Now much the same hand as he would make
who should take up the whiffler's sword and try to whiffle, would
he who should try to use his fists who had never had the advantage
of a master. Let no one think that men use their fists naturally
in their own disputes--men have naturally recourse to any other
thing to defend themselves or to offend others; they fly to the
stick, to the stone, to the murderous and cowardly knife, or to
abuse as cowardly as the knife, and occasionally more murderous.
Now which is best when you hate a person, or have a pique against a
person, to clench your fist and say "Come on," or to have recourse
to the stone, the knife,--or murderous calumny? The use of the
fist is almost lost in England. Yet are the people better than
they were when they knew how to use their fists? The writer
believes not. A fisty combat is at present a great rarity, but the
use of the knife, the noose, and of poison, to say nothing of
calumny, are of more frequent occurrence in England than perhaps in
any country in Europe. Is polite taste better than when it could
bear the details of a fight? The writer believes not. Two men
cannot meet in a ring to settle a dispute in a manly manner without
some trumpery local newspaper letting loose a volley of abuse
against "the disgraceful exhibition," in which abuse it is sure to
be sanctioned by its dainty readers; whereas some murderous horror,
the discovery for example of the mangled remains of a woman in some
obscure den, is greedily seized hold of by the moral journal, and
dressed up for its readers, who luxuriate and gloat upon the
ghastly dish.
Pages:
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581