There is a danger which threatens the woman of the future, in the recent development of athletics for girls. More attention must be given to the physiological side of 2 question that has never yet been properly considered. That girls need outdoor recreation every bit as much as boys need it may not be questioned, and, so far from wishing to deprive them of the opportunity for open-air sport, we think even greater opportunities should be given them. It is not the games we question, but their nature. There is a class of woman teacher very prominent in the educational world who would have girls' schools run on the lines of boys' schools, especially in the playing field, and unless checked these women will do serious injur to the coming generation, Sex jealousy is at the root of the mischief. This jealousy in the mental field, is of smal] consequence, may, indeed, have a stimulative effect in creating healthy rivalry and competition. It pits one type of intellect against another, but need not necessarily alter the type. In the physical field it can do little but evil. It is a blunder of the first magnitude to think that all games which are good for boys must be equally good for girls, and we de prelate the introduction of football, cricket, and the more strenuous forms of athletic sports into girls' schools, The very muscular deyelopment produced by such exercise may in itself be undesirable, but more than any question of esthetics is the risk of nervous strain and physical exhaustion. and the probability that the childbearing capacity of the woman of the future will be dangerously curtailed.
Tt is not strange therefore that the "tall, strapping, hockey-loving young woman of today" was severely criticised at a. conference held in London on the physical education of girls, Here are a few typical remarks All. girls who indulged in exercise became sour and bad-tempered in middle age.
No woman who taught gymnastics ever had a nice voice.- Swedish drill was German propaganda in this country to reduce the population."
No muscles were needed to bath a baby.
A resolution was passed affirming that the participation of girls in boys' games was fraught with danger to the coming generation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.