| Show GIRLS WHO CAN SPAR THE ATHLETIC MAID FINDS BOXING A RARE EXERCISE The Sport is IdealizedNever Hits Hard Enough to Hurt and Uses Large Soft Gloves More Adept on the Defensive Than the Aggressive Ag-gressive New York Jan 15 Lovely woman has taken another step forward in her invasion of the sporting world The I tennis maid of 1S0 was considered a I wonder the horse girl of loDl a terror the fencing beauty of 1S92 the rowing girl of 1S93 the basket ball maid of 1894 the bloomerite of 18SJ5 and the golfing girl of 1896 were all marvels But the maid of 1S97 so far outranks all of the others that they I should not be mentioned in the same breath She is the boxing girl and the way she has taken hold of the new sport portends a long existence for it as the reigning diversion of the athletic maid 1 Discolored eyes bleeding noses fractured aws broken ribs and other incidentals of the boxers life seem to have nq terrors for her simply because be-cause the gloves she uses are as large and as soft as down pillows Then again her muscles are not hard enough to land a blow sufficiently stiff to cause any of the above named fatalities i fatali-ties moreover it is a fundamental part of her etiquette never to cut Icose and polish on a weaker opponent I She boxes merely for the healthful pleasure to be gained by it and not with the purpose of ever turning the art to serious use i 1 i There is only one place in the city where boxing is indulged in by women i and that is a gymnasium patronized I by the butterflies of fashion and the matrons who have been shocked into I tremendous activity by the knowledge that they are growing fat Thii the I patrons are divided into two distinct classes And one is easily distinguished distin-guished from the other Those who frolic from the natatorium i to the Hying rings or trapeze or indulge in-dulge in a short bout at the foils show I that their sole purpose in life is to have a good time They are the butterflies I butter-flies The others cling to one corner of the room where the various reducing re-ducing machines are located and work away vith the silent determination determina-tion of martyrs They have no time for frolics to them the gymnasium is a serious solemn business institution capable of yielding that great boon to middle agea slender girlish and graceful figure But since boxing achieved recognition recogni-tion there has been a happy mingling of the two classes The butterflies took it up because it was something new and offered a dazzling chance tto display their agility the matrons because be-cause of the solemn assurance of the I master that it was the speediest and most healthful method for the annihilation annihi-lation of superfluous flesh This master is something of a genius He has been contending with the foibles of the fashionable athletic girl for many years and knows the complex com-plex creature by heart Women get tired of ordinary gymnastics he says I They wont keep them up because of the absence ofa real motive to chain their interest But about boxing there I is a rivalry that fascinates while it invigorates I They were in doubt about it when I talked of introducing the sport but I when I had induced the first two to don the gloves and showed them how I to move their hands and feet and use their eyes they began to realize some of the science hidden in a sport whch I they had supposed was merely vulgar i brutality I Then I explained that the successful success-ful boxer must have the feet of a dancing master and the strengthof a I Hercules You cant imagine how i I those women pride themselves on their muscle The allusion to Hercules I touched them in a vulnerable soot i and of course I knew I had them i when I mentioned the dancing master i I am not teaching these women the art as a means of selfdefense because J I be-cause there is not one chance in = 000 i of its ever being of any service to i therm But as a health producer I regard j re-gard it as a snort of the first kind Before introducing it I had a talk on I o the subject with an oldtime trainer of professional pugilists but it was impossible to induce him to regard the matter purely from the exercise standpoint He seemed to think that 1 I was bent upon turning the fashionable fashion-able women into professional pugilists and he frowned upon the project with I all the wisdom of his experience M tell you he said that it is all nonsense about women boxing A woman I wo-man cant box because if you hit her in the chest or the wind you not only I knock the breath out of her body but I you run the risk of starting some awful ful disease like cancer or something l of that sort Some masculine women you might handle hut the average I wonvin particularly the society woman i wo-man its all bosh to teach her You i will waste your time and get no thanks I in the bargain I But the opinion of the expert didnt bother me I went ahead to teach boxing box-ing not in the aggressive Jim Corbett style but in an idealized way suitable I I to the sex There are several good i i pupils in my class today and they have mastered the science of the art as far as the rudimentary nrmcioles are concerned con-cerned The rest is merely a question of practice and individual ability As the boxer must exert his brains in entire harmony wih his body it is J a sport which appeals to the mental structure as well as the physical The I eye the had the feet the legs the arms and the hands are all trained in boxing and every muscle is brought into > lay I find that women display more grace than men and are particularly 1 quick in the intuities that is judging when the other is going to strike This makes the defensive vork very pretty and thy exert more skill in avoiding punishment than the average I ma vi maThe a e not so good in aggrtssfe work and it has been QuitE a problem j to induce them to Had Women naturally lean to the defensive and even when th ir timidity has been overcome over-come they never hit hard enough to hurtAlto 1 Altogether it is the beat sport in the world for women and my pupils think so too for I have so many to handle now that the work is something j of a burden I I 11 < I I |
