and bodily exertion; and of course the necessity of compulsion. Indeed it is an intolerable hardship to be compelled to study, when the mind is clogged and clouded by the torpor of a languid body. It may be said, that young men in our higher seminaries can exercise their own discretion, and keep so important a blessing as that of health. And so perhaps they can; but, with some exceptions, they give us no indications that they ever will; at least, till the wreck of a once firm constitution reminds them of their mistake, when it is too late to regain the wasted treasure. Wherever we turn our eyes, among the seminaries of our country, the ghostly forms of men which appear before us, will give testimony that what has been noticed is too painfully true.

In no age of the world have these schools been so really necessary as at the present day. The diet of former times was generally less injurious than at present. Men were not formerly afraid to tarnish their faces in the sun, and soil their fingers with labor. The early history of some of our colleges will show, that students thought themselves well fed when the refectory was furnished with a capacious vessel of bread and milk, or porridge, or bean broth, around which all assembled, and helped themselves from the common reservoir. and women were able to endure labors and exposures, which would astonish the sickly things of the nineteenth century. We are told that the man who first appeared in the streets of London with an umbrella was actually pelted with stones for his effeminacy.

Men

But, whatever may have been true of former times, and whatever may now be true of students in other parts of the world, the melancholy records of seminaries among us are evidence, that total abstinence in matters of exercise is a novelty and an innovation, which will assuredly send our books to gather dust on their shelves, and our hopes of sound learning to the four winds of heaven.

'Take care of the health of the body,' said Cicero, for without it the mind can accomplish nothing.' He spoke from his own bitter experience; for, as his biographer, Plutarch, informs us, 'he was of a lean and slender habit; and his stomach was so weak, that he was obliged to be very sparing in his diet.' And it was not till after he had taken a journey to the east, and strengthened his body by exercise, and brought it to a good habit,' that he could obtain a place among the orators of Rome. Nor was the great master of Athenian eloquence any better received than Cicero, till by a long course of bodily as well as mental discipline-till after the long-continued and very laborious practice of running up hill, and climbing the rugged cliffs of his native Attica, and declaiming at the same time he had recovered the strength and elasticity of lungs necessary to the successful orator. Even President Dwight would not learn wisdom on this subject till the bitterness of experience taught him the salutary lesson; and it was not till after a journey of more than two thousand miles on foot, and five thousand on horseback, that he found himself again in possession of the health he had imprudently wasted; nor was that health afterward preserved, but by some kind of manual labor daily.

A respected gentleman once said, he never knew but two men who could study without exercise. But it should be an instructive lesson

to us, that one of these is now completely prostrated; and as to the other, he has not yet been long enough in the work to convince us that he is an exception to the general law of nature.

Again, our seminaries need conveniences for manual labor, because walking alone is not sufficient, especially for those who have ever been accustomed to laborious employments; neither has it variety enough for any one. Plays and games are not suited to a theological seminary; gymnastic exercises are many of them too violent for any but the most robust; and beside, the antic tricks of a gymnasium render this mode of exercise somewhat objectionable.

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2. It is much to be regretted, that great faults still exist in most of our schools in regard to the time of recitations and study. The hours of the day, which should be devoted to invigorating the body, must be spent in study or recitation. In many of our colleges, even the first hour of morning light must be spent in the lecture room. such a regulation as this, when, as is not uncommon, the other hours of the day most suitable for exercise must be spent in studying or reciting, we might almost apply the term murderous; yet even such a regulation is better than to offer up this precious hour at the shrine of the god of slumber. For nothing so invigorates both the body and the mind as the fresh breezes of the morning; and all animate nature, man and a few night birds and beasts excepted, instinctively rejoices in the dawn of day; and all hasten forth from their nightly retreats, eager to catch the first rays of the rising sun.

But teachers and professors have felt this evil, and to them we must look for a remedy.

3. In the experiment of manual labor schools various difficulties have been experienced. These in part have arisen from erroneous expectations excited in the public mind. That has been made a primary consideration, which should have been secondary. These establishments have often been called self-supporting schools, instead of the more appropriate name health-preserving schools; and hence those who have expected a full support by two or three hours labor daily, have been disappointed.

