the reason why more accidents encouraged among growing occur in these matches than in boys; in fact, it would be a school matches. Proper methods good plan to exclude hammerof tackling and falling upon the throwing from all school sports. ball should be taught and in- Cross-country runs, if not of sisted upon, in all the teams, too great length, are valuable right up from the lowest to for developing the staying the school fifteen. A know- power of a boy, as well as ledge and experience of correct affording a change of air and methods of play, and the strict scene. On the other hand, enforcement of the very neces- when the course is too long or sary rule of never allowing difficult much harm may be boys to play in matches except done to a loosely-growing boy against other schools or first- by over-exertion and fatigue. class clubs, are the best safe- A few rigid rules should be guards against accidents. It drawn up and enforced, suitis of the utmost importance to able to the cross-country runs teach and, if necessary, compel connected with individual boys to walk or run smartly schools. Throughout those from the field after a match runs the boys should be conor practice game, and to "turn stantly on the move, and in" as quickly as possible. whether running, trotting, or walking, good form and style should be maintained. Athletics, when practised under constant and careful supervision, and in due moderation and proportion to the other forms of exercise in force, tend in no small measure to the growth and development of boys. In no form of exercise does style play such an important part as in running; and in consequence boys ought to be carefully watched and taught, when running, to hold the head well up, properly resting on the shoulders, to keep the shoulders squarely set and well pressed back, to force the chest well out, to carry the arms so as to aid in the expansion of the chest, to keep the hips working freely, to take a long full easy stride, to get well on to the toes, and to press the ground lightly with a springy tread. The heavy competitions in hammer-throwing and weightputting should not be much Military drill in the form of a school cadet corps is one of the most useful branches of physical education. A cadet corps to be a success must be worked on a definite plan, under strict military discipline, in touch with and under the supervision of the local volunteer brigade. School authorities, in many cases, are opposed to the formation of cadet corps, on the grounds of expense, of time necessary for drill, and of interference with the usual school games. A certain amount of initial expense is, of course, necessary; but once the corps has been fairly started the annual expenditure is not very great, and may be met by a small terminal charge to the members of the corps and by a grant from Government, which the senior boys can earn. The time necessary for drill is not so long as is generally supposed. During the football season an hour a-week on an off football day is all that is necessary, when the corps can be made efficient in squad movements and in the manual and firing exercises. The real training season of the cadet corps should coincide with the athletic sea son -the month of March and the first half of April. The one form of exercise would aid and supplement the other, and both would tend to the full occupation of the play-hour, and thus prevent aimless loafing about the field, which is so hurtful to health and character. All the boys of a school should be drilled under the same system—the younger ones being armed with carbines, and the older ones with the regulation rifles. In youth the mind and body are pliant and plastic, and drill movements and formations are picked up and learned with ease. The drills should never be of long duration - short sharp drills, with as much movement as possible, keep the boys lively, and prevent the existence of dulness and monotony, which are fatal to efficiency and smart ness. the word of command, of smartness in person and movements, and in the case of section commanders, of responsibility in leading and directing others, much more than compensate for the time and money expended on the corps. It has been pointed out that the individual forms of exercise which go to constitute the physical training of a school should not overlap or impede each other, but should be arranged SO In the training season, in addition to company and battalion movements, the practice of the attack, and field-days in conjunction with other military units, should be encouraged. A cadet corps worked on proper lines, under strict discipline, in which a high degree of efficiency and smartness is insisted upon, is always popular in a school. The valuable lessons of strict and sharp obedience to as to be mutually supplementary. The same principle should regulate the arrangement of the mental and physical education of a school. Both have the same aim in view-the preparation of a boy for the work of life: each should therefore receive its due share of the time and of the best periods of the day. It can hardly be expected that a boy who has been engaged in school-work continuously from nine o'clock till three, with the exception of a short mid-day break, can take much interest in, or derive much benefit from, gymnastics or other forms of exercise which he can only engage in after his school day is over. At the present day much good to consumptive patients is said to result from open-air treatment and sunbaths. Would it not be displaying superior wisdom to apply similar treatment to the youth of our country during their school days, and thus prevent the existence of consumption or kindred diseases? Schoolboys should undoubtedly spend from one to two hours in the open air during the best part of the day, so as to gain the full benefit of potential health and stamina, which