This book is included in the Family Affairs - Children, Parents & Home Economics section.
Preface
IT IS PROBABLE THAT A DEEP DELVER INTO
the history of Gymnastics will find nothing new in
the various Tricks, Games, Pyramids and feats of
Tumbling which are described in this book, for the sad eyed
conclusion of the disgruntled author of Ecclesiastes
that " there is no new thing under the sun," is peculiarly
applicable to all bodily exercises. Illustrations
of various styles of wrestling, showing many of the
holds in common use today, have been found in the
tombs of Egypt, placed there, without doubt, hundred'
of years before the beginning of the Christian era.
have seen facsimiles of vases, made in the palmy days
of Greece, upon which were representations of Athletic
Games, Contortion and Tumbling Acts, etc. I have
some photographic copies of drawings, taken from a
book printed in 1652, which show Tight-Rope Walking,
Juggling, Balancing, Exercises with Dumb Bells, Weight
Lifting, etc., in Rome, when that city was the undisputed
Mistress of the World. Most of that which Is
called New Is but the Old revived and, sometimes,
redressed.
The following pages have been prepared for the
purpose of making available to as large a number of
young people as may be a part of the material which
successive generations have evolved for amusing and
strengthening their youth. For the furtherance of
this purpose I have kept in mind these five principles,
laid down long ago by an eminent teacher of Gymnastics:
"All exercises should be safe, short, easy, beneficial
and pleasing."
The book is divided into twenty-five sections, each
containing selections from four groups of exercises,
Tumbling, Tricks, Pyramids and Games . This method
of arrangement has been followed, partly, for the purpose
of supplying Taried, ready-made, though flexible,
programmes, available at a moment's notice, and
partly, in order to give illustrations of how to join separate
exercises into a series in connection with the
description of the movements themselves.
Most of the illustrations have been made from
instantaneous photographs.
The descriptions and directions which are given
in the text are those which I have found by experience
to result in the most satisfactory progress in the
shortest possible time.
The tingling blood and daring nerve of youth
demand employment. Do something it must and will. ,
Whether the activities of the young are beneficial
or baneful to themselves or others depends, in large
measure, I think, upon what they know how to do. I
hope that this book, telling how to do a great many
things requiring muscular action, will be a source of
happiness and good to many.
HORACE BUTTEEWORTH.
CHICAGO, July, 1899.
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