Now economy is a virtue which should never be overlooked; and in these days of Christian enterprise all the money the Christian student can save by proper economy in education, may be so much added to the precious charities of the Church. But let the Church be made distinctly to understand, that, if manual labor in our schools and seminaries can be made to preserve the health of her sons, a treasure is secured which no money can purchase; and hence, if no money should be saved, which would not be the fact, the worth of such schools is incalculable, if they but secure the health of the students; for till this system shall be generally adopted, and to all human appearance, not till then, shall we have men able to go abroad in the earth, and lift up a voice of strength among the perishing nations.

But the greatest difficulty is, that young men cannot be made to believe that they are in danger, or that there is any necessity for such establishments, till they find themselves in the iron grasp of the merciless disease, which will convince them of their mistake, when human arguments and entreaties have entirely failed. And, perhaps, if the writer should describe his own case, in its general outlines, it would VOL. V.-October, 1834. 39

describe the cases of thousands in our country. Nor would he shrink from having his own transgressions in this matter exposed, if it could be a warning to others to avoid the painful mistake into which he has fallen. And may not a voice of merited rebuke be regarded as coming with a good grace from him, since none but those taught by the like bitter experience can know how to make due allowance for human weakness in such cases; and how to sympathize with the unfortunate sufferer in his struggles with a disease, which so often throws gloom over the present, and darkness over the future.

A youth commences a course of study in good health. His misguided zeal for knowledge deprives him of necessary exercise and relaxation. He is often reminded of the importance of taking care of the health. At short and irregular periods he takes a little exercise, and feels no danger. He hears of labor schools; but regards them as the contrivance of hypocondriacs, who fear when there is no cause for alarm. He really thinks that to be choice of one's health is whimsical, and the very way to ruin it; for he looks about him, and sees many who are invalids, notwithstanding they eat by rule, and exercise by rule; while he is strong and vigorous, without troubling himself with gymnastics and dietetics. At times he feels inconvenience from too much confinement; at times he is languid and drowsy; but a little relaxation, or the recurrence of a recess, soon relieves him. These preludes to disease gradually become more frequent; but still he finds that a little extra care in diet and exercise, or a dose of drastic medicine, gives a temporary restoration to the system. He is often warned; and he begins to believe he ought to be more careful; but still apprehends no danger; because he still finds that medicine or exercise relieves his pain, and unclouds his mind; and when thus relieved, he is seen no more beyond the threshhold of his study, till warned by returning pain. Thus he moves along the downward road. The change is so insidious that he hardly perceives it. He does not even dream that these repeated turns of illness, and his repeated doses of drastic medicine are gradually, but surely undermining the powers of life. He has now reached a critical point. Kind nature has long struggled, and manfully maintained her ground. But her citadel is now attacked; her walls are tottering by repeated strokes from the enemy, and she must soon yield to the conquering foe. She has patiently borne abuse; but can bear it no longer. The young man soon grows pale. His kind and sympathizing friends say that the poor boy has studied too hard. And perhaps even now, while carrying about him the alarming premonitions of decay, the deluded youth is pleased with the idea of thus gaining the reputation of a hard student. If, instead of thus manifesting their sympathy, his friends would consult his real good by giving him the wholesome discipline of the rod for his bodily indolence, they might prevent many a bitter pain.

By this time the young man sees his error. He has many halfformed and half-executed resolutions. A variety of studies occupies his thoughts; and as disease advances, his propensity to inaction increases. An unaccountable languor of body chains him to his room; and mental torpor sends mist and confusion through all his thoughts. His physical and moral powers are equally affected. And hence, except at some short and lucid intervals, he can perform nothing requir

ing force of body or of mind. But even now he is not aware of his real situation, though he repeats his tale of wo to every one he meets. He in part suspends his studies, resolving during the coming vacation to regain his health. But vacation only affords him a little respite; or, perhaps, before its arrival his once noble frame becomes a miserable wreck. And now dangers, some imaginary, but many real, multiply around him. If he attempt to move, his debilitated limbs give him a stern refusal. If he tries to rest, his disordered nerves fill his imagination with images of terror. And even in his waking moments new pains and new symptoms every hour fill him with alarm. All command over his thoughts is gone. Every object is clad in impenetrable gloom. And in this state of physical debility and mental irresolution, temptations of Satan, either fancied or real, if he be a professor of religion, deprive him of spiritual enjoyment. He retires to his closet, but his thoughts wander, and he finds no relief. He meets to pray with his Christian brethren; but peace is banished from his soul. He is told that all this results from the peculiar nature of his disease this he probably knows; but it affords no relief, for the cause exists, and the effect must follow. Still he is pursued with the tormenting fear, that he has no religion; and, indeed, to one unacquainted with the effects of such diseases, he will often give but doubtful evidence of vital godliness.

