September 5.
Old Bartholomew.
This day has been so marked in our almanacs since the new style.
The Season.
We may expect very pleasant weather during this month. For whether the summer has been cold, warm, or showery, September, in all latitudes lying between 45 and 55 degrees north, produces, on an average, the finest and pleasantest weather of the year: as we get farther south the pleasantest temperature is found in October; more northward than 55 degrees the chills of autumn are already arrived, and we must look for temperature to August.[334]
The Gymnasium.
For the Every-Day Book.
Hæc opera atque hæ sunt generosi Principis artes.
Juv. Sat. 8. L. 224.
Let cricket, tennis, fives, and ball,
The active to amusement call;
Let sportsmen through the fields at morn
Discharge the gun and sound the horn,—
Gymnastic sport shall fill my hours,
Renew my strength and tone my powers.
I learn to climb, to walk and run,
I make defence, and dangers shun;
Now quick, now slow, now poised on high,
I stand in air and vault the sky;
The sailor’s skill, the soldier’s part,
I compass by Gymnastic art.
All life’s concerns require that health
Should be secured to gather wealth;
That limb and muscle, nerve and vein,
Should vigorous force and motion gain:—
Seek the Gymnasium,—try the plan,
And be the strong and graceful man.
The Olympic games, of Grecian birth,
Gave many a youth athletic worth;
Hence Romans shone;—hence Britons fought,
The Picts and Vandals influence caught;
The lance, the spear, and arrow flew,
And prove what deeds Gymnastics do.
With ease the horseman learns to ride
And keep his hobby in his pride;
Bloodless the feats are here pursued,
And vanquished contests are renewed.
Hey for Gymnastics!—’tis the rage
Both with the simple and the sage.
Clias, and Voelker as the chief,
Each makes his charge and gives relief;
Each points his pupils to the goal,
And, more than Parry, gains the pole:—
Up and be trim!—the sport is fine,—
Fling down the gauntlet,—mount the line.
Caleidoscopes were once the taste,—
Velocipedes were rode for haste,—
Those fed the eye with pleasing views,
These ran the streets and tithed their dues;
Thrown to the shade like fashions past,
Gymnastics reign, for they are last.
Nature with art is like a tower,
Strong in defence in every hour;
Nature with art can nearly climb
The Alp and Appenine of time;
Make life more lasting, life more bold,
By true Gymnastic skill controlled.
J. R. Prior.
Sept. 1826.