HOW TO GET STRONG
the neck well back, and so the head up; let the column now start oil around the room on an easy trot, each stepping as noiselessly as possible, and no heel touching the floor. A minute of this at a moderate pace will be abundant at first; and as the legs gradually get strong, and the breathing improves, the run can be either made faster or longer, or both.
As the pupils began to grow steadier, with their hands on the bars, they could next swing their feet back and forth, and jump with their hands as they swing forward; then, later, could jump forward as the feet are swung backward, and backward as the feet are swung forward. The vaulting-bar for the boys meanwhile may steadily rise, peg after peg; and, when proficiency is reached with two hands, one-hand vaulting may be tried, and the bar gradually raised as before, the teacher always standing near the vaulter. The swinging on the rings, instead of being any longer simple straight-arm work, with the body hanging nearly down, can now be done with the elbows bent much of the time, the knees being curled up towards the chin as the swinger goes backward.
After two months of straight-arm work on the parallel bars, even the girls may now try the same exercises they did with their arms when straight, save that now they should always bent keep them at the elbows. This will come hard even yet, and must be tried with care. These are the well-known "dips"; followed up little by little, and month after month. By-and-by these exercises will come as easy as was the straight-arm work.
To all, or nearly all, the high-bar work should now be done with bent elbows; while the vaulting should, say by the end of the year, be nearly at shoulder-height for
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