o heavy they fell out of their hands, at the risk of
bruising their legs. No matter! They set their hearts on Persian clubs,
and even fearing lest they might break, they rubbed them every evening
with wax and a piece of cloth.

Then they looked out for ditches. When they found one suitable for their
purpose, they rested a long pole in the centre, sprang forward on the
left foot, reached the opposite side, and then repeated the performance.
The country being flat, they could be seen at a distance; and the
villagers asked one another what were these extraordinary things
skipping towards the horizon.

When autumn arrived they went in for chamber gymnastics, which
completely bored them. Why had they not the indoor apparatus or
post-armchair invented in Louis XIV.'s time by the Abbe of St. Pierre?
How was it made? Where could they get the information?

Dumouchel did not deign to answer their letter on the subject.

Then they erected in the bakehouse a brachial weighing-machine. Over two
pulleys attached to the ceiling a rope was passed, holding a crossbeam
at each end. As soon as they had caught hold of it one pushed against
the ground with his toes, while the other lowered his arms to a level
with the floor; the first by his weight would draw towards him the
second, who, slackening his rope a little, would ascend in his turn. In
less than five minutes their limbs were dripping with perspiration.

In order to follow the prescriptions of the Manual, they tried to make
themselves ambidextrous, even to the extent of depriving themselves for
a time of the use of their right hands. They did more: Amoros points out
certain snatches of verse which ought to be sung during the manoeuvres,
and Bouvard and Pecuchet, as they proceeded, kept repeating the hymn No.
9: "A king, a just king is a blessing on earth."

When they beat their breast-bones: "Friends, the crown and the glory,"
etc.

At the various steps of the race:

"Let us catch the beast that cowers!
Soon the swift stag shall be ours!
Yes! the race shall soon be won,
Come, run! come, run! come, run!"[17]

And, panting more than hounds, they cheered each other on with the
sounds of their voices.

One side of gymnastics excited their enthusiasm--its employment as a
means of saving life. But they would have required children in order to
learn how to carry them in sacks, and they begged the schoolmaster to
furnish them with some. Petit objected th