NATURE REQUIRES EXCITING EXERCISE. 239 



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

 such airs as to accommodate the pace of the marching 

 soldiers. 



757. 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 pow,er of many persons to per- 

 form 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 ex- 

 hausted. 



758. A parallel case is, where two men of equal mus- 

 cular 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 briars, 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. 



759. It is in vain to plead natural gravity, or a want 

 of disposition 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 worn out 



