The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-04-30
THE TRYING TIME OF LIFE.

THE TRYING TIME OF LIFE.
The third of the series of lectures
givn by DR.. G. Stanley Hall was de-
livered at the Philadelphia Normal
School last evening, upon the subject
of adolescence"
DIR. Hall began by saying that adol-
escence, which begins in our age and
climate at about fourteen, requires at
least ten years before it's ferment is
completed and full maturity and nu-
bility is attained. Every pert of the
body undergoes important changes.
The brain ceases to grow in size and
begins to develop ON the new line of
function. The texture and often the
color Of the hair change. The muscles
increase, first in size and then in pow
er. The body temperature is about
half a degree or more higher. Tbs
bones often lead in the general growth
The calibre of the arteries increases,
perhaps, more rapidly and suddenly
than almost any other function. This
ough ght to be the healthiest period of
life. The slow onset of all hereditary
diseases is first shown in arrested or
retarded growth. During it's later
stages the. final development of every
function is exceedingly precarious.
Full development of chest, shoulders,
thorax, hips and arms may very easi-
ly, indeed, he checked by overwork, er-
rors in diet or regimen generally.
Hence it is the most critical stage of
life and to it both the pedagogue and
the philosopher should give his best
skill.
Every sense is profoundly modified
This is the age, too, Of concealment.
The fondest parent is shut out from
some areas of the soul. Again, it is
the awkward age, when growth is so
rapid that poise, gait and motion are
affected. Then there is the fiuctua-
tion of mode, never so frequent or in
tense, from sad to gay, from extreme
selishness to the abandon of selfabne-
CATION, from fits of unusual energy to
positive limpness, from hate bitter as
Hades to love as pure and high as
heaven.
This is the golden period of imagi-
nation, when reverie and day-dream-
ing and idealization are at their strong
est and best. 1t is never 80 hard to
make fact and fancy fit, so that the
lies, especially Of the fancy, are never
80 liable. Ambition, too, is at its
strongest aud best. Youth wants to
do, be, get the biggest and best. Its
watchword is Excelsior.
The emotions are never so intense
and the feeling-instincts never so prod
igal. Every fibre of soul and body
glow and Jingle, and become arethic.
The great danger is that of introspec-
ton, two functions which should be
left alone, but which are in the ascent
at this period Hence the proper reg
linen is objective life, with plenty of
exposure, hard beds, cold rooms, plain
diet, plenty of healthy fatigue, and,
above all, the avoidance of tastidious-
ness, which is one of the worst signs
in young man.
Nature here, as everywhere, must
be our guide. She suggests beginning
with large enthusiasms for the good,
the beautiful and true, and focusing
very slowly and late toward those
functions that connect one generation
with the next. Everything depends
upon parental wisdom; just enough
and not too much instruction, rightly
timed. In our own country, with its
universally stimulating atmosphere
and environment, together with the
early decay of parental authority, the
danger is perhaps greater than it has
ever been anywhere in all history, and
the difficulty of the interger vitae see
lerisque purus is proportionately
great. The end Of everything is to
bring young men and women to the
fullest possible maturity of soul and
body TO do this or to fail of it is the
chief test, yes, the very highest possi-
BILE criterion, of every religion, civil
nfx,