The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-05-03

THE
which bring every muscle into play, lash
the heart into . gaIlop, and make the vital
be1lows-Ehe lungs-bIow the IRE Of life
into eioW The excitement Of the game
II Whist doctors would call its active prin-
cipIe, " for gladness il the best Of al tonics.
Even the shouting, however It may vex
theears Of old fogeys, il in itself an inn
brings the lungs and the muscles Of the
chest and throat into vigorous action.
It 10 melancholy fact, however. that -
Mr.. Walter Besant pointed out some years
ago. neither the children nor the young
people Of the lower ciasses-in London It
any rate-reaIly know how to play; and I
nor the teaching Of Toynbee hall philan-
thropists has done much TO remedy this
state Of things. It Is TO be hoped that the
London playing field committee which
was formed about year ago for the pur-
pose of providing facilities for cricket and
other games for shopmen and other toilers
may do something also for the children of
have nothing better than ssfipcat" or .1hop-
scotch TO amuse themselves With. In.
France, as ". Lagrange tells rs, games
have almost fallen into oblivion even
among the children of the well-to-
do. In Belgium, some years ago, open
air games had become lost art,
and . movement was set on foot by some
children to play. So well have the games
answered that gymnastic apparatus, trap
ezes, etc. have now all but disappeared
from Belgian schools. The result Is that
s'the children are straighter, stronger and
more gay'-the last point being, even
% regards health, Just as important as the
others. In the United States physical
Of the ordinary school curriculum. At
Boston DIR. Edward n. Hartweil has Just
been appointed doctor of physical training
in the public schools at q salary of s. 900 a
year. and the Lings or Swedish system of
exercises Ii being introduced into many
American schools. Muscular drill is not
quite F the same thing e, games, but as Sir
what" believe it would add immensely
to the usefulness Of board schools as nur-
series of efficient citizens if, as is the case
in the public schools Of Belgium, their
teaching staff included professor de jeux.
II wonld be no loss to the community If q
few of the 'ologies with which the brains
Of poor little starvelings are at the present
forced into premature exhaustion were
sacrificed TO make room for the sound
physical and moral training supplied by
the well-ordered play.
Among the upper classes, thanks to the
somewhat excessive precautions against
"overpressure" taken in our public schools
and universities, the studiosa jurentus of
this country gives at least as much time
and attention to the cultivation of its
muscles as that of its brain. It is this
early physical training that makes the
members of that class Of society politely
termed .sbarbarians" by Matthew Arnold
as superior in body as they are often in
ferior in mind to those who have to bear
the yoke of life from their childhood
Parents are sometimes unwilling to allow
their children to share in the games Of
their ompanions-especially football
from fear Of accidents. On this subject I
cannot do better than quote the words Of
DIR. Clement Dukes, whose medical
experience of schooiboys as physician
to Rugy for many years Is probably unri-
vailed. "H," he says, with regard to
football, twenty years experience at the
very birthplace of this much abused game,
played three or four times every week in
wlnter-and very warm games sometimes,
owing to the rivalry between houses for
the glory of being cock house'-counts for
anything, it ought to make parents and
doctors consider the matter more thought
fully. have never vet had one serious
accident from football-no accident more
severe than have had from cricket, house
runs, steeplechases, swimming baths. gym
nasiums and. above all, by play. If the
game were always played BY boys, the
outcry against football must cease" DR..
Dukes, however, while insisting that no
boy should be admitted into public school
who cannot take his part in games
and severely blaming the too complaisant
doctor who signs certificates of unfitness
simply to please timid mothers, lays stress
IN he arry< r.f III
boys from the big ones, and letting them
play by themselves. Much Of the danger
of outdoor games, and much of the dislike
felt for them by many boys, arises from
the custom which IS or used to be preva-
lent at certain public schools Of making
the smaller boys of or 10 join in football
or cricket with young sons Of Anak of Is
Mrs. Garrett Anderson that a Winchester,
Charterhouse and o Rugby are wanted
for them as well as for their brothers
With ono or two exceptions (among
which / should certainly number foot
ball and cricket) girls can play at
the same games as boys, and they should
be encouraged, and unless physically unfit,
not, I think, be attempted by girls before
the age of u or Whereabouts, and then
they should be carefully adapted to the
child's powers and should be pursued I'M
der the supervision of an experienced
medical adviser. Marching and wheeling,
practice with light dumb-bells and slaves.
etc.. especially If the maneuvers are
gone through to the accompaniment of
music, are particularly suited to young
girls. They give grace and precision to
the movements while developing the
strength.
Adolescence extends from puberty (about
fourteen) to twenty-three or thereabouts.
Strictly speaking it reaches to twenty-five,
as the growth cannot be considered conn.,
tinguishable periods in adolescence, the
first of which is what may be called the
maturity of boyhood. while the second is
tine dawn of manhood. In the former. the
conditions and limitations of exercise are
much the same as for the prepuberty
PERIOD. They resolve themselves into this:
Plenty of exercise, no training. While the
body is In active growth all the vital
energy seems concentrated on the process
of development. There is no storing up of
reserve force as in adult life, every atom of
material is Immediately used up in
meeting the wants of the growing
organism. Exercise, whether in games
or in gymnastic maneuvers, is use
fnl as helping the due performance of the
vital functions, but anything like fatigue
is most injurious. In estimating the
dangers of any particular kind OF exercise
II Is not the Heracleidae, but the ordinary
sons of men who form the bases of any
general formula. The weaker lads are
often tall, growth having outrun general
development, and in their case violent and
prolonged muscular exercise should not
be permitted till the frame is sufficiently
consolidated to bear the expenditure of
nervous and vital energy which il entails.
From 10 70 30 it matters little what kind
OF exercise Is taken so long as IL is suffi-