But I do take issue
with him where he says:
So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung,
So light to the saddle before her he sprung!
Even in childhood's hour I am sure I must have questioned the
ability of Young Lochinvar to perform this achievement, for I
was born and brought up in a horseback-riding country. Now in
the light of yet fuller experience I wish Sir Walter were alive
to-day so I might argue the question out with him.
Let us consider the statement on its physical merits solely. Here
we have Young Lochinvar swinging the lady to the croupe, and then
he springs to the saddle in front of her. Now to do this he must
either take a long running start and leapfrog clear over the lady's
head as she sits there, and land accurately in the saddle, which
is scarcely a proper thing to do to any lady, aside from the
difficulty of springing ten or fifteen feet into the air and coming
down, crotched out, on a given spot, or else he must contribute a
feat in contortion the like of which has never been duplicated
since.
To be brutally frank about it, the thing just naturally is not
possible. I don't care if Young Lochinvar was as limber as a yard
of fresh tripe--and he certainly did shake a lithesome calf in
the measures of the dance if Sir Walter, in an earlier stanza, is
to be credited with veracity.
Pages:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40