Now, to be more explicit, were such within my power, take an individual case: Here we shall suppose a delicate lad, as nerveless as the chicken that has just cracked its shell, and what shall we do with him? Say his years are ten or twelve. We shall begin to develop his muscles, which means strengthen his flesh until he feels himself that he can do something. We must take him inch by inch, so to speak, and give, by exercise and judicious manipulation, strength and consistence to his frame. If we find him weak in any particular direction, we must see to it. We must grasp the muscles that are known to be identified with that particular feature, and develop their power and capacity. When we come into contact with anything that is feeble, we must treat it with care; we must manipulate it, knead it, so to speak, until it has got true consistence and a name. We must call it into action gradually and cautiously, until it grows, as it were, under our hands, and begins to perform its mission with an efficacy and certainty of which we had no previous conception. And what does it all mean? It means health, strength, enjoyment of animal life, and enjoyment generally, so far as our mere _physique_ is concerned. We are all subject to disease and discomfort bodily; but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred we can avoid it or stave it off; we can fortify ourselves against it if we only keep the citadel of our body well manned by pure organs and good desires. All the feats of strength of which we hear and read, are not the result of merely accidental muscular action, but an effort of well-trained muscles and of a desire to accomplish with ease and precision something out of the ordinary course of our action. The man who lifted the two hundred and twenty pounds with one hand in Gilmore's Garden began, perhaps, with lifting twenty-eight pounds. Nor was there so much of a difference between the weights lifted this day and the next, so to speak. There was a gradual augmentation of weight and of power; and here is where the secret of all physical strength lies.