poet of a far land. He sings of West- 
 ern Australia, that poorest and loveliest of all the Australias, 
 
12 SONGS FPt03I THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 
 
 wliicli has received from the mother country only her shame 
 and her crime. Mr. O'Reilly, in a short poem, speaks of the 
 land as 'discovered ere the fitting time,' endowed with a peer- 
 less clime, hut having hirds that do not sing, flowers that give 
 no scent, and trees that do not fructify. Scenes and incidents, 
 however, known to the author, in this perfumeless and mute 
 land, have been reproduced by him in a series of poems of much 
 beauty. ' The King of the Yasse,' a legend of the bush, is a 
 weird and deeply pathetic poem, admirable alike for its concep- 
 tion and execution." 
 
 Atlantic. Monthly, 
 
 *'In a modest, well- worded prelude, the poet says: — 
 
 ** * From that fair land and drear land in the South 
 
 Of which through years I do not cease to think, 
 I brought a tale, learned not by word of mouth, 
 
 But formed by finding here one golden link 
 And there another; and with hands unskilled 
 
 For such fine work, but patient of all pain 
 For love of it, I sought therefrom to build 
 
 AYhat might have been at first the goodly chain. 
 
 *' 'It is not golden now; my craft knows more 
 Of working baser metal than of fine ; 
 But to those fate-wrought rings of precious ore 
 I add these rugged iron links of mine.' 
 
 '' This is not claiming enough for himself, but the reader the 
 more gladly does him justice because of his modesty, and per- 
 haps it is this quality in the author which oftenest commends 
 his book. ' The King of the Yasse ' is the story of a child of the 
 first Swedish emigrants to Australia, who lies dead in his moth- 
 er's arms w^hen they land. A native chief, coming with all his 
 people to greet the strangers, touches the boy's forehead with a 
 great pearl, which he keeps in a carven case or shrine, and the 
 mighty magic of it calls him back to life, but with a savage soul, 
 as his kindred believe ; for he deserts them for the natives, over 
 whom he rules many years, inheriting and wearing the magic 
 pearl. At last the young men of the tribe begin to question his 
 
SONGS FROM THE SOUTHERN SEAS. IS 
 
 authority, and one of them, with a spear tlirust, destroys the 
 great pearl. Jacob Eibsen then seems repossessed by a white 
 man's soul, and returns to tUespot long since abandoned by his 
 kindred, and finds it occupied by English settlers, whose chil- 
 dren's simple, child-like playmate he becomes, and remains till 
 death. The plot is good ; and it is always managed with a sober 
 simplicity, which forms an excellent ground for some strong 
 dramatic effects. The Australian scenery and air and natural 
 life are everywhere summoned round the story without being 
 forced upon the reader. Here, for instance, is a picture at once 
 vivid and intelligible, — which is not always the case with the 
 vivid pictures of the word-painters. After the rains begin in 
 that southern climate, — 
 
 " ' Earth throbs and heaves 
 With pregnant prescience of life and leaves; 
 The shadows darken 'neath the tall trees' screen, 
 While round their stems the rank and velvet green 
 Of undergrowth is deeper still; and there 
 Within the double shade and steaming air, 
 The scarlet palm has fixed its noxious root, 
 And hangs the glorious poison of its fruit; 
 And there, 'mid shaded green and shaded light, 
 The steel-blue silent birds take rapid flight 
 From earth to tree and tree to earth; and there 
 The crimsoned-i)lumaged parrot cleaves the air 
 Like flying fire, and huge brown owls awake 
 To watch, far down, the stealing carpet-snake 
 Fresh-skinned and glowing in his charming dyes. 
 With evil wisdom in the cruel eyes 
 That glint like gems as o'er his head flits by 
 The blue-black armor of the emperor-fly ; 
 And all the humid earth displays its powers 
 Of prayer, with incense from the hearts of flowers 
 That load the air with beauty and with wine 
 Of mingled color. . . 
 
