In the course of our brief visit to Ann Arbor we formed a very favourable impression of its social life; members of the faculty take great interest in the students, although their official duties cease at the lecture room doors. The ladies of their families enter into friendly relations with the women students, so that something of the atmosphere of a family is formed. Through the kindness of the wife of the president we were introduced to one of the women students' clubs. Here a small number of girls lived together under the care of an older lady, chosen by themselves. Each girl had her own room, and the house contained also a reception room, where visitors of both sexes were received. Meals were obtained at one of the many boarding-houses in the town, this arrangement being considered more economical. Several of the Greekletter fraternities 1 among the men students have also residential clubs, in buildings by the fraternities for the purpose. Some of these are of great architectural beauty. We visited that of the Y. T. The life here seemed to resemble that of an English College, with the difference that the students governed themselves, being responsible only to the officers of the fraternity.

1

The common social life of the students is largely aided by the University Students' Christian Association: this possesses a spacious and beautiful building adjacent to the University campus. Series of lectures are given here, and the building contains

1 See Bryce, chap. ci. p. 562.

separate reading and sitting rooms for women. In connection with the churches of the city, guilds of students have been organized for religious and moral culture, and for social entertainment. Some of these have buildings and endowed lectureships for theology; the University, as a State institution, is entirely undenominational.

In conclusion, we may remark that the University of Michigan, both on account of its peculiar characteristics, and the great work which it is doing for the higher education of the West, is, to an English observer, one of the most remarkable educational institutions in the United States.

L

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

PHYSICAL education in American schools and

colleges is a matter of comparatively recent development, and even now is not by any means as advanced as in England.1 The reasons for this are easy to find. The earlier colonists, influenced as they were by a special type of Puritanism, and forced to consider the practical necessities of life by their environment, looked upon athletic exercises as a waste of time. In earlier days indeed, when towns were neither as large nor as numerous as now, the need for physical education was far less. Young people in the country found sufficient culture for their bodily powers in the work of the farm, during the seasons when no school was held, or in the wood - chopping and other semi-domestic duties throughout the year. Many men too, then, as

2

"These

1 James Macalister. "Address on Physical Education." 2 See Annual Address, University Convocation of the State of New York, 1891, by President Francis A. Walker. tasks gave scope and play to the constructive faculty; they trained eye and hand to accuracy and precision. They taught the child to respect toil, and to value the fruits of labour. . . To-day, under the new conditions of production, it would in almost every city, and in many village homes, cost more to keep a boy usefully employed than to

now, supported themselves during their College career by actual manual labour; the writer met several interesting cases of this custom, so honourable to the individual and so suggestive of the mediæval Universities, and of Scottish student life. In one the student acted as caretaker of a school, tending the furnace and cleaning the floors in the daily intervals of college work. Such men have neither time nor energy for the athletic sports of our English Universities.

Several causes have, however, contributed to arouse American educators to the need for systematic physical training in modern times. Two of these are historical: first the influx of German immigrants, bringing with them their Turnvereine, and their masculine vigour and enthusiasm for gymnastics; and second, the War-the civil war of 1861-65-which has brought about so many changes. Neither of these causes would, however, directly affect the education of girls; we need not, therefore, discuss them at length, noting only that the German influence came to affect girls and women ultimately, and that the regular military drill, introduced into colleges and schools for male students, and often forming part of the curriculum -as in the Universities of Minnesota and Illinoishas been adopted in some excellent private schools for girls as inducing a good carriage. We did not

2

feed him in idleness. Even play of any satisfactory sort is scarcely practicable in our modern cities."

1 Bureau of Education Circular on Physical Training. 2 Ogontz. Pa., and Lasell Seminary, Mass.

meet with it in any of the public High Schools for girls, although it seemed to be the rule for boys. The weightiest reason, however, for the attention paid to physical education for girls in the present day is the change in the ways of living, consequent upon the growth of towns and of wealth, which has brought about a condition of high nervous tension, injurious to both sexes, but especially affecting women. This condition is matter of common comment in the United States. We frequently heard Americans refer to the good health of English women, and to their delight in open-air games, while they regretted that such customs did not prevail more generally in America. The women's Colleges have led the way in organizing physical training for women, and their influence in this respect is likely to increase.

We must, however, return to the historical aspect of the question. Under the influence of the German societies, the Colleges for men took up the matter about 1850, and in 1860 several college gymnasia were built. In 1879 a great impulse was given to the cause by the opening of the Hemenway Gymnasium at Harvard, and by the appointment of Dr. Sargent, of the Yale Medical School, as Assistant Professor of Physical Training, and Director of the Gymnasium. His system has great influence in the United States, and many of the women teachers of physical culture have been trained by him. He has a special gymnasium in Cambridge for women, which the students of Harvard Annex attend.

The essential feature of the Sargent system is the