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BY RAY N. JACKSON

Georgina of the Rainbows

HER EARLIER MEMORIES

IF old Jeremy Clapp had not sneezed his teeth into the fire that winter day this story might have had a more seemly beginning; but, being a true record, it must start with that sneeze, because it was the first happening in Georgina Huntingdon's life which she could remember distinctly.

She was in her high-chair by a window overlooking a gray sea, and with a bib under her chin, was being fed dripping spoonfuls of bread and milk from the silver porringer which rested on the sill. The bowl was almost on a level with her little blue shoes which she kept kicking up and down on the step of her high-chair, wherefore the restraining hand which seized her ankles at intervals. It was Mrs. Triplett's firm hand which clutched her, and Mrs. Triplett's firm hand which fed her, so there was not the usual dilly-dallying over Georgina's breakfast as when her mother held the spoon. She always made a game of it, chanting nursery rhymes in a gay, silver-bell-cockle-shell sort of way, as if she were one of the "pretty maids all in a row," just stepped out of a picture book.

Mrs. Triplett was an elderly widow, a distant relative of the family, who lived with them. "Tippy" the child called her before she could speak plainly--a foolish name for such a severe and dignified person, but Mrs. Triplett rather seemed to like it. Being the working housekeeper, companion and everything else which occasion required, she had no time to make a game of Georgina's breakfast, even if she had known how. Not once did she stop to say, "Curly-locks, Curly-locks, wilt thou be mine?" or to press her face suddenly against Georgina's dimpled rose-leaf cheek as if it were something too temptingly dear and sweet to be resisted. She merely said, "Here!" each time she thrust the spoon towards her.

Mrs. Triplett was in an especial hurry this morning, and did not even look up when old Jeremy came into the room to put more wood on the fire. In winter, when there was no garden work, Jeremy did everything about the house which required a man's hand. Although he must have been nearly eighty years old, he came in, tall and unbending, with a big log across his shoulder. He walked stiffly, but his back was as straight as the long poker with which he mended the fire.

Georgina had seen him coming and going about the place every day since she had been brought to live in this old gray house beside the sea, but this was the first time he had made any lasting impression upon her memory. Henceforth, she was to carry with her as long as she should live the picture of a hale, red-faced old man with a woolen muffler wound around his lean throat. His knitted "wrist-warmers" slipped down over his mottled, deeply-veined hands when he stooped to roll the log into the fire. He let go with a grunt. The next instant a mighty sneeze seized him, and Georgina, who had been gazing in fascination at the shower of sparks he was making, saw all of his teeth go flying into the fire.

If his eyes had suddenly dropped from their sockets upon the hearth, or his ears floated off from the sides of his head, she could not have been more terrified, for she had not yet learned that one's teeth may be a separate part of one's anatomy. It was such a terrible thing to see a man go to pieces in this undreamed-of fashion, that she began to scream and writhe around in her high-chair until it nearly turned over.

She did upset the silver porringer, and what was left of the bread and milk splashed out on the floor, barely missing the rug. Mrs. Triplett sprang to snatch her from the toppling chair, thinking the child was having a spasm. She did not connect it with old Jeremy's sneeze until she heard his wrathful gibbering, and turned to see him holding up the teeth, which he had fished out of the fire with the tongs.

They were an old-fashioned set such as one never sees now. They had been made in England. They were hinged together like jaws, and Georgina yelled again as she saw them all blackened and gaping, dangling from the tongs. It was not the grinning teeth themselves, however, which frightened her. It was the awful knowledge, vague though it was to her infant mind, that a human body could fly apart in that way. And Tippy, not understanding the cause of her terror, never thought to explain that they were false and had been made by a man in some out-of-the-way corner of Yorkshire, instead of by the Almighty, and that their removal was painless.

It was several years before Georgina learned the truth, and the impression made by the accident grew into a lurking fear which often haunted her as time wore on. She never knew at what moment she might fly apart herself. That it was a distressing experience she knew from the look on old Jeremy's face and the desperate pace at which he set off to have himself mended.

