266 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE. 



low the young ladies only one hour of exercise, consist- 

 ing of a slow walk arm in arm on the high road, and that 

 even this, only when the weather is fine, while their 

 tasks in school are continued nine hours ; besides which, 

 they are occupied three and a half hours per day, in op- 

 tional studies, or in works. 



Dr. Barlow further remarks, that the superintend- 

 ents of these schools are generally extremely anxious 

 about the welfare and health of their pupils ; and that it 

 is through ignorance of the consequences, that such a 

 course is pursued. 



How far these strictures are deserved by the superin- 

 tendents of boarding schools in this country, the author 

 does not pretend to judge. It is however well known, 

 and acknowledged, that the subject of popular education 

 in this country, is better understood than it is in Great 

 Britain, or perhaps in any part of Europe ; and we may 

 therefore perhaps justly infer, without reference to the 

 facts, that at least some of the pernicious usages still re- 

 tained in their schools, no longer exist here. 



It is however believed that a reference to the facts 

 will show, that at least in New England, the boarding 

 schools to a considerable extent, are in a measure free 

 from deserving censure on account of confining their 

 pupils too closely ; though we have no doubt that less 

 study and more exercise, taken regularly, would be high- 

 ly advantageous to the mental progress, and certainly to 

 the constitutional firmness of the pupils. 



Instead of so many successive hours being devoted to 

 study and to books, the employments of the young ought 

 to be varied, and interrupted by proper intervals of 

 cheerful and exhilarating exercise ; such as is derived 

 from games of dexterity, which require the co-opera- 

 tion, and society of their companions. This is infinitely 

 preferable to the solemn processions which are so often 

 substituted for recreation, and which are rather hurtful 

 than otherwise, inasmuch as they delude parents and 

 teachers into the notion that this is really exercise ; 

 whereas the slow, measured step, and the locked arms, 

 and the solemn silence, shows that there is not a single 

 element of wholesome recreation in such a procession. 



It has already been shown, that mental cultivation 



