The Life and Adventures of Ben Hogan, the Wickedest Man in the World

by Ben Hogan

BY BEN HOGAN.

Flourens, the famous French physiologist, and member of the Paris Academy of Science, asserts that the normal period of the life of man is ONE HUNDRED YEARS. How comes it, then, that so few attain to this age, and that the alarmingly small average of thirty-three years only is now the measure of human existence? The question is a most momentous one, inasmuch as it affects vitally every fireside and project in the world, and bears strongly upon whatever measure of health, happiness and prosperity may be permitted to us in this world.

Monsieur Flourens’ theory of the longevity of our race is founded upon data the most conclusive. By the careful and lengthened observation, and by numerous analytical experiments, he ascertained, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it is a law of animal life, that all creatures that move upon the face of the earth, and doubtless the tenants of the watery world also, should exist for five times the number of years it took their physical structure to come to a state of perfection. Man, it has been decided, attains this condition of perfection at the age of twenty—that is, his bones become united to the epiphyses and no longer grow. He has reached the ultimatum of his stature. As long as the bones are not united to the epiphyses he continues to grow; but once the epiphyses (which is a portion of a bone separated from the body of the bone by a cartilage) becomes converted fully into bone by age, then he has attained the climax of his natural growth, so far as his osseous structure is concerned.

“For example,” says this distinguished Frenchman, “the union of the bones with the epiphyses takes place in the camel at eight years of age, and he lives forty years; in the horse at five years, and he lives twenty-five years; in the ox at four years, and he lives from fifteen to twenty; in the dog at two years, and he lives from ten to twelve years; and in the lion at four years, and he lives twenty. This is strongly corroborative of the correctness of the theory in relation to the longevity of man, which cannot now, I think, fail to be accepted generally.” As a necessary consequence of this feature of life, assured to us by Monsieur Flourens, that able gentleman modifies seriously the different ages or stages of our existence. “I prolong the duration of infancy,” he says, “up to ten years, because it is from nine to ten that the second dentition is terminated. I prolong adolescence up to twenty years, because it is at that age that the development of the bones ceases, and consequently the increase of the body in length. I prolong youth up to the age of forty, because it is only at that age that the increase of the body in bulk terminates. After forty the body does not grow, properly speaking; the augmentation of its volume which then takes place is not a veritable organic development, but a simple augmentation of fat. After the growth, or, more exactly speaking, the development in length and bulk has terminated, man enters into what I call the period of invigoration—that is, when all our parts become more complete and firm, our functions more assured, and the whole organism more perfect. This period lasts to sixty-five or seventy years, and then begins old age, which lasts for thirty years.” To those who may be desirous of inquiring why it is that man, who is obviously designed to live to so great an age, so seldom attains it, Monsieur Flourens replies: “With our manners, our passions, our torments, man does not die; he kills himself!”

In view of these facts, then, and of the universally received opinion that, in this day and generation, man does not live out even one-half of the years apportioned to him by the Creator of all things, is it not astonishing that physical culture and the best and surest modes of attaining health and strength, as well as this maximum of human life, do not command the first place, not only in every family, but in the councils of the nations also? The generations come and go on half time only; and that, too, under a pressure of weakness, disease, and discomfort which renders the life of millions a burden to them.

Take the healthiest acorn that has ever fallen from the soundest and most gigantic oak, and plant it in poor and uncongenial soil, or in any locality shut out from the atmosphere or the sun, and it must die, or at best present sent us with but a sickly sapling which can never attain the strength or the dimensions of its progenitors; at least, not until it is transplanted into the sunlight, and brought under the benign influence of the nutriment proper to its healthy development and growth. Light and heat, fresh air and pure water, are indispensable to its existence from the moment of its first appearance above the soil; for without these it must perish. Here, however, its requirements seem to cease; for, under the influence, presuming the soil to be suitable, its mission may be accomplished to the fullest extent. And so it is, measurably, with the animal kingdom also. All these elements are part and parcel of its existence, so to speak; for failing the proper and unrestricted enjoyment of any one of them, it must suffer generally, and in many cases to a fatal extent. As regards man, however, his true physical development requires more care and caution than that of any of the lower animals. Nature, and the instincts of the latter, are sufficient to meet all the necessities of their case; but man being endowed with the higher attribute of reason for his guidance to mental as well as physical perfection, he is called upon to use that attribute in relation to building up his physical structure on a broad and sure foundation, and in so doing establishing a true and healthy basis for his metaphysical structure also. The brain sympathizes with the whole system, and is, consequently, affected by the imperfections or the disarrangements of any of the other organs. A vigorous mind is incompatible with a diseased brain; and as a sound and healthy brain cannot possibly be associated with a physical system suffering from the feebleness and the countless ills that result from a neglect of those means which are found to be indispensable to the creation as well as the preservation of health and strength in the animal, we all can, at a single glance, perceive where we stand, and what our duty is in the premises. The case lies in a nutshell: are the men and women in whom the rising generation shall culminate to be splendid types of strength and physical beauty—to be possessed of that noble manliness of form that characterizes some of the ancient sculptures on the one hand, and the beautifully moulded and exquisitely developed bust and limbs which individualize the Venus of Titian on the other? I ask again, shall they present those exalted features, individually, or shall they, like so many of the men and women of the present time, go shuffling along the streets hollow-eyed, narrow-shouldered skeletons, with complexions that would do no discredit to a charnel house, and bearing, even while yet young, all the impress of declining years?

