The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1870-01-20
Physical EDUCATION.

During childhood, as we'll as iu' ins
fancy, the regulation Of the vegetatiye'
functions ought to be the most impor:
tant point Of education. A good aud
healthy organization is the basis OF all
employment and enjoyment. Many
parents, however, are anxious 10 cultt-
vate the mind at the expense Of the
body. They think they cannot IN
struct their offspring early enough TO
read aud write, while their bodily con-
stitution and health are over looked :.
Children are shut up, forced to sit gui,
ct, aud breathe confined air. Tina
error is the greater the more delieats
the children, and the more premature
their mental powers are. The bodily
powers Of such children are sooner ex-
hausted, they suffer from dyspepsia
headache, aud host OF nervous cont
plants their brain is liable 70 inilanl.
nation aud Serious effusiou aud n
premature death is frequently the
consequence Of such violation Of ma
ture.
It is indeed to be lamented that tllo.I
influence Of the physical on the moral
part of ihan is not sufficiently under
stood. There are parents who will pay
masters very dearly, in hope Of giving
excelency to their children, but who
will hesitate to spend the tenth part to
procure them bodily health. Some BY
an absurd infatuation take their own
constitution as a measure Of those Of
their children and because they
themselves in advanced Ii o can sup~
port confinement aud intense applica-
tion with little injury TO health, they
conclude that their young and delicate
children can do the same. Such no.
tions are altogether erroneous-bodily
deformities, curved spines and .unftness
for various occupations, and the fulfill
ment Of future duties, frequently result
from such misunderstood management
of children. Tie advantages Of a sound
body are incalcuable for the individuals
themselves, their friends, and their
posterity.
Body aud mind ought to be eultiHa-
ted in harmony, aud neither of them
at the expense OF the other Health
should be the basis, and instruction tho
ornament of early education. The do
velopmcnt of the body will assist the
manifestations of the mind, and good
mental education win contribute TO.
bodily health The organs Of the men
tai operations, when they arc too soon
and too much exercised, suffer aud be-
come unfit for their functions. This
explains the reason why young &C.
muses. often descend at later age into
the class OF common men. Indeed.
experience shows, that among children of
almost equal dispositions, those whoare
brought up without particular care,
and begin to read and TO write when
their bodily constitution has acquired
some solidity, soon eyerlake those who
are dragged early to their spelling
books to the detriment Of their bodily
frame. No school education, strictly
speaking, ought to begin before seven
years Of age.
| The brains of delicate children and
premature geniuses ought to be cxer.
cised late, and the greater their mental
activity is the less it needs to be ex,
ercised, and the more care is to be tax
en- Of the body and the physical educe-
tion.
1t is also very important to know
that during the climactcric years, when
the body increases most rapidly, the
mental powers are weaker. Hence Al
that period the body requires greater
attention than the mind.