Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/20

Rh What parent, who has observed the endless studies of his children, at school during the day, and at home in the evening, with little time and opportunity for vigorous play, and has not inwardly feared that it was too much for the boy or girl? His fears are real warnings: they are true. The studies are too much, unless offset by a proportionate amount of play and vigorous exercise. They prevent the children from developing; and they also prevent them from learning.

It is a physiological law, pointed out by Lewes in his "Dwarfs and Giants," that there is an antagonism between growth and development—by growth meaning increase of size, by development increase of structure.

The question is not only a question of bulk, but also a question of quality. A soft, flabby flesh makes as good a show as a firm one; but though to the careless eye, a youth of full flaccid tissue may appear the equal of one whose fibres are well-toned, a trial of strength will prove the difference. Obesity in adults is often a sign of feebleness.

There is a corresponding radical difference between true education and the memorizing of facts. The meaning of the word tells its own story—e—ducation—the drawing-out of what is in the child, not the