THE CENTRE REPORTER,
@ If vou think birling is
an easy game, if you think
it’s child’s play to stand on
a half-submerged pine log,
churning in the water, then
think again. You're going
to slip, stumble, trip and
fall, landing face down in
an icy pond while some
wisecracking spectator
yells—
By JOSEPH W. LaBINE
Chips aren't flying so fast
these days from the axes of
north woods lumberjacks. Be-
tween strokes you'll find them
talking about a sport called
birling (log-rolling to you) and
the world championship birling
contest to be held at Escanaba,
Mich., August 12 to 14.
Nothing is easier than falling
off a log. Nor is anything hard-
er than standing on one, es-
pecially when it's half sub-
merged in a pond of water and
somebody else is on the other
end, trying to push you off.
Here's a nimble-footed art
that makes toe dancing look
like an old man’s game. It's
strange, surely, that log roll-
ers can be seasoned lumber-
jacks, big-boned men with heavy
shoes who should be more at hom
on dry land than trippihg the light
fantastic on a slippery log.
Part of the Job.
But they aren't birlers by choice.
Lumberjacks discovered long ago
that to keep your job in the north
woods you've got to have a knack
for this apparently senseless busi-
ness,
In the days when legendary Paul
Bunyan was a youngster in knee
trousers, lumberjacks first rolled
their logs into the river and nursed
them downstream to the sawmill
Usually the drive went smoothly,
the churning waters carrying mil-
lions of feet of timber down to the
doorway of civilization. But now
and then some obstruction would
cause the logs to pile up and it was
the birler's job to skip out under
the face of this menacing jam, find
the key log, jerk it loose and get
back to dry land before he was
crushed to death. Pe.
With a roar like the collapse of a
20-story building, the jam would
#oosen itself and go thundering
downstream. If the birler was
skilled—and lucky—he would skip
over the swaying carpet and get out
«of danger; if luck or skill failed, he
might meet a horrible death be-
tween crushing, splintering logs.
Smart lumberjacks soon discov-
ered that it was pretty good life in-
surance to practice log rolling in
their spare time. When the day's
labors were finished or the logs had
been delivered to the mill, they
RIGHT: Joe Connor, the 1937
world champion birler, shown at
work on the spinning timber as he
prepares for this year's tournament
at Escanaba, Mich. BELOW: A
remarkable picture of birling feet,
where a man must step faster and
higher than in toe dancing if he
doesn’t want to get wet!
found a postman’s holiday in com-
peting with one another to deter-
mine who was ‘‘the best man on the
log.”
Annual Summer Event.
That was the start of competitive
birling, a sport that is at once toe-
tripping and red-blooded. In a land
where the heyday of lumbering has
long since disappeared, a few en-
thusiasts have kept birling alive,
gathering annually from the far-
flung outposts of their primitive
north woods to vie for the cham-
pionship. There are veterans who
remember the invincible Tom
Fleming and Al Hubbard who
reached their peak in 1898. They
remember Big Joe Madwayosh,
the husky Indian woodsman who
won the title in 1924. They still
watch Wilbur Marx, the child prod-
igy of yesteryears who tossed ‘‘Big
Joe'' into the pond when a boy of
14 summers.
But they cannot believe that birl-
ing has become a college boys’
sport. So they'll converge at Es-
canaba from every north woods set-
tlement this year to watch s«
real lumberjack defeat Joe Conn
the twenty-six-year-old University
of Minnesota student who won the
crown last year.
Considering its barrel-chested
heritage, birling should not be a col-
lege boys’ sport. But the modern
birling match finds veteran river-
men struggling to retain their
- —
3
re
laurels against lads who never
worked on a log drive, who never
pulled the key log from a jam. The
practical side of birling is foreign
to younger rollers but they know
the rules of the game which is all
that concerns the judges.
The Battle Begins,
And modern birling does have def-
inite rules. A round, smooth and
perfectly turned white pine log, 13%
feet long, and measuring all the
way from 16 to 18 inches in diam-
eter, is put in the water. Two men
wearing light calked shoes mount
the log, one at each end,
Then comes the battle, a tempes-
tuous warfare of churning pine in
which each man, by spinning and
snubbing the tricky log, tries to
throw the other into the water. With
bewildering speed the timber w
and stops, then starts the other way.
