Cinder Path Tales

118 CINDER-PATH TALES It was a day to break records, and to break a trainer's heart as well; for often a man who is right "on edge" will show up limp and lifeless under such conditions, going stale in a night. I had changed rooms atthe hotel so that the men might sleepwith all the air possible, given them an early breakfast, andgot them over to the grounds before the sunwas very hot. We settled ourselves in the dressing-rooms, and the men stripped at once for the sake of comfort and coolness, A beautiful sight it was. An athlete looks much like a city clerk with his clothes on, but stripped to the buff there is a mighty difference. No weak, skinny legs, no fat disfigured bodies, no bunched and rounded shoulders. You may boast of your fine horses and beautiful women,but give me an athlete in perfect training, particularly if I have had the handling of him, and have seen the fat disappear andthe strong, cleanmuscle take its place. The boys are seated on the long benches or standing in front of the lockers. Here is the slender figureof a sprinter, not an ounce of superfluous flesh or unused muscle, the cords of his shapely legs standing out clear and firm through the satin skin. There isa