WILL DAILY EXERCISE FOR GIRLS PAY?
ity become chronic; and the woman, later on in life, a source of anxiety and a burden to her friends, when instead of this she might have been a valued helper?
Now, if the body, during the growing years, was on to do nothing which should even half-develop it; while the brain was pushed nearly to its utmost; does it take long to decide whether such a course was a wise one? Leaving out entirely the discomfort to the body; is that a sensible system of education which leaves a girl liable to become weak, if not entirely broken down, before she is well on in middle age? Is this not like giving great care to moral and mental education alone and actually doing almost nothing for their physical nature? Is this not an irrational and one-sided course, and sure to beget a one-sided person? And if, as is a matter of common remark, half our women are sick, is it hard to find a cause for it? And yet is not that just what is going on to-day with a great majority of the young girls in our land?
The moment it is conceded that a delicate body can be made a robust one; that moment it is plain that there can be great gain in the comfort and usefulness of the possessor of that body not only during all the last half of her life, but through the first half as well. And yet, to those who know what judicious, daily physical exercise has done, and can do, for a delicate body, there is no more doubt but that this later strength, and even sturdiness, can be acquired, than that the algebra or geometry, which at first seems impenetrable, can be gradually mastered. The rules which bring success in each are in many ways the same. Give the muscles of the hand and forearm, for instance, as vigorous and steady use for the school-year as these studies bring to the brain; and the physical grasp will as surely and steadily
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