diff options
Diffstat (limited to '78268-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 78268-0.txt | 1734 |
1 files changed, 1734 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/78268-0.txt b/78268-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53684d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/78268-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1734 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78268 *** + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + +This book contains illustrations depicting various states of nudity. + +More notes can be found at the end of this book. + + + + +DANCING, BEAUTY, AND GAMES + +[Illustration: LADY CONSTANCE STEWART RICHARDSON + +_From a Photograph by the White Studios_] + + + + + DANCING, BEAUTY + AND + GAMES + + By + + Lady Constance Stewart Richardson + + + LONDON + ARTHUR L. HUMPHREYS + 187 PICCADILLY, W. + + 1913 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + PHYSICAL CULTURE 1 + + GAMES 17 + + BEAUTY 27 + + TEACHERS 43 + + DANCING 55 + + SWIMMING 63 + + BIG GAME SHOOTING 77 + + RELIGION 97 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + LADY CONSTANCE STEWART RICHARDSON _Frontispiece_ + + A GOOD POSE _facing Page_ 4 + + RORY DANCING ” 8 + + RORY, TORQUIL, AND HAMISH ” 12 + + GROTESQUE TOYS ” 34 + + MISS ISADORA DUNCAN ” 56 + + MAD^{LLE} ADELINE GENÉE ” 58 + + MADAME KARSAVINA ” 60 + + BAREFOOTED DANCING AFTER THE GREEK STYLE ” 62 + + ENGLISH POSITION IN AIR WHILE DIVING ” 64 + + SWEDISH SWALLOW DIVE ” 66 + + + + +DANCING, BEAUTY AND GAMES + + + + +PHYSICAL CULTURE + + +To try and write about Physical Culture without linking it on to Mental +and Moral Culture would be of little use or interest, as these three +cannot be divided and good come from them, any more than a tree can be +separated from its bark and leaves and live. It is true that many have +realised the great and undeniable truth that Physical Culture properly +used is also mental culture, but it is also true that the masses are +absolutely ignorant of this fact, and merely think that the person +who believes so is a harmless lunatic. That it is within the means of +the majority to have a powerful weapon to combat sins and vice that +at present go rampantly on their way, I do most sincerely believe, +and that weapon is a right understanding of the effect which Physical +Culture has on the mind and body; and that ignorance of this weapon +is almost universal amongst the masses is due to the fact that those +who are at the head of things do not understand and will not listen to +those who do, or take the time and trouble to find out the root of the +evils which exist to such an enormous extent, especially throughout +towns. + +That this subject has been handled before by far more skilled writers +than myself I know well, but in most of the articles on Physical +Culture there is a great dislike to tackling the serious side of the +question, and my excuse for doing so is that I have spent all my +life or rather all my thinking life in enquiring into and trying to +understand the effect Physical Culture has on the mind, and that this +effect is tremendous no one who knows anything about the subject can +doubt. The more artificial life becomes, the more necessary it is +to fight the evils which arise from this artificial condition, and +personally I am all for fighting artificiality with nature. Nature, +if understood, seldom fails us. Many hundreds of thousands of pounds +are spent annually on hospitals, homes for the feeble-minded, &c.; if +only a few of those thousands were expended in our schools, and in +the proper teaching of the young, surely in a couple of generations a +great many of the former institutions would be empty. And until it is +understood that to help the human race towards real health, and the +happiness that marches hand in hand with that health, it is necessary +to attack and demolish the amazing system of wicked ignorance which has +our young in its grip--both rich and poor--these institutions will be +needed. + +For long it has been the cry, give every one a fair chance, and I do +most sincerely believe that it is possible to give that chance by +turning out into the world self-respecting men and women mentally and +physically developed in the manner that I believe God meant us all +to be; and not maimed body and soul by the course of instruction we +have been put through before we are thrown out on our own resources to +struggle blindly through our lives as best we may in a semi-developed +condition, mentally and physically: some of us perhaps to learn +what a fine thing we could have made of life if only we had known +and understood sooner. That moral feebleness allied to real vice is +tremendously on the increase in large towns, cannot be denied; also +that a great deal of it has its beginning in school-life is well known, +just as it is realised by thinking people that very little effort +is made either to enquire into the cause of it or find a remedy. +It seems to be taken for granted that if a young boy or girl shows +moral feebleness there is nothing much to be done except to hope that +they will not be found out and disgraced. I know well that to cure +immorality in the young once it has established itself, is difficult, +though not by any means hopeless. Cures always are difficult and +take time; therefore prevention is so much simpler: and certainly +a great deal, if not all, of this immorality could be prevented if +Physical Culture and its true effects on body and mind were understood, +and the teaching of a right system was insisted on in all places where +the young gather together. + +[Illustration: A GOOD POSE + +_From a Photograph by Andrew Paterson, Inverness_] + +Let me try and explain what I mean by a right system. It is not just a +different way of exercising the arms, legs, and body. There are many +most admirable methods of Physical Culture, composed and propounded by +men who thoroughly understand the human body and its needs. But what +I think is wanting in our teaching of the young when we teach them +at all, is the giving of any reason as to why they should exercise +regularly; beyond the rather feeble fact that they will most likely +feel better if they do. Give children a true reason for doing anything +and they will hold on to it throughout life, and the true reason for +Physical Culture surely is that God has given you a body and a brain +to develop to the best of your ability, and that when the time comes +to render them back again to your Maker you will be able to do so with +no sense of shame. Instil this into the young and it is wonderful how +they understand and reverence the thought. To merely tell children that +it is jolly to have big muscles and be stronger than their neighbours, +will certainly urge them on for the moment, but these reasons have +little strength or help in them if there is a temptation to be +overcome, and to continue to use them is but building upon sand. + +Children are born idealists, and surely it ought to be the duty of all +to make those ideals higher and of a strength that will last through +life. The only ideal that the average child has nowadays is ‘how to +get on,’ and in the getting on if the other fellow goes to the wall +no matter; the ideal of Physical and Mental culture ought to be of +the highest and the greatest purity, and it is only possible to instil +this into the very young. All chance of pure thinking as regards the +body is generally entirely shattered by nurses and parents before a +child reaches four or five years of age: its body is made a shameful +thing to hide as much as possible and never to be referred to. If you +want to feel real shame, and understand the impure manner in which the +body is regarded, watch small children in any well-to-do nursery being +washed by their nurses; instead of being taught that their body is a +beautiful and sacred thing and one of God’s greatest works, they are +made to believe it is a shameful thing. Little harmless questions that +all children ask and which ought to get straight, sensible answers, are +greeted with giggles or winks, and the child is told not to ask naughty +questions. Thus at the beginning of their lives is planted the little, +creeping, insidious, dirty growth. All children will think about their +bodies, it is right and natural that they should do so; only those +thoughts must be guided into pure, sensible channels, not left in black +ignorance, except for the unclean hints dropped by many who, to our +shame be it said, have children in their charge. + +To instil pure-mindedness, a child from the moment it can understand +must be taught to take a proper pride in its body, then when come to +man or woman’s full growth, a clean-minded, healthy, happy, human being +will be the result, and during the always more or less difficult age +before full growth is reached there need be little fear of the dangers +and temptations which as a rule beset the young. + +[Illustration: RORY DANCING + +_From a Photograph by Andrew Paterson_] + +If from early youth it was explained and impressed on the young of +both sexes, that it was a real sin against God to allow their minds +to become a mass of sensuality, and that the mind becoming like this +means that the body has been neglected, and the only right remedy for +body and mind is proper exercise and a proper understanding of +what to eat and what to avoid in eating and drinking, what a help it +would be to them. As a rule this is never explained to the young, and +surely its great importance ought to be understood at least by those +who have children in their charge. The ordinary man or woman fighting +the temptations which arise from the artificial conditions of life, are +as helpless from their ignorance and neglect of the human body as a man +naked fighting against one fully armed. + +There are a certain number of men and women who are strong-minded +enough to be able to take up physical exercises late in life and get +a considerable amount of good from them, but with the majority unless +the exercises are a habit from early youth, they find them a bore after +the novelty has worn off, and they are eventually dropped altogether. +It is a very great effort for a man or woman who has neglected any +regular exercise all their lives, to get up in the morning and perform +a certain set amount. But if a child is trained almost from infancy to +do this, and made to understand that it is quite as dirty to neglect +the body or to put dirty (otherwise unwholesome) food into it, as it +is to walk about with unwashed teeth, they no more think of neglecting +the care of the one than they do of the other. Therefore, personally, +I always train my own children to exercise ten minutes every morning +before their baths; not that it is a real necessity when living an +open-air life, but that I feel the habit will go with them through +life; also that the time may come when having to be in town it may +prove of incalculable value. At present they would no more think of +missing their exercises than they would their baths. + +Again, I think great help against the bad and harmful habits of +drinking and smoking can be given, if a child is taught that his body +is a beautiful and precious trust, and that to soil and harm it by the +accumulation of bad and artificial habits is to commit a real sin, +and also shows a considerable lack of intelligence if commenced with +open eyes and understanding. Also, if the explanation is given of how +these habits grow and take hold, if once started, and how a liking for +them becomes quickly ingrained, I am quite sure that boys and girls +would no more make a habit of these harmful things than they would +cheat at cards--as in one case you are behaving dishonourably to your +fellow-men, in the other you are betraying a trust given into your +hands by God; surely the latter ought to be made of as much importance +as the former. It is all very well to say that smoking and drinking in +moderation harm no one; perhaps not, but the difficulty of keeping them +in moderation is very great, particularly when troubles come along, +which even if they be molehills in reality, to the young are always +mountains, and it seems somewhat foolish to learn and encourage an +artificial habit which may at any time prove a most dangerous enemy, +and is certainly not missed if never begun. + +I also feel most strongly that it will be an impossibility to make +Physical Culture what it ought