From the river bank spectators see
an exhibition of perfect balance,
timing and muscular co-ordination.
But eventual one man topples
and splashes into the creek. As in
wrestling, two falls out of three «
stitute a match.
Birling has flourished since the
nineties without the aid of a pro-
moter, 3ut it was not until the
lumbermen’'s exposition at Omahs
in 1898 that it became organized as
an annual national event That
was the year Tom Fleming defeated
Al Hubbard in the final match. In
1900, 1901 and 1902 the tourney was
held at Ashland, Wis., after which
it was abandoned. In 1914 William
P. Hart, Wisconsin sportsman, re-
vived it at Eau Claire,
Birling's Child Prodigy.
Big Joe Madwayosh won his first
crown in 1924 and on the sidelines
that year was thirteen-year-old Wil-
bur Marx who decided birling
looked easy. He came back the
next year to provide the tournament
sensation by almost defeating ‘Big
Joe,” racing him off the log after
21% minutes of breathless birling in
the second round.
When the next year's tournament
opened Marx was again present,
merely fifteen years old, but now a
well-muscled, seasoned athlete
stead of an awkward boy. Losing a
third round elimination match in the
northwest titular tourney steadied
him and he won the Wisconsin state
title without difficulty, Twenty-six
of the most accomplished log cuffers
in the game were entered for the
world's title and young Marx de-
feated four of them in swift succes-
sion, winning his way through the
first, second and third rounds of
elimination and the semi-finals.
Then he faced little Billy Girard
of Gladstone, Mich., in the final
match. Too eager, too confident, he
made the mistake of thinking him-
self speedier than Girard and “Lit-
tle Billy" raced him off the log for
straight falls in the fastest match
that has ever been rolled. Feet trod
so fast they could hardly be seen;
spiked shoes chewed the logs to sliv-
ers; ‘‘white water” splashed the
jrcontestants’ legs and both birlers
{ were almost continually on the
| verge of a wetting.
| On to Victory.
But Marx was a steadier birler
| the next year and he could not be
stopped. At sixteen he won the
{| world’s championship against a
i score of veteran log rollers. He
{ held it 10 years.
But last year the college boy from
| Minnesota came along and Marx,
| whom the old time lumberjacks had
| at last taken to their hearts, lost
| his title. To what depths has this
sport fallen!
This year Marx says he'll regain
the championship and the bearded
birlers from the northwoods are
wishing a real jam-breaking logger
would appear to teach all these
young upstarts a lesson. But Joe
Connor, the college boy, has been
spending the summer at a CCC
camp making his legs tough and
preparing to take on all comers.
Maybe Joe Connor will be defeat-
ed, but even then the plaid-shirted
lumberjacks won't be completely
happy. At last year’s Escanaba
tournament they rubbed their eyes
with amazement and chagrin to
see four girl birlers engage in a
contest of their own. A few old
timers admitted the women showed
a speed and style that equalled or
surpassed the skill shown by a lot
of the semi-finalists in the men's
tourney.
Their only consolation, it ap-
peared, was in the memory of Paul
Bunyan, patron saint of all log roll-
ers. Paul's wife, the story goes,
was the only one able to wet him in
a birling match!
© Western Newspaper Unjon.
in-
|
|
{
|
H ELLO EVERYBODY:
toughest one I ever heard of.
A crowd of Suzanne's friends had
Suzanne asked
we had that anything
what we knew about the captain.
said, when suddenly he began
High Priest of the Temple,"
to the king of Sweden,
minutes we were left in no doubt.
That didn't look. so good.
land—and totally at the f
mercy oi
the captain didn't agree with them.
and said a few more,
thinoe
ain ES 00.
“The first inkling
“came from my
up and asked us
had been talking to him, she
ing that his son was “The
er was the right hand man
Suzanne says,
She came
She
After talking with hir
sight of
captain. The whole
in to Miami. But
He flatly refused to move the boat,
yt one of them knew
boat
they didn’t
what to do with his ship.
