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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
- Whoever Lias Watched The Growth From I...
in the cradle , the little child in the nursery , the young girl at school , the young woman in her home or in her profession ? To a certain
extent these are of course the same as war upon the health of boys , and upon such evil agents the sanitary reformer and the physiological
writer are already making vigorous attacks . The baby , that despotic young potentateis in a fair way of having what the Americans
call " a nice time . " So , long as it is conventionally assumed to be of the neuter genderit isamong our upper classeswashed , dressed ,
, , , warmed , fed , with very considerable care and skill . Nobody now ( who has pretension to be anybody ) rolls the baby in
swaddlingclothes , or leaves it dirty , or sticks pins into its dress , or smothers it with heavy clothing .
But when these palmy days are past , and the small creature assumes a hat or a bonnet , a little coat or a little cloak , then , almost
insensibly at first , but more markedly year by year , a different system is pursued with the boy and girl ; the boys are to be " made
hardy , " and many are the baths , or the rides and the tumbles , constituting the difference between the training of papa ' s little lad and
mamma ' s little lady . Presently the children go to school , and here begin the serious tortures of Goody Two Shoes . Who thinks of nice
large playgrounds for her ? She must not slide on the way to school , nor are snowballs and mud pies considered a becoming recreation !
A * wholesome boxing match between little Jane and little Mary iswe will not say unknown , but unheard of . Goody Two Shoes , with
her fair little round face and fat fingers , not only has to learn reading and writing , but she hems endless dusters , which are a weariness to
the flesh . Apropos of these dusters , a vigorous attack was made across the Channel , by an indefatigable friend to the children , upon
M . Cormenin , a philanthropic gentleman , who was guilty of this observation concerning certain communal schools . Said this
thoughtless man , ( let us hope that he is not the father of hapless little girls , ) " the sewing lessons do not interrupt those of the classes , for it is in
play-time , it is during the noisy games of the little boys , that the little girls devote themselves to the needlein the room , and under
, the inspection of the mistress of the school . " Upon which , Madame A . de Noailles puts forth an earnest appeal in ' I / Ami de l'Enfance , '
a periodical devoted to the doings of the Salles d'Asiles , and urgently demands that a part of the ordinary lesson time shall be set apart , as
in England , for the practice of the needle , leaving the play-time free . ( Are there no English schools which are guilty of a like * ' foul play " ?)
Upon this M . Cormenin writes back in a tone of the most exquisite injured innocence ; describes the little girls trotting to school along
the muddy roads , and asks pathetically and with a certain solemnity , "do they wish the little girlsalready warm enough with a
three-, mile walk to and fro in the open air , to go and play the pickle ( the French expression , polissonner _, is somewhat stronger !) , during the
playtime of the boys , and with them (!) , instead of mending the holes in
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PHYSICAL TRAINING . 149
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1858, page 149, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051858/page/5/
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