GREAT MEN'S BODIES
honor to any young athlete of twenty; and carried everything before him; defeating several of the most celebrated maîtres d'armes, or professionals, who were simply staggered by the rapidity of his manœuvres, especially with his trick of changing his foil from hand to hand. For a quarter of a century scarcely a day has passed where the Baronet has not devoted an hour to this branch of sport; and it is to this in particular that must be attributed the preservation of his physical and mental faculties. He is likewise a splendid oarsman, and at home in the saddle."[1]
Or at McBurney, the foremost surgeon in America today, if not in the world, in certain fields, notably in appendicitis; losing only two patients out of a hundred with this dread disease, which has of late become so alarmingly common; performing two operations for appendicitis, and delivering a lecture, all within one hour; rowing four thousand miles in his four years at Harvard; bow oar of her Freshmen crew; of her winning Sophomore crew; of her losing 'Varsity crew, junior year; and of her winning 'Varsity crew, senior year; and one of the coolest, nerviest men in danger that ever sat in a boat; his nerve and splendid arms to-day the delight of thousands of his students; and that same nerve undoubtedly a potent factor in his success in saving life itself so often in his matchless operations.
Or at Commodore Dewey, assigned to uninviting duty at the other end of the world where there seemed no hope of active service; yet going with alacrity, and in the dead of night sailing his ships into the jaws of death, over a magazine about sure at any moment to
- ↑ We put him in a wherry once at Harvard, in 1866; and he made her gallop.
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