14 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
physical condition, either, if he likes work, by 
sawing his own cord of wood, or, if he prefers 
play, by an hour in the gymnasium or at cricket, 
and his enfeebled muscular apparatus will groan 
with rheumatism for a week. Or let him test 
the strength of his arms and chest by raising 
and lowering himself a few times upon a hori- 
zontal bar, or hanging by the arms to a rope, 
and he will probably agree with Galen in pro- 
nouncing it vobustum validumgue laborem. 
Yet so manifestly are these things within the 
reach of common constitutions, that a few weeks 
or months of judicious practice will renovate his 
whole system, and the most vigorous exercise 
will refresh him like a cold bath. 
To a well-regulated frame, mere physical 
exertion, even for an uninteresting object, is a 
great enjoyment, which is, of course, increased 
by the excitement of games and sports. To 
almost every man there is joy in the memory of 
these things ; they are the happiest associations 
of his boyhood. It does not occur to him that 
he also might be as happy as a child if he lived 
more like one. What do most men know of 
the “wild joys of living,” the daily zest and 
luxury of outdoor existence, in which every 
healthy boy beside them revels ?— skating, 
while the orange sky of sunset dies away over 
the delicate tracery of gray branches, and the 