She held her breath long enough to hear the door bang shut after him and his hob-nailed shoes go scrunch, scrunch, through the gravel of the path around the house, then she broke out crying again so violently that Tippy had hard work quieting her. She picked up the silver porringer from the floor and told her to look at the pretty bowl. The fall had put a dent into its side. And what would Georgina's great-great aunt have said could she have known what was going to happen to her handsome dish, poor lady! Surely she never would have left it to such a naughty namesake! Then, to stop her sobbing, Mrs. Triplett took one tiny finger-tip in her large ones, and traced the name which was engraved around the rim in tall, slim-looped letters: the name which had passed down through many christenings to its present owner, "Georgina Huntingdon."

Failing thus to pacify the frightened child, Mrs. Triplett held her up to the window overlooking the harbor, and dramatically bade her "hark!" Standing with her blue shoes on the window-sill, and a tear on each pink cheek, Georgina flattened her nose against the glass and obediently listened.

The main street of the ancient seaport town, upon which she gazed expectantly, curved three miles around the harbor, and the narrow board-walk which ran along one side of it all the way, ended abruptly just in front of the house in a waste of sand. So there was nothing to be seen but a fishing boat at anchor, and the waves crawling up the beach, and nothing to be heard but the jangle of a bell somewhere down the street. The sobs broke out again.

"Hush!" commanded Mrs. Triplett, giving her an impatient shake. "Hark to what's coming up along. Can't you stop a minute and give the Towncrier a chance? Or is it you're trying to outdo him?"

The word "Towncrier" was meaningless to Georgina. There was nothing by that name in her linen book which held the pictures of all the animals from Ape to Zebra, and there was nothing by that name down in Kentucky where she had lived all of her short life until these last few weeks. She did not even know whether what Mrs. Triplett said was coming along would be wearing a hat or horns. The cow that lowed at the pasture bars every night back in Kentucky jangled a bell. Georgina had no distinct recollection of the cow, but because of it the sound of a bell was associated in her mind with horns. So horns were what she halfway expected to see, as she watched breathlessly, with her face against the glass.

"Hark to what he's calling!" urged Mrs. Triplett. "A fish auction. There's a big boat in this morning with a load of fish, and the Towncrier is telling everybody about it."

"He's cold," said Tippy. "Let's tap on the window and beckon him to come in and warm himself before he starts back to town."

She caught up Georgina's hand to make it do the tapping, thinking it would please her to give her a share in the invitation, but in her touchy frame of mind it was only an added grievance to have her knuckles knocked against the pane, and her wails began afresh as the old man, answering the signal, shook his bell at her playfully, and turned towards the house.

As to what happened after that, Georgina's memory is a blank, save for a confused recollection of being galloped to Banbury Cross on somebody's knee, while a big hand helped her to clang the clapper of a bell far too heavy for her to swing alone. But some dim picture of the kindly face puckered into smiles for her comforting, stayed on in her mind as an object seen through a fog, and thereafter she never saw the Towncrier go kling-klanging along the street without feeling a return of that same sense of safety which his song gave her that morning. Somehow, it restored her confidence in all Creation which Jeremy's teeth had shattered in their fall.

Taking advantage of Georgina's contentment at being settled on the visitor's knee, Mrs. Triplett hurried for a cloth to wipe up the bread and milk. Kneeling on the floor beside it she sopped it up so energetically that what she was saying came in jerks.

"It's a mercy you happened along, Mr. Darcy, or she might have been screaming yet. I never saw a child go into such a sudden tantrum."

The answer came in jerks also, for it took a vigorous trotting of the knees to keep such a heavy child as Georgina on the bounce. And in order that his words might not interfere with the game he sang them to the tune of "Ride a Cock Horse."

HOW TO BECOME A GYMNAST

Much benefit can be derived from gymnastic appliances if they are used understandingly. No advantage is to be gained by exercise that is carried on in a careless manner. Neither too much nor too violent exercise is beneficial, though constant and regular work is necessary. It is better to work for a certain length of time every other day than to devote all of one week to exercise, and not go near the gymnasium the next.

