SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF RECREATION. 785 



Sunday work on the part of porters, etc. To this argument it is suffi- 

 cient to reply, in the first place, that, if desirable, voluntary labor of 

 so light a kind would be forthcoming ; and, next, in the words of the 

 Earl of Derby, who " did not deny the extreme importance of main- 

 taining the day of national rest ; but they must recollect that, wherever 

 recreation was allowed, some labor must be thrown on those who pro- 

 vided it. They permitted excursion-trains, etc., . . . and on the whole 

 there was a great preponderance of advantage over disadvantage." 

 As in most museums and galleries the porters and other servants em- 

 ployed on Sundays would probably not amount to one half per cent, 

 of the visitors who would profit by their labor, I think that the argu- 

 ment may in this, more than in any other case of Sunday work, be set 

 aside as absurd. 



I have been tempted to dwell thus at considerable length on the 

 question of Sunday recreation, because it is one that is now prominently 

 before the public, and therefore I hope that a few words in season 

 may help to hasten a reform which sooner or later is inevitable. As 

 regards the recreation of workingmen, I have only further to say that 

 institutions on the model of workingmen's clubs deserve to be encour- 

 aged in every possible way. "Wealthy and benevolent persons could 

 not do better with their means than to found such clubs where most 

 required, and to endow them with a small annuity which would serve 

 as a nucleus to club subscriptions, a greater number of subscribers being 

 insured by the smaller amount of the fees. The Volunteer movement 

 also deserves every encouragement, as supplying exercise and recrea- 

 tion to all classes at a very moderate cost. 



Turning next to the recreation of women, I shall begin, as in the 

 case of men, with the upper classes. And here, for the sake of empha- 

 sis, I shall confine my remarks to the one topic of muscular exercise. 

 For ladies, more than any other section of the community, have fallen 

 into the habit of neglecting exercise, and I am sure that I can not draw 

 too dreadful a picture of the consequences which here arise from the 

 too general custom. These consequences are all the more to be feared 

 because many of them are of so insidious a kind that the root of 

 the evil may never be suspected. It is not my intention to frighten 

 any of the fair sex by unfolding a tale of horrors ; so I will only say, 

 in general terms, that I am quite sure among ladies there is no one 

 source of disease and early death more prevalent than is this habitual 

 violation of the best known among the laws of health. Consider for a 

 moment what the life of a lady in town usually is. She rises probably 

 at nine or ten o'clock, without much appetite for breakfast. Till 

 luncheon she remains indoors, reading a novel or magazine, writing 

 letters, or attending to her household duties. After luncheon she 

 takes a little " carriage-exercise " observe the unconscious irony of 

 the term pays a few afternoon calls, and returns home to afternoon 

 tea. Until it is time to be dressed for dinner, there is another period 



VOL. XT. 50 



