Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1877 — He Quit Right There. [ARTICLE]

He Quit Right There.

Some months since a fond Detroit father imagined that his only son, a young man of 20, was going into consumption/ A doctor was consulted, and he advised that tho son be put through a course of gymnastic training. The young man seemed to like the idea, and fer two or three months he was in daily attendance at a gymnasium. Then he began to grow careless, and finally quit it altogether. The father thought he could see signs of failing health again, and, to induce his son to go back to rings, bars and gloves once more, he fitted up a private gymnasium in the barn, and began a course of exercise himself. The other morning he remembered that he used to be a boxer in his young days, and he remarked that he’d give his son a few lessons. He was balancing himself on his heel and feeling out with both hands, when something hit him, and half a minute afterward he dimly realized that some one was bending over him aud saying: “ Father, dear father ! are you dead?” He sat up, looked around, and hoarsely inquired: “Jim, what on earth happened?” “ Why, father, I got in a love-tap on your nasal—just a little feeler, to see if you were solid on your pins.” “ Didn’t you strike as hard as you could ?” “ No—not half—not a quarter. It was what the boys call ‘ feeling for claret. ’ Your nose will spring back into position in less than half a day.” The father got up, let the gloves fall from his hands, and, as he caught the trapeze to steady his Jogs, lie said: “Jim, your mother and I thought you were going into consumption, and Dr. ——, he backed us up in it. That’s why I sent you to learn gymnasti s. Jim, I’m a fool, your Another is an awful good woman, and if we can get the doctor up here long enough to let you feel for his claret, I don’t care 1 >w soon I dio !” —Detroit Ft cc Prcm.