Ben Hogan

“ In truth, he is every inch a man, and such a one as a woman might well take to her bosom as her protector and the partner of her life. In like manner, compare the limp and delicate young miss of eighteen or nineteen who languishes her life away in drawing rooms, at evening parties, or in her carriage, with the brusque beauty of the same age who indulges in the training and exercises proper to her sex—whose muscles, through judicious manipulation and use, have become firm and strong, and who can walk two or three miles at a rapid rate, without suffering the slightest fatigue. ”

“ When I see a young man in business hours, or after or before them, wending his way to the tavern or liquor saloon, to which every vice gravitates, I feel as if I could spring forward and arrest him on the threshold of the dangerous spot. ”

“ I speak with the heart and the pride of a man who is wedded to his profession, because of the benefits it is so eminently calculated to bestow on every age and condition; because I have known it to alleviate suffering and to eradicate disease, and to develop to the highest state of perfection the human system, and to make it all that the good Father intended it to be. As the case stands at present, men and women are suicides who, by their own neglect, curtail not only their happiness but their existence. ”

“ But the groove, and the circumstances that surround it, bear a stigma which the honesty or kind-heartedness of one good man, or a thousand, cannot wipe away—cannot obliterate. The wine cup has done such damage—has broken so many hearts, ruined so many fortunes, and destroyed so many lives that no light can fall on it but what is the most fearful, lurid and repulsive to any well-ordered mind. ”

“ It is all a mistaken idea that a true course of physical training tends towards pugilism or to foster a spirit of aggression. The case is quite the reverse, for it engenders a spirit of nobility and generous manliness only. It is averse to treachery and meanness, and is indorsed by all the educational institutions in the land. Show me a college without a gymnasium or its physical culture and I shall be much astonished. It is now an accepted fact, that a true course of mental culture is impossible without a true course of physical training. ”

“ All her muscles having been trained, her whole form becomes a model of classic beauty, and she, in consequence of her constant use of the sponge and cold water, and from her absolutely breathing fresh, pure air only, renders her skin as fair as snow and as smooth and fine as satin, while her health becomes so robust that she enjoys all the blessings and comforts of life with tenfold zest. ”

“ It might appear to those who have met him only in the character of a jolly good fellow—the companion of an hour, over a bottle of wine—that he is not the sort of man who concerns himself about the misery and misfortune in this world. But such a conclusion would be eminently unjust. His sympathies have never been hardened by the rough knocks which the world has given him. And it is this very quickness of sympathy—this power to feel for others—which makes the poet.
Here, then, at the very outset of his task, the biographer has made his subject a gentleman, a philosopher, and a poet. ”

“ There never lived a more passionate lover of wisdom than Ben Hogan. And for the poet: Does it follow that because a man hardens his muscles he likewise hardens his heart? Poetry loves to spring out of seemingly unseemly places. It grows in rough soil and flourishes where the sunshine never reaches. Bret Harte found truer poetry in the life and death of Poker Flat’s outcasts, than Martin Tupper could in the whole range of domestic morality. It is not necessary that a man should write verses to be a poet. What is demanded of him is a sympathetic nature. And that Ben Hogan has. ”

“ Look, for example, at the arm, or any of the limbs, or [Pg 253] the chest of a young man who has never had any physical training, and what do you behold? Nothing in true shape; nothing full of life or resistance; everything soft and flabby and girlish; in short, a frame incapable of the slightest endurance, and a hot bed ready to receive and force at any moment the seeds of disease. On the other hand, take in at a glance the limbs and form of the man of trained muscles, and who is accustomed to the exercise necessary to their perfection. ”

“ Every effort that has been put forth in the cause of temperance and morality by those good men and true who are working in this field toward elevation of society, and to save the natural man from himself, is approved by Heaven so palpably that a blessing follows close upon its heels. Hence our ministers and temperance lecturers should be sustained to the fullest by the head, the heart and the pocket of a nation. What we want are good and faithful citizens—men who are true to themselves and humanity, and these are not to be fostered in a gambling or a liquor saloon. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I am no friend or champion of pugilism, but simply a physical trainer who develops the muscles, strengthens the system and the brain, and gives the whole frame something like true consistence. And whether, I should like to ask you, would your two sons, who are all but skeletons, be safer in my hands for a couple of hours after school every evening, for a few weeks, than in standing at the corners of the streets or in visiting drinking and billiard saloons, where the foundation of drunkenness and gambling are so often laid, and where the seeds of active disease are so often sown? ”

“ 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 ”

