NATURE REQUIRES EXCITING EXERCISE. 243 



sic, so as to keep a part of the band constantly playing 

 such airs as to accommodate the pace of the marching 

 soldiers. 



The same principle is involved in the attempt of an 

 adult, to follow a child of three or four years old, where- 

 ever it chooses to go for a whole day ; taking a similar 

 number of steps, and using similar gestures. A healthy, 

 active child, if entirely unrestrained, will soon convince 

 the unthinking adult who undertakes such a task, that 

 he has a day's work before him which he little expected ; 

 nor do we believe it in the power of many persons to 

 perform such a feat. The reason is obvious : the child 

 is constantly excited by his play, and by a succession of 

 new objects, and new motives ; while the adult, having 

 no mental excitement, by which the nervous influence is 

 sent from the brain to the muscles, their contractions 

 are merely mechanical, and therefore they soon become 

 exhausted. 



A parallel case is, where two men of equal muscular 

 powers go out on a sporting excursion, the one a keen, 

 and ardent sportsman, and the other going as a mere 

 spectator. The former having a motive, and being con- 

 stantly intent upon his game, but not thinking of himself, 

 will traverse bogs, bushes and briers, for miles, without 

 being aware of distance, or time, or place, and without 

 feeling the least fatigue ; while the spectator, trying to 

 keep with his companion, without any other motive than 

 doing so, soon becomes so exhausted as to be incapable 

 of further action, often wondering at the same time, how 

 it is possible for his companion to go at such a rate, 

 through such walking, and for so long a time, without 

 complaining of fatigue. 



NATURE REQUIRES EXCITING EXERCISE. 



It is in vain to plead natural gravity, or a want of dis- 

 position to indulge in those exercises which relax the 

 mind of the studious, as an excuse for denying them to 

 others, or not adopting such for ourselves. Nature, 

 whose laws we profess to follow in this matter, makes 

 no such excuse. On the contrary, unless the system be 



