262 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE. 



the young ladies only one hour of exercise, consisting 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 ; beside which, they are 

 occupied three and a half hours per day, in optional studies, 

 or in works. 



826. 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. 



827. How far these strictures are deserved by the su- 

 perintendents 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. 



828. 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 highly advanta- 

 geous to the mental progress, and certainly to the constitu- 

 tional firmness, of the pupils. 



829. 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-operation and so- 

 ciety 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 no- 

 tion that this is really exercise ; whereas the slow, measured 

 step, and the locked arms, and the solemn silence, show 

 that there is not a single element of wholesome recreation 

 in such a procession. 



830. It has already been shown, that mental cultivation 



