ves
that he has unusually good control over his nerves, just as a man in
the midst of his anger will declare that he is cool and
self-controlled. Had Robert Burns been thinking of the habit of
nervousness he could not have thought of a better cure than when he
wrote:

Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel's as ithers see us;
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] _The Unconscious Mind_ by Schofield, _The Study of Children and
their School Training_ by Dr. Frances Warner, and _The Development of
the Child_ by Nathan Oppenheimer show clearly the physical and mental
limitations and possibilities of children.

CHAPTER XII

HEALTH VALUE OF "UNBOSSED" PLAY AND PHYSICAL TRAINING

_A boy without play means a father without a job. A boy without
physical training means a father who drinks. When people have
wholesome, well-disciplined bodies there will be less demand for
narcotics as well as for medicines._ On these three propositions
enthusiasm has built arguments for city parks and playgrounds, for
school gymnastics, and for temperance instruction. We have tried the
remedies and now realize that too much was expected of them. Neither
movement appreciated the mental and physical education of spontaneous
games and play.

Like hygiene instruction, physical training was made compulsory by law
in many states, and, like hygiene instruction, physical training had to
yield to the pressure of subjects in which children are examined. At
the outset both were based upon distorted psychology and physiology. Of
late physical training has been revived "to correct defects of the
school desk and to relieve the strain of too prolonged study periods."
In New York grammar schools ten minutes a day for the lower grades, and
thirty minutes a week for the higher grades, are set aside for physical
training. With the exception of eighteen schools where apparatus is
used, the exercise has been in the class rooms. It consists of what are
known as "setting-up exercises,"--deep breathing and arm movements for
two minutes between each study period, often forgotten until it is time
to go home, when the children are tired and need it least. Many
teachers so conduct these exercises that children keenly enjoy them.

[Illustration: SERVICEABLE RELIEF FROM SCHOOL STRAIN, BUT A POOR
SUBSTITUTE FOR OUTDOOR PLAY]

Like hygiene instruction, physical training preceded physical