MOTOR EDUCATION 271 



but have their uses, especially as a means of defence for women. 

 Children readily learn them and they serve as excellent training in 

 swift aggressions or defences for a weakling. 



In swimming we have a perfect means of training in grace, sym- 

 metry and forceful movements. Every child should be taught this 

 most valuable art almost as soon as it can walk. j 



Boxing may well be taught to little boys and little girls too ; if for 

 no other reason than to implant the power of standing firm on the 

 feet under all kinds of difficulty. Curiously enough there is no means 

 of teaching waltzing and guiding in a crush so good as the foot-work 

 in sparring. Since it trains the whole body, including arms, chest 

 and head (especially producing mobility and accuracy in placing the 

 neck) and above all, since it encourages the great moral qualities of 

 patience, good nature and self-restraint, sparring can be ranked among 

 the most valuable of educational exercises. 



Of the utility of dancing too much can scarcely be said in praise. 

 It is safe to endorse the unreserved recommendation of a lady whose 

 opinion in all worldly matters commands my respect, who asserts that 

 no child has been properly trained until taught at least the simpler 

 fancy dances, e. g., the sailor's hornpipe and the Spanish fandango. 

 As to " buck-and-wing " dancing, I can only say that it supplies much 

 of value in many excellent directions, but savors of boisterousness 

 overmuch for my taste. The same may be said even more emphatically 

 of jig or clog dancing. Marching, military drill, with or without arms, 

 both offer many valuable opportunities. 



The modifications of these as employed by the Turnverein drills, 

 wand and ring drills, " graces," all are to be highly commended when 

 available. 



In estimating the utility of any plan of education we should keep 

 always before us the object to be attained. However useful the ac- 

 quisition of knowledge, rules, principles, etc., may be, most, if not all 

 our daily conduct is regulated by habits. The habitual processes, both 

 mental and physical, become so strong that they dominate not only the 

 individual throughout life, but also nations and races. Habits formed 

 during one epoch impress the citizen maturing in that epoch. Another 

 epoch and different groups of impressions alter points of view. This 

 is peculiarly noticeable in religion as well as in fashions and industries. 



Habits are motor modifications in nerve substance, which gradually 

 become stable and accurate through repetition of actions, whereby they 

 grow more easy of performance. Thus is memory made the product of 

 countless actions which have been performed many times before. 

 Hence we remember most easily sense-impressions most frequently re- 

 ceived, or acts most often performed. Thus many nerve-paths are de- 

 veloped in brain-cells or fibers, also shorter and easier routes are ac- 

 quired, through connecting or association structures. Thus habit 



