The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 987, November 26, 1898 — John Shaqi
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 987, November 26, 1898Various
General
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX, No. 987, November 26, 1898
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
It remains for me to say a few words on the economy of our powers or
strength, which must be subdivided into physical and moral. Here the
idea of law involved in the word economy plays a most important part,
for nature has certain laws which, in our employment of our forces, she
will not allow to be transgressed with impunity; if we overtax either
our bodily or mental strength, we shall find that this disregard of
nature's laws will, sooner or later, bring its inevitable punishment.
A word of warning against the folly of taking physical exercise in
excess will hardly be out of season just now, when bicycling is so very
popular, that one unfortunately hears of many men, women and girls who
have made themselves ill by riding too fast or too long distances at a
stretch, or who, in other words, have not listened to the warning of
Nature, which says, "Do enough, but not too much." It is such a pity
ever to convert what is intended to be a beneficent pleasure into an
evil through our inability to practise a little self-restraint, and
this may arise not only from doing too much, but also from doing it
in a reckless and senseless manner. I heard it said recently that,
according to computations, there had been more deaths from bicycling
accidents in the last year in England than there had been English
soldiers killed throughout the present Egyptian campaign, from its
very beginning to after the Battle of Omdurman; and when one reads the
accounts of these accidents, one finds that nearly every one was caused
directly by the rider's recklessness and want of prudence. Too much
physical exercise also weakens our mental powers, so intimately are
mind and body connected, that that is an additional reason for taking
bicycling and all other bodily exercises in moderation, lest we should
be too tired to fulfil our other duties. The same warning applies to
mental overwork. How many a girl while at school, and more especially
at College, ruins her eyesight, if not her constitution, by poring
over her books at all hours, even when she ought to be taking the
much-needed rest of sleep, or of open-air exercise; and they cannot, or
will not, believe that time spent on necessary recreation and change
of occupation is time saved, not lost, and will enable them to resume
their work or exercise with far more vigour.
Therefore, dear girls, listen to your common sense, and stop
immediately when you feel that, either in work or play, you are getting
overtired.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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