And as it regards his prospects of a cure, if disease has not already taken a fatal hold on the head, or liver, or lungs, nothing short of suspension from study, and a year or two or more of strict attention to diet and employment will be likely to patch up into form the tattered ruins of his broken constitution. And after struggling a time with the obstinacy of a complication of nervous, and other maladies, he will be ready to believe, that Prometheus with his vulture, Sisyphus with his ponderous stone, Ixion with his ever-rolling wheel, and Procrustes with his bed of iron, have a more real existence than in the fictions of Grecian mythology. And whatever his former sentiments may have been, he will now need no farther arguments to convince him of the importance of connecting manual labor with study. He is now compelled to admit, though he does it with the greatest reluctance, that he is a miserable dyspeptic.

4. But, notwithstanding the difficulties already noticed, and many others which are not here mentioned, there is not a little encouragement to hope that some conveniences for regular and healthful exercise will soon be found connected with all our colleges and seminaries. This is believed from the fact that the experiment, as far as it has been made, has been with complete success, in preserving the muscular vigor of students, and fitting them for successful application to laborious study. To this we have the united testimony of all who are best qualified to judge, in every quarter of the country.

Another encouragement is, the testimony which comes from all quarters to the moral effect of this system on the pupils. Industry is the great moralizer of men,' said Fellenburgh. Labor of all kinds favors and facilitates the practice of virtue,' said Dr. Rush. • Make men work, and you will make them honest,' said Howard. Now it is well known, that if we inquire into the times and occasions when the morals of so many of our youth find their ruin in colleges, they would

be found to be those hours of the day when not required to be in their rooms, they are allowed unrestrained intercourse, with no provision for a more wholesome employment of their time. Now, if health can be preserved, money saved, and the amount of study even increased, as it is believed it can be by this system-and good morals promoted, at the same time, as undoubtedly they can be by providing manual labor for the leisure hours-who would not put forth a helping hand to so noble a work? How many tears of fathers and mothers might be spared, by a system which promises so much in saving their sons from profligacy and ruin.*

6

Another encouragement is, that regular labor daily, if it be not too violent, and occupy sufficient time, overcomes the propensity to indolence so common in students. A man in perfect health is instinctively inclined to muscular effort from the pleasure it affords him. We see this in the young of animals, as well as in children. Indolence, then, is often a bodily disease, which might be cured by healthful diet and exercise. It has been remarked, with truth, that the present system of education unfits men for the practical business of life.' Business men,' continues the writer alluded to, ' see in a majority of those who graduate from our colleges a listless inactivity, a reluctance to locomotion, an aversion to all vigorous, protracted effort, a timid shrinking from high attempt; and if they were to sketch a full-length portrait of one of them, he would probably be represented with his feet elevated upon the mantle-piece as high as his.head, body bent much like a half moon, or a horse shoe, lolling, stretching, yawning, smoking, snoring; or, if he were represented in motion, it would be with a lounging air, arms dangling, and a loose jointed gait—†

"Which, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along."'

Now, it is not enough that the student exercise just sufficiently to prevent the wasting effects of positive disease. He needs muscular vigor, so that he can grapple with difficulties, whether requiring strength of body or of mind-so that he can face the suns of India, or the cold of Greenland, without harm. The clear head, and quiet nights, which are the usual results of a few hours labor daily, in addition to other advantages, are a sufficient recommendation to the system under consideration. The variety of exercise which it affords, and the idea of being engaged in productive labor, are also favorable considerations.

It is obvious that the labor should be performed, as much as possible, in the open air; that it should be sufficiently protracted, and not too violent. The modern style of close houses is extremely injurious to health; and it is not unworthy of inquiry, whether it would not be well for professors occasionally to give lectures in the open air. Let the example of the Peripatetics, and of the sages in the groves of the academy, be imitated. Let the professor gather his pupils around him; and in the grove, or in the field, surrounded with the splendors of nature, his own heart might be moved by beholding around him the wonders and the beauties of creation. His own bosom might often. glow with holy love, and then what an occasion for mingling his instructions with sentiments of devotion! What an occasion for inspiring his pupils with the love of virtue and the love of God!

* See Weld's Report.

† Ibid.