I’VE BEEN reading “Charlotte’s Web” with my daughter — it’s the best-ever tribute to the power of the written word — and the other night, I came across a passage that felt especially timeless. It was about a rope swing at Mr. Zuckerman’s farm, which launched kids from the hayloft of his barn and propelled them to dizzying heights.

“Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman’s swing,” E.B. White wrote. “They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will.”