Necessity for the cultivation of corporate virtues. Women have plenty of devotion and unselfishness of an individual kind—that is to say, they can lose themselves entirely in the interests of their particular friends or of their husbands and children, but this personal devotion is quite compatible with what I may call family selfishness, and they may be, and often are, quite incapable of realising any interest whatever that is not bounded by the four walls of their home. The effect of this narrowness is to make their lives extremely mean and petty, and they have in consequence a deteriorating effect upon every member of their families and upon all society in which they mingle. It is true that the family is the unit which lies at the base of all national existence, and which forms the foundation stone for all teaching, moral and spiritual, but it is essential to remember that it is only a unit, and that an aggregation of such families or units forms a community, a nation, and that the members of a family are likewise citizens of kingdoms, political and spiritual. The woman who indulges in family selfishness is a bad citizen. To be a good citizen, it is essential that she should have wide interests, a sense of discipline and organisation, esprit de corps, a power of corporate action. Now the schoolmistress is the person who has the best opportunity of teaching these principles to women, and I would have her fully recognise her privilege and her responsibility. Men acquire corporate virtues, not only at school and at college, but almost in every walk of life; whereas comparatively few women ever find themselves members of an organised profession, and the proportion, even of those who have the advantage of college life, is still exceedingly small. It remains therefore for the school to teach them almost all that they will ever have the opportunity of acquiring of the power of working with others, and sinking their own individuality for the common good. The opportunity must be made the most of. In the life generally.Now girls are quite as susceptible as boys to the influences of school life. Therefore let us see that the influences are such as develop the best characteristics. Make them trustworthy by trusting them, open and straightforward by taking it for granted that they have nothing to hide. Give them beautiful surroundings; let the house be well managed and comfortable but not luxurious; satisfy every reasonable want liberally; do not keep their minds concentrated upon themselves by having a multiplicity of minute and irritating rules, but explain to them broad principles of conduct, and expect them to apply these themselves to the minutiæ of their own lives, pointing out patiently again and again where the girls’ application of principles clashes with the interests of the majority. By means of organised games.Thus the principles of corporate life are being imbibed every hour and minute of the day, though nowhere more completely than in the playground, and in the playground the large organised games, such as cricket, hockey and lacrosse, are the most useful for this purpose.
Area of playground.Of course it is exceedingly difficult to obtain space enough upon which to play these games, but if a school is to be a residentiary school at all in the full sense of the word, it must have several acres of ground immediately surrounding it. I forbear to specify the minimum number of acres, because though it may be desirable for the whole school to be able to play at one time every day, it is not essential, as it is possible by an expenditure of trouble on the part of the headmistress to economise both playground and schoolroom accommodation by arranging for each to be available in succession for the use of different portions of the school. A very useful guide, however, is to be found in the fact that, taking twelve well-known boys’ schools, the average area of the sites is twelve acres for every hundred boys.
There ought to be one ground levelled and turfed, about a hundred yards by fifty, for every thirty or forty girls. It is rarely that more than two and twenty, as in cricket, or twenty-four, as in lacrosse, are required for a game; but out of the whole number there will always be a few who are “not playing games to-day,” and the balance occupy themselves usefully with some of the other smaller games previously enumerated. Organisation of playground.The captain of the house or form, or whatever the subdivision may be that has the use of the “ground,” must arrange that every individual of the forty is put down to play in the organised game three or four, or as many times as is possible, in the week. The half-holiday will naturally be the day upon which foreign matches are played, or home matches with other divisions, or scratch matches arranged by the captain of the games. The captain of games and the captains of divisions are of course girls, selected in the one case by the whole school, and in the others by the girls of the division over which she presides. Of course if the number of grounds available is not as great as the number of suitable divisions, divisions must have grounds allotted to them in turn, and this reduces seriously the opportunities for practice. A good deal, however, may often be done with great advantage on a smaller piece of ground in practising for the game at the time in vogue, especially in cricket, where very useful coaching is given at the nets. Often special varieties of a game are developed by the local peculiarities of the only available spot for playing it. Every Etonian knows the correct shape for a fives-court, and how the peculiarity has been perpetuated from the balustrade of the stone stair in the quadrangle which leads to the chapel. The old Scottish game of hailes has likewise localised itself in the playground of the Academy, Edinburgh. It is desirable that there should be a mistress, whose special interest may be claimed by the girls in any particular game, and whose advice may be sought by the captain of games in the matter of answering challenges and providing the necessary apparatus. The captain should also be supported by another girl as secretary and treasurer, to collect subscriptions and keep the books.
Cycle of games.The experience of many years has evolved the plan of choosing regularly one game for each term, and always keeping to it. Thus lacrosse might be taken in the September term, hockey in January, and cricket in May, and if all schools adopt the same plan, outside matches are then possible, and there are few things which tend so strongly to keep up the esprit de corps of a school as meeting other schools on the playing-field.
