her so much hardship, nor so much physical exertion,
nor so much mental exertion, as the full grown. Judge, then, if the full
grown manifestly suffer from the excessive mental exertion required of
them, how great must be the damage which a mental exertion, often
equally excessive, inflicts on the young!

Indeed, when we examine the merciless school drill frequently enforced,
the wonder is, not that it does extreme injury, but that it can be
borne at all. Take the instance given by Sir John Forbes, from personal
knowledge; and which he asserts, after much inquiry, to be an average
sample of the middle-class girls'-school system throughout England.
Omitting detailed divisions of time, we quote the summary of the
twenty-four hours.

In bed 9 hours (the younger 10)
In school, at their studies and tasks 9 "
In school, or in the house, the elder at
optional studies or work, the younger at
play 31/2 " (the younger 21/2)
At meals 11/2 "
Exercise in the open air, in the shape of a
formal walk, often with lesson-books in
hand, and even this only when the weather
is fine at the appointed time. 1 "
----
24

And what are the results of this "astounding regimen," as Sir John
Forbes terms it? Of course feebleness, pallor, want of spirits, general
ill-health. But he describes something more. This utter disregard of
physical welfare, out of extreme anxiety to cultivate the mind--this
prolonged exercise of brain and deficient exercise of limbs,--he found
to be habitually followed, not only by disordered functions but by
malformation. He says:--"We lately visited, in a large town, a
boarding-school containing forty girls; and we learnt, on close and
accurate inquiry, that there was _not one_ of the girl who had been at
the school two years (and the majority had been as long) that was not
more or less _crooked_!"[8]

It may be that since 1833, when this was written, some improvement has
taken place. We hope it has. But that the system is still common--nay,
that it is in some cases carried to a greater extreme than ever; we can
personally testify. We recently went over a training-college for young
men: one of those instituted of late years for the purpose of supplying
schools w