The great secret of the success sometimes observable in the early education of children, lies in the faculty of their preceptor to divest their lessons of everything pertaining to the character of a task, by surrounding them with the fascinations of a pastime. In this way, their mental faculties will become gradually developed, and with their own concurrence as it were--a result which is seldom or never realized by keeping them staring into the dull features of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, framed in the monotonous page of monotonous primer. Familiar objects and pleasant pictures should furnish the first mental food for the young; nor should their faculties be taxed beyond these, until both brain and muscle acquired something like true consistence. When it is time to begin to educate the mind in a more serious and formal manner, it is time, whether the subject be boy or girl, to begin the course of physical training of which I have already spoken, and failing which both mind and body must suffer alike. Let me, then, while entering upon this part of my subject, direct attention to the fact, in the first place, that every household in the land, rich or poor, high or low, has within itself the elements of a gymnasium; nay, more, that every individual who walks the streets or the fields, can, in his or her own person, command those elements to a large extent. For example, every movement of ours, no matter how simple or complex, brings a certain muscle or set of muscles into play, and such movement is represented by some fact in the gymnasium which takes precisely the same muscle or set of muscles, and which tends to develop and strengthen them. Now, from this one observation, it will be apparent to even the most casual reader, that a gymnasium contains within itself all the aids necessary to the true development of brawn and muscle; and that it tends toward perfecting and assuring every physical motion made by us in the pursuit of our daily avocations, or in the pursuit of any project, no matter how trifling, laborious or trying. The truth is, the gymnasium is the great builder up and educator of our mere physical system, and the promoter of health and strength and manly or feminine beauty. It is the deadly enemy of all disease and nervous debility; from the fact that it enlarges the chest, invigorates the lungs, and gives them fuller scope and power, and so strengthens, trains and indurates the muscles, that the mechanism of the human frame, under its wondrous influence, becomes almost invincible and capable of performing, with ease and precision, feats of strength, agility and endurance, of which the mere novice has no idea whatever. Whether we practice its usages in public or in our own private apartments, the result is the same--health, strength and manly or feminine beauty wait upon them. Our enjoyment of life is keener, our presence more impressive, and our movements filled with easy assurance and well-defined grace.