The men
The day wore on slowly.
to fish.
them all then and there.
The night was even worse.
They
the boat,
refrigerator and they melted that.
was gone, they didn't know.
There was a little ice in the
Late that
He followed him below. The
force on the pillow.
and told what he had seen.
were {lL
Were they going back to Miami?
He came back with good news.
you,” the captain had said.
going back to Miami."
pened, to officials at the dock.
If the boat hadn't come in that
for it.
Suzanne
Extending an Olive Branch
“1 once taught school,” said Uncle
Eben, ‘“jes long enough to realize
dat when you are extendin’ an olive
branch you want to select one dat
kin be used de same as a birch
rod.”
King Spoke No English
George I spoke no English. Be-
cause of this and the fact that he
took little interest in his kingdom,
the government was virtually in the
hands of his ministers, notably Sir
Robert Walpole.
A City for 2,600 Years
Rome, Italy, has been a city for
2,600 years. The city that stands on
the “seven hills" is the acme of a
dozen other Romes that reached
their zenith of glory and then faded,
leaving beautiful monuments to em-
phasize their departed splendor.
* Pounds in Tons
The English ton is 2,240 pounds
avoirdupois, the United States
Inscription on N. Y. Postoffice
scriptions on the main postoffice in
New York city. It is adapted from
Herodotus.
Favorite Fruit in Jamaica
The favorite fruit in Jamaica,
British West Indies, is called an
“ugli.”* It is a cross between a
grapefruit and a tangerine, combin-
ing the virtues of each.
Hyrax Related to Elephant
The hyrax is related to the ele-
phant and the hippopotamus in
structure but not in size. In ap-
pearance it resembles a guinea pig.
The fur is brown. Its feet resemble
those of an elephant and it has
minute tusks.
The Isle of Orchids
Jamaica is frequently called “the
Isle of Orchids,”
gorgeous blooms of
may be seen growing wild
In Interesting Motifs
|
i ry
Pattern 6085,
Let these motifs help you to go
Mainly in easy
outline and single stitch! Pattern
6085 contains a transfer pattern of
2 motifs 4% by 5% inches;
tifs 432 by 5% inches, 2 mo
2 motifs 37
inches;
3% by 1% i
color schemes;
—
| HOUSEHOLD / 0
| QUESTIONS | x)
-
————— ’
More Meringue.—A teaspoon of
cold water to the white of
an egg befc beating will giv
double quantity of nr
- » *
added
re e a
eringue
Keep Peas From Burning. —If a
slice of bread |] ]
burn.
Don’t Wrap Ice.—It is poc
omy to save ice by wrapping
in heavy paper or cloth; su
covering insulates the ice from t
rest of the refrigerator.
* * *
Removing Ink Spots.—A paste
made of starch and buttermilk
spread over an ink spot on a8 rug
remove the spot. Let the
paste remain on until it is dry,
then rub it off.
» . »
Salt Removes Odor.—To remove
clingin fish odors from your
hands, wash them in water to
which salt has been added.
® Send for This
Free Bulletin on
KEEPING
COOL
with food
Your family will be far more com-
fortable during the next few weeks i
you send for “Keeping Cool with Food,"
offered free by C. Houston Goudiss. It
lists “‘cooling™ and “heating” foods,
outlines the principles of planning a
healthful summer diet, and is complete
with menu suggestions. Just put your
name and address on a post card, ask
for "Keeping Cool with Food,” and send
it to C. Houston Goudiss, 6 East 39th
Street, New York City.
How Women
in Their 40’s
Can Attract Men
Here's good advice for a woman during ber
change (usually from 38 to 62), who fears
about hot Aachen: jon ot pep. igi oy
8 ot ons pep,
upset nerves and moody »
Get more fresh air, § and Ya
need a general system c in
E. Paints Vegetable Co made
“ for wom sn. It helps Nature build
ph resistance, thus belps give more
A be to enjoy life and assist coal
jittery nerves and dist fymptoms
often accom BE: Change of life. WELL
WORTH TRYI NG!
Available Capital
Politeness and civility are the
best capital ever invested in busi-
ness.—P. T. Barnum.