as a right to
accuse the school of breaking down her daughter's health unless she is
duly careful that the girl has a proper amount of sleep, exercise in
the open air, and hygienic clothing, and that her life outside the
school is not of the sort that we describe in these days as
"strenuous."

It is this strenuous life which our girls must be taught to avoid. Any
daily or weekly program which is crowded with activities is a
dangerous program for developing girlhood. The very atmosphere of many
modern homes is charged with the spirit of haste, and parents scarcely
realize that the daughter's time is too full, because their own is too
full also. They have no time to stop and realize anything. A quiet
home is an essential help in preserving a girl's health and
well-being.

[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
A mountain camp. Good health is conserved by outdoor games and
exercise]

It need scarcely be said that the children of a family should be
troubled as little as possible with the worries of their elders.
Parents are often unaware how much of the family burden their sons and
daughters are secretly bearing, or how long sometimes they continue to
struggle under the burden after it has mercifully slipped from
father's or mother's shoulders.

Good health means buoyancy, a springing to meet the future with a
tingle of joy in facing the unknown. The adolescent period is
essentially an unfolding time, in which probably for the first time
choice seems to present itself in a large way in ordering the girl's
life. In school she is confronted with a choice of studies or of
courses. To make these choices she must look farther ahead and ask
herself many questions as to the future. What is she to be? Nor is she
loath to face this question. Some of the very happiest of the girl's
dreams at this time are concerned with that problematical future.
There was a day when girls dreamed only of husbands, children, and
homes. Then, as the pendulum swung, they dreamed of careers, a hand in
the "world's work." Now they dream of either or both, or they halt
confused by the wide outlook. But of one thing we may be sure--our
girl is dreaming, and she seldom tells her dreams.

It is during this period in a girl's life that she is most likely to
chafe at restraint, to picture a wonderful life outside her home
environment, and to demand the opportunity to make her own choice. As
she goes on through high school, she longs more and