of the practice of giving
young children lessons to learn at home." Dr. S. G. Howe, reasoning
elaborately on the whole subject, said, that children under eight should
not be confined more than half an hour at a time,--"by following which
rule, with long recesses, they can study four hours daily"; children
between eight and fourteen should not be confined more than
three-quarters of an hour at a time, having the last quarter of each
hour for exercise in the playground,--and he allowed six hours of school
in winter, or seven in summer, solely on condition of this deduction of
twenty-five per cent, for recesses.

Indeed, the one thing about which doctors do _not_ disagree is the
destructive effect of premature or excessive mental labor. I can quote
you medical authority for and against every maxim of dietetics beyond
the very simplest; but I defy you to find one man who ever begged,
borrowed, or stole the title of M.D., and yet abused those two honorary
letters by asserting, under their cover, that a child could safely study
as much as a man, or that a man could safely study more than six hours a
day. Most of the intelligent men in the profession would probably admit,
with Scott, that even that is too large an allowance in maturity for
vigorous work of the brain.

Taking, then, five hours as the reasonable daily limit of mental effort
for children of eight to fourteen years, and one hour as the longest
time of continuous confinement, (it was a standing rule of the Jesuits,
by the way, that no pupil should study more than two hours without
relaxation,) the important question now recurs, To what school shall we
send Angelina?

Shall we send her, for instance, to Dothegirls' Hall? At that seminary
of useful knowledge, I find by careful inquiry that the daily
performance is as follows, at least in summer. The pupils rise at or
before five, A.M.; at any rate, they study from five to seven, two
hours. From seven to eight they breakfast. From eight to two they are in
the schoolroom, six consecutive hours. From two to three they dine. From
three to five they are "allowed" to walk or take other exercise,--that
is, if it is pleasant weather, and if they feel the spirit for it, and
if the time is not all used up in sewing, writing letters, school
politics, and all the small miscellaneous duties of existence, for which
no other moment is provided during day or night. From five to six they
study; from six to seven comes the tea-tabl