To use any apparatus carelessly is to use it dangerously. The writer has had many of his worst falls in doing some of the simplest tricks, because he was careless, and did not put his entire mind upon what he was doing. There is something besides and beyond the mere pleasure of being able to perform tricks in a gymnasium; there is a lasting benefit to be obtained in careful gymnastic exercise.

In beginning your exercises there are two points that you must bear in mind always. Stand erect, and before beginning any work draw a long deep breath. Breathe from the abdomen, so that the lower parts of the lungs are expanded. You will find by following this simple advice that anything you attempt will be much easier for you than if you go about your exercises in a careless or slouchy way. There should be no round-shouldered gymnasts. There is no one who has achieved distinction as a gymnast who is not as straight as an arrow, and across whose shoulder-blades a yardstick could not be placed without touching his back.

In your exercises avoid devoting too much time to one kind of work. Do not spend all your time, for instance, on the horizontal bar, or on the parallel bars. What all would-be gymnasts should strive for is a symmetrical development of their muscles. You do not want to have legs like a piano, hard and knotted with muscles, and arms like pipe stems. Nor do you want to have the arms and chest of a blacksmith, and legs like those of a crane. You want to have all your muscles developed alike, not one at the expense of another. To avoid this lop-sided kind of growth is the reason that gymnasiums have such a variety of appliances.

Now for the apparatus, and how it should be used. What boy, especially if he has lived in the country, has not tried to climb a rope, or go up a ladder hand over hand, and then, for the first time in his life, realised how heavy he is? Perhaps no form of exercise develops so quickly the upper arm and the chest as work on the rope and ladder in a gymnasium. In practising on the ladder, first try to pull yourself up until your chin is even with the rung. Keep at this exercise until you can repeat it three or four times without tiring yourself; then try to reach the rung above. Do not go up too far at first, for you may find yourself many feet from the floor without strength enough to come back as you went up. That, it is almost needless for me to remind you, means a fall--and a hard one too it may be. The same advice applies to the rope.

Almost as quick results may be obtained by practice with the dumb-bells, with which it is possible to exercise almost every muscle in the body. The dumb-bells should be light. Too heavy dumb-bells are apt to make a boy slow and sluggish in his movements. The proper weight for a beginner is half a pound, and under no circumstances should a boy use for regular exercise bells that weigh more than two pounds. Indian clubs are valuable, chiefly in strengthening the muscles of the arms and wrists.

Exercises on the rings are divided into two classes--stationary and swinging. In the former the rings are not swung. In the latter the tricks are performed while swinging. There are two ways of grasping the rings with the hands. In "single grip," the rings are clasped as a boy grips his base-ball bat when he is ready to strike. It is used chiefly in swinging tricks. In the "double-grip," the thumbs are kept close to the palms, and the hands rest on and over the rings.

The first trick on the rings, and the one that must be mastered before anything else is attempted, is the "breast-up." This consists in taking a double-grip, and raising the body so that the chin is even with the hands. The hands and wrists should be over the rings, and the elbows straight out from the shoulder. Now, by leaning forward you necessarily bring your hands under your armpits, and you find yourself in such a position that you can push down on the rings and raise your body erect by simply straightening your arms. You must not expect to be able to do this the first time. It will take many efforts before you can accomplish it. The best way to learn it is to hold your weight with one hand, after you have raised your chin even with the rings, while you practise pulling the other in and under your armpit. When a boy can do this trick easily he will find that he has strength and skill enough to learn the other feats, of which this is the foundation.

In horizontal bar exercises the "breast-up" is executed in the same way, but it is seldom used in getting up on the bar. A much prettier way is the trick called the "circle." This is done by clasping the bar with the double-grip--which, by-the-way, is the only one used on the bar--and raising your body as high as you can. If you can raise your chin above the bar, all the better. Now raise your legs in front of you as high as possible, and lift them over the bar, letting your head drop back. This will bring your legs and body down on the other side. If a boy can do this with a fortnight's hard practice, he is doing remarkably well. In learning this trick lower the bar to the height of the shoulder and start the "circle" with a jump, which materially assists your progress during the revolution.

