OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



Without hardihood it is of little avail 

 to be able to jump an inch farther than 

 somebody else. Hardihood is the true 

 test, hardihood is the ideal, and not 

 these caperings or ten minutes' spurts. 

 Now, the way they made the boy John 

 Brown hardy was to let him roll about 

 on the ground with naked legs and bare 

 head from morn till night, from June till 

 December, from January till June. The 

 rain fell on his head, and he played in 

 wet grass to his knees. Dry bread and 

 a little lard was his chief food. He 

 went to work while he was still a child. 

 At half-past three in the morning he 

 was on his way to the farm stables, 

 there to help feed the cart-horses, which 

 used to be done with great care very 

 early in the morning. The carter's whip 

 used to sting his legs, and sometimes 

 he felt the butt. At fifteen he was no 

 taller than the sons of well-to-do people 

 at eleven; he scarcely seemed to grow 



in 



