ould be well to think of the conditions of healthy sleep.
For sleep to be refreshing and health-giving, the sleeper ought to
have a comfortable bed and an abundant supply of fresh air.
Unfortunately the great majority of our people both in town and
country do not enjoy these advantages. In both town and country there
is a great deficiency of suitable dwellings at rents that can be paid
with the usual rate of wages. In consequence families are crowded into
one, two, or three rooms, and even in the case of people far above the
status of day labourers and artisans it is the exception and not the
rule for each individual to have a separate bed. The question of
ventilation is certainly better understood than it was a few years
ago, but still leaves much to be desired, and there is still an urgent
necessity for preaching the gospel of the open window.
Exercise.--In considering the question of the exercise of
adolescents, one's thoughts immediately turn to athletics, games, and
dancing. As a nation the English have always been fond of athletics,
and have attributed to the influence of such team games as cricket and
football not only their success in various competitions but also their
success in the sterner warfare of life. This success has been obtained
on the tented field and in the work of exploring, mountaineering, and
other pursuits that make great demand not only on nerve and muscle but
also on strength of character and powers of endurance.
Team games appear to be the especial property of adolescents, for
young children are more or less individualistic and solitary in many
of their games, but boys and girls alike prefer team games from the
pre-adolescent age up to adult life. It is certain that no form of
exercise is superior to these games: they call into play every muscle
of the body, they make great demands on accuracy of eye and
coordination, they also stimulate and develop habits of command,
obedience, loyalty, and _esprit de corps_. In the great public schools
of England, and in the private schools which look up to them as their
models, team games are played, as one might say, in a religious
spirit. The boy or girl who attempts to take an unfair advantage, or
who habitually plays for his or her own hand, is quickly made to feel
a pariah and an outcast. Among the greatest blessings that are
conveyed to the children of the poorer classes is the instruction not
only in the technique of team games but also in the
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