Sound like a distant torrent's fall,

And answer, “Let one living head, But one arise we come, we come!" "T is but the living who are dumb.

NOTE. It has not been thought necessary, by multiplying pieces for recitation or declamation, to make ours a voluminous Speaker. There are many others published, containing a great variety of Exercires, and nothing elso; to which we refer our young friends.

PART VI.

GYMNASTICS AND CALISTHENICS.

GYMNASTICS AND CALISTHENICS.

THE neglect of physical education has been a great practic: error in our American system of education.

In the endeavor to secure intellectual culture in the most expeditious manner, due reference has not been had to the health, and physical ability of the young scholar; and, as a consequence of the neglect of proper exercise and physical training, the result has unquestionably been, disease, deformity, and premature death, in no small number of instances.

The body, no less than the mind, demands the enlightened care of all guardians and teachers of youth: both require their appropriate discipline, that health, beauty, and grace, may be found coincident with mental improvement, refinement, and taste.

How seldom is all this realized as the result of our present systematic education of youth? How often is this so called education arrested or frustrated by physical infirmities, the legitimate consequences of a violation of the laws of nature, and of neglect of the requisite means for the preservation of the health of the body?

A distinguished English physician affirms that "deficiency of exercise in the open air may be considered as the parent of one-half of female disorders-the pallid complexions, the languid movements, the torpid secretions, flaccid muscles, and disordered functions, and consumption itself," he adds, "attest the truth of this assertion." An American writer, also, speaking of our physical deterioration, says, "We have violated law upon law until we stand amid ruins.”

It is certain that women suffer more than men from defective physical training; and inasmuch as the usages of society impose certain restraints upon their free activity in public, it is evident that the evil effects of inactivity will not be obviated, unless special means are employed, under the direction of teachers and parents, to improve and perfect the powers and development of the body, as well as of the mind.

In addition, then, to exercise especially walking in the open air, together with free expansion of the lungs, and use of the vocal organs, there is nothing that presents so many advantages to the young female as a well devised system of Calisthenics, or exercises having for their end “beauty and strength." By calling into action the various muscles of the body, these exercises are adapted to obviate muscular weakness, and consequent deformity, and to produce an erect and symmetrical figure, as well as ease and grace of manner. Their influence extends also to the nervous system, and to the circulation of the blood, affording a healthful hue to the skin, and a general improvement in all the functions of life.

It may be proper in this connection to allude to the subject of Gymnastics, or exercises for young men, since it is not to be denied that they also suffer too close confinement to study or business, and neglect of free and sufficient activity of body. The great defect of ordinary exercise, undertaken for the promotion of health, is that it lacks an object, and consequently fails of its end; but in gymnastics there is much to excite the mind as well as to employ the bodily powers. These exercises may, with proper care, be resorted to for almost any kind of muscular weakness, while they are also adapted to obviate stiff and awkward habits, contracted by confinement and study.

We conclude these brief and general remarks with another quotation

from one of the first English physicians: 'Those who can engage in any of the lighter gymnastic exercises should be urged to it by every kind of persuasion, especially in the cool seasons of the year. There are means within the reach of almost all, and the advantages to be derived from such a system are incalculable."— Dr. Johrison's Economy of Health, p. 184.