Page:How to Get Strong (1899).pdf/24

 In the church a little below (erected in 1766), in the middle of the north side, is the great square pew of Washington, just as he left it. And in that lower mile—the richest cañon in the world—go more men in a year than anywhere else in America. Women are rare there; but there go the men. Look at them as they pass; for such a varied human tide you will find nowhere else upon this planet—men of every tongue and name; and kin, and tribe and nation; of all ages and shades, and heights; and sizes, and weight and grades.

Not one in five is well built. Some slouch their shoulders and double in at the waist; some over-step; others cant to one side; this one has one shoulder higher than the other; and that one both too high; some have heavy bodies and light legs; others the reverse, and so on, each with his own peculiarities. An erect, well proportioned man, of springy step, easy and graceful of action, is not often seen. Any one used to athletic work and knowing what it can do for the body; must at times wonder why most men go for years, perhaps through life, so carrying themselves as not only to lack the outward grace and ease they might have; and which they now and then see in others; but so as to cramp and impede one or more of the vital organs.

Nor are these defects always the man's fault. In