St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1867-06-07
PdSturiRg Children.

One of the ordinary events of Sprin,
In the country is the sending off to pas
turage for the season, droves of voun.
cattle kept in stalls or cooped UP in COS,
yards, fed upon husks and hay through
the long winter and spring, they are re
leased at last: and on some sweet Ma,
morning are driven away in frolicsom
herds TO the mountain pastures, where
feeding upon the tender grasses an,
drinking the hillside water, and roamin:
and revelins at will, they remain unit
the autumn frosts drive them home fo
food and shelter. They 90 out thin, shag
gy and dirty; they return sleek anC
plump, and ready either for the knife O
the butcher or for domestic services. 1t i
in the pasture that the cattle and colt.
grow. They get muscle and health b,
roaming and feeding and sleeping in tht
open air
Now. in one respect, children need tc
be regarded as young animals. Then
particular business is 10 grow, and tc
grow healthily and soundly. Among
the many obligations which a parent
owes the child he has called into exis-
tence, not the smallest is that of giving
him, 10 the extent of his ability to do so,
a sound and well developed body. With
out this. wealth is of little worth, OF
splendid intellectual gifts, or fine accom-
plshments or excellent education. With
ont this, he can be OF comparatively
/ little use TO the world. and of little COM
fort TO himself. With it, he can be both
useful and happy. If therefore, country
air and country exercise and food are
essential TO the sound development OF the
child, he should have them, even at the
expense of some of those possessions
winch parents are so apt TO overrate.
and so coyetouS 10 secure Tor their of
spring. Let the children be taken 10
pasture then, as regularly as the calves
and colts, while we tell with some
detail what the process will do for
them.
OF tie benefits of fresh country air to
the Young organism. little needs TO b.
sald- Ihev are very obvious Pure ali
is the special pabulum of vitality. Ii
gives life TO the blood, and is sent warm
and led into every fibre of the body. In
pure sir poisons life At the fountain
The trighttul aggregate of infant mortali-
ty IN the great cities shows how baneful
impure air is TO delicate vounr life
Adult life Is lcss sensitive. Ii can re
slst. and doc resist wonderfully, tht
poison> which it inhales at every breath.
bu; children sickcn and die a; lis side by
hundreds and thousands var. 4 mar
and his wife bred in the country. or even
bred IN the city, may live 10 good age,
and ENJOY comfortable health in town,
while they are called upon TO mourn III,
mysterious death of every child born tC
them. or 10 watch with ceascle>s anxiety
over puny brood OF babes that carry
into their adult life the feeblest power,
OF mind and body. There is no question
that men and women can live in air thai
children must die in; or, rather. thai
they die very slowly in an atmosphere
IN which children die very quickly.
The next benefit tina. comes 10 children
at pasture, Is free and universal exercise.
DIR. Do Lewis has contrived, with great
ingenuity, series of exercises which will
bring INTO action and development every
voluntary muscle of the human organism;
bnt nature is \ better counsellor than
DIR. Lewis. What he teaches us to do
bv study and pains-taking and labor,
from Al intelligent motive. she impels IL:
TO do in the simple search for amusement
in every playful manifestation of life.
The boy left TO play in the fields and
woods will, in a single day, run more
miles and exercise healthtully more mus.
clcS than could be matched 10y the ..Gghl
gymnastics" OF 4 week. This he does in
pure sport, Running, climbing, riding,
swimming, rowing, tossing, batting,
jumping, wrestling, see-sawing, rolling,
tumbllng, day after day there is not a
muscle in his little body that he does no,
bring into play. without a motive that
urges from behind, and solely for the
qualification of his greed for amusement.
Nowhere can he get this free and full
exercise except in the country. 1t is
impossible in city. A child that un-
dertakes anything more than a walk in
the street, gets kicked by a passenger.
or run over 10y horse; and back yards
are largely devoted TO rubbish and clothes
lines. - Iuoty 1aomub, in Hours at
| Home