Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 6.djvu/68

58 there was comprehensive, and it required the closest application of an ambitious scholar to succeed.

One hour was allowed for walking and recreation during the day; and half of that hour could be spent, if the pupil desired to do so, in the music-room. As the months went on, I began to notice that her complexion, which had been pure rose-leaf, became almost transparent, and that the fresh blood left her cheeks: still she did not complain nor lose flesh, but said sometimes, if she could sleep a week she would enjoy it, and that it almost always happened, when she was unwell, she had the most to do, and the longest to stand. Her progress in her studies was wonderful; and it seems incredible to me now that we should have let her devote herself so entirely to them. Her musical talents were great, and they were under cultivation also: when she was seventeen she was the first soprano singer in the choir of the church to which she belonged.

At last I began to be alarmed at the remarkable flow whenever she was unwell, and at the frequent recurrence of the periodical function. I felt as if something should be done, and consulted our family physician as to what could be given her, and how this increased action could be stopped or diminished.

He prescribed iron as a tonic, but said that we should do nothing more; for that "every woman was a law unto herself," and, as long as nothing more serious occurred, she was to be let alone. This from a man who had daughters himself, and eminent in the profession! Never a word about rest, never a caution that she could overwork herself, and thus bring misery for the remainder of her life. She left school, in June of that year, with noble honors and an aching frame, and, after two months' vacation and rest, which seemed to do her a world of good, began in September another year of unremitting hard study. Loving and gratified parents, proud and expectant teachers, looked upon her as capable of accomplishing all that had ever been done by faithful students, and of advancing far beyond all who were in the graduating class with her.

Her teachers were as kind as any could have been. I think the fault was in the system that requires so many hours of study, no matter what the condition of the pupil may be.