The Open Air 



Here, then, is a sound constitution, a powerful frame, 

 well knit, hardened an almost perfect physical 

 existence. 



He would marry, if fortunate, at thirty or thirty- 

 five, naturally choosing the most charming of his 

 acquaintances. She would be equally healthy and 

 proportionally as strong, for the ladies of those days 

 were accustomed to work from childhood. By cus- 

 tom soon after marriage she would work harder than 

 before, notwithstanding her husband's fair store of 

 guineas in the iron-bound box. The house, the dairy, 

 the cheese-loft, would keep her arms in training. 

 Even since I recollect, the work done by ladies in 

 country houses was something astonishing, ladies 

 by right of well-to-do parents, by right of education 

 and manners. Really, it seems that there is no work 

 a woman cannot do with the best results for herself, 

 always provided that it does not throw a strain upon 

 the loins. Healthy children sprung from such parents, 

 while continuing the general type, usually tend 

 towards a refinement of the features. Under such 

 natural and healthy conditions, if the mother have 

 a good shape, the daughter is finer; if the father 

 be of good height, the son is taller. These children 

 in their turn go through the same open-air training. 

 In course of years, the family guineas increasing, 

 home comforts increase, and manners are polished. 

 Another generation sees the cast of countenance 

 smoothed of its original ruggedness, while preserv- 

 ing its good proportion. The hard chin becomes 

 rounded and not too prominent, the cheek-bones 

 sink, the ears are smaller, a softness spreads itself 

 over the whole face That which was only honest 

 now grows tender. Again another generation, 

 and it is a settled axiom that the family are 



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