172 THE WONDERFUL HOUSE THAT JACK HAS 



of daily exercise in the open air been kept up, his life 

 might have been spared many years. What an in- 

 spiration for sickly boys and girls is the life of this 

 great poet and novelist ! Devotion to out-of-door life 

 enabled him, a puny lad, to become one of the best- 

 known English authors. The character developed 

 under such circumstances helped him to furnish an 

 example of devotion to high ideals of honor and duty 

 that will be an inspiration as long as the records of his 

 noble life exist. 



The careers of these two eminent men certainly 

 prove the truth of the old sayings : "The child is father 

 of the man/' and "As the twig is bent, the tree is in- 

 clined*" Children who would live the happiest and 

 most useful lives, should, like them, cultivate a fond- 

 ness for out-of-door exercises, and persist in gratifying 

 that love all their lives. Nor is this a hard thing to 

 do, for what gives more pleasure than active exercise 

 in the bracing air ? What delight there is in the games 

 themselves, and how the exercise sends the blood 

 bounding through the veins, filling every fiber of our 

 bodies with new life and vigor ! 



Do we wish to have bodies both strong in action 

 and powerful in resisting wind and weather? All 

 may not have such opportunities for out-of-door 

 exercise as Theodore Roosevelt or Walter Scott had 

 in boyhood. Still there are some forms that are pos- 

 sible for everybody. Either city or country children 

 can scorn to ride to school or any other place, if there 



