I suggested juggling with balls, as being an exercise less violent and equally healthy. He sprang at the idea, and after giving him some instructions I left him, and soon forgot all about the circumstance.
Several months afterwards I called on my friend at his studio, and, to my surprise and amusement, found him busy—not with his pencil, but with three juggling balls. ‘I’ve done it,’ he cried with great glee, as soon as he saw me; ‘I can shower three! Look!’ And thereupon he recommenced his operations, and soon convinced me that he had become an adept at his new pursuit; and he really seemed to be more pleased to have succeeded with the ‘shower’ than with his picture, which was shortly afterwards exhibited ‘on the line’ at the Royal Academy. That he was in good spirits you will have gathered from what I have just said, and you will readily believe that he could hardly have been so happy unless his health had been re-established.
Nor is the juggling with balls simply a healthy exercise. It must lead to useful, and it may (and often does) lead to very important results. The quickness of hand and eye acquired by the practice is not only valuable in cricket, football, and other sports, but also can hardly fail to prove serviceable in the sterner duties and emergencies of life. If space permitted I could relate many stories of articles, and even life, being saved by the dexterous catch of one who had practised juggling. I am generally called upon, when in a gymnasium, to stand close to any one who is about to try a new exercise, or one attended with risk, either on the horizontal or trapeze bar, in case of a slip; and I entirely attribute my quickness in catching to my proficiency in juggling, the hand being taught instantly to follow any movement the eye may detect.
This subject, useful as I have shown it to be, has, so far as I am aware, never been treated on in any English publication, although in France and in many other parts of the Continent juggling forms an important branch of physical education, and is much practised in the gymnasia.
You may very naturally suppose that it is almost impossible to teach anything of this kind on paper, but it must not be forgotten that in this, as in everything else in life, to ensure success it is necessary to make a good beginning. There is no royal road to learning, and unless a proper foundation be laid the castle will prove to be but visionary. So even on paper I can give you many valuable hints and much practical advice, without attention to which you will never become adepts in the art. You must not suppose, however, that I can make practised jugglers of you in a few lessons, nor must you be too anxious to play two or three balls before you have a perfect command over number one.
The first object to be aimed at is to procure the best sort of balls for your purpose. Of course, anything in the shape of a ball will do—oranges, for instance, tennis or raquet-balls, etc.—but the best are made of hollow brass, two inches in diameter, and these may be obtained at from ten to twelve shillings per set of four. They are made specially for the purpose, their hollowness giving them a lightness which a solid substance obviously cannot possess. It is indispensable that the balls should all be exactly the same weight, otherwise in the rapid passes—such as the ‘[shower]’ or ‘[fountain],’ about to be described—the lighter would be thrown farther than the heavier, and the most skilful performer would fail to accomplish the feat.
Being satisfied with regard to the balls, we will now proceed to the First Practice, viz.,
The Vertical Fall ([Fig. 1]),
that is, to throw a ball into the air so that it will descend to the exact point from which it was projected. You will find, at first, that when you have thrown the ball up into the air it will not drop back again into your hand, but you will have to follow its course in order to catch it. The first point to be gained, then, is to throw the ball so that it will drop into the hand which is ready to receive it, and this must be practised with both hands, as the left will have quite as much to do as the right. When you have thoroughly mastered this art, and can catch a ball with decision when thrown from three to four feet in height, you may proceed to the Second Practice, which is called—