All boys who practise on the horizontal bar probably have in mind the "giant swing," the hardest and most daring feat on the bar; but that is a long way in the future, and many other tricks must be mastered before it should even be attempted. Perhaps the best of these intermediate exercises is the "hook swing." This is a very neat trick. You sit on the bar, apparently fall backward, catching the bar in the knee joints, and swing around, until you come up in your original position without touching your hands to the bar. It is not so hard as it looks if you go about it in the right way, and this is the proper way:

First practise by hanging head downward from the bar by the knees. Any boy can do this; but to learn the rest of the trick you need two assistants, who take hold of your hands and swing you gently at first, gradually increasing the swing as you gain confidence. When you can swing easily and safely without losing your grip and falling to the mattress as you swing backward, straighten your knees, and you will leave the bar and alight upon your feet. Your assistants will save you from falling on your head should you happen to let go with your knees too soon, which you would certainly do more times than once should you attempt the trick alone. Practise this until you can do it without help.

The next step is to sit on the bar, which should be lowered to within four feet of the ground, and fall backward. When you come to the end of the swing, let go with your knees and alight on your feet. At first you will need help in this, as in the early part of the practice.

When this is learned you can go half-way around. The object now is to come back to the position you originally had on the top of the bar. The mistake that nine boys out of ten make at this point is in thinking that all that is needed to complete the revolution is to give the body a harder swing. When you dropped from the bar in the way I have just described it was because you straightened your knees. If you bent your knees more at this point in the swing, and at the same time threw your head back, you would have found yourself on the bar instead of on the mattress. To prevent accident at first, you should have an assistant stand in front of you, so that in case you should pitch forward the moment you reach the top of the bar, you will fall into his arms. In case you should swing so hard that you cannot stop when your body becomes erect, you will simply make another half-revolution backward, when you can straighten your legs and come down on your feet in the way described already.

The most important exercises on the parallel bars are called the "dip" and the "grasshopper." To do a "dip," stand between the bars, placing your hands upon them, and raise your body to arm's length. Then lower the body and raise it again by bending and straightening the arms. To do a "grasshopper," begin in the same manner, but as the arms are almost straight make a little forward jump, lifting your hands from the bars, and bringing them down a few inches in advance of their original position. In this way you can travel from one end of the bar to the other, as this trick can be done equally well forward and backward. The jump may be combined with a swing in an exercise called the "pump." These tricks are easily learned; they are very safe and make muscle fast. The chief danger in their use lies in their over-indulgence. In this, as in all other gymnastic exercises, enough is as good as a feast.

The flying trapeze is the most difficult of all the apparatus, and feats on the double trapeze are dangerous even to the trained gymnast. After you have mastered the exercises already described, it will be time enough for you to think about the trapeze.

Do not practise just before your meal hour, nor directly after it. The best time is from an hour and a half to two hours after eating. Do not practise for over an hour a day at first; that is sufficient for any boy provided he does not waste his time. It should be remembered that gymnastic feats are not necessary for health. It is quite possible to exercise all the muscles without an indulgence in dangerous displays; but many boys have the courage, the desire, and the skill to pass from exercises to gymnastics.

We may supplement our remarks by adding some observations upon how he became a gymnast by a writer who chooses to be known as "An Ex-Little Fellow." He says: I have no doubt at least one of the readers of this book is a little fellow. He has just as much pluck as his bigger brother, his eye is as true and his mind as quick, but he does not weigh enough to be a success at athletics. His arms are too weak to knock out home-runs; his legs are not strong enough to carry a football through a rush line; and as for his back, the muscles are not hard enough, and the other fellow always turns him over when they are wrestling on the grass.

This little fellow doubtless thinks he is made that way, and cannot help himself. No matter how much he dislikes it, he feels that he will have to go through life watching bigger and stronger fellows playing all the games and having most of the fun. Now this is all a mistake, that is, if the little fellow has as much pluck and perseverance as little fellows generally have.

