IN PRAISE OF THE FIST.

North Otago Times, 3 November 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

IN PRAISE OF THE FIST.

In this holiday season, it is well that we should occupy ourselves with the aptitudes of our body, once more restored to nature, and, in particular; with the exercises that most increase its strength, ics agility, and the qualities which ' it possesses as the body of afine, healthy: formidable animal, ready to face all life's exigencies. I: remember in this connection that lately, when writing of the sword, I allowed myself, to be carried away by mv Bnbject, and that.l-waa guilty of a'certain injustice towards the only specific to endowed U9-I mean tho fist, Th 9 injustice I

• The sword and the fcfc.fonn each others complement, and, if it be not ungracious thus to express one's self are on good terms together.- Hut tho.'sword is or should be only, an exceptional" weapon. a eort of ultima et-sacra ratio, Wo should not have recourse to it save with eoleran precautions, and a ceremonial equivalent to that with which we surround those criminal trials- which may end in a sentence of death.

The fist, on the contrary, is pre-emin-ently the everyday, the human weapon, tho only weapon orginally adapted to the sonsability, the resistance, the offensive and defensive structure- of our body, The fact is that, if we examine ourselves well, we must rank' ourselves, without vanity, among the most unprotected, the most naked, the most fragile, ■ the most brittle and flaccid beings in creation. Compare- us ; for instance, with ' the insect, so formidably equipped for attack.and so fantastically armour . eased! Contemplato among others the ant, upon which you may heap ten or twenty thousand times the weight, of its body without apparently inconveniencing it. Consider the cockchafer, the least robust of the beetles, and weigh what it is ablo to carry before the rings of its abdomen crack or the casings of its forewings yield. As for the resistance of. the btag beetle it is, so to speak, unlimited. In comparison, therefore, we and the majority of mammals nro unsolidified beings, still in the gelatinous state and very near to the primitive protoplasm. Our skeleton alone, which is, as it wore,: tho rough sketch of our definitive form, offors a certain consistency. But how wretched is this skeleton, which one would think constructed by a child! Look at our spine, the basis of our whole system, whoso ill-set vertebrae hold together only by a miracle, and our thoracic cago, which presents only a series of diagonals which wo hardly daro touch with the linger tips.

Now, it is against this s lnok and incoherent machine, which resembles an abortive effort of nature, against the pitiful organism, from which life tends' to Dscapo on every side, that we havo contrived weapons capable of annihilating lie even if we possessed the fabulous armour caso, tho prodigious strength, and the incredible vi.dity of the most indestructible insects.

We have here, it must be agreed, a very curious and a very disconcerting aberration, an initial folly, peculiar to tho human race, that goes on increasing daily, In order to return to the natural logic followed by all other living things, though we bo permitted to use sxtraerdiunry weapons against our enemas'of a different order; we ought among ourselves, among men. to employ only the | moans of attack and defence provided by our own bodice, Wore mankind to conform strictly to the evident will.of nature, tho fist—which is to man what its horns aro to the bull and its claws and teeth to the lion—the fist should suffice for all our needs of protection, justice and revenge. A wiser race would forbid any other modo of combat as an ii remissible crime against the essential laws of the species. At the end of a few generations we should thus succeed iu spreading aud putting into force a sort of panic-6tricken aspect of human life. And how prompt, how exactly in accordance with nature's wishes, would he the selection brought about by the intensive practice of pugilism, in which all the hopes of military glory would be foutred! Now selection is, after, all, the mily really important thing that claims lur preoccupation; it is the first, the froatest, and the most eternal of our duties towards the race.

Meanwhile, the study of boxing gives us excellent lessons in humility, and throws a somewhat alarming light' upon : the forfeiture of some of our. most valuable instincts. We soon perceive th&t in all that concerns the use of our limb? —agility, dexterity, muscular strength, resistance, to pin—we have sunk to tho lowest rank or the mammals or batraohians. JFrom this point of view, in a well conceived hierarchy, we should bo

entitled to a, modest place between-ths iiog and the sheep, The kick of the horse, the butt of the bull, the bite of the dog, are mechanically anatomically perfect.' It would be impossible to improve, by the most learned lessons, their instinctive manner of U6ing their natural weapons. But we, the "hominians," the 'proudest of the primates, do not know how to strike a;blow with.our fist!: We do not even-know which exactly is tlio weapon of our kind! i<ook at twx> draymen, two peasants, who corao to blows; nothing could be more pitiable. After a copious and dilatory broadside, of insults and threats, they seize each other by the, throat, and hair, make play with their ■' feet,: with their knees, at random,, bite each other, scratch each other, get entangled in their motionless rage, dare not leave go, and, if one of them Succeed in releasing an arm, he strikes out blindly and most 'often into space a series of hurried, stunted and sputtering littloi blows; nor would the combat ever end, did not tho treacherous knife,, evoked by the disgrace of the incongruous sight, suddenly, almost spontaneously, leap from tho pockot of one or the other.