 '♦ 'And high ©'erhead is color: round and round 
 The towering gums and tuads, closely wound 
 Like cables, creep the climbers to the sun, 
 And over all the reaching branches run 
 And hang, and still send shoots that climb and wind 
 
14 SONGS FROM THE SOUTHERX SEAS. 
 
 Till every arm and spray and leaf is twined, 
 
 And miles of trees, like brethren joined in love, 
 
 Are drawn and laced; while round them and above, 
 
 AVlien all is knit, the creeper rfests for days 
 
 As gathering might, and then one blinding blaze 
 
 Of very glory sends, in wealth and strength, 
 
 Of scarlet flowers o'er the forest's length ! ' 
 
 " There are deep springs of familiar feeling (as the mother's 
 grief for the estrangement of her savage -hearted son) also 
 touched in this poem, in which there is due artistic sense 
 and enjoyment of the weirdness of the motive; and, in short, 
 we could imagine ourselves recurring more than once to the 
 story, and liking it better and better. ' The Dog Guard ' is the 
 next best story in the book ; — a horrible fact, treated with 
 tragic realism, and skilfully kept from being merely hor- 
 rible. . . . Some of the best poems in the book are the pre- 
 ludes to the stories." 
 
 Boston Advertiser, 
 
 " The first, and in many respects the best poem in the book, 
 is ' The King of the Yasse,' which is a story of the very 
 earliest settlement of Australia by Europeans, and before a 
 convict settlement w^as established there. There is to it far 
 greater care and finish than to any of the other long poems. 
 In some parts it is weird and strange to a degree ; in others it 
 is pathetic, — everywhere it is simple, with a pleasant flow" of 
 rhythm, and closely true to nature. It is followed by ' The 
 Dog Guard,' a poem which leaves an impression on the mind 
 like Coleridge's 'Ancient Mariner' — a subject which, but for 
 great skill in the treatment, would have been repulsive. As it 
 stands in the book it shows eminent descriptive po^ver, and a 
 certain freedom and daring that lifts it far above the common- 
 place. Interspersed among the longer poems are short verses, 
 which must answer the same purpose in the book as the or- 
 ganist's interludes, helping out the value of that which 
 precedes, and that which follows. Some of these are more 
 than excellent. They stand out as a peculiar feature of the 
 
ISONG8 fko:m the soutiieiin seas. 15 
 
 book, adding to its completeness, as they will add to the poet's 
 reputation. Preceding ' The Dog Guard ' we have the follow- 
 ing, which perhaps is as characteristic as any of the preludes. 
 It will be seen that the burden of this, as indeed of the whole 
 book, is Western Australia : — 
 
 " ' Nation of Sun and Sin, 
 
 Thy flowers and crimes are red, 
 And thy heart is sore within 
 While the glory crowns thy head. 
 Land of the songless birds, 
 What was thine ancient crime, 
 Burning through lapse of time 
 Like a iirophet's cursing words? 
 
 *' ' Aloes and ^Nlyrrli and tears 
 Mix in thy bitter wine: 
 Drink, while the cup is thine, 
 Drink, for the draught is sign 
 Of thy reign in coming years.' 
 
 "Mr. O'Reilly has done his work faithfully and well; he has 
 given us in his book more than he promised us in the preface; 
 and to-day, with his first jjoetical venture before the public, he 
 has added another to the laurels he has already won in other 
 fields." 
 
 Nev: York Tribune. 
 
 ' ' These songs are the most stirring tales of adventure im- 
 aginable, chiefly placed in Western Australia, a penal colony, 
 which has ' received from the mother country only her shame 
 and her crime.' The book is the very melodrama of poetry. 
 . . . Mr. O'Reilly is a man whose career has been full of 
 wild and varied adventui'e, and who has put these stirring 
 scenes — all of which he saw, and part of which he was — into 
 verse as spontaneous and unconventional as the life he de- 
 scribes. His rhymed tales are as exciting as ghost stories, and 
 we have been reading them while the early sullen ISTovember 
 night closed in, with something the same feeling, the queer 
 shiver of breathless expectation, with which we used to listen 
 to legends of ghosts and goblins by our grandmother's firelight. 
 
16 SONGS FROM THE SOUTHKIIX SEAS. 
 
 Not that the supernatural figures too largely in these tales, — 
 the actors in them are far more formidable than any disem- 
 bodied spirits. . . . ' The King of the Yasse ' is a wonderful 
 story, in ^yllich a dead child is raised to life by a pagan incan- 
 tation and the touch of a mystic pearl on the face, — which 
 will charm the lovers of the miraculous. ' The Amber Whale,' 
 'The Dog Guard,' and 'Haunted by Tigers,' are in the same 
 vein with ' The Monster Diamond.' Thrilling tales all of them. 
 ' Chunder All's Wife' is a charming little Oriental love story; 
 a 'Legend of the Blessed Virgin' is full of tenderness and 
 grace, for Mr. O'Reilly is both a Catholic and an Irishman; 
 and I cannot close my extracts from his book more fittingly 
 than with his heartfelt lines to his native land : — 
 
 *' ' It chanced to me upon a time to sail 
 
 Across the Southern Ocean to and fro ; 
 And, landing at fair isles, by stream and vale 
 
 Of sensuous blessing did we ofttimes go. 
 And months of dreary joys, like joys in sleep, 
 
 Or like a clear, calm stream o'er mossy stone, 
 Unnoted passed our hearts with voiceless sweep, 
 
 And left us yearning still for lands unknown. 
 
