The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-09-20
Our Girls.

l do not maintain that girls should
live quiet like boys. They are to be
the future queens of our homes, and
it is proper for them to live more
hours in the house than their brothers;
but they go too far in this divergence.
If l had dozen girls in my family.
and am sorry / have not, l should
try to keep the little ones, until six or
seven years old, in the open air as
many hours as did my boys, which
would be nearly all the time, weather
permitting.
The reasons why girls ought to live
out of doors great deal are these:
First. They get more and better
air, and consequently develop better
lungs. A girl indoors inhales about
half as much as one outdoors. In the
house, doing ordinary work, she re-
quires hourly 30OU cubic feet of fresh
air, bat she hardly ever gets over 1000
cubic feet. Out of doors she can get
just as much as her lungs will hold
million gallons, if she could hold so
much. l doubt if girls know the real
value of good air. When they breathe
a good deal their life is vigorous and
energetic. Birds, living day and night
in the great outdoors, have sound
lungs, their lives are joyous, they
never get the blues. Girls living in
doors most of the time become pale,
feeble, dull, stupid, have headaches,
and become next to good for nothing.
Second. Another reason for out-of-
door life is, they get the benefit of the
sunshine. Girls differ from boys in
their ideas of light. Boys, as rule,
love the light. Girls, as a rule, do not
love it. The reason is, they have been
taught from their birth to keep out of
the sunshine. Their mothers tell
them it spoils their complexion. L
have profound respect for mothers,
but they err in this matter.
Third. Girls who live out doors be-
come muscular, and learn how to use
their muscles. They lose that fear
that makes so many Of them scream
at mouse, and go into fits ii a bug
crawls upon their clothes. | was
once teacher in school for girls, and
a great dog came bounding into the
room. Every pupil there but one was
badly frightened, and the running,
screaming and crying that prevailed
for moment was something painful.
One girl was not frightened. She was
a tom-boy who had lived out of doors
great deal more than the others, and
got physical strength and courage
from it. l believe if the dog had been
mad, or if it had been wild bull, she
would not have WINGED. Since then
she has greatly distinguished herself
in the world.
How can girls get chance to live
out of doors more? When they are
little children their fathers and moth
ers must provide them with opportu-
mites. This is sacred duty Of theirs
which they should no more omit than
to provide them with food and cloth
ing. have found that the daughters
of poor people get out of doors more
than the daughters of rich parents,
and that as consequence they are
generally healthier and stronger, and
often more beautiful. After girls get
larger they must go out of their own
accord, and seek out-of-door sports
suitable to them, and more can be in
vented. Archery is one of them;
rowing, riding, skating, walking, are
others. Then there ar out-of-door Ia
bors. There is flower culture and
gardening. Some years ago / pub
lished book called "The School
Garden" advocating that every school
should have piece of ground where
girls and boys could study horticul-
ture and agriculture. 1 am sorry to
say the idea did not take well in this
country, but in France and Germany
it has become popular, and already
they have thousands of school gar
dens where the boys and girls work
and get out of-door life, even while at
school. Botanizing and all similar
out-of-door pursuits should be en-
couraged. To study botany, geology,
geography, mineralegy and natural
history outdoors is worth a million
times as much as to study them in
books in the house. What can you
learn about birds unless you go and
live with them?
Our American girls should be
trained from their infancy to out-of-
door life. If they do not begin early,
they will never learn to love nature,
be at home with trees, birds, winds.
storm and wave, and never really
know their true mother-N AZURE.
Girls, live out doors all you can. Take
your work out when the weather will
permit; learn some of the varieties of
out-of-door work, all sorts of suitable
out-of-door sport, and my word for it
you will be stronger, healthier, hap
pier, and handsomer.-Dr. Holbrook,
in DiO ,nwic' MOnthlU