to be until a radical change is made in +present-day clothing for both sexes. + +Revolutionise the clothing of children and all would be well, as if +sanely clad during their growing years, they certainly would not submit +in later life to the absurd garments worn by their parents. + +[Illustration: RORY, TORQUIL AND HAMISH + +_From a Photograph by Andrew Paterson_] + +I do not suggest that every one should go about in Greek tunics, as +this garment is not very suitable to our grey climate; but there is a +far cry between a Greek tunic and an Eton suit, for instance. That the +garments children often have to wear are responsible for a great deal +of immorality I am certain, and they are on the whole most insanitary, +great carriers of germs, and intensely uncomfortable as well. There +has certainly been a slight move for the better amongst some who have +stopped their children wearing hats; thus giving them a chance to +grow up without chronic headaches, and to have beautiful hair. Also +a few now give their children a shoe that does not deform their feet +as in the past, but even now it is very rarely that one sees a child +over ten years of age with toes that are not crooked; for it does not +seem to be realised the tremendous pace a child’s foot grows between +the ages of two and fifteen; therefore if only sandals were used for +growing children such a lot of pain and expense might be saved; a +sandal showing at once if it is too small, and also is much cheaper to +replace than shoes, or those still greater iniquities, boots, which +cramp the muscles of the legs and stop the ankle muscles from gaining +growth and strength. + +I know that many people will contend that the mental impurity I have +spoken of is the exception and not the rule. I can but ask these people +to spend an afternoon in the sculpture room at a museum or in a +picture gallery, and watch the majority of those who come through and +see the nudes in either marble or on canvas. Apart from a few serious +art students there are generally two types, the one who passes by with +averted head and downcast eyes, getting slightly red in doing so; these +are generally men or women very religious from the world’s point of +view, and with sad, contracted minds. They pray, but at the same time +they have made up their minds that one of God’s most splendid works is +a shameful thing to be covered up, neglected and forgotten as much as +possible. + +The other type is the man or woman who comes to stare and giggle, and +nudge with coarse innuendo and joke. These are more awful than the +others to watch, as they are alive with a horrible wakefulness coming +from minds that are merely cesspools. + +And with both types the same cause is at work in different ways. They +cannot see a naked figure either in life, painting, or sculpture +without bringing in the sex question. They can see no beauty, as it is +obscured by the grime of their minds. + +Surely a state of things to make one stand aghast with bent and shamed +head. + +I do not think I ever realised fully the extreme impurity that is rife +through the minds particularly of those who live in towns until I went +on to the stage, and took up classical dancing seriously. Then there +used to pour in upon me a stream of letters of such a terrible kind +that one wondered it were possible for any living being who had a soul +to write such things, and in those days came to me a great and sincere +wish to help on in any way possible the work of trying to establish a +system of Physical and Mental Culture that should give the children +their fair chance in life; for rich and poor there ought to be but one +system, and that instilled in a manner to give to them a knowledge and +reverent love of all that is God’s work, to bring within the reach +of all the chance to keep the body beautiful outwardly and clean +inwardly, and to fill the mind with high ideals and a fine knowledge +of men and books. May we all try and make it more possible and easier +for the little children to walk with firm and unfaltering footsteps the +path that ours have tottered so painfully along. + + + + +GAMES + + +Games are nearly always regarded as recreation, though a few people +take them seriously and work at them with a view to becoming +professionals and earning a livelihood in this manner. When I say +they are used as a recreation, this is applicable to those people who +play different games in a desultory fashion during the whole or part +of the year; showing as time passes curiously little improvement in +their play. Plodding continuously on, but from what point of view it +is difficult to understand, unless it be from a purely animal liking +of being in the open air and the pleasure they derive from following +after, hitting, or kicking a ball. One cannot believe that they can +get any pleasure from the competition arising in games, as they never +strive to improve their play. Many I know have devoted several hours +weekly for a long time to a game, but they play no better or very +slightly better now than when they commenced. + +If one remarks on the rather curious mental condition a person must be +in to act like this, the reply generally is, ‘Every one cannot play +games well. A good eye is necessary,’ &c. Certainly that is so, but a +good eye is mostly training and practice like any other muscle control. +Surely if a thing is worth doing at all it is worth doing well, and I +think that any one who gives the matter a few moments’ thought will +agree that it is extremely harmful physically and mentally to go on +doing a thing in the wrong way year after year. It denotes lack of +concentration, lack of self-control, and a general mental sloppiness. +Curiously enough these people are always the ones who continually ask +others to teach and help them to improve their play, but an endeavour +to do so is nearly always greeted with a laugh, and, ‘Oh, yes, I see,’ +and they go steadily on with the same faults as before, though quite +often showing that with a little concentration and control they might +have become admirable players. This class of game-player, I feel sure, +has developed from the child who has been allowed to undertake its +games and its work in a slipshod fashion, never being made to realise +that if a game or a piece of work is taken up it should either be done +well and completely or left alone. By this I naturally do not mean +that all amateurs ought not to play a game unless they play it like a +professional, but there is a very far cry between professionalism and +the slipshod game-player. The next type of man who plays games is the +one who does so purely from the health-giving point of view and not +from any real love of games, doing so most likely only when he is a +bit off colour, and in vulgar parlance, wishes to have a good sweat! +A Turkish bath would have as good an effect, but he, like a good +many others, cannot be bothered to seek after health unless his mind +is stimulated and amused at the same time. He is not really of much +interest from the game-playing point of view, as he enters into the +world of games but little. + +At the opposite extreme is to be found the man who takes games +seriously, though this type is really divided into two classes; one who +plays games to keep fit, and the other who keeps fit to play games. The +latter, of course, are the men with a real devotion to games who spend +little time doing anything else; at all events, during the season when +their own particular game is to the fore. The questions I think one is +inclined to ask oneself, when seriously thinking over games, are: in +what spirit ought games to be taken? Are they a waste of time or not? +and are they of real good mentally and physically to the player? I have +always personally felt that games, regarded as they are at the present +day, are extremely bad, but if taken in a sane and sensible fashion +ought to be of the greatest value. This is what I mean. Children when +they start to play games are nearly always allowed to do so in a most +haphazard manner; for instance, a child who shows a strong fancy for +games is often left to play them _ad lib._, only being reproved if his +school-work suffers, and often a lenient eye is turned on all shirking +of work if the shirker is found to have used the time for game-playing. +It is rarely explained to him or her that games ought to be regarded as +a recreation and an aid to health, also that if played they ought to +be played properly at proper times. Shirking your other work to play +them or playing them badly is misusing both your body and mind, and +generally hurting yourself physically and mentally. + +Games must be looked at in their proper proportion and once finished +with not allowed to usurp the mind, as a man who makes games his sole +thought throughout life is a sad person to meet. If the child who was +backward and rather stupid at games was taken a little trouble with +and equally taught with his more forward brother that games are to be +regarded educationally like any other physical exercise, I think that +as grown men they would both be improved. On the one hand, you would +not find the man who does not play games at all, from having been told +when a child that he was no use; and on the other, the man who eats, +thinks, talks, and sleeps games: but two human beings with the good +health, concentration, quickness, and self-control which games properly +used certainly bring, all of which are most admirable qualities having +a very great effect on a man’s life in all and every profession. A man +of the above qualities, added to a clean outdoor sense of things, is +far more apt to make a success of his life from the higher point of +view than the one without them. Equally this reacts on his children. +The man of control and understanding will most assuredly see that his +children are trained to have the same qualities. + +I do not think it can be repeated too often what great harm can be +done to children, and, alas! is done both physically and mentally, by +allowing them to play games at all times and in any manner they please. +It is quite time it was realised that during the period the brain and +body are developing, enormous care ought to be taken in the supervision +of all bodily exercises, for that their effect is very great on the +brain only the ignorant will deny. A child left to exercise itself +at games will as a rule play till it is dead beat, thus undoing any +good that might come to it from the exercise of its muscles and mind, +as long before it has got to this stage of tiredness it will have +been hitting wrong, running wrong, and forcing the heart to overwork. +Mentally it will be over-excited, the eye will be strained, and the +temper out of control. One of the great advantages of games is the +teaching of tolerance and self-control, but when a thing is young and +tender it does not do to bear too heavily on it. Whereas judicious +exercise strengthens a weak thing, heavy work will merely spoil it, +and in all probability ruin it for all time. How often one sees a +child burst into tears for no obvious reason, become irritable and +bad-tempered, and when bedtime comes lie awake for hours. The cause +nearly always being the ignorance of teachers and parents who in their +mistaken kindness allow children to play games until they can hardly +walk with fatigue. I have often been asked if I advocate games for +children; before the ages of ten or eleven years old I certainly do +not, and between those ages and sixteen, I think games ought to be most +carefully supervised and chosen, and for these reasons. From infancy +up to eleven years is a most critical period, the most critical I +personally believe in the whole life. When a young child is playing +games it is most difficult, in fact almost impossible, to get it to +remember several things at once. What I mean is this. A young child at +this period is merely learning everything, how to walk, how to run, +and how to balance itself correctly. The meaning of perfect poise +ought at this age to be installing itself into a child’s mind; in the +excitement of the game a child as a rule tries to do too much, with +the result that in a short space of time it will be walking badly and +heavily, and running in an ugly, uncertain fashion. + +Then there are very few games which do not draw the body forward, +contracting the chest, in consequence of which the breathing is +restricted, which naturally renders the blood impure, this