 '* ' And when we found one, — for 'tis soon to find 
 
 In thousand-isled Cathay anotlier isle,— 
 For one short noon its treasures tilled the mind. 
 
 And then again we yearned, and ceased to smile. 
 And so it was, from isle to isle we passed, 
 
 Like wanton bees or boys on flowers or lips ; 
 And when that all was tasted, then at Jast 
 
 We thirsted still for draughts instead of sips. 
 
 " ' I learned f r< m t'.iis there is no Southern land 
 Can fill with lo/e the hearts of Northern men. 
 Sick minds need change; but, when in liealth they stand 
 'Xeath foreign skies their love flies home again. 
 
 " ' And thus with me it was; the yearning turned 
 From laden airs of cinnamon away. 
 And stretched far westward, while t}ie full heart burned 
 With love for Ireland, looking on Cathay ! 
 
SONGS FROM THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 17 
 
 '• ' My first dear love, all dearer lor thy <^rief ! 
 
 My land that has no peer in all the sea 
 For verdure, vale, or river, flower or leaf, — 
 
 If first to no man else, thou'rt first to nie. 
 New loves may come with duties, but the first 
 
 Is deepest yet, — the mother's breath and smiles : 
 Like that kind face and breast where I was nursed 
 
 Is my poor land, the Niobe of isles.' " 
 
 3/y. li, H. Stoddard, in Scrlbuer''s Monthly, 
 
 '• ' The King of the Yasse,' the opening poem in Mr. O'Reilly* s 
 volume, is a remarkable one; and if the legend be the creation 
 of Mr. O' Heilly, it places him high among the few really imag- 
 inative poets. . . . This, in brief, is the outline of the 
 'King of the Yasse.' In it we could point out many faulty 
 lines. William Morris could have spun off the verse more flu- 
 ently, and Longfellow could have imparted to it his usual grace. 
 Still, we are glad it is not from them, but from Mr. O'Reilly 
 that we receiTC it. The story is simply and strongly told, and is 
 imaginative and pathetic. It is certainly the most poetic poem 
 in the volmne, though by no means the most striking one. ' The 
 Amber Whale' is more characteristic of Mr. O'Reilly's genius, 
 as ' The Dog Guard ' and ' The Dukite Snake ' are more char- 
 acteristic of the region in which he is most at home 
 
 He is as good a balladist as Walter Thornbury, who is the only 
 other living poet who could have written ' The Old Dragoon's 
 Story.' " 
 
 Boston Gazette. 
 
 " This is a volume of admirable poetry. The more ambitious 
 poems in the book are in narrative form, and are terse and 
 spirited in style, and full of dramatic power and effect. Mr. 
 O'Reilly is both picturesque and epigrammatic, and writes with 
 a manly straightforwardness that is very attractive. ... Of 
 the sickly sentimentality that forms the groundwork of so much 
 of our modern poetry, not a trace is to be found in this book. 
 The tone throughout is healthy, earnest and pure. There is 
 also an independence and originality of thought and treatment 
 
18 SONGS FROM THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 
 
 that are very striking, and which prove not tlie least attractive 
 features of the book. Some of the stories are conceived with 
 unusual power, and are developed with scarcely less effect and 
 and skill." 
 
 Boston Times, 
 
 " Some reminiscences of his romantic life, the poet has woven 
 into the verses that fill this volume. Very grim reminiscences 
 they are, of crime and death and horrors dire ; but they repre- 
 sent faithfully, we have no doubt, the society, or rather sav- 
 agery, of those far and fearsome lands. Most of the poems are 
 stories, sombre in substance, but told with a vehement vigor 
 that is singularly harmonious with their themes. The opening 
 poeni, ' The King of the Yasse,' preserves a strange and 
 pathetic legend, which the i)oet has wrought into a powerful, 
 but most painful story. His imagination revels in pictures of 
 weird desolation and the repulsive and appalling prodigies of 
 animal and vegetable life in the tropic world ; and the effect 
 of these presented in quick succession, and varied only by epi- 
 sodes of human sin or suffering, is positively depressing. Such 
 passages as this abound in the poem: — 
 
