ATHLETES OF INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 27 January 1923, Page 14

ATHLETES OF INDUSTRY

COMBINATIONS OF SKILL AND * STBENGTH. ■ I . . ■'

Watching a porter trundling empty milk can§ along the platform of a country junction, I was struck with the quickness and dexterity with which he moved' can after can in a perfectly straight lino, writes " T.C.8." in the " Daily Mail." I tried'it,and found it extraordinarily difficult. Not thai the can is heavy, but it is so awkward to handle., The whole thing is purely'a matter of wrist work, but it certainly takes months^ or-even years, of practice to attain the skill shown by these men, and it means amazing, if Unconscious, development of the wrist muscles. Come'to think of it, you see these unconscious athletes everywhere, and in spite of the march of machinery, there is little diminution in their numbers.

.. 'The coalheaver —watch him as he lifts a hundredweight sack of coal from the lorry and. shoots its contents deftly through a small hole in the pavement. ■He dons it with such apparent ease that not one passer-by in a hundred gives a thought to the combination of muscle and skill required for the task.

Again, there is the burly fellow who lowers great'casks of beer into the cellars of the public-house. His is a job that calls for both.skill.and strength.

Hawe you ever tried to carry a, hod of bricks up a ladder? I have, and I can assure you. that' this is no easy task. The load is a lop-sided one, and heavy into the bargain. The ladder sways, and you hare only one hand to hold on with.

And apropos the building trade, what about those men who wheel heavy barrOws full of bricks across narrow planks, often at. a considerable height above the

ground? - ' ; Anywhere around Covent .Garden or other fnut markets you may see a' coster carrying as many as a dozen ■ empty crates balanced on his head. And with this top-heavy burden he threads his way easily among the hurrying throngs. The difficulty of the feat can only be appreciated by a trial.

For "perfect combination ■of skill and strength commend me to the man who handles' heavy furniture, especially the one employed in a piano warehouse. The weights he has to lift are so great that any lack of skill on his part will probably mean a bad accident, to say nothing of cpstly damage-to the contents of the case. ■