In the country opportunities for this practice are numerous, but in town a gymnasium hall is the only opportunity that is always open.
Walking is indispensable for a girl who hopes for health and vigor, and training for this consists in beginning with moderation, but systematically, to walk short distances, gradually increasing the length of the excursion, until ordinary country jaunts and mountain climbs become easy and delightful matters.
Another exercise which is excellent for girls, and which is now being very widely indulged in by them, is bicycling. It is an excellent exercise if not overdone. Girls should remember when they first begin to ride that the muscles which are brought into play are not ready to stand the work which they may be able to perform after having been trained for some months. Therefore, only short rides of from four to five miles should be taken at the beginning, making the excursions a little longer week by week, but always stopping as soon as fatigue begins to be felt. Most girls will find that they can ride much farther, and with less fatigue, if they will rest for about fifteen minutes midway in their journey.
[THE CASTLE NEAR THE WINDOW-SEAT.]
BY CARLYLE SMITH.
There's a castle here near the window-seat, a castle made of wood,
Where dwells full many a wondrous wight, some very bad, some good.
On the tiptop floor lives Crusoe bold, and Mr. Gulliver, who
Once sailed afar on the broad salt sea; and there's Columbus too;
And next to them lives Robin Hood and all of his merry band,
With his little namesake Riding-hood, upon his strong right hand;
And funny old Don Quixote, too, lives 'way up there with these,
With his battered helmet on his head and tin caps on his knees.
On the lower floor is a fairy store—Titania and her fays,
And Brownies by the dozens who are pranking all their days;
And Cinderella lives near them, with her good old fairy friend,
And close to her Aladdin dwells with stores of gold to spend.
Hop-o'-my-Thumb lives up there too, and Jack with his bag of beans,
And Alice of the Looking-Glass, with her queer old fussy Queens;
And all the Barbers dwell therein, of the old Arabian Nights,
And strewn about are heroes of at least a thousand fights.
'Tis a wondrous band of persons grand that nursery castle holds;
With fearful beasts, and fearful birds, and witches too, and scolds;
And you'd almost think it would frighten me to know, when I go to bed,
That all these creatures live so close, almost at my very head.
But it doesn't, you see, for I am King, and I hold the castle keys;
Not one can stir from his settled place within unless I please.
And, after all, they are safe enough, in spite of their wicked looks,
For the castle walls of which I speak make the case where I keep my books.