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of the Atlanta Female Institute.
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SUSIE HARWOOD.
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mail Matter.
If all poets had gone to school in
April and May, we feel sure there
would never have been a poem on
spring. Spring means headaches,
sleepiness and despair to school girls.
It is certainly tantalizing when one
is about to be borne afar by soft, sweet
zephyrs from the land of Morpheus,
to be rudely recalled to this mundane
sphere by the utterly unnecessary
proposition —Draw a line P Q paral
lel to the base B C of a triangle A B
C, so that P Q shall be equal to the
sum of B P and C Q, or the relative
merits of Socrates and Plato. In vain
our physiology urges us that it is on
ly by a consuming and renewing of our
system that wo may hope to be physi
cally and mentally developed. We
accept the fact that idleness is slow
death. Only the refrain. “Blessed is
the man who first invented sleep,”
seems to us worthy of memory—and
the problem, Plow many minutes till
June? merits solution. Nevertheless,
we have no choice in the matter and,
nolens volens, our lessons have to be
conned and our only consolation is
an occasional cat-nap.
PHYSICAVrRAINING OP GIRLS.
Au eminent French writer has said,
“When you educate a boy, you per
haps educate a man; but, when you
educate a girl, you are laying the foun
dation for the education of a family.”
He might have added that to this end
the physical training was of equal im
portance with the mental. An erect
figure, an organism in which the pro
cesses of life may go on without the
ceaseless discord of functions at war
with each other because of abnormal
relations —-in short, the added advan
tages which a fine physical adjustment
gives to its possessor—are as necessa
ry to one sex as to the other, and for
the same reasons.
A lady, lately connected with a fa
mous English college, writes that
gymnastic exercises were employed,
but were not so popular as walking,
horseback-riding, and tennis. She
adds, “Walks of fifteen or twenty
miles were not so unusual as to excite
remark,” and mentions two friends
who “did” thirty miles in a day with
out fatigue—“lndeed, one of them
spent the entire evening afterward in
dancing.”
These facts certainly indicate .that
women are not by nature lacking in
physical resources. The question
then, arises, what are the best meth
ods of developing these resources?
Some one has said that, in order to
improve the health of the present gen
eration, it would be neceesary to cor
rect the hygiene of our grand-moth
ers 1 It is to be regretted that we
cannot begin thus early ; but we can
improve the grand-mothers of the fu
ture by beginning with the young
girls of to-day, and, through a sus
tained and systematic course of cul
ture, help them to reach maturity
with a physical endowment which
will enable them more successfully
to take their part in the battle of life.
I would therefore say, begin the train
ing eayly; where this is not possible,
begin carefully.
Regulated gymnastic exercise is
only one means of physical culture:
modes of dress, out-of-door exercise,
bathing, sleeping, the plays of young
children, al! are of equal importance.
If the little girl is to be reared with
a view to physical development, she
should be dressed in as substantial
clothing as her brother, and all trim
mings and accessories necessitating
extra care and stimulating a tenden
cy to self-consciousness and the im
pression of sex should be avoided. If
the boy is provided with a bicycle,
the girl should be given a tricycle,
and so with all the inducements by
which he is stimulated to seek recrea
tion in the open air. She should share
them.
If from the exuberance of health
and vitality which this course engen
ders, the girl should chance to make
as much noise as a boy, she should
not be checked and repressed, while
he is sent out of doors to have his
frolic out. Send her out, also.
As the girl approaches womanhood,
let it be remembered that the need of
healthful mental work is never great
er than now. Muscle and nerve and
intellect do not develop and grow
stronger upon sensational literature
and fancy-work, and this is why girls
at this age often grow morbid, senti
mentol, and self conscious.
Where the mind has been healthily
directed, the system fortified by un
stinted out-of-door recreation, and
the muscles trained to endure pro
longed effort without fatigue, the
above conditions will be looked for in
vain. Walking, running, horse-back
riding, tricycle riding, lawn tennis,
swimming, rowing, skating, bowling,
hand-ball, and general gymnastics,
are the exercises best adapted to girls,
and for that matter, to any persons
wno wish a healthful and well-balanc
ed, rather than an abnormal physical
development.
Let girls be properly reared, and it
will be found that Nature has imposed
no obstacles against the attainment
of the most healthful and highest
physical standards which are com
mensurate with the normal develop
ment of the system.
Lucy M. Hall, M. D.
Paradise and the Peri.
It is believed in Eastern lands that
there exists a race of beings called
Peris.