leading to +a thousand troubles. Also I do not believe it is good or natural for +any young undeveloped thing to be knocked about in the way that happens +in a good many games, as the muscles and bones are soft and apt to +be distorted easily. Children in a natural rough-and-tumble amongst +themselves are no more likely to hurt themselves or each other than +puppies or any other young animal at play, but bring in the competition +and the unnatural excitement which creeps into games that after all +are an artificial amusement, more harm than good is likely to result to +children under sixteen years of age. After that age, regarded in their +proper proportion, I think they are excellent. I am a firm believer for +the young in individual athletic exercises such as running, jumping, +throwing the hammer, the discus, swimming and dancing, &c., but under +the eye always of an experienced person, as in these exercises it is +possible to control and watch the work of each child, to see and teach +that each muscle is developed in proper fashion, and by degrees the +girl or boy will understand how to control the whole body in a perfect +manner, each and every muscle hardening and enlarging to its full +development. If this form of physical education is carried out from +infancy, at sixteen years old a girl or boy ought to be fit to take +up any game they may have a fancy for, reaping the great good that +certainly may be got from games and equally avoiding the great harm. + + + + +BEAUTY + + +To instil a love of beauty into a child’s mind at the commencement +of its life is not necessary, as normal children will always hold +out their hands and seek to draw towards them all that is beautiful, +instinctively turning away and shrinking from the hideous and +grotesque. But what is necessary is to foster, protect, and encourage +this natural gift, and it is only too evident that this necessity is +not only neglected, but that the love of the hideous and grotesque is +actually forced into the minds of the young, and the growth of that +love helped on in every possible way. There are many who scoff at the +belief that the love and true realisation of all beauty ought to be +one of the most serious sides in the education of the young, but I +think it would behove them to give a few hours’ serious consideration +to the subject, before dismissing it with one of the contemptuous +laughs that are so freely given by the people who have never taken the +trouble to probe very deeply into any new effort or idea that may come +their way. Not that the idea of instilling the love and understanding +of beauty into the young is a new one, as in ancient Greece it was a +recognised part of all education, but most certainly for many and many +a generation it has never been given a thought to, except in isolated +cases. I do not think it would be a waste of time if some of our best +brains at the head of things would give some serious consideration from +a purely common-sense point of view, as to whether it may not stand +within the bounds of reason that a very large part of the decadence, +vice, and educational failure is not largely due to the entire lack +in that education of any effort being made to teach the difference +between the ugly and the beautiful. + +Sin and vice are strangely like unto ugliness and repulsiveness. +Equally, cleanliness and culture of mind, body, and spirit are not +mean reflectors of the beautiful. It is not difficult to realise that +perhaps the neglect of teaching the one has a good deal to do with the +existence of the other. That a most drastic change in this direction +would be greatly for the benefit of all children I most firmly believe. +The richest and the poorest ought to have the same chance of being +allowed to keep that wonderful gift, a love of beauty, which is a +heritage to all, and not to have it snatched away only to be replaced +by that which will cause them to go mentally blind through life, +missing all the joy which comes to those who can see with undimmed eyes +the wonders that God has placed in the world for all. + +A love of the obviously beautiful I do not think is of any great help +or value, though naturally better than entire blindness: to only +admire what, so to speak, shrieks its beauty at you, takes no great +understanding or discrimination. Neither does it take great powers +of observation. Stone-blindness would have to be the portion of the +man who was not more or less impressed by the Grand Canyon or Niagara +Falls. But to see and rejoice over little pools with the light throwing +different shadows, a drop of dew hanging on a blade of grass, or a +myriad other miniature miracles, which happen around us day and night, +takes a power of observation and realisation that lies only in the +human being who has had his eye trained to observe and his mind to feel +and rejoice in all beauty, whether it be great or small, the largely +obvious or that which requires careful looking for. + +It cannot be denied that a power of observation is of great value in +all walks of life; allied to a powerful memory it is of still greater +value. Both of these can be taught to a great extent by encouraging +the children in their love of the beautiful, which ought to be +commenced in the observation and understanding of God’s work in Nature. +The millions of beautiful things by which He has surrounded us are +generally entirely unnoticed and ignored by the average child, and +the wonderful reading of that book of Nature He has laid before us to +instruct and help, is indeed a closed book except to the very few. That +Nature-study is taught in many schools I am fully aware, but it is +taught as a rule in a purely scientific manner, which at once does away +with any chance of establishing high ideals by its help. Flowers are +pulled to pieces, their growth and formation explained; a drop of water +is taken, placed under a microscope, and the germs in it pointed out. +That this is excellent and ought to be known and understood by all, I +do not for a moment deny, but its place is secondary; God’s unspoken +lesson of beauty in Nature is surely a far greater one than what man +has found out about His work, and if this is the case, it seems to me +that the first lesson of all that ought to be taught to the young is to +look for and find all the beauties expressed in Nature. The colours and +the scent of the flowers, the way they group themselves, the fashion +in which they turn and seek the sun; to hear the music in the streams +composed of a hundred different notes, to lie and watch the many +changing lights and colours on running waters, to love the reflections +in the pools and to learn to wander in that children’s second land +‘under the water,’ or to watch in breathless wonder the ripple of the +soft summer breezes across that dry land-sea, the bit of rough ground +with tall grasses of many kinds in full bloom; some almost pigeon-blood +in colour, others pure gold. To hear the voices of the wood-people +complaining as the wind-god moving through the trees disturbs them, or +in his anger storms along on wintry days and nights, calling out in his +wrath to the thunder and lightning to come and join him on his noisy +way. All idealistic and fanciful, no doubt. + +But who will deny that the man or woman who can see and hear clearly +the voices of Nature, and who has the power to weave happy, harmless +fancies, is not a better and more pure-minded person than one who +outside of his own profession can neither see nor hear, and if placed +apart from that profession is helpless and miserably bored. If +unhappiness comes to him in his chosen work, he knows not where to seek +help and distraction in a clean and healthy way. It has often been +said that Mother Nature is a great healer: she most certainly is when +we are given a chance of finding and knowing her, but to the average +human being her existence may be known of, but the way of reaching +her healing touch is a road carefully guarded, and hidden away out +of sight, except to the adventurous few who have strength of mind to +struggle on against all difficulties and seek her for themselves. + +Surely we have no right not to lay open to the best of our abilities +this road of happiness and comfort to all children; to shut them out +into a materialistic darkness of mind, to crush that love of beauty +that God has thought right to instil into every infant mind. Instead, +there are a great many parents and teachers banded together with one +object, that being to destroy and stamp out any love of beauty that may +peep out from a child’s mind, to uproot it and there plant instead a +million growths of rank and ugly thoughts all overshadowed by one great +primary planted tree whose name is the love of the ugly and grotesque; +from it branches another smaller tree called the power of being able +only to see the bad; creeping up this is the worm of blindness to all +God’s teaching of Nature. A truly terrible garden indeed, and apt to +bear fruit plentifully now and afterwards. + +I went to one of London’s largest toy-shops the other day and there +bought some toys which can be seen in the following photograph. I was +told that they were very popular, and it is difficult to believe that +sane people can give their children toys of this kind, and not +realise in any way the irreparable harm they are doing to their minds, +particularly as most small infants will turn shuddering from this +ugliness presented to them, but are coaxed into thinking they like +these hideous things, until they really do come to take a pleasure in +them. So the first great lesson of man’s teaching is learnt, taken into +your heart and mind the ugly and repulsive thought and thing that God +tells you instinctively to turn from and beware of. A few years of this +teaching and God’s voice of instinct grows dim and at last ceases. So +we wilfully and of our own accord strike out of our children’s lives +one great help and safeguard, instead of aiding them to develop and +strengthen it, so as to get all the joy and happiness possible from +this great gift. + +[Illustration: GROTESQUE TOYS] + +It may be agreed that a love of beauty has brought many a man and woman +to sin, and it is true that such a love superficial and untrained, +may well do so, But that love, trained and instilled into the human +mind along with a deep and reverent understanding, can only be of the +greatest help and benefit. In this case the beauty and purity of the +soul, and that wondrous temple, the human body, would prove too strong +a responsibility to allow the mind to smirch them with sin and vice. In +advocating that children should be taught to see Nature’s works with +clear eyes, I do not mean that the many wonderful and beautiful works +of Man should be ignored: only with God’s works we can roam amongst +them, knowing that what they teach can only be good; with Men’s we +must walk warily, picking out for the help of the young only those +things that speak of fine and pure intention, and that can start no +train of impure thought. Of the greatest influence for good, I put the +sculpture of the ancient Greeks foremost: it cannot be studied too much +by the young; the more it is loved and understood the more lessons it +teaches, a deep and wide sense of extreme quietness and nobility, an +understanding and reverence in the truest sense of the word for the +beauty of the human body, to mar or ill-treat which was a sin against +all that was highest in them. A great patience and an almost superhuman +effort and striving towards all that was greatest and best, a reaching +out of mind and soul to do honour to Him who made them; what matter if +their gods were many, the effort and the reverence were the same, and +as such will surely be recorded. + +Will ever a quarter be understood as to what we owe these ancient +masters of art, the help they have been to thousands in their gentle +and sincere teaching--only thousands, alas! for of the millions of +people reared and taught in our country, it is the few who find out +by accident or design the beauties and wonders of their works? It is +true that bodies of school-children are escorted at intervals to the +British Museum, where they are shown round by some one who is supposed +to have a knowledge of the contents. Many a time have I watched the +groups with a sad heart, realising how much help and joy they were +missing. ‘That is a statue by So-and-so, 400 B.C.,’ on and on from one +thing to another, merely