The good walker is always the graceful, easy walker. He stands erect, but not stiffly. His shoulders are well thrown back. He keeps his mouth closed, except when talking, and he breathes and exhales through his nostrils as the wise G.o.d meant him to do. His clothes fit him loosely and comfortably. He steps naturally, and without a trying stride, or a short step mincing gait, as if he wore hobbles. He walks by lifting his feet and not by raising his shoulders. And he wears shoes or other foot gear that do not breed corns or bunions.
Unless in a great hurry the walk, even the brisk walk, should never exceed three miles an hour; good heel and toe walkers have made forty miles without fatigue in ten hours, but this power comes only after long practice.
Walking is the very best, as it is the very cheapest, form of exercise, and it is best enjoyed on a country road with a cheerful companion.
Remember in all your exercising that good health is the one great object. Suppress all ambition to be merely strong. Many brutes are stronger than many of the strongest men, and many strong men have gone to pieces where lighter but more enduring men have come through the ordeal fresh and unharmed. This I have often noted in war times, when soldiers were called on to make a forced march over trying roads and in a downpour of rain.
Endurance is the great thing to strive for. The man who lasts is the man who wins. Therefore, in your walks, particularly when you are learning to walk well, like an Indian or a soldier, never try to do more than can be done without making too great a demand on your bodily strength.
RUNNING
Running is a fine exercise, provided always that it be done in season and in reason. To do it in reason you must start in by acquiring the skill to run and the endurance to keep it up.
There is one organ which if it stopped for a minute, the owner would be dead; that is the heart. Yet many young athletes act as if they were not aware that they had hearts.
No exercise that requires sudden violent effort, like fast rowing, or a hundred-yard dash in running, can be undertaken without serious effect to the heart. The Andean Indians will run, lightly and easily, at the rate of ten miles an hour, and keep it up for ten hours without rest, but you cannot induce them to make a short dash at high speed; they do not want to feel the warning thump of the heart.
In learning to run, breathe as in walking, keeping the body slightly bent forward, and the elbows gripped close to the sides. Under no circ.u.mstances start out by competing with any one, or by trying to run against time. Such a course will result in final failure, and may bring on a serious injury.
The jog trot is the thing to start in with. Try it for a week or two, and you will be surprised at the ease with which you can do it. At first a mile is long enough for a run. After a month you can do two miles without as much fatigue. Finally, if the gait be not too fast, you can keep it up for hours.
After you have mastered the jog, it will be time enough to quicken the pace into a run, not your swiftest run, mark you, but a run that you can keep up for a mile, with as little exhaustion as you did your first mile trot.
It is only by this slow, pleasant training, that you can ever learn to walk and run well, but when you have learned you will be paid for the effort, and then if the time comes to test your speed you will be ready to respond.
Jumping is closely related to running. It is an exercise in which boys delight, but which they seldom practice so as to achieve any skill.
We divide this exercise into standing and running jumps, and each of these can be subdivided into high and broad jumps.
In running contests, hurdles or other obstructions are placed in the path of the runner. These hurdles vary in height, but if you want to learn, start in with one or two about as high as your knee. Of course, you could take them standing, and it is not a bad exercise, but learn to take them at a moderate run. When you can do this with ease, increase the number or the closeness of the hurdles and add to the length of the run.
After a time you can take more and higher hurdles and lengthen the run, but never do either if you find your heart beating, or that the effort brings fatigue.
I do not think the running high jump pays for the effort. It is spectacular, that is all; not so the running broad jump. This may be of use. It is safe and sane, and with practice it is surprising the distance that can be covered.
After violent exercise of any kind, be sure to take a bath and a brisk rub down. If this cannot be had, a towel well soaked in cold water will make a good subst.i.tute, if you dry down with another towel.
If your clothes are wet and you are exercising, they may be allowed to dry on you with safety, but if you cannot do this, get dry clothes if possible. I have known st.u.r.dy boys to contract rheumatism from wet clothes; and they never got over it.
In conclusion, let me advise common sense. Think before you act, even when you are out for sport.
CHAPTER XXV
BATTLE CRIES, HAILING SHOUTS, AND COLLEGE YELLS
The American Indians, like the uncivilized of all lands, had their own peculiar battle cry or war-whoop, which it is impossible to reproduce by letters. During our Civil War the Confederates gave a thrilling imitation of it in their famous "Rebel Yell," which every old soldier recalls with more or less admiration.
The ancient Greeks joined in battle with shouts of "Eleleu!" The Welsh cry was "Ubub!" from whence comes our word hubbub, meaning a confusion. The Irish war shout was nearly like that of the Greek, being "Ullulu!" The Scotch clans had each its own shout or slogan; the pibroch being the chant of the march to battle.
Of old, the Hungarian horseman, when charging shouted "Huzza!" and so the name Hussar is given to the light cavalry regiments of many of the European armies. The Australian herders have a hailing cry, learned from the natives, which, properly done, carries a great distance. It sounds like "Coo-ee!" the first syllable being made deep in the chest, and the other a shrill head note.
The Yaqui Indians of northern Mexico take their name from their peculiar war cry, "Ya-kee," which is produced like the Australian coo- ee. I have heard this thrilling cry for a distance of over one mile in the Sierra Madre mountains.
All boys, whether bound for college or not, are always interested in what are known as "College Yells." Each college has its own yell, and in some of them great pains, if not great originality, is shown in the construction of the words. Here are a few:
_Princeton_--"Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Tiger-siss-boom-ah! PRINCETON!"
And the st.u.r.dy sons of
_Yale_--"Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! YALE!" quickly and sharply enunciated.
_Harvard_ boys cry, with long-drawn deep notes, "Rah! rah! rah! Rah!
rah! rah! Rah! rah! rah! HARVARD!"
_Cornell_--"Cornell I yell! yell! yell! CORNELL!"
_Williams College_--"Rah! rah! rah! yums! yams! yums! w.i.l.l.yUMS!"
_Trinity College_--"Rah! rah! rah! Trinity! Boom-rah! Boom-rah! TRIN- EYE-TEE!"
_Wesleyan College_--"Rah! rah! rah! rah! Wesleyan! Rah! rah! rah! rah!"
_Brown College_--"Rah, rah, rah, rah! BROWN!"
_Colorado College_--"Rah! rah! rah! Pike"s Peak or bust! Colorado College! Yell we MUST!"
_The Leland Stanford, Jr._--"Wah hoo! Ya hoo! L. S. J. U.! STANFORD!"
_Dartmouth College_--"Hi! hi! hi! Rah! rah! rah! D-d-d-d-Dartmouth, wah, who, wah!" or, "Wah, who, wah! Wah, who, wah! Da, di, di, Dartmouth! Wah, who wah!"
_Union College_--"Rah, rah, rah! U-N-I-O-N. Hikah! hikah! hikah!"
_University of Illinois_--"Rah, hoo, rah! Zipp, boom, ah! Hip-zoo!
Rah-zoo. Jimmy blow your bazoo! Ip-sidi-iki U. off I. campaign!"
_Hanover_--"Han, Han! HANOVER!"
_Westminster_-"Rah, rah, rah! Oh, yes, sir! Vive-la, Vive-la!
WESTMINSTER!"
_Cornell, of Iowa_-"Zip-siss-boom! Cor-cor-nell! C-C. tiger-la! Zipp- siss-hur-rah!"
_Amherst_--"Rah! rah! rah!" etc., and terminating with the name of their inst.i.tution. Boston University--"Boston, B-B-BOSTON! Varsity!
Varsity! Varsity! Rah! rah! rah!"
Rutgers--"Rah, rah, rah! Bow-wow-wow! RUTGERS!"