18 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
charge it on the Puritans. They are not even 
answerable for Massachusetts ; for there is no 
doubt that athletic exercises, of some sort, were 
far more generally practised in this community 
before the Revolution than at present. A state 
of almost constant Indian warfare then created 
an obvious demand for muscle and agility. At 
present there is no such immediate necessity, 
and it has been supposed that a race of shop- 
keepers, brokers, and lawyers could live with- 
out bodies. Now that the terrible records of 
dyspepsia and paralysis are disproving this, one 
may hope for a reaction in favor of bodily exer- 
cises. When we once begin the competition, 
there seems no reason why any other nation 
should surpass us. The wide area of our coun- 
try, and its variety of surface and shore, offer a 
corresponding range of physical training. Con- 
trast our various aquatic opportunities, for in- 
stance. It is one thing to steer a pleasure- 
boat with a rudder, and another to steer a dory 
with an oar; one thing to paddle a birch canoe, 
and another to paddle a ducking float; in a 
Charles River club-boat, the post of honor is in 
the stern, —in a Penobscot Jateau, in the bow; 
and each of these experiences educates a differ- 
ent set of muscles. Add to this the constitu- 
tional American receptiveness, which welcomes 
new pursuits without distinction of origin, — 
