There is no doubt that there was a great deal



188 CHILDREN'S PLAY

that was radically wrong, physically, with the
education of girls even fifty years ago. Sir John
Forbes, writing of girls' schools in 1840, said that
a case of a healthy, normally developed girl
was the exception. In a school of forty girls he
found not one, having been there for two years,
who was not more or less crooked ! This is
scarcely surprising when we consider the curri-
culum for the day : —

School 9 hours.
Indoors at optional tasks — fancy work, piano,

etc 3i „

Meals . . . . . . . . . . . . li „

Bed 9 „

23 hours.
The balance of one hour per day was devoted to
exercise in the open air, which meant a walk in
the grounds, if fine, lesson book in hand. Such
a programme was typical of many " Young
Ladies' Academies " fifty years ago, and as a
result the physique of our grandmothers suffered
severely. Although we have progressed con-
siderably in matters of hygiene and education
since those days, there still remains much to be
done in the matter of the physical education of
girls. The Americans seem more alive to these



PLAY AND CIVILISATION 189

needs than we are in England, and American
girls are afforded far greater opportunities on the
playgrounds, and in the municipal gymnasia, for
healthy physical development than we see fit to
give.