“ Let me not be misunderstood in this important point:—no man who is given to the immoderate use of whisky and such abominations has ever secured happiness to himself or the partner of his bosom. I need not dwell on this part of the subject. The newspaper press and the experience of thousands bear evidence to the truth of what I say, in the countless illustrations presented to us daily. We must, then, if we would be men, eschew the bottle and take the way pointed out by temperance and virtue, which simply means the way of happiness, prosperity and peace. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The spirit never glories in its habitation to so great an extent as when the body is at its best. The mysterious link between the one and the other is placed in our hands, and if we would unite them perfectly we must do it through temperance, true religion and physical culture. The means of the latter are placed within the reach of every individual, and to neglect them is to rebel against heaven and our own existence. ”

“ On the other hand, the mariner who strikes boldly out in search of adventure, who runs his frail craft over unexplored waters, who finds himself often stranded upon treacherous coasts, and who laughs at danger and glories in the hardships of an adventurer’s life—such a voyager leaves behind a record which must needs be racy reading. And even should it happen that this plucky mariner plays the pirate at intervals, that certainly would not detract any from the interest which attaches to his exploits. ”

“ Steady work is the only thing which will bring the desired result. Surely, a man would better devote an hour each day to the preservation of his health, than pay exorbitant doctors’ bills, or be forced to give up work altogether. The Americans, of all people in the world, need this relaxation. They live upon the constant strain. Mind and body alike are even worked. The rest afforded by proper gymnastic exercise would be as grateful as it would be beneficial. ”

“ 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? ”

“ But, says the advocate of total abstinence, hundreds of men cannot take liquor in moderation. If they touch it at all, they go at once to the wildest excesses. This is a fact; but for the sake of sound argument we must go behind the fact. Why is it that a man cannot touch liquor without plunging into excess? Because his system has been broken down by the vile stuff which is sold in most of the bar-rooms of this country. ”

“ In the woods about Babylon were bands of thieves, who lived by plundering the strangers that came within their power. Wild, desperate men were these, who held human life of no greater account than so much earth. Ben’s place was frequented by these desperadoes, who were bent upon murder, or anything else, for the sake of plunder. They found in Hogan, however, a man who didn’t know the meaning of fear, and who was determined to hold his own against any odds. ”

“ PHYSICAL CULTURE. 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. ”

“ This called forth a fresh outburst of applause; but Ben preserved the utmost gravity.
“I may say to your honor,” he went on, “that this subject is not understood by the great mass of the people in this country. They do not take exercise enough. They shut themselves up in offices and shops, over-tax their energies, eat unwholesome food, and as a consequence become dyspeptic, sallow-faced, and miserable. Now, if they would spend a few hours each week in a gymnasium, it would do them more good than all the doctor’s pills that were ever made.” ”

“ Now it is Hogan’s theory that if light wines and lager beer were made the common beverages of the people, there would be a steady decrease in drunkenness. Instead of attempting to prove to men that a glass of wine is as bad as a dose of poison, show them that a glass of wine is infinitely better than a glass of whisky, and you will carry conviction with your argument. Let beer gardens and wine rooms be made respectable, as they are on the continent of Europe. ”

“ The fresh air, the gentle exercise, and the constant hand rubbing of his limbs and his chest, which I began to expand, first with wooden dumb-bells, did the work, for the man is alive and well to-day. ”

“ The common error is to assume that when a woman once loses her virtue, she thereby forfeits all claims to respect. With men sin is smoothed over, and sometimes even admired. Stokes commits murder, and at the end of his term of imprisonment returns to New York, mingles in the gay society which knew him of old, and gazes critically through his opera-glasses from the box of the theatre. ”

“ Indeed, it may be safely asserted that when a woman once enters a prison or penitentiary, her utter ruin is inevitable.
Still another subject which has claimed Hogan’s attention is that of gambling. Here, again, his personal experience is large enough to enable him to speak understandingly. A man who has himself lost and won thousands of dollars over the green cloth, is perhaps better fitted to express himself on the evil than one who has no practical knowledge of its operations.
To begin with, no man who voluntarily enters a gambling room has a right to grumble if he loses his money. ”

“ Youth is the time of sunshine, and we must not cloud it with rules or precepts antagonistic to its joyous essence. We must give it judicious scope, and surround it with healthy and innocent enjoyments and amusements. And while we should, as it is our duty, inculcate morality and religion, we must remember that a healthy mind and body are indispensable to the true growth and development of both. ”

“ The worst libertine that walks the earth may still hold his head erect in the charmed circles of aristocratic society. But the woman who once goes astray is lost forever. The taint of suspicion is about her, and, strive as she may, the doors of respectability, of decency, of an honest life, are barred against her. ”