a jumble of names and dates; no aid given to +those muddled young minds towards their seeing and understanding the +beauty they are gazing at; no chance given them to take in the message +of purity and quietness that those great works send forth everlastingly +to those who have learnt to see and hear. What good is there in knowing +a list of famous names if the knowledge ceases at that, and the work +that made those names famous is unknown and unrealised? The human being +who feels a great humility and thankfulness before all beauty, whether +God’s work or Man’s, says a truer and more sincere prayer than he who +sits in church and parrot-like repeats long prayers to the God whose +work he either knows not, or does his best to destroy. + +We are told in the Bible that we are made in the likeness of God. +It is wonderful how far we have managed to stray from it, and how +determined we are that our children shall have no chance to attain to +it. With studious care have we built up year by year a mass of customs +and habits that successfully bar us from anything much higher in +appearance than the apes some think we are descended from. Sometimes +one sees a human face and body that has been strong enough to struggle +into maturity unmarked and maimed in spite of Man’s laws, and when we +see such a one, it is with a heart full of wrath and pity that we gaze +around on the crippled, hideous bodies that might be like unto gods +walking, and are merely distorted shapes, breeding further shapes still +more distorted, and a vista of horror is opened in the mind, and one +seems to hear the cries of millions of unborn children, each generation +a little more horrible to look at; with minds a little lower and more +sin-filled, and with less and less hope of gaining all that has been +lost. More lives to work out their own hell, fewer to live in Heaven. + +To keep a child’s mind filled with beautiful thoughts, and let their +eyes see only beautiful things is, I know well, a difficult matter +nowadays, since we have filled the world with hideous things and the +minds of those about us with ugly thoughts, but the importance of +doing so is, as I have said before, very great. It seems to me as if +beautiful ideas and things have a very slight, delicate growth in +the brain while it is in its early development, while the ugly and +grotesque takes hold with giant roots, and once allow the latter to +creep in first, it will oust all after attempts to replace it with the +delicate plant of beauty. But keep the mind well stocked with all that +is beautiful, and by the time the brain and body are developed, these +plants will have attained to such strong and noble proportions that +little fear need be felt of the others finding any space to live in and +flourish. + +There is a great deal of talk nowadays about Eugenics and theories on +improving the human race. It might be well worth the experiment to try +how the gospel of beauty taught in the deepest and truest sense might +succeed where everything else has failed; if we were educated to see +ugliness, mental and physical, as sins of the most serious description +against our Maker, whether would it not prove a very powerful help +towards the uplifting of the human race from the mire in which it at +present lies. + + + + +TEACHERS + + +Having tried to show how important the teaching of the love of beauty +is to children, and how important it is during the early development of +the brain to keep all that is bad and repulsive away, and only present +the good and the beautiful, it may not be out of place to say a little +on the subject as to the difficulty of getting teachers who have ever +given these ideas a thought, and if asked to carry out one’s wishes +on this subject simply regard one as a harmless lunatic. A few are +conscientious enough to make efforts, but even these are a hopeless +failure, and for this reason, if no thought has been given during the +years of training as to the necessity of keeping ugliness, physical +and mental, from children, it is almost impossible, unless unusually +gifted in self-control, to restrain one’s self a hundred times an hour +from doing or saying something ugly before children; also, with the +best endeavours in the world, the deplorable fact remains that the +great majority do not know what is ugly and what is beautiful. + +Nine years ago, I started with a light heart and a happy mind to +educate my eldest son in the way in which I considered all children +ought to be educated: in other words only pure and good thoughts were +to be instilled into his mind, and he was never to have the ugly and +grotesque forced on his notice. My difficulties began with my first +nurse, and they have gone on increasing through a series of nurses and +governesses. That they should not understand one’s ideas on the subject +was not surprising, as their upbringing made these ideas a closed +book to them; but what was so heart-breaking was that after hours of +explaining and reasoning, and eventually in despair almost extorting +promises that they should endeavour to speak only what was truthful and +good, and that they should refrain from ugly tales and dirty ideas, +it began to dawn on me that most of these people who take charge of +children do not know the difference between what is good and what is +bad for children to see and hear, and all the explaining in the world +could not teach them: proving that unless the study of these things is +undertaken in youth, it is of little use later in life to try and learn +it. Some of them really tried, they genuinely wished to please me, but +it was hopeless from my point of view; in fact, I was talking a strange +tongue to them, and with the best endeavours they could not understand +a language they had never learnt. It is certainly not my wish to decry +the faithful service that nurses have given to their charges, a good +deal more faithful than many mothers. But what I do want to point out +is that the training of nurses and teachers is as a rule far from what +it ought to be, and until this training is most thoroughly altered it +is worse than useless to try and raise the education of children to a +higher and purer level. First of all, it must be recognised that these +people on whom the future of our young so largely depends ought to be +the most respected and honoured amongst people, and this feeling of +responsibility and honour ought to be ingrained in the minds of those +who intend to enter the vocations of nursing or teaching. Not, as so +often is the case, that teaching is taken up when a failure is made at +other professions, and when you find in rich houses that the teachers +or nurses of the children are paid considerably less than the cook or +butler. Until teaching is put upon its proper pedestal and regarded +as the most honoured of professions, and one not to be entered into +lightly, so will education remain at its present low level. + +It is constantly being said that there are so many clever women +leaving our colleges each year, and finding it difficult to earn a +livelihood: surely teaching ought to give many of them a profession +in life; but until the profession is regarded rightly, as one of the +most high and sacred callings, clever men and women will consider it +beneath them, or only to be used as a step towards something better. +Certainly, latterly, there has been some improvement in the methods +of imparting knowledge to the young, but I am afraid that these +methods have not always been used for the good only of the child. Too +many good teachers are given to cramming infants’ minds to an extent +extremely harmful, only caring to produce on examination days tiny +children who can repeat pages of verse and prose--in other words, at +the expense of the child’s health and mind, they nurture their own +vanity, showing that their idea of responsibility is as lax as their +knowledge of the delicate structure they undertake to build up. The +ignorance of the people to whom children are entrusted on the science +of Pedagogy is truly amazing. They know nothing about the body, and +still less about the working of a child’s brain. They do not know +what is harmful physically, or what effect body has on brain, or +_vice-versa_; they have a smattering of Physical Culture and this is +used indiscriminately, and they cannot be blamed, as they have never +been taught even the rudiments of a science which they ought to know +thoroughly before they essay to teach. For it is, I am certain, this +entire lack of knowledge as to the brain and body and the effect of +one on the other, that leads to so much distress and sin, and that is +such a handicap in any efforts that are made to fill the mind with only +what is worth while. Excellent methods such as Dr. Montessori’s are +terribly hampered by the difficulty of finding people in any quantity +capable of carrying out ideas which require careful observation and a +real knowledge of the child’s mind and body. They may earnestly strive, +but they will fail, and consequently many good methods brought forward +by clever trained people go to the wall and are labelled as useless, +simply because the teachers are quite incompetent to either grasp +or carry out any method which requires a real and not a superficial +knowledge of Pedagogy. + +Now this is all rather dreadful, and the only way to improve matters +and give children a chance of starting life with a healthy and pure +outlook is for all parents to band themselves together and insist +that the people who volunteer to take charge of and educate children, +shall have received a proper training both mentally and physically. If +this was done, in one generation, education in the highest sense of +the word would have a bright outlook, as people who have received a +sane and clean education themselves will most certainly see that their +children receive and benefit by the same. I do not think that parents +can often give much thought as to the unlimited amount of harm done in +their nurseries. The conversations that are carried on before young +children, between nurse and nursery-maids, are five times out of six +harmful, I am certain; and any observing mother can tell, from the way +children behave and the things they talk about, the sort of influence +that is unconsciously wielded by the nurses in charge. Looking back at +my nursery days, and my memory of them is very distinct, I can easily +remember the kind of topics that were discussed before me: every sort +of gossip on the latest scandals, the latest murder, horrors of war, +&c., all in their most gruesome details. I was, I suppose, about four +or five years of age, and those conversations are clear in my memory +to this day. My nurse was the dearest and most faithful of old Scotch +servants, and would have given her life gladly for any of her charges, +but she had never been taught herself as to what was harmful and what +was not for children to see and hear, and had the uneducated person’s +general idea that children up to the age of about ten years are deaf, +dumb, and blind. Many and many an evil growth and crooked outlook on +life is gained in those early nursery days, and they cling steadily +through life. In these days of heavy doings and light thinkings, the +children of the well-to-do are more and more left in the charge of +others than their parents, and it seems that this would become more +so than less in the future. So, surely, a giant effort should be +made towards establishing a training college, or improving the ones +at present in existence, and insisting that nurses and teachers are +trained so as to have considerably higher ideals than they have at +present, and a far deeper knowledge of the mind and body, before they +are allowed to play havoc with the lives of the young. + +Most certainly there are many young people who love children, and have +themselves been brought up in a clean, though perhaps limited manner: +opportunities should be given to them to train so as to become able +to take charge of children and to fully understand the tremendous +responsibilities they undertake when children are given into their +charge. + +A man would be considered a great fool if he placed a valuable +racehorse in the hands of an ordinary stable-man to be trained for +a great race, and the horse would stand little chance to win unless +handled by an experienced trainer who had made it his business for +years to learn all there was to know on the subject of handling +valuable