O SHEA — ASPECTS OP MENTAL ECONOMY. 161 



to overcome, while those activities which draw us spontaneously 

 do not require for their execution an act of volition. Observe 

 a boy at play and at work. The play may really be harder in 

 the sense that more work is done and more difficult movements 

 are performed, but yet his will is not exerting itself against ob- 

 stacles and so he is really less fatigued over the heavier than 

 the lighter task. Aud so it is with all of us ; we tire much more 

 readily in performing tasks in which we have no interest. Econ- 

 omy then demands that a student's physical exercises be gen- 

 uinely pleasurable; that he go to them without having to drive 

 Jiimself. Recreation will then accomplish the purpose for which 

 it is taken, rather than become an additional burden to an al- 

 ready overtaxed will- 1 



A word may be said before leaving this subject upon spe- 

 -cific sorts of exercise. Dancing is a very common form in our 

 community ; one hundred and sixty-seven of our students re- 

 ported that they danced, while one hundred and forty-eight did 

 not. The frequency with which dancing occurs differs much 

 with different students; many of the young women in Ladies' 

 Hall dance every night after the evening meal ; others dance once 

 a week or once in three weeks ; while a few dance once a semester. 

 The amount of dancing at any one time is, again, quite varied. 

 In Ladies' Hall it lasts for an hour in the evening. Two stu- 

 dents reported to have danced frequently until 5 o'clock in the 

 morning ; the majority of the others, however, ceased their pleas- 

 ures at 11 or 12 o'clock at night. It is not necessary here to pre- 

 sent arguments in favor of dancing as a beneficial form of exer- 

 cise ; from our point of view it answers well all the requirements, 

 especially when it is taken under conditions of good ventilation 

 and proper temperature. But too emphatic condemnation can- 



*cf. the following: O'Shea, Physical Culture in the Public Schools: Atlantic 

 "Monthly, Feb., 1895 ; Groos : Die Spiele der Menschen, especially Zweite Abtheil- 

 ung, pp. 467-503 and 516-526 ; Hughes': Educational Value of Play, and The Re- 

 cent Play Movement in Germany ; Ed. Rev., Vol. XIII, pp. 327 et seq ; G. E. 

 Johnson ; op. cit., pp. 97 et seq. ; Earl of Meath ; Public Playgrounds for Chil- 

 dren ; 19th Cent. Vol. XXXIV, pp. 267 et seq. ; Gulick : Psychological, Pedagogi- 

 cal, and Religious Aspects of Group Games; Ped. Sem., Vol. XI, No. 2 ; and Some 

 Psychical Aspects of Muscular Exercises, Pop. Sci. Mo.. Vol. 53, pp. 793-805. 



11 



