perhaps, if he is "tough," he can stand two hours. This, by the way, is quite a different thing from an irresponsible, leisurely reading of the brilliant narration of a Parkman or a Froude.

If an adult can apply himself to the acquisition of knowledge in one direction for only one hour (and how much longer can an audience listen to a lecture?), the child can evidently do very much less. At the age

of from five to seven he can attend to one subject—a single lesson-for fifteen minutes; a child from seven to ten years of age, about twenty minutes; from ten to twelve years, about twenty-five minutes; from twelve to sixteen or eighteen years, about thirty minutes. (Chadwick.)

The total of daily work corresponds with the limits of a single effort. Ten hours' work is a maximum average for young men ; and there is a regular gradation from this down to two and a half or three hours for children under seven.

The most vigorous and healthy young men are selected for West Point, and they are severely winnowed by the work required of them. They are excluded from dissipation and general society; their active bodily exercise, their regular diet and sleep, and the healthful climate of the place, leave nothing to be desired. They have ten hours a day for the six cold months; in summer much less. In our colleges, where the students are not picked for their physique,

the average actual work (study and recitation) among those who are faithful to their work will not probably exceed eight or nine hours, as far as my observation goes.

In high-schools, during the period of rapid growth and sexual development, a lower figure must be assumed; and it seems certain that five hours, or, under the most favorable circumstances, six, are all that should be required. The ages usually range from twelve to seventeen.

Below the age of twelve years, four hours are probably sufficient; below ten years, three or three and a half; below seven years, two and a half or three hours.

In England a very large number of children (over 100,000, at my latest information) are sent to school on the so-called half-time plan. This plan is the result of an attempt by the Government to suppress the evils of juvenile labor in manufactories. The children attend school about three hours a day during the school-year, and those hours are taken out of their factory-time. It is found that children thus taught make as good progress as those who attend school six hours a day. This result is probably a mixed one, due, partly, to the beneficial effects of change of occupation, and partly to the fact that six hours are clearly beyond the limit of profitable mental exertion. Something must also be ascribed to the

regularity of attendance in half-time schools, which is enforced under the penalty of exclusion from the factory.*

At what age should a child be sent to school? The kindergarten does not injure a child of four years unless carried to the point of over-excitement, which, I believe, is not often done. The common primary school, however, is decidedly objectionable. It takes very young children (six years of age), and compels them to remain twice as long as is good for them. By great ingenuity and vivacity, a teacher can keep them going upon various studies for three hours. This is all that is reasonably possible, yet the children are expected to come back for a second session in the afternoon. A school conducted by set lessons and recitationsfact should not receive children under seven or eight years of age.

a mimic grammar-school, in

* See Reports of the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor for 1871, 1875, and 1878.

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CHAPTER VI.

EXERCISE.

N spite of all that may be justly said of the value

IN

of intellectual pursuits in promoting health, it remains true that a great many brain-workers are exposed to a serious danger. The effects of unrelieved work with the mind are not always easy to trace. In the case of teachers, the system gets so gradually used to a low tone of physical life that one forgets the sensation of health, loses a standard for self-comparison, and does not become aware that ground is really lost until matters are already serious. To a person in vigorous health, with strong muscles, who feels his temper and digestion giving way under the influence of teaching, heavy gymnastics or fieldsports of an active sort may be recommended. To the less vigorous or muscular person, and to most women who teach, a daily walk of from half an hour to two hours is necessary. It should be taken in company; care should be left at home; new scenes sought, and the object should be less to get fatigue by great exertions than to give the mind an oppor

tunity to take a view of life which school-work does not give. One chief benefit of walking is that it breaks up trains of thought.

It is certainly worth while for women to cultivate muscularity, if they can do so with safety. A great many could walk five miles a day, and be the better for it; others could not: and the way to find out is by trying. Beginning with two miles, one may gradually work up to five in the course of five weeks. Perhaps it may be necessary to restrict the amount; but this must be learned by trial.

Some persons, especially teachers, ought to enjoy almost absolute rest on Sundays. Few are really aware of the value of the Sabbath as a physical agent of health. The teacher should so use it as to get a sense of renewed life every Monday, and, unless in most vigorous health, should certainly not teach in the Sunday-school.

It is difficult to state with accuracy the precise time when the frame of the body takes a permanent form; it certainly varies in different cases; but it is plain enough that there is a great difference between the years before twenty and those after. The requirements of a growing body, it cannot be too often repeated, are very different from those of an adult body. We urge gymnastics upon the adult in order to preserve the constitution; upon the child, in order to form it. Circumstances often forbid the systematic