The Story of The Swiss Family Robinson - Chapter 21

I recommended to my sons to resume the exercise of the shooting of arrows; for I had an extreme solicitude about their preserving and increasing their bodily strength and agility. Nothing tends more to the extinction of personal courage in a human being, than the consciousness of wanting that strength of limb, or that address which may be necessary to aid us in defending ourselves, or in escaping from dangers. On this occasion, I added the exercises of running, jumping, getting up trees, both by means of climbing by the trunk, or by a suspended rope, as sailors are obliged to do to get to the mast-head. We began at first by making knots in the rope, at a foot distance from each other; then we reduced the number of knots, and before we left off we contrived to succeed without any. I next taught them an exercise of a different nature, which was to be effected by means of two balls made of lead, fastened one to each end... #story #kidsstories AcreSoft Story Classic