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Show REVIVE GENTLE ART OF PEDESTRIANISH1 Sport Has Basked in Limelight at Various Times. Fifty Years Ago Professional Walkers Were as Celebrated as Jack Demp-sey Demp-sey and Ty 'Cobb Are Today-Bicycle Today-Bicycle Killed Game. A couple of million young men of America have in the past two years had considerable exercise in "hoofing it." It wasn't voluntary hoofing, either, but the army is the army, and when you enter it you are sometimes required re-quired to make long marches. All of which leads to the thought that the gentle art of pedestrianism is about due for a great revival. There was an "almost" revival of walking a few years ago when Edward Payson Weston, the veteran pedestrian, pedes-trian, pulled off his celebrated trans-continental trans-continental walking stunt, but it sort of fizzled. It is forty-two years since London witnessed the conclusion of one of the most famous international walking walk-ing matches, such as were held in the seventies and early eighties. William Homes, one of the greatest pedestrians pedes-trians of the day, was England's choice in the memorable contest, while Dan O'Leary represented Ireland Ire-land and America. Dan had taken part in a number of walking matches on this side of the Atlantic, and there was great disappointment over here when the news -came that 'he had been vanquished by the Britisher in the 300-mile contest. O'Leary is now 76 years old and has walked over 150,000 miles. In the seventies the professional walkers were as celebrated as Jess Willard (?) and Ty Cobb are today. They rolled in money and basked in the limelight of popular adulation. Many of the records set up in those days in England and America have never been surpassed, and, unless professional profes-sional walking comes into vogue again, probably never will be. It was the bicycle which killed pedestrianism. When the "safety" was invented it not only became a substitute sub-stitute for shank's mares, but cycling became the most popular sport in the world. Walking as a sport died a sudden death, but as long as humans have legs there is always the hope that pedestrianism will again come to the fore, to the great benefit of the human race. |