animals. He would give hours of observation and thought, he +would know to a hair’s weight what the animal could stand physically, +any mental idiosyncrasies would be studied and sought to be overcome. +But the average person who has charge of children as a rule not only +does not know even the anatomy of the child, but the formation of its +mind and the proper way of training that mind, and bringing it to a +full and perfect development, is often not even considered a matter +of importance. I do not wish to imply that these people are purposely +negligent of their duties, I merely wish to point out that the large +majority do not realise or understand, from their imperfect training, +either duties or responsibilities, the idea being very often that +children will turn out good or bad men or women quite independently of +their upbringing and the influence brought to bear on them during the +early years of their development. + + + + +DANCING + + +For many years I have been a most ardent admirer of Miss Isadora +Duncan, and there is no doubt that in the revival of classical +barefooted dancing she stands out with great brilliancy. All praise is +due to her as a creator of this school of dancing, and those amongst +us who seek to follow in her footsteps do so, I fear, but feebly. I +think I am right in saying that all the sincere classical dancers wish +to forward this school, not merely from the point of view of making +money on the stage, but from the educational value they feel it ought +to hold in the upbringing of all children of both sexes. And that this +value is very great has been proved as much as such a young movement +can be proved by Miss Duncan, M. Jacque Dalcroze, and others. Though, +of course, the eurhythmics of Jacque Dalcroze is a system of training +entirely different in method from that of any one else. + +[Illustration: MISS ISADORA DUNCAN + +_From a Photograph by the Dover Street Studios_] + +One of the greatest advantages that classical dancing holds over the +toe-dancing school is that it is possible to become proficient in it by +giving a short time daily to its practice, instead of the many hours +and years of arduous work that a toe-dancer has to go through before +becoming a finished exponent of the art. One is an accomplishment +that we all ought to be able to enjoy, the other is only possible +for the woman who means to make it a profession, and give the best +years of her life to it. Though to become a good classical dancer it +is not only necessary to take a child and instruct it in the art of +moving gracefully if the rest of its education does not assist in +the teaching. From earliest infancy it must be taught to observe, to +concentrate, to realise the beautiful in line and colour, and +to have the ugly and repulsive kept away from it, encouraged to copy +beautiful poses and eventually express to music in movement what that +music says to it. The educational value of classical dancing is that +its expression has to come from within. A toe-dancer is very often +merely a brilliant machine. Her dance is often composed for her by her +professors, and her well-trained muscles merely respond like a perfect +machine to their commands. It therefore follows that the educational +value in such dances is practically nil, apart from the dancers having +had to learn muscle-control, patience, and endurance, which of course +is of use. A child trained to classical dancing in the right way will, +by the time it reaches full growth, dance, I feel sure, as we were all +meant to dance, every muscle in control and the mind enveloped in the +glory of expressing beauty by perfect rhythmical movements. Having +worked on the stage as a classical dancer for a short time I was a +good deal saddened by the adverse criticisms I heard on all sides, +about the bare-footed school of dancing: general sameness and general +dullness were the two most severe. My own dancing being criticised I +did not mind. I was merely a beginner, and beginners nearly always +have to suffer. I asked many and various people as to the reasons of +these criticisms and always got the same answer: ‘Very pretty, yes, but +when it is seen once, that is sufficient. Interesting, I dare say, to +painters and sculptors who know when a pose is pure and a faithful copy +of the antique, but the general public don’t, and all the poses and +dances look much alike.’ + +At that time I used to get angry, and salved my wounded feelings by +putting these people down as narrow-minded and inartistic, but at the +bottom of my heart I felt that they had some right on their side. I +went several times to see classical dancing which was supposed to be +good, and tried fairly with an open mind to criticise it. After a good +deal of sincere study and thought on the subject I came to the +conclusion that to a great extent these criticisms were right. What +was lacking I was sure was the absence of any real joyousness and life +in the dancing. The dancers did their best, but with the exception of +Miss Duncan’s work, which carries a splendid joyousness in it, the +dancing was curiously dead and heavy. The poses were good, the arms +and body graceful and trained, but the legs and feet of most of them +were totally untrained, the muscles soft and flabby, thus causing every +movement to be devoid of life. In fact, an exact antithesis to the +toe-dancer, who very often has wonderfully trained legs and a great +rigidity of arms and body. The Russian dancers have to a great extent +got away from this very ugly style. + +[Illustration: MAD^{LLE} ADELINE GENÉE + +_From a Photograph by the Dover Street Studios_] + +Many contend that the ancient Greek dancers, whom the present-day +classical dancers try to copy, did not train their legs for dancing, +but merely used them as supports for the body and arms, to which all +the graceful movements were confined. Personally, I feel sure that +the Greeks if they trained their bodies and arms for the dance did not +neglect the legs and feet, as they were known to insist most strongly +in their physical education on perfect muscular development throughout +the body. + +[Illustration: MADAME KARSAVINA + +_From a Photograph by the Dover Street Studios_] + +Then came to me the problem which I have attempted to solve during +the last three years. Is it possible to combine Greek poses, graceful +body movements, and plastic light movements of the legs, so that +the whole may be welded and work smoothly together. In fact, to try +and resemble the Russian dancers in their lightness and charm, but +avoiding the tortuous and unnatural movements and positions favoured +by the toe-dancer. I felt sure that a great deal of the lightness of +the toe-dancer’s work could be brought with great advantage into the +classical dancer’s, and still lose none of the simplicity and purity +which is the barefooted dancer’s ideal, rather in fact add to it, as +it is quite unnatural to have heavy, uncontrolled muscles. This can be +proved by watching the dancing of savages, whose movements may be +grotesque, but every muscle is under control, and each movement sure. +The answer to all this by many would be that it is only necessary to +remove the tights, shoes, and ballet-skirt from any of the leading +toe-dancers, replace them by a Greek drapery, and you will have a +perfect classical dancer: for many of the Russians have shown that they +have studied a certain amount of this work as far as poses go in some +of their ballets--‘Narcissus,’ for instance. But there are several +insuperable objections to this, one of the foremost being that an +experienced toe-dancer’s bare foot is nearly always a thing of horror +to look at. Secondly, a toe-dancer gets all her positions with her foot +pointed as stiffly as possible, and her foot when not on the ground is +never otherwise than pointed. A bare foot pointed, even a well-shaped +bare foot, is an extremely ugly thing. A toe-dancer’s foot has at +all times to be rigid. She gets her muscular control from the rigid +foot upwards, and it would be an unheard-of fault for a toe-dancer +to allow her foot to become limp at any moment while dancing. Again, +a classical dancer must have her bare feet limp exactly like her +hands: the greatest difficulty I found was to keep the feet limp and +get the muscular control in the legs, also not to let the feet look +dead. All dancers have to conquer this difficulty in their hands when +learning to dance. A limp hand and a dead-looking hand are two very +different things. I have worked hard for three years at what I think +I am justified in calling a new form of bare-foot dancing. I make no +pretence of having perfected it, but I hope it is a step in the right +direction towards dancing that shall be perfect in pose and expression, +and that will help the human mind and body to retain its birthright of +beauty. + +[Illustration: BAREFOOTED DANCING AFTER THE GREEK STYLE + +_From a Photograph by the White Studios_] + +[Illustration: BAREFOOTED DANCING AFTER THE GREEK STYLE + +_From a Photograph by the White Studios_] + + + + +SWIMMING + + +If asked which style of physical exercise I should recommend to +bring nearly all the greater muscles of the body into play, and be +of all-round value to the exerciser, I should unhesitatingly say +swimming--and it is with a good deal of pleasure one notices how +greatly on the increase the learning of swimming is amongst well-to-do +people, and that parents are beginning dimly to realise what an +incalculable amount of good children of both sexes gather from this +exercise. Having seriously studied swimming and diving since I was +fourteen years old, I feel that I am at liberty to speak strongly on +the subject; of the good that can be got from indulging in one of the +most pleasurable physical exercises there are, and also the harm that +can result from bad teaching, &c. + +Having been a member of the Bath Club, London, since it first opened, +I have had every opportunity of studying swimming and the people who +swim--and there is no doubt that the Club has done an enormous lot +to encourage learning swimming amongst the rich and their children, +particularly the latter, averaging in age from three years old and +upwards; also, of course, I have swum and watched swimming in many +other countries and baths. An interesting thing is that most of the men +anyway who swim seriously, going in for competitions, exhibitions, &c., +are gleaned from the working classes, not from the idle rich, who one +would imagine have far more time and opportunity to perfect themselves. +But the art of swimming and diving is curiously little excelled in by +the latter. They of course know how to swim, as that is taught at most +public schools--but few get any further, the real swimming world +being composed nearly entirely of hard-working men. This, of course, +refers to England. When I first began swimming it was thought quite out +of the common to take an interest in this exercise, and women who swam, +amongst one’s friends, could be counted on the fingers of one’s hand. +As to high diving, that was looked at in horror and amazement. + +[Illustration: ENGLISH POSITION IN AIR WHILE DIVING] + +Then the Swedish divers came to London and gave exhibitions of high +diving; and people began to realise that there might be something worth +while in this art beyond the ordinary flopping-along breast-stroke +through the water, which was about as much as the average woman, +anyhow, dared to try. Swimming clubs for both sexes began to crop +up, competitions were started, prizes given--and the standard rose +by degrees to what it is now. Not high enough, by any means, but an +enormous improvement on fifteen years ago. I personally think that what +makes the Swedish divers stand out as a rule head and shoulders above +any other divers is their marvellous realisation of form in their +work, and to define what one means by form is almost impossible. Some +will say a diver with a great deal of finish has good form, personally +I think it quite possible to be an absolutely finished diver and yet +lack a great deal in form. It seems to me that the great dash and +boldness and muscular control the Swedes exhibit in the air has a great +deal to do with it. One of the above qualities is often seen, but all +three together seems almost unique to the Swedish divers. + +Perhaps it may be interesting to mention the difference between a plain +English dive and a plain Swedish dive. As regards the positions--the +English