Speaking roughly, we
might say that one-half of the school children have a hollow at the
bottom of the breast-bone from sitting in such positions, and this
depression interferes with digestion. And the moment the stomach gives
out, that affects the whole physical and mental condition. When
nutrition is imperfect, the action of the heart and the distribution of
the blood are interfered with.
The only way to remedy these evils is by popular education. It is of no
use to attempt to bring about at once; any regular or prescribed system
of exercise, requiring such exercises to be carried out in school,
because our schools, like our theaters, are what the public make them.
There is many a master who knows he is pursuing the wrong course, but he
is kept to it by the anxious solicitations of parents who wish their
children kept up to a certain rank. They are forced to follow the
present system by the inordinate demands of parents. The parents must be
educated. The father and mother must be converted to the necessity, the
absolute necessity for success in life, of physical culture. There are
plenty of men who stand as political and financial leaders who are not
highly educated men. A man who has the rudiments of education--reading,
writing, arithmetic--with a good physique, good health, a well-balanced
and organized frame, brought into contact with the world, stands a
better chance of success than the one who goes through school and takes
a high rank at the expense of his physique.
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