Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

Decidedly so: the lungs and the windpipe are brought into unnatural action by them. If a boy be of a consumptive habit, this will, of course, hold good with tenfold force. If a youth must be musical let him be taught singing, as that, provided the lungs be not diseased, will be beneficial.

346. What amusements do you recommend for a girl?

Archery, skipping, horse exercise, croquet, the hand-swing, the fly-pole, skating, and dancing, are among the best. Archery expands the chest, throws back the shoulders, thus improving the figure, and develops the muscles. Skipping is exceedingly good exercise for a girl, every part of the body being put into action by it Horse exercise is splendid for a girl; it improves the figure amazingly—it is most exhilarating and amusing; moreover, it gives her courage and makes her self-reliant Croquet develops and improves the muscles of the arms, beautifies the complexion, strengthens the back, and throws out the chest. Croquet is for girls and women what cricket is for boys and men—a glorious game. Croquet has improved both the health and the happiness of womankind more than any game ever before invented. Croquet, in the bright sunshine, with the winds of heaven blowing about the players, is not like a ball in a stifling hot ball-room, with gas-lights poisoning the air. Croquet is a more sensible amusement than dancing; it brings the intellect as well as the muscles into play. The man who invented croquet has deserved greater glory, and has done more good to his species, than many philosophers whose names are emblazoned in story. Hand-swing is a capital exercise for a girl, the whole of the body is thrown into action by it, and the spine, the shoulders, and the shoulder-blades, are especially benefited. The fly-pole, too, is good exercise for the whole of the muscles of the body, especially of the legs and the arms. Skating is for a girl excellent exercise, and is as exhilarating as a glass of champagne, but will do her far more good! Skating improves the figure, and makes a girl balance and carry herself upright and well; it is a most becoming exercise for her, and is much in every way to be commended. Moreover, skating gives a girl courage and self-reliance. Dancing, followed as a rational amusement, causes a free circulation of the blood, and provided it does not induce her to sit up late at night, is most beneficial.

347. If dancing be so beneficial why are balls such fruitful sources of coughs, of cold, and consumptions?

On many accounts. They induce young ladies to sit up late at night; they cause them to dress more lightly than they are accustomed to do; and thus thinly clad, they leave their homes while the weather is perhaps piercingly cold, to plunge into a suffocating, hot ballroom, made doubly injurious by the immense number of lights, which consume the oxygen intended for the due performance of the healthy functions of the lungs. Their partners, the brilliancy of the scene, and the music, excite their nerves to undue and thus to unnatural, action, and what is the consequence? Fatigue, weakness, hysterics, and extreme depression follow. They leave the heated ball-room when the morning has far advanced, to breathe the bitterly cold and frequently damp air of a winter's night, and what is the result? Hundreds die of consumption, who might otherwise have lived. Ought there not, then, to be a distinction between a ball at midnight and a dance in the evening?

348. But still, would you have a girl brought up to forego the pleasure of a ball?

If a parent prefer her so-called pleasures to her health, certainly not; to such a mother I do not address myself.

349. Have you any remarks to make on singing, or on reading aloud?

Before a mother allows her daughter to take lessons in singing, she should ascertain that there be no actual disease of the lungs, for if there be, it will probably excite it into action; but if no disease exist, singing or reading aloud is very conducive to health. Public singers are seldom known to die of consumption. Singing expands the chest, improves the pronunciation, enriches the voice for conversation, strengthens the lungs, and wards off many of their diseases.

350. Do you approve of corporal punishments in schools?