dive is taken with the hands pointed straight up above the +head, from the tips of the fingers to the end of the toes the body +ought to be in a straight line. The Swedish plain dive is the swallow +dive, so called from the position of the hands and arms out from the +shoulders at almost right angles. During the flight through the +air the back is hollowed as much as possible. A man doing a high +running swallow dive greatly resembles a bird swooping down, and the +beauty of line that the best divers manage to get into it is remarkable. + +[Illustration: SWEDISH SWALLOW DIVE] + +Of course the muscular development and control needed in high diving is +very great--therefore making it a most valuable exercise. A really good +high dive and perfectly developed and controlled muscles are bound to +go together. + +I think that the beauty in the art of diving is greatly under-valued, +and gracefulness not nearly enough insisted on in the teaching of it; +like all other physical exercises unless fitness and beauty of the body +are the aim of the exerciser, they ought to be left alone, little good +will certainly be gathered from any form of exercise if it is entered +into merely in the spirit of competition, and not with the wish to +improve the body and the mind. Most exercises of a vigorous kind will +help a person mentally: for instance, the mind would have to be a +seething mass of corruption if it was past being helped by the contact +and feel of cold water after a rush through the air from a height; +unclean and impure thoughts that crowd gaily and with little shame +under the electric lights in a crowded restaurant would not venture to +show themselves when the body is tingling and the mind rioting with +joy from a swift rush through the sunlit air into a still pool in a +river, or even into the green depths of a swimming-bath. No; exercise +aided by cold clean water and fresh air do not walk hand in hand with +uncleanliness of spirit, and if only this was more understood and +realised by parents, how much unhappiness and peril might be saved +their children. As to the teaching of children--swimming ought to be +taught to all and taught in the right spirit--not regarded as a means +to clutch a gold medal from some less fortunate brother or sister, +but a glorious means of helping themselves mentally and physically, +and an exercise that ought to be put within the reach of rich and +poor; and, I feel most strongly, taught, as all physical exercises +should be taught, to man and woman, as a weapon to combat through life +temptations and sorrows which come to all on life’s journey. It is +only necessary to watch small children splash about in pool or bath to +understand what great joy can be given them and in a very easy manner. +Taught and helped they make marvellous progress and even the quite +small ones will strive to perfect themselves in stroke or dive--also +love of the water seems to breed good temper and good fellowship, +therefore surely that love is to be encouraged. As to the harm that +can be got from swimming I think it is the same that can be found in +any exercise that is practised in a harmful manner. Overstrain is +particularly liable in children who are allowed and encouraged to race +each other until their hearts are bumping, which also leads to bad +swimming. I am sure no serious racing ought to be allowed to the young +until the strokes are sure and perfect. + +Again, children, in baths especially, are allowed to stay in far too +long. No time limit can be given, I know, as one child can stay in +the water a great deal longer than another, but constantly one sees +children blue with cold and exhaustion, and when they are taken out of +the water only too often parents and teachers hurry them off to stand +under a hot shower-bath or, a still worse evil, take them into the hot +room of a Turkish bath to get warmed up, consequently an overtired, +flushed child is the result, instead of a happy, brisk, and refreshed +one. Less time in the water, and, if cold, a few exercises or a romp +to warm up after, will be far more successful and also stop the plaint +which is often dinned into our ears--‘Such a pity my child can’t learn +to swim, but she or he always catches cold afterwards.’ + +Small children can learn, apart from the ordinary breast and side +strokes, all the so-called fancy work in the water, of which there are +many different varieties--all of them being a great aid to gracefulness +and sureness, and delighting children as well as grown-up people. +Personally I am no believer in high diving for young children, as the +muscles are seldom either strong or controlled enough to make a fair +certainty of the dive being a good one, and if it isn’t I do not think +it is good for a small child to hit the water in the wrong position. + +They certainly ought to learn to dive and to dive well, but not from +more than a ten-feet board--until they can really make a certainty of +a good clean dive from that height. I mention this as often one sees +ambitious parents urging on their children to dive from a thirteen or +fourteen feet board, when they cannot properly dive from three feet. Of +course a good teacher will not permit this, but good teachers are few. +Grown-up people also often make the same mistake, and go falling off +high boards long before they can dive from a low one. Also in the minds +of non-swimmers or divers there seems to exist the curious belief that +high diving is a gift. I have often been met with reproachful looks +after a dive, and the words, ‘I really don’t know how you do it, it is +_quite_ wonderful; and you know I have tried and I can’t spring a bit +like you can; isn’t it a shame!’ When answered somewhat prosaically +that it has taken fourteen years of hard practice to acquire that +spring, and that it is necessary to have the muscles developed in the +legs and body before it is possible to dive at all with any skill, +watch the non-swimmer’s mouth and you will see the one word ‘liar’ +forming silently thereon! + +These are a type who appear in swimming-baths and stand about on the +edge rarely venturing into the water, and, when they do, struggle about +in a half-drowned condition, believing that to show any muscle or +knowledge of swimming is to be thoroughly ungraceful--if not hopelessly +vulgar. They also have another trying habit, and that is of paddling +feebly round in circles always just on the spot where the divers from +the high boards must enter the water. When the frantic instructor +tries to explain the situation, they stare wildly round the edge, but +nothing will ever induce them to look up to where the danger comes +from. More than once I have become weak from laughter, standing on a +high board watching the instructor and paddler--also when eventually +the whole bath starts shouting at them and they are removed, it is a +certainty that in a sort of hypnotised condition they will be back in +the same spot shortly. + +There is also another type very prevalent at swimming-baths, as I know +for my sins, and these are women who come and stand about on the edge +of the baths, for what reason I never could discover, unless it is +to talk, but it seems a damp and uncomfortable spot for indulging in +conversation. They always stand with their backs to the water, and seem +to be absolutely unconscious of both bath and swimmers. It does not +the least matter that there may be the most convenient balcony with +comfortable chairs provided for those who wish to watch the swimming, +not at all--nothing short of violence will move them, and if there is +a low diving-board handy, they always stand on it. Polite remarks such +as, ‘I wish to dive, please,’ or ‘Please I want the board,’ uttered in +a beseeching fashion, has no effect whatever. For years I treated these +people with politeness, but eventually my temper broke, with excellent +results, and I have now adopted a way which is instantaneously +effective, and I offer the suggestion with great pleasure to any of my +fellow-swimmers who have suffered in the same manner. Here it is--brush +past them heavily once or twice so that they get thoroughly wet, if +that is not effective run lightly up behind and shout ‘_Board!_’ with +all the strength your lungs are capable of, that will generally cause +them to jump several feet into the air, and while their nerves are +still trembling place them in the hands of an attendant to conduct to +the aforesaid balcony! + +It is extraordinary how keen people get about swimming even when +they have taken it up quite late in life--I know several who swim +regularly, and work away at diving with the greatest diligence, and it +is much to their credit, as learning diving after you are full grown +is a most painful exercise, and if you are well on in years and heavy +I should have thought doubly so--and one would have imagined not a +very healthy exercise, but I know one or two women who are well past +middle age who have only the last year or two taken up swimming and +diving, and they seem to benefit greatly by it. I think it a very great +question as to whether giving swimming-baths to the very poor is an +advantage or not--I do not mean for a moment that they ought not to +have swimming-baths and also learn to swim, but done as things are at +present with insufficient instruction, and water that is changed only +once or twice a week, the risk of infection is great. If people who do +not wash regularly use swimming-baths, and a bath with soap is not +made compulsory before entering the public water, then running water +through the bath ought to be the alternative. + +Let me once more urge parents to have their children taught to swim, +in the proper fashion, and with the proper ideas as to its value and +place in life, for there is no better sport or exercise than swimming +and diving to instil in a child’s mind purity and self-control, and +drive away that present-day great usurper of the mind, uncleanliness of +thought, the beginnings of which, alas! can sometimes nowadays be seen +in even the quite young. + + + + +BIG GAME SHOOTING + + +Nowadays it is the fashion for the wealthy young man about town to +go to India or Africa to hunt big game. So it may be of interest to +discuss a little this big game shooting from an educational point of +view--which point of view had not arisen, and of which there was no +need, before or during the last generation. But, alas! different times +and different men have turned hunting into a mere pastime of the lowest +kind--into an excuse for killing in an unsportsmanlike fashion, to be +used as a sop for a feeble, decadent vanity. + +Such mighty hunters as Mr. Selous and the late Captain Gordon Cumming +made it possible only to honour and respect in every way such men, who +hunted in a clean, hard, fearless manner, spending their lives and +caring little of the way they risked them, so long as the task set +was accomplished. There was no necessity then to question as to the +sportsmanlike manner in which big game was hunted. It is more than a +pity that the same cannot be said at the present day. + +In imagination one sees the many mighty hunters of bygone days: the men +who laboured and sweated in Africa during the time when elephant ivory +was a paying game. The years of hardship, of carrying one’s life in +one’s hand--the only thing that kept death away, an antiquated rifle +that took a minute to load--these were men to whose memory all real +sportsmen must doff their hats and bend their heads in reverence. + +One or two are still left to us, and written on their faces is the +story of the lives they have led--a story clean and fine to read--eyes +that look out with no shiftless look, bright and clear as steel; firm +lips that have suffered, perhaps, but have never trembled from fear; +lines drawn plentifully by the sun-god, but each line shaped by a +wholesome thought. No sagging lines of self-indulgence in these faces; +even if they had their merry roystering times on their few returns +to civilisation, they wiped out the marks by the months of arduous +and self-denying living which they spent hunting. Some to make money, +others because they had been born hunters and would continue to hunt +until the Most Mighty of all Hunters stretched forth His hand and +claimed them in their turn. + +Sportsmen these in the greatest sense of the word. Turn in your graves, +ye who have passed on! Or, rather, let us pray that it is denied to you +to see the men and methods that follow so