Mr. Chadwick has also furnished incontestable proofs of the absolute necessity of more active physical training for females and of its bearing upon the future welfare of the race. But this subject has been rendered so familiar to American readers by the able pen of Miss Catherine E. Beecher, that we need not touch upon the European view, except to say that the noble labors of Professors Ling and Branting, of Sweden, have been ably seconded by very many of the governments of Northern Europe, where a method of gymnastics for females, has been systematized and practically adopted. From this brief sketch of the practical working of physical military exercises in Europe, let us turn to what has been accomplished among our own countrymen, whose activity in behalf of public education called forth the compliment from Prof. LeRoy, which we wish was better deserved, especially by the class which he specifies. that “the improvement of schools is, so to speak, the fixed idea, the constant preoccupation of the statesmen of America.”
We have indeed a noble and liberal system of education, but we would see its fostering care so extended as to invigorate the bodies as well as develop the mental faculties and intellectual powers of the pupils. The military exercises would best accomplish this, and at the same time form our public schools into a NURSERY FOR A BRAVE AND EFFECTIVE MILITIA.
Early in October last a communication was addressed by the writer to the different governors, and various other persons connected with the executive departments of the Northern States, in regard to the advantages to be derived from the introduction of infantry drills in the public schools, and by early preparation in school-days to strengthen the militia of the different States. At the same time it was placed before the New York and other City Boards of Education, and referred by them to special committees. The subject was also agitated through the columns of the daily press. The warm responses which have been accorded to these communications, prove the deep interest which is felt in this important matter, and it is to be hoped by the time this article appears in print,[25] some legislative action will have been taken.
In New York, the energetic Judge Advocate General, William H. Anthon, being engaged in a report upon the militia laws, and taking a warm interest in all matters relative to the efficacy of the militia, thus speaks of the importance of some alteration in the present system, in a letter addressed to Mr. Curtis, President of the Board of Education in the city of New York:
“The entire system, in my judgment, needs revision and reform, in order to make the militia what the Father of the Republic intended it should be.
It has been suggested by several persons, and among others Col. Richard Delafield, U.S. A., and Maj. E. L. Molineux, that an excellent foundation for an improved militia system would be the introduction of ‘The Manual of Arms,’ and ‘The School of the Soldier and of the Company,’ into our public schools.
I am disposed to consider these suggestions as valuable, and shall feel obliged to you if you will, as early as may be convenient, inform me how far you deem them practicable, and how they may be most conveniently introduced into the institutions under the charge of your Board.”
Mr. Curtis, whose personal observations on the European school systems, and whose long experience at the head of the Educational Board of the largest city in the Union, renders his views of the greatest value, replied:
“It has been my opinion for years that military instruction should, under certain restrictions, and to a certain extent, be given to the older boys in all the schools and institutions that are supported or draw funds from the public treasury. It is but just to the State whose munificence sustains these schools, that the pupils should be instructed in those branches of knowledge that will make them useful and effective in defending and protecting the State. A well organized militia, receiving from year to year into its ranks the disciplined and instructed youth who have passed through the public schools, and to whom the duties of the soldier are familiar, will always be sustained by the public confidence and esteem.”