i6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tempted to force the fight by vaulting with the aid of their framce or 

 leaping-poles over a triple row of mail-clad spearmen. 



Hurling is the gymnastic specific for pulmonary complaints ; and 

 the best possible exercise for so many hectic and narrow-chested boys 

 of our larger cities would be the game of Ger-werfen^ as the turners 

 call it spear-throwing at a fixed or movable mark. It is a most di- 

 verting sport after a week's practice has hardened the flexor muscles 

 against the shock of propelling the larger spears. The missile is a 

 lance of some tough wood (ash and hickory preferred), about ten feet 

 long and one and a half inch in diameter, terminating in a blunt 

 ii'ou knob to steady the throw and keep the wood from splintering. 

 A heavy post with a movable top-piece (the " Ger-block ") forms the 

 target, the head-shaped top being secured by means of a stout cramp- 

 hinge that permits it to turn over, but not to fall down distance, all 

 the way from ten to forty paces. Grasp the spear near the middle, 

 raise it to the height of your ear, plant the left foot firmly on the 

 ground, the right knee slightly bent, fix your eye on the target, lean 

 back and let drive. If you hit the log squarely in the center or a 

 trifle higher uj), it will topple over, but, still hanging by the cramp- 

 hinge, can be quickly adjusted for the next thrower. A feeble hit will 

 not stir the ponderous Ger-block ; the spear has to impinge with the 

 force of a sixty-pound blow, so that a successful throw is also an ath- 

 letic triumph. The German Ger-throwers are generally lads after the 

 heart of Charles Reade ambidexterous boys, whose either-handed 

 strength and skill illustrate the fact that the antiquity of a prejudice 

 proves nothing in its favor. As the least vacillation in the act of 

 throwing would derange the aim, this exercise imparts a perfect com- 

 mand over the balance of the body, besides improving the faculty of 

 measuring distances by the eye. It is, indeed, surprising how soon 

 gymnastics of this sort will impart an easy deportment and graceful 

 manners even to boys in their lubber-years ^^ Nur cms vollendeter 

 Kraft strahlet die Anmuth hervor,'^'' as Goethe explains it : " The high- 

 est grace is the outcome of consummate strength." 



Climbing, too, calls into action nearly every muscle of the human 

 body, and should be encouraged, though at the expense of a pair of 

 summer pants or summer birds, as the possibility of accidents is more 

 than outweighed by the sure gain in physical self-reliance. There is 

 a deep truth in the apparent paradox that it is the best plan 72ot to 

 avoid dangers and difiiculties that can be mastered. In the voluntary 

 risks of the gymnasium the athlete pays an insurance policy against 

 future dangers. In a man's life there will always come moments 

 when the woe and weal of years depend on firm nerves and a strong 

 hand, and such moments prove the value of a system of training 

 which teaches children to treat danger as a mechanical problem. The 

 operation of the same cause may be traced in the realistic influence 

 which the culture of the manly powers generally exerts on the human 



