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Climbing Trees: Giant

THE GIANT STRIDE, OR FLYING STEPS, AND ITS CAPABILITIES. The valuable and invigorating apparatus which is called the Giant Stride in some places, and the Flying Steps in others, is to be found in many schools where an inclosed open-air playground can be secured. Excepting on a few occasions, or when the charm of novelty induces the boys to exercise, it is seldom in much favour, and is usually seen idle, with the ironwork rusting, the beam rotting, and the ropes yielding to exposure. In fact, it really seems as if the masters and teachers were doing their best to weaken their apparatus, and to cause a severe accident whenever it breaks down, as such is always the case, sooner or later. The rusty iron gives way to a harder pull than usual, the ropes snap, or the upright post breaks off level with the ground, and falls with dreadful force. We knew of a boy being killed by such an accident, and in consequence the parents of the other pupils laid the blame on the Giant Stride itself, instead of on those who allowed it to get into such a state of decay.

Boys, too, soon get tired of it; they take hold of the ropes, run round a few times, and then leave it, naturally, seeing no interest in such a proceeding. But in reality the Giant Stride is a most useful article in the muscular education, as it exercises at the same time the arms and legs, is capital for the lungs, and strengthens those invaluable muscles about the loins which we so sadly neglect, and by reason of whose weakness many dangerous injuries occur to young and old.

There is something most fascinating in the exercises that can be achieved on this apparatus; the gymnast seems to be almost endowed with wings, and in his aerial course hardly touches the ground with his toes, flying, like feathered Mercury, through the air, and literally basking in the pure element. The common posture of holding the bars close to the breast, and then running round the post, is radically false, and deprives the Giant Stride of all its use, and the greater part of its pleasure. Being ourselves ardent advocates of this instrument as affording an amount of healthy exercise not to be obtained by any other means, we gladly take this opportunity of describing the manufacture and capabilities of the Giant Stride.

Having fixed upon a suitable spot of level ground, well laid with gravel, and carefully drained, dig a hole at least seven feet in depth, and fill about eighteen inches with stones about the size of the 1st, or, to use a homely but expressive simile, as if a sack of potatoes had been emptied into it. Pound and press the stones well down, and then pour rough gravel upon them until you have made the surface tolerably level. The object of these stones is to prevent the water from accumulating round the post and rotting it. Now for the post. This should be at least twenty feet long, so as to leave about fifteen feet projecting when set upright in the hole. The butt should be left very large, as is done with ordinary wooden gate-posts, and the whole affair ought to be made of thoroughly seasoned wood. Unless this is the case, it is sure to rot, and then down it comes some day, when least expected. Triangular steps should be nailed upon opposite sides, like those on railway signalposts, as otherwise the daily task of removing and replacing the ropes will be very irksome.

Get a blacksmith to make a stout iron pin, such as is shown at a, having a projecting shoulder, to prevent it from entering too far into the wood. He should also make a strong iron collar to put over the top of the pole, as is seen at b, where the pin is also shown fixed. The last piece of blacksmith's work is an iron disc, having a cap or thimble in the middle, which is intended to receive the iron pin, and to enable the disc to spin round freely. Four holes are nored through the edge of the disc, as seen at c. Purchase four iron S hooks, and the same number of swivels, and good store of well-made half-inch rope, and the machine may then be set up.

First char carefully the whole of the butt that is to enter the ground, and for about six inches above, in order to prevent the wood from being injured by wet. Place it upright in the hole, testing it by a plumb-line tied to the top, and fill in the hole with earth, pounding it down firmly with a heavy rammer. You cannot be too careful about this process, and the apparatus should not be used until the earth has had time to settle. While waiting for this operation, cut the rope into appropriate lengths, and fasten one end of each rope to a swivel, and the other to the centre of a stout baton of elm or oak wood, about eighteen inches long. Unless you are very sure of your powers of splicing ropes and making "eyes," let the ropemaker do this for you, as it is a most important operation, and involves the security of the gymnast in no slight degree. It is necessary to have swivels, as the ropes would otherwise become to twisted as to lose their freedom of play, or even to weaken their structure. These preparations being completed, mount the post by the steps, taking the cap with you, grease the pin well with an end of tallow-candle, and slip the cap upon it, taking care to spin it well in order to assure yourself that all is right. Hang the swivels to the circular plate by means of the S hooks, one curve of which passes through the hole in the plate, and the other through the loop in the swivel.

The ropes should be just so long that when they hand loosely along the pole the cross-bar should be two feet from the ground. As, however, new ropes stretch in a wonderful manner, it is needful to allow considerably for this property.

