e same reason, and partly
because a greater and unusual effort has to be made to throw the body
forward at the same time that it is lifted up.

To Dancing, in itself, no objection can be made. Freed from its almost
inevitable accompaniments of late hours, thin dresses, and irregular
food, it is undoubtedly beneficial. But when we are better educated, so
that we shall appreciate the absolute necessity of a strict and rational
regimen of food, sleep, and clothing for the individual while yet
immature, this matter will be righted, and only then. There is one
additional objection to be urged, however, against parties for young
people, which is not generally spoken of, though we all know practically
that one of the first preparations for an entertainment of this kind
consists in sending at least almost all the chairs and sofas out of the
rooms which are to be used, and the dancing may not do as much harm as
the enforced standing. The woman who has to stand behind the counter, or
behind the bookkeeper's desk, or at her loom in the factory, may,
perhaps, accustom herself in a measure to the daily strain; but the girl
to whom it is an irregular exercise, and who, besides, is probably
over-excited as to her nerves, cannot fail to suffer, though the blame
is not, as a general rule, laid where it belongs.

There is another exercise which has come into vogue within twenty years,
a game against which it is reckoned heresy to speak slightingly--I mean
Croquet--which certainly involves an amount of standing vastly
disproportioned to the amount of exercise which it gives. This, together
with the fact that it is likely to be played during only a few months of
the year, and often on damp ground, and for an unreasonable length of
time, may, perhaps, furnish an apology for wounding so large a number of
feelings as one must wound who has the heart to venture a caution
concerning it. It seems to be peculiarly well described by saying that
it is "the game which tires without exercising." To Skating I have
already referred for the purpose of illustration. It is gravely to be
doubted whether, in our changeable climate, where, moreover, it can be
practiced during only a very few months in the year, it does not do more
harm than good. Horseback riding, rowing, and bowling are very valuable,
provided that they be judiciously used.

But there is one exercise to which no doubt attaches, one which can be
regular, and hence judicious. This is Walkin