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Show Fencing Aids Women to Retain Their Youth New York Master of the Sword Tells of the Advantages to Be Derived from a Constant Use of the Foils The Beginning of the Art. "It makes the woman beautiful," the fencing master was saying as he fastened fast-ened the top button of his white jacket "It is like ' the medicine of the advertisement. It makes the fat lean and puts flesh on the thin ones. The American woman finds that it is not a fad, but the most beneficial form of exercise. "Have I married off many of my pupils? What a question. I do not sarieS armed with sword in mortal combat trusted more to strength, agility agil-ity and a quick eye than to any established estab-lished principles of attack and defense. de-fense. It took many generations before be-fore practical men sifted experience into a code of warfare. The change of arms used by the combatants has effected ef-fected a change in methods. The middle ages was the period of heavy blows with bludgeons. Victory usually fell to him who hit hardest. Until the invention of gunpowder and the introduction of the lead bullet, when steel armor ceased to be an effectual ef-fectual protector of the body, the knight knew little of. the modern art of fencing. Combats between men mounted on horses were determined often by the strength of their armor, and secondarily by their material strength. In those days the lower classes were barred from tourneys and feats of arms, but in their private schools burghers sought proficiency with the sword. With the discarding of armor the superiority of the point was seen and there the art of fencing properly began. Then a sword, lighter and stronger than the one formerly used, came into vogue. The weapon was easy to manage man-age and well suited to the custom of going afoot,' as many gentlemen of the cloak then traveled. The devising of cunning thrusts and strokes began at that time. It was usual, too, to employ em-ploy a dagger as an auxiliary to the sword, so that fencing methods -were necessarily different. Later, the dagger fell into disuse, and the court sword came into fashion as a part of the apparel of all gentlemen. gentle-men. At about this time two schools or fencing, the French and the Italian schools, were formed in Europe and these two styles survive to-day. . "The French style, which had the advantage of royal protection, is ac- m . -w Public Salutes. like to claim too much, yet I must tell you that only yesterday I got a letter from one pupil now living in San Francisco. It is a card. She is married. And to-day when one of my pupils came she had been here three times a week for six months I notic ed on her 'finger a new solitaiue. Of course I do not ask her I guess that she is engaged. Has not the brighter eyes, the clearer skin and added grace that fencing gives had a share in this? "There was Miss Lillian ' Russell. She had grown to such a size that the critics of the thea-cw -were casting sly jokes at her. She comes to me. .'Take it off,' she says, and a season of fencing fenc-ing reduced her . thirty-two pounds. When she goes back . to the stage all the young and the old, the near and the dear say, 'My! she is a young girl again. It is fencing that does Jt "One must not give up the hearty dinner or the little supper after theater thea-ter if one will '.ry the foils two 'or three times a week. ; - "No other kind of physical exercise offers at one time so many advantages. advan-tages. It keys every part of the human mechanism, legs.'-arms, . hands, every muscle, the internal organs and senses, all work harnaoniously. Each is a factor in the fencer. "I have 170 pupils in fencing and only twenty of them are men. The benefits of the exercise are now realized real-ized by the women of New York who it if I need exercise for itself or for the Improvement Im-provement of a weakened constitution. constitu-tion. By the activity of the exercise fat women reduce themselves, while the healthy development of a thin woman wo-man brings flesh to her bones." Fencing masters are now in great demand at the physical development schools patronized by women in society. so-ciety. A well-developed and healthy Discussing Their Matrimonial Opportunities. Oppor-tunities. cepted to-day as the better of the two schools," said the fencing master, "surely I, Recardo Manrique, would teach no other. As an exercise it is more beneficial man the Italian method, meth-od, which requires a stiff arm and a tense grasp of the foil." Let the Italian have his circular flourishes, which waste energy and give his opponent a signal before each thrust. The French style, using the shortest route for each thrust, keeping a supple arm, wrist and fingers, is far superior. It has been demonstrated again and again. Not long ago the Italian champion challenged the French champion to a duel to prove that his style was wrong and he a fakir. The Italian was wounded in his sword arm. The Frenchman made manifest the superiority super-iority of his school. It is the French school that is taught generally in the New York schools. The women seem to prefer it to the Italian style. Among the men who have taken up fencing the number of doctors is noteworthy. note-worthy. They agree that it is an exercise, ex-ercise, bringing all the muscles into play and yet not exhausting or necessarily neces-sarily violent, like horseback riding, and many of them recommend it to their women patients whose nervous organizations need toning up. New York Sun. Feinting as an Anti-Fat Interest In fencing Is shown among men also. Large classes are conducted conduct-ed at the New York Athletic club and the Fencers' club in Fifth Avenue and at the numerous private schools. Fencing may be traced back in a vague way to the time whan odvsr- j |
