His brawny arms had no weight to draw after them; so he could go up a vertical pole like a squirrel, and hang for hours from a bough by one hand like a cherry by its stalk.

If he could have made a vacuum with his hands, as the lizard is said to do with its feet, he would have gone along a ceiling.

Now, this pocket-athlete was insanely fond of gripping the dinner-table with both hands, and so swinging; and then--climax of delight! he would seize it with his teeth, and, taking off his hands, hold on like grim death by his huge ivories.
But all our joys, however elevating, suffer interruption.

Little Kate caught Sampsonet in this posture, and stood aghast.

She was her mother's daughter, and her heart was with the furniture, not with the 12mo gymnast.
"Oh, Giles! how can you?
Mother is at hand.