Two thousand years ago, Isocrates, the Greek rhetorician, said: "Exercise
for health, not for strength." The cultivation of muscle for its own sake
is a return to barbarism, while it enfeebles the mind, and ultimately the
body. The ancient gymnasts are said to have become prematurely old, and
the trained performers of our own day soon suffer from the strain they put
upon their muscular system. Few men have sufficient vigor to become both
athletes and scholars. Exercise should, therefore, merely supplement the
deficiency of our usual employment. _A sedentary life needs daily,
moderate exercise, which always stops short of fatigue_. This is a law
of health. (See p. 280.)

No education is complete which fails to provide for the development of the
muscles. Recesses should be as strictly devoted to play as study hours are
to work. Were gymnastics or calisthenics as regular an exercise as grammar
or arithmetic, fewer pupils would be compelled to leave school on account
of ill health; while spinal curvatures, weak backs, and ungraceful gaits
would no longer characterize so many of our best institutions.

TIME FOR EXERCISE.--We should not exercise after long abstinence from
food, nor immediately after a meal, unless the meal or the exercise be
very light. There is an old-fashioned prejudice in favor of exercise
before breakfast--an hour suited to the strong and healthy, but entirely
unfitted to the weak and delicate. On first rising in the morning, the
pulse is low, the skin relaxed, and the system susceptible to cold. Feeble
persons, therefore, need to be braced with food before they brave the
outdoor air.

WHAT KIND OF EXCERCISE TO TAKE.--For children, games are unequaled.
Walking, the universal exercise, [Footnote: The custom of walking, so
prevalent in England, has doubtless much to do with the superior physique