Herbert Spencer, and not the least of his services was his
liberation of girls from the extraordinary _regimen_ of fifty years ago.
There needs no excuse for a long quotation from the volume in which,
just short of half a century ago, Herbert Spencer discussed this matter.
Thereafter we may observe how the pendulum has swung to the other
extreme:--

"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 need 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 ears give proof that they are
absorbed in that enjoyable activity which makes the pulse bound and
ensures the healthful activity of every organ. How unlike is the
picture offered by the Establishment for Young Ladies! Until the
fact was pointed out, we actually did not know that we had a girls'