No education is complete which fails to provide for the development of the
muscles. Recesses should be as strictly devoted to play as study hours are
to work. Were gymnastics or calisthenics as regular an exercise as grammar
or arithmetic, fewer pupils would be compelled to leave school on account
of ill health; while spinal curvatures, weak backs, and ungraceful gaits
would no longer characterize so many of our best institutions.
TIME FOR EXERCISE.--We should not exercise after long abstinence from
food, nor immediately after a meal, unless the meal or the exercise be
very light. There is an old-fashioned prejudice in favor of exercise
before breakfast--an hour suited to the strong and healthy, but entirely
unfitted to the weak and delicate. On first rising in the morning, the
pulse is low, the skin relaxed, and the system susceptible to cold. Feeble
persons, therefore, need to be braced with food before they brave the
outdoor air.
WHAT KIND OF EXCERCISE TO TAKE.--For children, games are unequaled.
Walking, the universal exercise, [Footnote: The custom of walking, so
prevalent in England, has doubtless much to do with the superior physique
of its people. It is considered nothing for a woman to take a walk of
eight or ten miles, and long pedestrian excursions are made to all parts
of the country. The benefits which accrue from such an open-air life are
sadly needed by the women of our own land. A walk of half a dozen miles
should be a pleasant recreation for any healthy person.] is beneficial, as
it takes one into the open air and sunlight. Running is better, since it
employs more muscles, but it must not be pushed to excess, as it taxes the
heart, and may lead to disease of that organ. Rowing is more effectual in
its general development of the system. Swimming employs the muscles of the
whole body, and is a valuable acquirement, as it may be the means of
saving life. Horseback riding is a fine accomplishment, and refreshes both
mind and body. Gymnastic or calisthenic exercises bring into play all the
muscles of the body, and when carefully selected, and not immoderately
employed, are preferable to any other mode of indoor exercise. [Footnote:
The employment of the muscles in exercise not only benefits their especial
structure, but it acts on the whole system. When the muscles are put in
action, the capillary blood vessels with which they are supplied become
more rapidly charged with blood, and active changes take place, not only
in the muscles, but in all the surrounding tissues. The heart is required
to supply more blood, and accordingly beats more rapidly in order to meet
the demand. A larger quantity of blood is sent through the lungs, and
larger supplies of oxygen are taken in and carried to the various tissues.
The oxygen, by combining with the carbon of the blood and the tissues,
engenders a larger quantity of heat, which produces an action on the skin,
in order that the superfluous warmth may be disposed of. The skin is thus
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