The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-07-30
WELL FORMED CHILDREN.
Facts and Conclusions Drawn from an I'M
vestigatIon OF the schools.

Facts and Conclusions Drawn from an In
vestigntion OF the schools
The common school teacher finds
perfectly healthy children are a rarity.
Seldom Will 10 per cent. of her class of
fifty be found free from any physical
defect whatever and with true devel-
opment for their age. or these it
must be regretfully admitted that the
smallest number are Americans. The
best formed school children and the
healthiest are the Germans and Bohe-
mians, the next of Irish parentage.
Nowhere, as in the south and west of
Irelanl. where children run free of
care all the year round, hatleSS, shoe
less, living on the coarsest, plainest
food, and yet with some measure of
school restrictions. can such specimens
of perfect physical beauty in form and
face be found. Giance over any school
room, with its upturned faces iuquisi-
lively questioning the thought of the
observer. and but few really fine fea-
tured children are to be found after
the age of 10 is passed.
When a handsome face, answering
all the laws that govern beauty, is dis
covered. it is invariably. synonymous
with good health in its possessor, and
all too often of foreign pareutage or
birth For these two defects, the
want of good health and good looks
and the added one of grace, in the ma
jority of public school children, one is
naturally led to think of n cause, but
instead of one there are many. The
primary one may be found in the fol-
lowing remarks of Francis Willard:
''Women's everlasting befrilled. bedi-
zened and bedraggcd style of dress is
today doing more harm to children un
born, born and dying than all other
causes that compel public attention. -
Class recitations where pupils stand
are now in most schools done away
with, aud this Is fortunate, since pu-
pills were sometimes kept an uucon-
Sclonably long time ON the floor. result
ing in evils one breads to think of, and
unfortunate in that the children have
all the session long no change of po-
sition. But the teacher who insists on
having her troublesome, uneasy little
fellows stand for half hour has much
to answer for, as well as one who an
cues strongly on the abolition of the
recess. One cannot but be sympathetic
with the teacher. If she does not keen
her pupils like SO many trained dunn.
mics she is a poor disciplinarian and
subject to dismissal. If her class does
not know every date from Adam to
Harrison, and the location of all cross
road towns from Siberia To Patagonia,
she Is not keeping up that modern
bugbear, the course of study"
DIR. Anderson gives list of the most
common physical defects found in
pupils in the public schools They are
summarized as:
Head-Droops forward; carried a
little to one side; chin raised too high.
Shoulders-Round, sloping, stsop-
ing and uneven; one lower than tile
other
Thorax-One side better developed
than the other; the diameter at the
base too short
Upper Back-Right shoulder blade
too prominent in right handed people.
between the shoulders.
Waist = Too narrow; abdominal
muscles weak.
Hips-Thrown too far forward.
Arms-Forearm better developed
than the upper arm.
Leg Better developed than thigh.
TAigh-Inside and back poorly de-
Any person entering the examining
room of gymnasium for boys would
be astonished at the large number that
have one or even more of these defects,
and with girls this is found almost uni.
versal. While with boys indulsing
in frequent play there will be found
good muscular development of the
lower limbs, the trunk, that part hold
ing the vital organs, will but occa-
sionally be found perfect on exami-
nation. As every one knows, poor
circulation is common fault, and
can be remedied by exercise properly
taken. Boston Herald.