 " ' lu that strange country's heart, whence comes the breath 
 Of hot disease and pestilential death, 
 Lie leagues of wooded swamp, that from the hills 
 Seem stretching meadDws; hut the flood that tills 
 These valley basins has the hue of ink 
 And dismal doorways open on the brink. 
 Beneath the gnarled arms of trees that grow 
 All leafless to the top, from roots below 
 The Lethe flood; and he who enters there 
 Beneath this screen sees rising, ghastly bare, 
 Like mammoth bones within a charnel dark, 
 The white and ragged stems of paper-bark, 
 That drip down moisture with a ceaseless drip, ^ 
 With lines that run like cordage of a ship; 
 For myriad creepers struggle to the light. 
 And twine and meet o'erhead in murderous fight 
 For life and sunshine. . . . 
 
SONGS FKOM THE ISOUTHEKN SEAS. It) 
 
 '.' ' Between the water and the matted screen, ^ 
 The bald-head vultures, two and tvro, are seen 
 In dismal grandeur, with revolting face 
 Of foul grotesque, like spirits of the place; 
 And now and then a spear-shaped wave goes by, 
 Its apex glittering with an evil eye 
 That sets above its enemy and prey 
 As from the wave in treacherous, slimy way 
 The black snake winds, and strikes the bestial bird, 
 AVhose shriek-like wailing on the hills is heard.' 
 
 ''The 'Dog Guard' is a tale of horrors. 'The Amber 
 Whale' and 'Haunted by Tigers' are founded on whaling 
 incidents, and the latter, especially, is eloquent with the woe of 
 tragedy. There are a few poems in the volume written in a 
 lighter mood. .'Uncle Xed's Tale' is a very spirited tale of 
 battle. ' The Fishermen of Wexford ' is one of the best pieces 
 in the collection — almost severe in its simple realism, but ten- 
 derly pathetic. We have rarely seen a first volume of poems so 
 rich in promise as is this. It is singularly free from the faults 
 of most early poems, and exhibits a maturity of thought and a 
 sober strength of style that would do credit to any of our older 
 poets." 
 
 Boston Commercial Bulletin. 
 
 " His descriptive powers are remarkably strong and vivid, 
 and his imagination powerful and vigorous. Yet it is evident 
 from a glance at the minor poems of ' Golu,' and ' My Mother's 
 Memory,' that the author has an imagination that will not 
 desert him on brighter and more gracefid flights of fancy. 
 Altogether the volume is one of much more than ordinary 
 originality and excellence." 
 
 Worcester Palladium, 
 
 "He shows originality and good descriptive power, and he 
 treats his subjects con amove. . . . The author had the 
 very best reason in the world for writing this collection, and a 
 second volume wiU be awaited with reason ; for strong points 
 
20 SONGS FROM THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 
 
 are displayed, and a person who writes because his heart wills 
 it, sooner or later wins the heart of the public." 
 
 Bangor Whig. 
 
 *' There is no one of the poems the book contains that has 
 not running through it a sort of realism that at once takes pos- 
 session of the reader's mind, and he looks upon it, as it were, 
 as an actual event." 
 
 Mr. Newell (Orpheus C. Kerr) in The Catholic Beview, 
 
 "Judged in all the phases of his talent presented by this 
 book, Mr. O'Reilly is unquestionably a man of true poetic 
 verve and temperament, with too much reverence for the noble 
 gift of song to sophisticate it with mawkish aif ectations or con- 
 ceited verbal ingenuities. No obscure line patches his page ; no 
 fantastic mannerism accentuates his style ; no pretendedly met- 
 aphysical abstraction egotizes what he thinks worthy of gift to 
 mankind," 
 
 Utica HeralcL 
 
 " In the leading poem of Mr. O'Reilly's collection, entitled, 
 * The King of the Yasse,' there are novelties of scene and leg- 
 end which alone claim the attention. . . . The poem is in 
 many respects a wonderful one, and contains many subtleties 
 of thought and expression, which it is impossible to reproduce 
 in scanty extract " 
 
 Literary Woydd^ Boston, 
 
 . . . '^ Mr. O'Reilly unquestionably possesses poetical tal- 
 ent of a high and rare order. He excels in dramatic narrative, 
 to which his natural intensity of feeling lends a peculiar force. 
 His verse is sometimes careless, and often lacks finish; but 
 writers are few, nowadays, who have a better capital in heart 
 or hand for successful poetical work than that which is evi-' 
 denced in this volume." 
 
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