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Show Young- Lady Boxers. The young women of Philadelphia are learning to box. Teachers were in active demand before the first frost fell, and the rates since have gone steadily upward. A voung dentist there gives two lessons in sparring to young ladies every afternoon after-noon in the neighborhood of Rittenhouse Square. The teacher has met the best men of his day, both in this country and in England, though never for money or with bare knuckles. He told a visitor that he did not enjoy giving lessons, because be-cause he was in constant fear of accident-ly accident-ly injuring his pupils. Of course, he dare not inflict any "punishment" for carelessness, and the girls were often so intractable that he lost patience with them. A lawn-tennis suit, with a well-padded well-padded jersey, was the usual costume. The skirts must, of course, be short, so that the legs can have fair play. The gloves were of medium size, but always required much making over. He always added extra hair stuffing. Into the fingers and thumb he inserts a castor glove, about one size larger than that usually worn by the lady. The kid fingers fin-gers of the boxing gloves he cuts offat the knuckle so that the castor-covered fingers fin-gers may protrude. This enables the lady to close her fingers easily, thus retaining the gloves firmly on her hand3. This altercation al-tercation in the gloves is rendered necessary, neces-sary, he says, by the universal inclination inclina-tion among women to strike with the hand open. - "It is the most difficult thing imaginable," he said, "to teach a ladv to close her fist. Even after you think she has been sufficiently warned of the danger, she will impulsively lunge at you with her open hand the fingers straight out and rigid." |