children. Accidental
causes, troubles of eyesight, or too rapid growth, etc., may make
regular study for a time impossible to them. These children become
_exempt_ persons, and even if they are able to take some part in the
class work the time of preparation is heavy on their hands. Exempt
persons easily develop undesirable qualities, and their apparent
privileges are liable to unsettle others. As a matter of fact those who
are able to keep the common life have the best of it, but they are apt
to look upon the exemption of others as enviable, as they long for gipsy
life when a caravan passes by. With the resource of household employment
to give occupation it becomes apparent that exemption does not mean
holiday, but the substitution of one duty or lesson for another, and
this is a principle which holds good in after life--that except in case
of real illness no one is justified in having nothing to do.

Lastly, the work of the body is good for the soul, it drives out
silliness as effectually as the rod, since that which was of old
considered as the instrument for exterminating the "folly bound up in
the heart of a child," has been laid aside in the education of girls. It
is a great weapon against the seven devils of whom one is Sloth and
another Pride, and it prepares a sane mind in a sound body for the
discipline of after life.

Experience bears its own testimony to the failure of an education which
is out of touch with the material requirements of life. It leaves an
incomplete power of expression, and some dead points in the mind from
which no response can be awakened. To taste of many experiences seems to
be necessary for complete development. When on the material side all is
provided without forethought, and people are exempt from all care and
obligation, a whole side of development is wanting, and on that side the
mind remains childish, inexperienced, and unreal. The best mental
development is accomplished under the stress of many demands. One claim
balances the other; a touch of hardness and privation gives strength of
mind and makes self-denial a reality; a little anxiety teaches foresight
and draws out resourcefulness, and the tendency to fret about trifles is
corrected by the contact of the realities of life.

To come to practice--What can be done for girls during their years at
school?

In the first place the teaching of the fundamental handicraft of women,
needlework, deserves a place of honour. In many sc