The writer of this sketch was a little fellow himself not many years ago. He remembers how he used to look with complete and absolute disgust on his bony little arms and thin pipe-stem legs. He used to look at the big muscles of one or two companions with hopeless envy. In fact, it got so bad that this particular little fellow determined to get strong, if it took years to do it.

The first thing was to get a bar. I selected a nice spot in the garden, planted deep in the ground two heavy timber uprights, and fastened firmly across the top, with mortised ends, a long heavy pitchfork handle, which was purchased at a village store, at a cost, I believe, of tenpence. When the turning-pole was finished, the next thing was to learn to do something. The first thing I learned was to hang on the pole. This may not seem like a very exciting trick, but the fact is my muscles were so weak that it took all my strength to hang there.

After hanging awhile I learned to swing a little back and forth, working up higher and higher, and it was a proud day when I was able to swing my body up over the bar, and rest my stomach on the top of it. Then I had to learn to "chin myself." This came more slowly; but daily practice at dumb-bells and constant tugging at the bar gradually hardened the biceps and back, until on one happy day my arms bent to the strain, my head went up, and my chin projected triumphantly over the bar.

The following year the little fellow went to the city, and joined a Y.M.C.A. gymnasium. There was plenty of good apparatus here, and he watched the other fellows and tried their tricks. A year or two in this gymnasium, with daily rowing in the summer, began to tell. The little fellow stripped at 123 pounds now; his arms were brown and sinewy; he could hold a good steady stroke for ten or fifteen miles in a working boat; could run several miles at a dog-trot; and had learned to "handle his body" on the bar.

Then he went to college, and in the gymnasium his arms, brown to the shoulders from rowing in the sun, won him among his classmates the sobriquet of "Athlete." This was very agreeable to the little fellow.

So much for our "Ex-Little Fellow"; and now we may recount how Mr. E. Lawrence Levy became the amateur champion weight lifter of the world. Although when a boy at school he was proficient in nearly every branch of athletics, and an adept at all games, it was not until later years that he turned his attention to gymnastics. It came about in this way. When twenty-five years old, Mr. Levy, having passed from school-boy to tutor, started a school of his own, and with a genuine love of athletics and a knowledge of the benefit which boys may gain from them by following them within reason, he had fitted up in his school-room a trapeze on which he was wont to practise with his pupils. Finding that it was scarcely safe to do this without skilled tuition, he sent for Professor Hubbard, the instructor of the Birmingham Athletic Club. The result was that the trapeze was removed from the school-room to the playground, where other appliances such as horizontal and parallel bars were also fixed. Here Mr. Levy again joined his pupils, and then, after three or four lessons, he, to the instructor's surprise, accomplished several feats which are, as a rule, only achieved by practised gymnasts. Finding that he was outstripping his boys, he determined to join the Birmingham Athletic Club. Here he was able to measure himself against men of his own age and strength.

It was at the club gymnasium that he one night saw the heavy dumb-bells belonging to two professional "strong men." He tried to lift the bells, but failed. This seems to have shaped his future course. Instead of being discouraged by failure, he determined to overcome all obstacles and go in for heavy dumb-bell exercise. He began with comparatively light bells, and with these he practised in the solitude of his school-room for hours at a time. Then he bought two new bells weighing 28 lbs. each, using them assiduously until he could do almost anything with them--holding them out at arms' length, bringing them down to the sides of his legs and up again.

When he had thoroughly mastered the "twenty-eights," he tried two "fifty-sixes." These he retained for months, being determined not to attempt the heavier bells until he was quite perfect with the lighter ones. At length Mr. Levy was able to put up the 112 lb. dumb-bell. This was more than any member of the Birmingham Gymnasium had ever done, and it then became necessary to add two 84 lb. dumb-bells to the collection. With these Mr. Levy began quietly practising, one at a time. Then he took to using them together, and gradually overcoming the difficulties of the harder work, succeeded one evening in putting them up simultaneously.

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