ficed to the Moloch of maternal vanity. We are reluctant
to counsel strong measures, but really the evils are so great as to
justify, or even to demand, a peremptory interference on the part of
fathers.

Our conclusions are, then--that, while the clothing of children should
never be in such excess as to create oppressive warmth, it should always
be sufficient to prevent any general feeling of cold;[6] that, instead
of the flimsy cotton, linen, or mixed fabrics commonly used, it should
be made of some good non-conductor, such as coarse woollen cloth; that
it should be so strong as to receive little damage from the hard wear
and tear which childish sports will give it; and that its colours should
be such as will not soon suffer from use and exposure.

* * * * *

To the importance of bodily exercise most people are in some degree
awake. Perhaps less needs saying on this requisite of physical education
than on most others: at any rate, in so far as boys are concerned.
Public schools and private schools alike furnish tolerably adequate
play-grounds; and there is usually a fair share of time for out-door
games, and a recognition of them as needful. In this, if in no other
direction, it seems admitted that the promptings of boyish instinct may
advantageously be followed; and, indeed, in the modern practice of
breaking the prolonged morning's and afternoon's lessons by a few
minutes' open-air recreation, we see an increasing tendency to conform
school-regulations to the bodily sensations of the pupils. Here, then,
little needs be said in the way of expostulation or suggestion.

But we have been obliged to qualify this admission by inserting the
clause "in so far as boys are concerned." Unfortunately the fact is
quite otherwise with girls. It chances, somewhat strangely, that we have
daily opportunity of drawing a comparison. We have both a boys' school
and a girls' school within view; and the contrast between them is
remarkable. In the one case, nearly the whole of a large garden is
turned into an open, gravelled space, affording ample scope for games,
and supplied with poles and horizontal bars for gymnastic exercises.
Every day before breakfast, again towards eleven o'clock, again at
mid-day, again in the afternoon, and once more after school is over, the
neighbourhood is awakened by a chorus of shouts and laughter as the boys
rush out to play; and for as long as they remain, both eyes and ea