A Peri in our imagination, is very
like a fairy, differing in the respects,
that the fairy has everlasting life and
the Peri lived only a certain number
of years.
One morning a daughter of this
mysterious race stood at the Gates of
Paradise, weeping. And as she stood
there, she thought how happy were
all the souls who wandered among
the beautiful flowers and breathed the
pure immortal air of Heaven, How
she longed to be one of that happy
throng!
Though she knew where all the
most beautiful flowers grew, and
where the most brilliant gems glisten
ed, she only grieved the more to
know’ how all the treasures of earth
w’ere surpassed by the glory and
splendor of Heaven.
As she stood there an angel seeing
her drew near and listened. And
when she paused in her sad song, he
spoke gently to her:
“ ’Tis written in the book of Fate,
The Peri yet may be lorgiv’n.
Who brings to this Eternal Gate,
The Gift which is most dear to Heaven.”
The Peri then determined to seek
for this “Precious Gift.”
Turning her gaze downward, she
saw a brave youth —the last of his
cou ntry —standing alone on the battle
field. The conqueror of his country
offered to let him share his crown
and his triumphs, as the price of in
glorious submission. Indignantly
he aimed his last remaining arrow at
the Conqueror’s heart, but it missed
its aim. And now having no w eapon
with which to defend himself, the
young hero was slain.
How noble, thought she, is he w ho
sheds his life’s blood for his country.
Surely this shall be “my welcome gift
at the Gates of Light.”
As Aurora lifted the curtain of
night, and the rays of the sun shed
their light upon the earth, viewing
the battle-field from afar, she slowly
deseended upon a cloud and caught
up the last drop of his blood and car
ried it to the Gotes of Heaven.
But no! When she gave it into the
hands of the angel, the Gates did not
open to her, and the angel said:
“Holier far
Than ev’n this drop, the boon must be
Thot opes the Gates of Heaven for thee.”
Her first hopes blighted, now she
wends her winged way far to the
South, among the luuar mountains
of Africa, still seeking for the name
less and mysterious treasure. Almost
despairing in her fruitless search,
she turned toward the sunny land of
the Nile.
Here in this beautiful place—
“Tiie Demon of the Plague hath cast,
From his hot wing a deadlier blast,
More mortal far than ever oame,
From the red Desert’s sands of flame.”
So swift was it as it passed over
the land that the streets were filled
with the unburied.
There was one of all the multitude
who had crept away, and now near
the Lake she hears his moans.
Looking up the Peri sees a beauti
ful maiden approaching the Lake.
It is his betrothed bride, who has
come to die with him though not yet
a victim to the Plague. He tries to
keep her from him, but she has come
to be with him, never to return. And
with one long last embrace, they die
together.
The Peri caught the last sigh, and
bore it up to the angel. Then, as if
w ith regret, the angel repeated to her
the same words which he had before
spoken.
Where shall she go ?
Thus musing she alighted upon
the rosy land of Syria. Then in the
vale of Balbec, she sees a beautful
child at play, among the flowers and
laughingly chasing the golden insects
in the air.
She sees a wicked looking man dis
mount from his wearied steed. But
the boy played on by the fount not
fearing him.
And now the vesper bells are ring
ing, calling the people to prayer. The
boy knelt down by the fountain to
pray as he had , been taught at his
mothers knee.
This man who had led a way
ward life, and who h’ad walked in
sin and in darkness for many years
remembered how he had prayed
at his mothers knee, when a child,
and he came and knelt down by
Ihe boy and prayed with him.
The Peri saw tears droping from
the repentant sinner’s eyes. Stoop
ing she caught a tear and bore it
up to Heaven. When she tender
ed with trembling hand, this her
last gift, the face of- the angel
shone with a light not of earth,
and the Peri stood enraptured as
she saw the “Gates of Paradise”
opening at his touch, and we can
imagine that we almost hear the
echo of her happy voice as she
passed in singing,
“.Joy, joy forever! my task is done,
The Gates are passed and Heaven is won”
S. F. G.
—
DOG-ERAL.
1.
A man was walking out one day
And heard an awful clatter;
He looked around in mute dismay,
To see what was the matter.
2 '
He thought a little poodle sweet
With bells upon his collar—
Had gotten loose upon the street,
So he began to hollo.
3
A startled crowd came running up
To see the beast of fright;
They called : “Here, pup, here pup,”
But no pup came in Sight.
4
A police, last of all—
Came to stop their wrangles;
And found no poodle-dog at all,
But a girl—and a bracelet with twen
ty-seven bangles.