There will be no difference of opinion as to the suitability of cricket for the summer term, but many schools play hockey in September, and carry it on for two terms. We have found, however, that there is not really enough interest in the game itself to keep up enthusiasm for such a long period, but inasmuch as it keeps nearly all the players in constant movement and requires the minimum amount of arrangement beforehand, and can therefore be begun at once on a cold day without loss of time, it is the best game for the January term, during which the most inclement weather of the year is usually experienced. Lacrosse.Football being quite out of the question, on account of its roughness, we have fallen back upon lacrosse, a game which requires the same qualities of combination, obedience, courage, individual unselfishness for the sake of a side—a player who attempts to keep the ball instead of passing it being absolutely useless—and is full of interest on account of the various kinds of skill required, fleetness of foot, quickness of eye, strength of wrist, and a great deal of judgment and knack. The game of lacrosse well played is a beautiful sight, the actions of the players being so full of grace and agility. The skill required, moreover, is so great that the attempt to acquire it is a splendid training in courage and perseverance.
Hockey.Hockey is so well known that it is hardly necessary to say much about it, excepting that it is a very great mistake to regard it as essentially a rough game. All that is necessary to prevent roughness is to have a strict rule against raising the stick above the waist, an offence of this kind giving a free hit to the opposite side. Of course, hard knocks are sometimes received, but is there no value in the lesson of cheerful endurance that may thus be learned, and is it possible to enjoy anything good in life or even to live at all, without running some risk of bodily harm? Hockey has besides its special advantages which I have already mentioned.
Cricket.As regards cricket, I am well aware that most real cricketers would laugh at the idea of girls attempting the game. I shall always remember the remark made by the head master of a public school, after watching the girls at play for some time with the keenest interest: “Yes, they will never make cricketers, but they are having splendid exercise in the open air”. This, however, was some years ago, and the girls have worked hard and improved since then, and I venture to think that if the same kindly critic could again see their play he would think somewhat better of it. Indeed, I am often surprised at the real pleasure and approbation expressed at what even to me seems our feeble attempts. Granted, however, that the game in the hands of girls can never be quite the same game that it is for boys, it is still a perfectly safe game when played between elevens of tolerably equal strength. It is, in my opinion, quite unsafe when played by men against women, or even by big boys against little ones, but admirable from every point of view so long as boys play boys and girls play girls of corresponding size and strength. The amount of interest and variety in the game is unsurpassed by any other, and it is so well known that an intelligent interest in its details can be taken by almost any one. No roughness is produced; all is gentleness and courtesy, combined with strength and determination. The traditions of the game are such that girls attempting to play it must throw themselves completely into it, and cannot allow themselves to give way to idleness and ineffectiveness. This is well illustrated by the remark of the captain of a team of ladies who recently played an eleven from a well-known school, and were beaten by them. She congratulated the head mistress, and said: “Your girls play like gentlemen, and behave like ladies”.
It is unfortunate that, broadly speaking, girls cannot throw and that the bowling in a girls’ eleven is apt to be lamentably weak. Deficiency of early muscular training.I have not been able to decide in my own mind whether this weakness is due to physiological disabilities or to the want of early training, but I am inclined to think the latter. It seems to be generally acknowledged in the nursery that it is of no use to attempt to keep the boys in strict control, that they must be allowed to have their fling, and create an uproar, and climb, and throw stones, but the whole force of the nurse’s authority is usually exerted to prevent the girls under her charge from falling under the opprobrium, in nursery etiquette, of being “unladylike”. I am the more inclined to this opinion, as I observe that where parents have the good sense to allow their girls the same facilities for activity, natural and necessary for the young animal, as their boys, the girls do learn to throw equally well, and attain the same easy gracefulness of movement which is natural to the untrammelled boy. Such parents, I grieve to say, are still very rare, with the result that not more than three or four per cent. of girls of fourteen have any idea of throwing a ball, and much less of bowling. This can scarcely be wondered at, seeing that “Sir B. W. Richardson lately stated that in his student days it was taught in all sobriety by anatomical authorities that the joint of a woman’s shoulder was more shallow than a man’s, so that she was almost sure to dislocate it if she threw a ball with force! Thus, comically, does preconceived theory upset the scientific vision.” However, great strides have already been made by girls in acquiring skill in games, and much greater strides will be made in the future, to the enormous gain, not only physically but mentally and morally, both of women in particular and of the nation as a whole.