feebly in your footsteps. + +Let me try and compare the going forth to hunt of a rich young man +of the present day, and one of these old hunters. The rich young man +starts, say, from Mombasa--it is the pet place of rich young men, +as it is easily got at, and a non-feverish hunting-ground can be +reached with little trouble. He, the rich young man, is quite often +accompanied by a professional white hunter, who takes all trouble from +off his shoulders, engages his men, runs the whole outfit for him, and +generally acts as male nurse to the rich young man, seeing that he does +not run his valuable head anywhere in the direction that danger might +lurk. He is, as a rule, a first-class shot, so if his charge misses or +maims a dangerous animal, he can always rectify matters. In fact, he +sets the scene, writes the play, acts as audience, and the rich young +man plays the chief part, and the whole thing as much resembles real +big game hunting as the theatre resembles real life. + +Of course the running of the caravan is in itself no light work, as the +rich young man would find it terribly uncomfortable to travel with less +than sixty or ninety men, there are so many things to carry, tents, +chairs of different kinds to rest the aching back, tables, dozens of +plates, spoons, forks, and knives, beds, a mosquito-room to dine in, +champagne to restore the rich young man after his fatiguing day, two or +three portmanteaus of clothes--he might get fever if he did not change +constantly, and to sit about in sweaty clothes is very dangerous he has +heard--and then, my God! he might die, if he hasn’t brought a doctor +with him this time: he most certainly will if he ventures back into +Africa again. + +The above may seem exaggerated, but I can most sincerely assure my +readers that it is not. It is merely the modern young man’s idea of +sport. + +Bah! let me take a deep, clean breath, and get back to talking about +the real men, the hunters of old whom we can respect and look up to, +and feel glad that sometimes they will let us sit at their feet, and +learn from them a little of the wisdom they have massed together during +years of solitary travel. They are always quite modest men, putting +little value on their brave deeds, regarding it all in the day’s +work--though sometimes their eyes will sparkle as they tell of some +great adventure in bygone days. For it is near to their hearts, this +life of wandering, and they would lead no other. To do an unfair or +cowardly act would be an impossibility to these men, they are just good +sportsmen, and they want no fairer name. + +How different their hunting! One or two men would carry all they +needed for months of travel; no stock of tinned food here, they ate +what they killed, and if they killed nothing, went without. A little +flour and rice, a knife, a spoon, perhaps a fork!--it was not a +necessity, so why take it? A small tent, a few odds-and-ends, a couple +of shirts. Everything worked down to the lowest limit. Not how much +can we take--the new gospel--but how much can we do without, and they +did without most things. They were there to hunt to the best of their +ability, not to coddle their bodies; they would have been ashamed to do +that at any time, as coddled bodies and clean souls do not as a rule go +together, and these men were essentially clean-souled. + +Yes, they were out to hunt big game--man against beast--teeth and claws +against rifle--fair and square we met him and the best of us won. +Sometimes they died of fever, sometimes they were killed by the animals +they hunted--but one thing may be a certainty, and that is that each +and all who met his death did so fearlessly and with no repining. They +had taken the chances, and if the chances were too many for them, it +was all in the day’s work. + +How pitifully few of our modern young men will stand comparison with +these old hunters--and it is in the comparing of the old with the new +which brings up the question in one’s mind as to whether it is not +actually excessively wrong from all points of view to hunt in the +manner indulged in by the man of the present day. + +The question as to our right in the taking of animal life is bound, I +suppose, to arise in the minds of all who have children to educate, +and who think at all--and I personally find it one extremely hard to +answer, and am fain to make a compromise, which I know is, as a rule, +a great mistake: the young as a rule do not question, they hunt and +take life in a purely heartless fashion, seeming to feel no doubt as +to the right or the wrong of it, and while this is felt I should say +hunt if--and this is a very large if--the hunting is done so that +benefit for mind and body is got from it; but there is little doubt +that, indulged in as it is by the rich at present, it becomes a merely +degraded form of amusement. In the future, perhaps, we shall understand +more clearly and realise more definitely as to whether the taking of an +animal’s life is wrong or not. Let me try and explain what I mean when +I say sport ought only to be indulged in when of benefit to body and +soul. + +It seems to me the only permissible excuse for killing ought to be, +firstly, for food; and secondly--by far the most important--that in +the pursuit and killing of game, a man becomes a finer, cleaner +type owing to the life he is forced to lead during that pursuit. It +is a life in the open air. He has to work hard, to lead a primitive +life, and generally has a chance to brush away from his mind and body +the uncleanly thoughts and clothes that are fostered and imposed by +civilisation. He must be independent, relying only on his own strength +and skill; he must live and hunt as nearly as possible as his savage +forefathers lived and hunted, and, having shaken clear of civilisation, +he has time to examine his mind and generally get things into their +proper perspective. He gives himself a chance to face his God and +himself if he does this fairly (and a few months of a primitive, clean +life will make him do it in spite of himself); he will come back +from his hunting trip a better, saner, and stronger man mentally and +physically than when he started, and his hunting will have provided +the object necessary to encourage him to lead this kind of a life. And +now we come back to the question, to kill or not to kill. There are +certain people, but rarely young people, who can go out and lead a +hard, primitive life, for the sheer love of the thing and for the good +of their souls, and not need any definite object to lure them on and +keep their minds busy. But the average man has travelled such a little +way along the big road of thought, that he requires to have something +to amuse the superficial part of his mind while he is straightening and +patching his tired soul and body. + +Therefore, if killing is only used as an excuse for leading a clean, +healthy life, and it is done in a sportsmanlike fashion, it seems to +my humble judgment better to hunt and be clean, than not hunt and be +unclean. A compromise, I know, but the only one my poor judgment allows +me. If sport is not undertaken to make a better man of you, nowadays, +when it is not a necessity to hunt to live, then leave it alone, for +it can only deteriorate and hinder. Worthless is the man who goes out +hunting with no reason for his going beyond nurturing his personal +vanity, with the desire only of bringing home so many heads and skins +and showing them off to admiring relations and friends. Only too often, +he cares little if the trophies were gotten in a sportsmanlike manner; +he goes, accompanied by all the trappings and comforts of civilisation, +everything arranged and made easy, often even to having the animals +he hunts found and marked down for him. In fact, he sets forth to +accomplish a series of well-arranged animal murders, and he calls it +sport. + +It would be truly instructive, if it were possible, to turn one of +these so-called men loose in Africa out of reach of civilisation, and +make him live as the real hunter of past days lived, dependent entirely +on his own eyesight, skill, and endurance. I very much doubt if one +week would not see him dying or dead, as from constant self-indulgence +from earliest youth, and soft living of all kinds, his eyesight is +rotten, his hearing is of no use whatever, and his staying power, +unless bolstered up by incessant stimulants, does not exist at all. +Unless the hunter of old had had all his senses very finely developed, +he would not have got very far, and Africa would have claimed more +white lives than she has already done. + +The unfortunate thing is that this type of decadent young man who +overruns the healthy hunting-grounds of Africa, has done, and is doing, +a great deal of harm to sport. He has more money than brains and he has +no self-respect whatever. Therefore he indulges in a form of sport that +is no sport at all, but merely the seeking of a worn-out, unhealthy +mind after amusement. He goes in for a form of vice in sport, which is +a lust to kill in large numbers--how, does not in the least matter, +it is the quantity that matters; quality even does not attract him +largely, rather three small heads than one good one. + +Also, to be cruel is perhaps more amusing than not to be cruel. I do +not think I am wrong in saying that in the old days the man who did +not kill as quickly and cleanly as possible would have been called a +bad sportsman. Boys were brought up to consider sport a very serious +thing, and to be named a good sportsman more or less hall-marked you. +They regarded sport very seriously, these great-grandfathers of ours, +and often in a manner which would appear to us with wider interests +somewhat ridiculous. But the trouble is that sport is still freely +indulged in--big game hunting more than it used to be, since great +distances can now be covered with ease and comfort--and the good old +rules as to what made a good sportsman and what didn’t, have, instead +of becoming more stringent, almost ceased to exist. The high ideals +which the old sportsmen kept constantly in front of them have gone, +and in their place reigns a most unwholesome desire to slaughter at +all costs, which has naturally led to many cruel forms of hunting that +would not have been tolerated in the old days. Fair play for man and +beast was the gospel of the old hunters. Amusement for the hunter is +the cry nowadays, and a poor lot of human beings indulging in a very +poor form of sport is the result. + +A ceaseless endeavour to kill dangerous animals, and to remain +perfectly safe while doing so, is, from a sportsman’s point of view, a +somewhat nauseating sight. A favourite device of this sort is tying up +a live animal, such as a donkey or a goat, climbing up a tree to a safe +perch, and from there shooting lions, &c., which will come to devour +the tie-up. The feelings of the said tie-up during the hours of waiting +do not require much imagination to realise. + +Hunting a lion with a pack of hounds, four or five men on ponies +with rifles, is another very favourite pastime nowadays. It has its +advantages in being fairly safe--for the men; the hounds, of course, +may suffer. The King of Beasts--would any one recognise him by that +name, as, hunted, winded, dazed by the clamour of many hounds, he tries +to make the long grass?