Of course I, in the first place, address myself to parents and to all those who are interested with the care of youth; and here I would observe that, for the most part, a long life of health and happiness is utterly unattainable, save through the medium of a pleasant and systematic course of physical culture or training, to be observed from early youth to manhood, and from this latter to the utmost limits of our declining years. It will, however, be readily perceived that this system of training must be such as to adapt itself to the necessities of the various physiques and natures which so widely characterize all communities; and that care must be taken not to confound these different constitutions one with the other.

Plenty of pure, fresh air, and gentle exercise, a sufficiency of plain, wholesome and suitable food; the proper quantity of sleep, and a judicious use of the sponge and slightly tepid or not absolutely cold water, are the starting points for the young on the way to health and strength, and the possession of a physique capable of the greatest endurance, and of ministering, in the highest degree, to the realization of those mental and sensuous enjoyments which so crown the sum of our earthly happiness. During the period of dentition, or for the first ten years, as Flourens has it, great care must be taken not to overtax the brain or the physical organs of the child to any extent whatever. While yet in the arms of the nurse, the babe should have an abundance of open air sunlight in mild weather, and, when practicable, be permitted to inhale the pure, fresh country breezes. This, when supplemented by the nutritious element of a mother’s milk only, will lay the first, sure stone in the foundations of future health and strength, and soon enable the little prattler to move about unsupported as best he can, until, at last, he takes to his feet and, prompted and sustained by more solid, but yet simple food, begins to shift for himself on a small scale. As he grows up, and his bones and muscles begin to assume consistence, care must be taken that he is never permitted to remain long standing on his feet at one time, as the superincumbent weight of his, or her, body, as the case may be, tends to bow the legs, and thereby destroy the symmetry of the whole form. It is because of the neglect of nurses in this relation that we meet with so many persons who are rendered physically incapable of stopping a cat in even the narrowest passage, and that are neither more nor less than deformed for life. The wooden walking-frame on wheels, to which the child clings, must not be placed too near the cradle. No child should be entrusted to his legs before he is a year old, and then only for a short period at a time, as just observed.

The great secret of the success sometimes observable in the early education of children, lies in the faculty of their preceptor to divest their lessons of everything pertaining to the character of a task, by surrounding them with the fascinations of a pastime. In this way, their mental faculties will become gradually developed, and with their own concurrence as it were—a result which is seldom or never realized by keeping them staring into the dull features of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, framed in the monotonous page of monotonous primer. Familiar objects and pleasant pictures should furnish the first mental food for the young; nor should their faculties be taxed beyond these, until both brain and muscle acquired something like true consistence. When it is time to begin to educate the mind in a more serious and formal manner, it is time, whether the subject be boy or girl, to begin the course of physical training of which I have already spoken, and failing which both mind and body must suffer alike.

Let me, then, while entering upon this part of my subject, direct attention to the fact, in the first place, that every household in the land, rich or poor, high or low, has within itself the elements of a gymnasium; nay, more, that every individual who walks the streets or the fields, can, in his or her own person, command those elements to a large extent. For example, every movement of ours, no matter how simple or complex, brings a certain muscle or set of muscles into play, and such movement is represented by some fact in the gymnasium which takes precisely the same muscle or set of muscles, and which tends to develop and strengthen them. Now, from this one observation, it will be apparent to even the most casual reader, that a gymnasium contains within itself all the aids necessary to the true development of brawn and muscle; and that it tends toward perfecting and assuring every physical motion made by us in the pursuit of our daily avocations, or in the pursuit of any project, no matter how trifling, laborious or trying. The truth is, the gymnasium is the great builder up and educator of our mere physical system, and the promoter of health and strength and manly or feminine beauty. It is the deadly enemy of all disease and nervous debility; from the fact that it enlarges the chest, invigorates the lungs, and gives them fuller scope and power, and so strengthens, trains and indurates the muscles, that the mechanism of the human frame, under its wondrous influence, becomes almost invincible and capable of performing, with ease and precision, feats of strength, agility and endurance, of which the mere novice has no idea whatever. Whether we practice its usages in public or in our own private apartments, the result is the same—health, strength and manly or feminine beauty wait upon them. Our enjoyment of life is keener, our presence more impressive, and our movements filled with easy assurance and well-defined grace. Between the ladies and gentlemen given to these healthy and invigorating exercises, and those who neglect them and wear their flesh loosely upon their bones, there is as much difference, and to the prejudice of the latter, as there is between day and night. The one class moves with head erect and expanded chest, while the pavement rings beneath its heel and the flush of health suffuses its cheek; the other, with mincing step, sallow cheek, contracted chest and lack-luster eye, picks its way along, as best it can; and, when fatigued in any degree, throws itself into an easy chair to languish many a weary hour away. This is no overdrawn picture, as a 3 o’clock saunter through any of our fashionable squares or thoroughfares will verify. But sad as the case is in this one relation, there is a remedy for it if it be taken in time; and that is, a judicious course of physical training and exercise, as much as possible in the open air; gentle and with but little exertion at first, but gradually leading up to that glorious and matchless point, where the patient, now a totally new being, revels in feats of strength and agility that he or she formerly supposed to be unattainable on the part of either.