But, if fashion must prevail, and infants are to be sent to school, we would recommend it to teachers, as they value the interests of society, not to confine them too long at a time, but allow them to run about and play at such active diversions as may promote their growth, and strengthen their constitutions. Were boys, instead of being whipped for stealing an hour to run, ride, swim, or the like, encouraged to employ a proper part of their time in these manly and useful exercises, it would have many excellent effects. It would be of great service to boys, if, at a proper age, they were taught the military exercise. This would increase their strength, inspire them with courage, and when their country called for their assistance, would enable them to act in her defence, without being obliged to undergo a tedious and troublesome course of instructions, at a time when they are less fit to learn new motions, gestures, &c.[16] An effeminate education will infallibly spoil the best natural constitution; and if boys are brought up in a more delicate manner than even girls ought to be, they never will be men. Nor is the common education of girls less hurtful to the constitution than that of boys. Miss is set down to her frame before she can put on her clothes; and is taught to believe, that to excel at the needle is the only thing that can entitle her to general esteem. It is unnecessary here to insist upon the dangerous consequences of obliging girls to sit too much. They are pretty well known, and are too often felt at a certain time of life. But supposing this critical period to be got over, greater dangers still await them when they come to be mothers. Women who have been early accustomed to a sedentary life, generally run great hazard in child-bed; while those who have been used to romp about, and take sufficient exercise, are seldom in any danger. One hardly meets with a girl who can at the same time boast of early performances by the needle, and a good constitution. Close and early confinement generally occasions indigestions, head-achs, pale complexions, pain of the stomach, loss of appetite, coughs, consumptions of the lungs, and deformity of body. The last of these indeed is not to be wondered at, considering the awkward postures in which girls sit at many kinds of needle-work, and the delicate flexible state of their bodies in the early periods of life. Would mothers, instead of having their daughters instructed in many trifling accomplishments, employ them in plain work and housewifery, and allow them sufficient exercise in the open air, they would both make them more healthy mothers, and more useful members of society. I am no enemy to genteel accomplishments, but would have them only considered as secondary, and always disregarded when they impair health.