--and, when he does make a break for the open, +it does not matter if one rifle misses, or only wounds him, there are +always two or three more to finish him off before he can retaliate. + +If we will not face him on our feet, man and rifle against beast and +claws, would it not be more sportsmanlike to leave him alone? A pack +of hounds and four or six rifles against one lion. Well it is that +you mighty lion-hunters, who, unaided and badly armed, sought out and +killed your lions by sheer skill and bravery, taking all chances, and +only proud if the chances were against you--well it is that you have +passed on; or do your spirits still haunt that land of fascination +and disease, and, perchance, mourn over each great beast that is done +to death by the hands of degenerate creatures, who manage to preserve +their worthless lives against your mighty strength, merely by being +able to entirely obliterate from their minds what the words ‘good +sportsmen’ once meant? + +It would be of some interest to know how many lions, of the many that +are killed nowadays, are met face to face, one man on the ground +against one lion. Not so very many, methinks. One hears so much about +the number of lions killed by So-and-so, but the methods of killing +are generally left to the imagination of the listener. I believe +there have been people degraded enough even to trap lions and think +no shame of it. Hardly would this be permissible even if there was a +famous man-eater to be killed, unless every other sporting method had +been tried and failed. Why this type of creature, who does this sort +of thing and boasts of it, is not taken and given a horse-whipping, +and then expelled from decent society, I know not--except that I +suppose the old sense of fairness and good sportsmanship is breathing +its last. I felt this very strongly when in London a short time ago, +I went to see some moving pictures of big game taken in Africa. One +of the pictures remains unpleasantly clear in my memory: it was +that of a hyena in a trap, caught by one leg; it grovelled along on +its belly, tongue out, covered with dust, in an agony of fear, and +showing the hideous misery of despair to be seen only in the eyes of +trapped animals; he ceased his convulsive efforts to get free for the +moment, and he was then stirred up with sticks, so that his struggles +might prove an amusing picture to be shown all over the world. It +was explained during this picture that the trap was padded and could +cause the animal no pain, as if pain of a wounded limb be felt or +matter much to a trapped animal. It is the terrible fear, the feeling +of helplessness and being at the mercy of all comers,--they who have +always been free--look at their eyes; and even if they be sorely +wounded, it is not pain you see there, but sheer, horrible terror, +the terror of the trapped animal, a thing to stamp out quickly by a +merciful death, or, better still, give it back its freedom. It was +also explained that anyway it did not matter much as the hyena was +a horrible animal! Fifty years ago, if moving pictures had existed +and such a picture had been shown to a house full of men, women, and +_children_, I feel certain that it would have been greeted with hisses +instead of the applause it received, and the man who had the indecency +to show such a picture would most likely have visited the nearest +horse-pond. Trapping has been done for years, as a rule to kill vermin, +but it is generally left to paid men and regarded as a disagreeable +necessity. We have come to sorry times indeed when we can regard the +struggles of a trapped animal as an amusing spectacle, and take no +shame in letting our children see such methods of sport. It is not only +in hunting dangerous game that cruelty is indulged in, for it exists +still more freely in the chase of the non-dangerous kind. Little shame +is felt in wounding, and allowing a wounded animal to get away to die +slowly in great pain from his wound, or perhaps to be eaten by one of +the greater hunting animals. + +Unless a man is a perfect shot, he is bound to wound sometimes. But +he ought to do his level best to find the animal and put it out of +its pain. Nowadays there seems a sort of slackness about bothering +to go after a wounded animal, which must come from a total want of +imagination, and also from the lack of having it instilled severely +into boys’ minds like it used to be, that to wound and not to kill was +something to be very much ashamed of, and that, if it had been done, +it betokened a failure and a falling-off from the moral standpoint +of a sportsman. When this feeling was strongly developed, men were +more careful how they shot; they would not shoot at animals at a +distance that five times out of six they were bound to miss or wound; +they hunted more carefully, and took more pains about getting within +reasonable distance before firing. The mass of stuff that goes away +wounded in Africa from indiscriminate firing at long distances would +make a vast total if it could be counted up. I imagine boys also used +to be taught a more thorough knowledge of sport. The hunting of the +animals was considered of as great an importance as the letting off of +the rifle. A man was not content to have the beast found for him, and +he himself led up to it, the rifle placed in his hands, and sometimes +told even when to let it off! A good many of the young men of the +present day would be greatly at a loss, I fear, if they had even to +clean their rifles themselves, and to take a rifle to pieces would be +a Chinese puzzle to them. + +The old hunters were a mine of information on the countries they +travelled in, and on the habits of the animals they hunted. The +present-day man seems almost as if he were deaf and blind, so little +does he know either about the animals he hunts or the countries he +travels in. + +Surely sport regarded merely as a means to get so many heads and skins, +not caring if the lowest and most unsportsmanlike methods are used so +long as so much stuff is collected, must have only the most degrading +effect on the man who indulges in it. + +Gone are the days when to live we had to hunt and kill. So if we now +hunt at all, let it be as an excuse to be in the great open places of +the world, bettering ourselves in mind and body. And let us at least +try only to employ sportsmanlike methods, and to follow staunchly along +the road that those mighty hunters of old marked so bravely for us. + + + + +RELIGION + + +It is hardly possible to pick up a newspaper nowadays without seeing +the word education heading many columns of printed matter containing +the views and theories on this subject from all kinds and conditions +of people and from all parts of the kingdom. Most of the newspaper +discussions are generally about the more or less trivial failings +on the part of our modern education, and rarely seem to make any +definite effort to discuss the serious evils which exist, and owe +their existence to the curious lack of reason and understanding in the +rearing of our young. It seems difficult to understand how any one +who has ever given the matter a moment’s serious thought can fail to +realise the hopelessness of the present methods of education, which +the average child of both rich and poor has to suffer from--both during +the period of that education and in their lives afterwards where the +effects of it follow them to the grave. + +The evils of modern education are many, and not to be eradicated in a +day; but the great root of most of these evils, and that from which +they all spring, is that our children are given no God to worship, or, +rather, they are given a name, to which they gabble a prayer morning +and night, titter at if they hear mentioned, and thoroughly abominate +on Sundays on account of the boredom and discomfort inflicted on that +day in His Name. + +Surely it would be well worth the experiment to replace what is merely +a disliked or ignored name with a real and living God in the children’s +minds, and I think the result would be that education would be helped +farther towards a perfect and sound basis than it has ever been before. + +Teach them to have something strong and wonderful to believe in, a +reason for doing the right and avoiding the wrong, a great and splendid +helping presence, a living thought, instead of a hopelessly unjust +and tiresome nonentity, which at present is what He represents to the +average child. + +Many people are trying and trying faithfully to find out the cause +of the failure in our modern education; and why, when so much money +is spent, results are so disappointing. Yet it seems to occur to few +that it is building on sand to try and impress upon the brain of a +developing human being the right way of living and learning, and at the +same time giving that human being no true reason as to why that way +is more right than any other way. The extremely young will believe, +perhaps, that because mother or teacher says such-and-such a thing, +that it is right, but the brain a little more developed rejects an +edict given with no reason behind it, and I feel most sincerely certain +that until God is made into a real living and helping thought in the +mind of the young, education will remain much where it is. From our +schools and homes a stream of men and women will continue to issue +forth with indifferent educations, lacking in culture, and with the +lowest of ideals, who are helpless prey to the first and strongest +influences that may seize on them. If the influences are for the good, +all may be well; but if they be for the bad, what help or strength has +ever been given in our education, mentally or physically, to assist in +combating them? + +Religion as it is taught to the average child is not only worse than +useless, it is a blasphemy!--a strong word, I know, but a true one; +take any average child, rich or poor, and mention the Almighty to +him or her, and see the result: either a blank and uncomprehending +stare will be the result, or an inane giggle, followed by a bored and +long-suffering expression. Is not that blasphemy? Not from the child, +whose fault it is not, but from the people who are responsible for that +child and its upbringing. + +I have travelled in many lands, but only in English-speaking countries +have I found the name of God treated with so little respect and +understanding amongst the young. And yet we call ourselves Christians, +the meaning of which word is followers after Christ. Children are the +most reasonable of creatures, and give them really strong and beautiful +reasons for everything they are asked to do, and they will cling to +those reasons with the greatest of strength and faith. Surely if we +could conquer our curious aversion to bringing God’s name into our +daily lives, except when we wish to take it in vain, it would make a +wonderful difference in the rearing of our children--to try and make +Him into a real and living presence, to help and strengthen in work +and play, not merely a Name to be bored, frowned, and laughed at; and +I feel certain education would show the most surprising results. It is +indeed difficult to understand that any one can seriously believe that +the manner in which religion is taught to children in our schools and +homes can ever have any influence or be of any help to them in their +future lives, still less in their work at school. + +I imagine the question that might be asked is: What have the Almighty +and school-work to do with each other? Personally, I think the answer +is, ‘Everything.’ Unless the feeling of God’s presence and help is made +a real thing to children in the little worries, difficulties, and joys +of childhood, unless they learn to turn to Him in those small trials, +they are not, I think, likely when the large troubles of manhood and +womanhood come along to look for help and comfort in the only direction +from which it can come. + +The feeling of His nearness ought never to be absent, whether it is +a sum to be struggled with or a page of history to be conquered; the +sum is struggled with and the page of history conquered, not because +of the punishment that might occur otherwise, but because a brain has +been given to us to be taken care of and developed to the best of our +ability, and that to neglect to develop it is to show that a trust God +has given us has been misplaced. + +Later in life, when it is not a sum or a page of history that is our +difficulty or temptation, the habit of feeling the nearness of God’s +presence and the responsibility to Him will surely prove a very great +and real help. + +Let us at least try to give our children something more than a name +to hold by in their hours of darkness and trouble, and if people who +‘having eyes see not and having ears hear not,’ cry Idealism and +Utopianism, let us take no heed, for all things are possible, even +Utopia. + + +_London: Strangeways. Printers._ + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + +Contrast of the book cover has been adjusted for readability. + +Typos corrected: repeated words printed on page 56, 70, and 80. + +Superscripted text has been represented as “text^{superscripted}” in +this edition. + +Illustration captions were originally printed on a separate page from +the illustration itself. They have been consolidated in this edition. + +The locations of some illustrations have been moved to enhance +readability. Page numbers in the list of illustrations remain unchanged. + +Inconsistencies in hyphenation, and capitalization after punctuation, +have been left unchanged. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78268 *** |