Great value of Swedish gymnastics.We now come to the consideration of exercises, which though really recreative in their tendencies, are much less so than games, and first among these come gymnastics. Now no nation has more carefully thought out the subject of physical education than the Swedes, and at the Central Institute in Stockholm, under the superintendence of Professor Törngren, professors of gymnastics, both preventive and curative, are trained, who have a thorough scientific knowledge of their work, and can produce results in the way of physical training second to no others in existence. It has been my happiness for many years to watch the results of the work produced by one of the professor’s pupils, and I cannot speak too highly of the work she has accomplished. The essence of her method is a systematic training of all the muscles. She possesses a thorough knowledge of the structure of the human frame, both muscular and nervous. By a carefully thought out series of free exercises, supplemented by work upon the admirably devised Swedish apparatus, the muscular system of her pupils is thoroughly and harmoniously developed; and here let me say that, strongly as I believe in out-door games, Severe games not safe without gymnastic training.I do not consider it safe to allow girls to indulge in them absolutely without restriction, nor at all, at least in the severer games, unless they are receiving systematic muscular training in the gymnasium and make a practice of changing all their garments as soon as play is over. For this reason, the time during which it is possible for girls to play hard is carefully cut down to a maximum of an hour and a half. Also, no exemptions whatever are given from gymnastic lessons. By this means hard games are made safe, whereas otherwise there would be constant danger of overstrain, and mischief might ensue which would perhaps not be apparent at the time, but might seriously endanger a girl’s health in after years. Dangers of over-exertion.There is nothing in my opinion more dangerous for young people than physical and nervous exhaustion. The harm is done in a gay, thoughtless moment, which may not be overcome for years. This care is especially necessary in the case of girls, both on account of physical organisation and because their muscular system has, as a rule, been so imperfectly developed in childhood. There is still another and very important reason. It has already been stated that girls are so very good and conscientious. One form which this characteristic takes is that they will quietly attempt, and by pure nerve-force will perform, if the occasion seems to require it of them, feats for which their muscular development is entirely unfitted. This brings me to the reason why Swedish gymnastics are so greatly superior to the ordinary form of gymnastics, which used to be prevalent in boys’ public schools and army gymnasiums. In this kind of gymnastics, the attention of the instructor is far too much occupied in making his pupils perform feats, many of which are of an acrobatic nature, rather than directed to the harmonious development of the whole body; hence, in some cases, the shoulders become abnormally broad and square, and other unsymmetrical effects are caused. In fact, the amusement of the pupils is considered rather more than their physical welfare.
Physical defects discovered at gymnastics.Then, since every girl must appear twice a week in the gymnasium as long as she remains in the school, dressed in an easy-fitting costume, consisting of knickerbockers and tunic, the gymnastic mistress has every opportunity of noticing the physical development, and I have found that she very quickly detects even the slightest curvatures or other physical defects, and, with the parents’ consent, can give curative treatment, which is very speedily efficacious in curing weak or crooked backs, stoops, displaced shoulder blades, sprains and other ailments. The mistress also gives the girls a good deal of useful advice, according to their several needs. She notices how they sit or what postures they take for different avocations, and tells them if they are wrong, and why they are wrong. She does not undertake any medical responsibility, but having had, so far as the bodily frame goes, a thorough medical training, her work among a number of girls is simply invaluable, and no physical features that ought to be noticed escape her practised eye. It is well known to schoolmistresses, if not to parents, what a serious difficulty these physical defects cause in a girl’s moral training. Nothing is worse for a girl than to be forced by circumstances to think much about her own health. Therefore, it is our part to save them as much as we can from having to direct their thoughts upon themselves more than is required by ordinary common-sense. Think how hard it is for a girl who has a weak back, and is ordered to lie down for certain hours in the day. She cannot lie and do nothing, and therefore attempts reading as being apparently the only possible occupation. The difficulty of fixing the book in the right position and getting a proper light upon it is such that very frequently the eyes are overstrained and a new difficulty is produced. Curative gymnastics.Now most weak backs can be strengthened by strengthening the proper muscles. Muscle is strengthened by use, and the Swedish gymnast knows what exercises, or what rubbings, will produce the desired results, and proceeds to strengthen slowly and judiciously. The girl at the same time is allowed plenty of fresh air and suitable games, and soon recovers her normal condition, all the while pursuing the same kind of life as the others, though probably with some relaxation in the way of lessons. Defects often the result of ignorance, fashion or overwork.Such weak backs ought not to occur as often as they do, if proper attention were paid from the first to the physical conditions of life. I do not mean anything abstruse or difficult, but just the ordinary commonplaces; that high-heeled shoes throw the body out of its natural balance and overstrain some muscles; that hard, stiff clothing pressing upon muscles weakens them by causing atrophy, a frequent cause of weak backs; that a growing child must have abundance of sleep, food, fresh air and exercise, and while living in cultivated surroundings and being encouraged in intellectual pursuits, should not be expected to spend more than three or four hours each day according to age, in doing definite brain work. At the age of fourteen a healthy girl may be expected to begin to work as much as five hours a day. So much for gymnastics, the necessity for which it is to be hoped has been sufficiently demonstrated.