One thing more is needed, and then the whole apparatus will be complete. Measure the greatest distance which can be reached by the feet of any one swinging round by the ropes, and about one yard beyond that line erect a slender pole nearly as high as the central post, having pegs driven at intervals of four inches. This is intended to aid the learner in leaping, and the mode by which this object is accomplished is seen in fig. 1. Having now everything ready, we first look to all the fastenings, a precaution which must never be neglected; see that the pin and swivels are well greased, take the cross-bar of one rope in both hands, and retire from the post as far as the outstretched arms will permit. Of course, if there are four performers, each takes his stand exactly opposite his neighbour. It is better not to exercise alone, on account of the unequal strain on the post; and it is evident that the opposite players should be as nearly as possible of similar weights, so as to balance each other in their course. It may easily be imagined that the strain upon the base of the post is enormous, there being a leverage of fifteen feet, and that some precautions are necessary to prevent injury.

Keeping our right sides to the post, and the rope tightly stretched, we begin to run, throwing as much weight as possible on the rope, and as little as possible on the feet. As the pace increases, the feet are taken off the ground, and touch it at longer intervals, until, when at full speed, they only come to the ground occasionally, just sufficient to maintain the impetus. Having kept up this speed as long as is agreeable, we slacken the pace gradually, and stop. Next time we take care to run the contrary way, keeping the left side towards the pole. This is done to exercise equally the muscular system on both sides of the body; and to save time and space, we will say, once for all, that when any feat is described, it must be accomplished in either direction with equal ease.

We will now explain the method of leaping, one of the most exciting of all these exercises.

Set the string to quite a low elevation,--say two feet from the ground,--stand with your back to it, the cross-bar in your hands, and run quickly round. When you come about one quarter of the distance, try to fling yourself into the air, not by jumping with the legs, but by letting the whole weight depend on the rope, so that the centrifugal force takes you off your feet. As you touch the ground, take about three long steps, and at the third step hurl yourself again off the ground, with the body straight, and the feet extended well behind, and the impetus will carry you over the string, and land you neatly on the other side. You will soon learn to increase the height of the jump, until you can pass over the string at an elevation of ten feet with perfect certainty.

Another very pretty, though not so dashing, a feat is to spin round on your own axis as you run round the course. At first it is needful to manage this cautiously, as a slip of the foot is sure to disturb your balance, and send you ignominiously scraping your way over the gravel in a derogatory and rather painful position. When, however, you have mastered this art, you can go round revolving the whole time, keeping your legs straight, feet together, and toes pointed.

There are many modifications of these exercises which I should right well like to describe; but as our space is limited, we must content ourselves with two more. At the same time I may say, that if any of the readers of this book succeed in achieving them, they will bid fair to attain no mean position in the gymnastic art.

In the first of these exercises the performer never moves hand or foot, but holds himself straight, stiff, and immovable as an Egyptian statue, and in the course of his progress round the central post his feet describe a series of circles, or rather spirals, while his hands merely move in a circle, and serve as the axis on which the body revolves. This feat is not very easily made intelligible, but with the help of two diagrams we hope that our readers will comprehend it. Fig. 2 shows the method of commencing it. The performer grasps the cross-bar in both hands at the full stretch of his arms, holds himself quite straight and stiff, points his toes, and then falls forward, as shown in the engraving. If he has the strength and nerve to hold himself quite stiff, though his face comes rather near the ground, the whole body swings off the ground, the hands being the pivot, and the feet take the course denoted by the dotted line, the hands retaining their position. It is possible, by dint of practice, to manage so as to make the entire circuit of the pole in four such revolutions, and the course of the performer is shown by the accompanying diagram (fig. 3), where the dark circle in the centre represents the pole, the dotted line is the course taken by the hands, and the continuous line the course of the feet.

This is a most elegant and graceful performance, and never fails to elicit the admiration and applause of the bystanders. There seem to be no means of propulsion, and the performer appears, to an uninitiated spectator, to be impelled by a simple act of volition.

The last is the most daring and difficult of all the feats, being nothing less than passing over the string with the head downwards and the feet in the air. This need not be attempted by any but a tolerable gymnast, and is achieved by running at the string in the manner already described, and just as the body is rising in the swing drawing the hands smartly to the breast, throwing the feet into the air, and clasping the rope between them. It is a most dashing feat, and generally takes spectators entirely by surprise. We should well have liked a longer disquisition on a favourite subject, but must now take our leave, merely assuring the reader that the few exercises which we have described are the keys to the thorough mastery of the Giant Stride.

As a last caution, let us recommend that the ropes should be taken down every evening and put in a dry spot, as they are liable to be much weakened if permitted to hang in the open air. In wet weather the same precaution should be taken.