Slings and Slingers

Slings and Slingers

Now I take up the sling and the stone again, for a very different illustration. It is said that slings were first used in the Balearic Isles. The little boys in the Majorcas—I suppose they were Minorcas then—used to have their breakfasts put up on a beam, and they had a sling and a stone given them; and if they could not knock over their food, they had to go without. You do not need to be told that this capital practice soon made them very expert in the use of the sling. The best way to make your boys men is not to cuddle and coddle them, but to make them work. That is a grand old rule in the Bible,—"that if any man would not work, neither should he eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:11.