22 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
Gymnastic exercises have two disadvantages: 
one, in being commonly performed under cover 
— though this may sometimes prove an advan- 
tage as well; another, in requiring apparatus, 
and at first a teacher. Apart from these, per- 
haps no other form of exercise is so universally 
invigorating. A teacher is required, less for the 
sake of stimulus than of precaution. The ten- 
dency is almost always to dare too much; and 
there is also need of a daily moderation in com- 
mencing exercises ; for the wise pupil will always 
prefer to supple his muscles by mild exercises 
and calisthenics, before proceeding to harsher 
performances on the bars and ladders. With 
this precaution, strains are easily avoided ; even 
with this, the hand will sometimes blister and 
the body ache, but perseverance will cure the 
one and Russia Salve the other; and the in- 
vigorated life in every limb will give a perpetual 
charm to those seemingly aimless leaps and 
somersets. The feats once learned, a private 
gymnasium can easily be constructed, of the 
simplest apparatus, and so daily used; though 
nothing can wholly supply the stimulus afforded 
by a class in a public institution, with a compe- 
tent teacher. In summer, the whole thing can 
partially be dispensed with ; but it is hard for me 
to imagine how any young person gets through 
the winter happily without a gymnasium. 
