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Show Why Sailors Are Short. Did anybody ever see a tall sailor? I j snpposo there are men of great perpen-j perpen-j dicularity who go out to tho sua in ship, j I have never seen them. And I have always al-ways had a fondness for ships and seamen. sea-men. I have spent many days and nights among them. Sailors are usually driven to sea in their boyhood by an overpowering overpower-ing desire for adventure. They long for the horizon. At least that is the popular popu-lar belief, and I hato to disturb a good old superstition. It is tho continual stiff ening of their backs and legs against unexpected shocks which makes their muscles become compact and shrink, and this with tho bending over, lifting and pulling, begun in the years when the body is getting set and developed, and continued to manhood, makes them the smart, dapper little bundles of iron nerves we see them. That this prevailing brevity is due to these causes can be easily ascertained by any one curious enough to experiment. Brace yourself up to meet a sudden shock as in football, or strain every nerve in leaning over to lift np a heavy weight, and there is an apparent shrink- I age in stature at once. One is surprised to find one's self two or three inches j ehorter. Detroit Free Press. |