Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-03

lungs ana the muscles OF the cnesI ant
throat into vigorous action.
1t is a melancholy fact. however, that a.
Mr.. Walter Besant pointed out some year.
ago, neither the children nor the young peo
| pie of the lower classes really know low tt
play; and am afraid that neither the Peo
| Piles Palace nor the teaching of Toynbe,
Hall philanthropists has done much to rem
edy this state of things. 1t is to be hoped
that the London Playing Field Committe.
which was formed about year ago for tn,
purpose OF providing facilities for cricke
and other games for shopmen and othel
toilers may do something also for the chill
dren of the slums, who, in their crowded
courts, have nothing better than "tipcat'
and "hopscotch" to amuse themselves with
In France, as II. Lagrange tells us, game.
have almost fallen into oblivion ever
among the children of the well.to-do. Ir
Belgium some years ago open air games
had become a lost art, and movement wal
set on foot by some enlightened educational
reformers to teach children to play. Sc
well have the games answered that gymnas
tic apparatus, trapezes. etc., have now all
but disappeared from Belgian schools. The
result is that "the children are straighter
stronger and more gay''-the last point be.
ing, even as regards health, Just as import.
ant as the others.
Progress in the United stxtes.
In the United States physical culture i.
also beginning to be made part OF the or
binary school curriculum. AT Boston DR..
Edward NJ. Hartwell has just been ap.
pointed doctor of physical training in the
public schools at salary of 5000 year,
and the Lings or Swedish system of exer.
cises is being introduced into many Ameri-
can schools. Muscular drill is not quite
the same thing as games, but as Sir Thomas
More said, Merry, it is somewhat" be-
lieve it would add Immensely to the useful
ness of board schools as nurseries of efficient
citizens, if as is the case in the public
schools of Belgium, their teaching staff in
cluded professor de jeux. 1t would be no
loss to the community ii few of the 'ologies
with which the brains of the poor little
stsrvelings are at the present forced into
premature exhaustion were at present sacri-
feed to make room for the sound physical
and moral training supplied by the we'll
ordered play.
Among the upper classes, thanks to the
somewhat excessive precautions against
"overpressure" taken in our public schools
and universities, the studiosa juventus of
this country gives at least as much time and
attention to the cultivation of its muscles as
to that of its brain. 1t is this early physical
training that makes the members of that
class of society politely termed "barbarians'
BY Matthew Arnold as superior in body as
they are often inferior in mind to those who
have to bear the yoke of life from their
childhood.
The Danger Of Injury In Football
Parents are sometimes unwilling to allow
their children to share in the games of their
ompanions-especially football-irom fear
of accidents. On tnis subject 1 cannot do
better than quote the words of DR.. Clement
Dukes, whose medical experience of school
boys as physician to Rugby for many years
is probably unrIvaled. eff" he saws,
with regard to football, twenty years ex-
perience at the very birthplace of this much
abused game, played three or four times
every week in winter-and very warm
games sometimes, owing to the rivalry be-
tween houses for the glory OF being cock.
house'-counts for anything, it ought to
make parents and doctors consider the mat
ter more thoughtfully. 1 have never yet
had one serious accident from football
no accident more severe than I have had
from cricket, house runs, steeplechases,
swimming baths. gymnasiums, and, above
all, bv 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 compIaisant
doctor who signs certificates of unftness
simply to please timid mothers. lays stress
on the necessity ofseparating the small boys
from the big ones, and letting them play by
themselves. Much of the danger of out
door games, and much of the dislike felt for
them by many boys, arises from the custom
which is. or used to be, prevalent at certain
public schools of making the smaller boys
of or 10 join in football or cricket with
young sons of Anak OF Is or 10.
Exercise With Reference to Grace.
With regard to girls I agree with Mrs.
Garrett Anderson that a Winchester a
them as we'll as for their brothers. With
one or two exceptions (among which 1
should certainly number football and
cricket) girls can play at the same games as
boys and they should be encouraged, and
unless physically unfit, compelled to do so.
Gymnastics should not, think, be at
tempted by girls before the age of IL or
thereabouts, and then they should be care
fully adapted to the child's powers and
should be pursued under the supervision of
an experienced medical adviser. Marching
and wheeling, practice with light dumb
bells and slaves, etc., especially if tbs
maneuvers are gone through to the accom-
paniment of music, are particularly suited
to young girls. They give grace and pre-
cision to the movements while developing
the strength.
Adolescence extends from puberty (about
14) to 2S or thereabouts. Strictly speaking
it reaches to %, as the growth cannot be
considered complete until then. There are
two easily distinguishable periods in adoles-
cence, the first of which is what may be
called the maturity of boyhood, while the
second is the dawn of manhood. In the
former the conditions and limitations of ex-
ercise are much the same as for the prepu-
berty period. They resolve themselves into
this: Plenty OF exercise, no training.
Must Stop Before Fatigued.
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 lite, 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 useful 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 it 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 vio-
lent and prolonged muscular exercise should
not be permitted till the frame is sufficiently
consolidated to bear the expenditure of ner-
vous and vital energy which it entails.
From 20 to 80 it matters little what exer-
else is taken SO long as it is sufficient with
out being excessive. For men who live in