On tho contrary, watch two pugilists; no useless words, no gropings,: no anger; tho calmness of .two certainties that know What lies before them. Tho athletic attitude of tho guard, one of the finest of tho malo body, logically, exhibits' all tho muscles of tho organism to: .the best advantage From head to foot, no;.particlo of strength can now go astray; Each single ono has its polo in one or othor of the two massive lists charged to tho full with enorgy..-Three blows, no more, tho fruits of secular experience,. mathematically oxhnust the thousand useless possi. bilities hazarded by the unitiated. 'i'hreo Eynthetic, -irresistible, unimprovable Wows,

As soon as ono of them frankly touches tho adversary, tho fight m ended, to,tho complete satisfaction of the conquerer, who triumphs so incoutcstably that- ho has no wish to abuse his victory, and with no dangerous hurt to the conquered, who is simply reduced to impotence and unconsciousness during the time needed for all ill-will to evaporate. Boon after, the beaten man will riso to his feet with no lasting - damago, because the resistance of his bones and his organs is strictly and naturally proportioned to the power of the human weapon that has struck him and brought him to tho ground.

_ It may seem paradoxical, but the fact is easily established that the scienco of •boxing, in those countries where it is generally practised and cultivated, becomes a pledge of peace and gentleness. Our - aggressive nervousness, our watchful susceptibility, that sort of perpetual state of alarm in which our jealous vanity moves, all these arise at bottom, from tho sonsa of our weakness and of our physicnl inferiority, which toil as best thoy may to ovorawe, by a proud and irritable mask, the men. often churlish, unjust and malevolent, that surround us.

The more wo feel ourselves disarmed in the face of attack, tho. moro wo are tortured by tho longing to prove to others and to porsuado ourselves that-no ono attacks us with impunty. Courage becomes the more fretful, the more intractable, in proportion as our anxiously tcrrilied instinct, cowering within tho body that is to receive tho blows; asks itself how the bout will end. What will this poor,-pru-dent instinct-do 6hould tho crisis go badly?

It 18 upon our instinct that.wo rely in the hour of danger. Upon our instwctdevolve tho anxiety of the attack, the, care of tho defence, But we have eo often in daily lifo dismissed it from the control of affairs and from the supreme council that, when its name is called, it comes forth :froin its retreat liko one grown old in captivity, and suddenly dazzled by the light of day. What resolution will it take? Where is it to strike? At the cvos, the stomach, the nose, the temples, tho throat? And what weapon is it to choose? The feet, the teeth, the hand, the elbow, or the nails? ■ It no longer knows; it wanders about its poor dwelling which is about to be defaced; and, while it dotingly pulls them by the sleeve, courage, pride, vanity, spirit, eelf-esteem, all the great. and splendid but irresponsible lords,:envenom tho stubborn quarrel, which at. last, after numberless and grotesque evasions, enda in an unskilful exchange of clamorous, blind, ataiio thumps, hybrid and 'plaintive, piteous and puerile and indefinitely impotent. , He, on the contrary, who - knows-the source of justice which: he* holds in' his two closed nets has no need for self-per-suasion. Once and for all, he knows; longanimity emanates like a peaceful flower from his ideal but certain- victory. The grossest insult cannot impair his indulgent smile. Peaceably he : awaits the first act of violence, and is able to .say to all who offends Mm. "Thus far shall you,go, and no further. A singlo magic movement stops tho insolence.-Why, make this movement? He ceases-even to think of it, bo certain uits'effitocy; . '■''■' And it is with 1 a-sense-of shame, 'as of one striking a;dofeneoleea child, that; in the last extremity, he at length to raise against the most .powerfohDrota the sovereign hand that, regrets, beforehand its too easyvictory-MaurJce.Mafl* terlinok, inthefP«ily;Mail.v ;