fresh air and sunshine alone can supply. During this break, between morning and afternoon school, the physical training of the day could be engaged in, and thus the mental and physical sides of school life would act beneficially upon each other. In addition to this, the boys should be turned out into the open air for five minutes at the end of every hour of school work, and should be made to run a distance of about a hundred and fifty yards, as this would expel every particle of foul air from the lungs and charge them with a fresh supply. Meanwhile the class-rooms should be thoroughly aired. This scheme would lengthen considerably the working-day of the schoolmaster in actual hours, but the mid-day break and the fresh air and the sunshine would benefit him as well as the boys, and he might thus be induced to take a more active interest in schoolboy life beyond the class - room. The great benefits which have already accrued to the army from the system of physical training instituted a few years ago, may in time induce the Government to make physical development not only necessary for qualification, but also count as a marked subject in the competitive examinations for civil as well as military appointments. Such a scheme would give to every school an interest in promoting health and vigour among its pupils, and would impart a lasting impulse to the progress of physical education. Already General Chapman's appeal to the school authorities in Scotland to institute a system of physical training in the schools under their management has awakened a keen and growing interest in the subject. But the physique of the nation is far too important a matter to be left to haphazard or individual effort. It is the obvious duty of Government to see that every pupil that passes through the schools of the country is sent out as physically fit as it is possible to make him. The responsibility is not to be evaded, and as a scheme emanating from the officer commanding the Forces in Scotland seems likely to suggest the military side of its character alone to the public mind, it is well to point out the full aim and meaning of physical education. SIR GEORGE TREVELYAN AS A HISTORIAN. THERE is in Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales a very suggestive fable. A certain hobgoblin once made a looking glass which had the quality of causing everything that was good to look small and everything that was bad bigger. His pupils carried this looking-glass about with them everywhere, amusing themselves with its distortions. They even attempted to carry it up to the angels. It fell from their hands, however, and broke into a million of pieces. The tiny atoms, getting into people's eyes, made them see through a distorted medium. What was bad seemed good; what was good seemed bad; and the world has suffered ever since from that remarkable catastrophe. We do not desire to be too personal; but after reading Sir George Trevelyan's first volume on the American Revolution, we cannot help suspecting that he was one of the victims of the hobgoblin's mischievous mechanism. He has presented to the public a volume which contains in every chapter, and almost on every page, a wrong view of every important event in one of the most interesting and most familiar periods of our national history. Long after every historical student with a conscience has relegated Charles Fox to the limbo of failures that might have been successes if they would, he brings him forward as a serious statesman and an effective worker in a great cause. Long after even American historians of eminence in our time have abandoned most of the old Whig theories of the Revolution and most of the hysterical paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, he comes forward to restate every one of them with a vigorous confidence that leaves us in doubt whether to be amused or indignant at his amazing credulity. The reader of these pages may perhaps think that it is not worth our while to write, or his to read, a refutation of oft-refuted stories, misstatements, and misunderstandings. But we must beg a moment's attention. Our history as a colonising empire is not at an end. Our interests as a mother country of self-governing dominions, colonies, and dependencies are still at stake. We are perhaps but in the beginning of a period of growth that may lead to change, of change that may lead to the alteration of our attitude as a parent State. It can hardly be wise to permit to pass uncontradicted into our national literature a set of theories that are false, a relation of facts that is inaccurate, and a philosophy of government that finds its logical conclusion in no government at all. It can serve no good purposeit may serve a very bad oneto see popularised without protest ideas concerning our government of colonies in the eighteenth century which may be used-nay, will most assuredly be used to discredit our government of colonies in the twentieth century. The virus of vindictive criticism which the friends of the American revolution, in England, infused into the minds of their followers did not exhaust itself in the parliamentary conflicts which ended in the Treaty of 1783. It animated them during the conflict with the French Revolution and with Napoleon I., making them in effect the enemies of their country. When that period had passed, the virus, still active and malignant, animated all those who encouraged disaffection in the colonies that remained to us. The mischievous effects of Whig theories of colonial rule are to be traced in every disturbance that has taken place from the Canadian rebellion of 1837 1837 to the very latest kick against "Downing Street rule' that may still be hidden in the despatch-boxes of the Colonial Office. What mischief there may lurk in the popularisation of these mischievous theories we may fear, but may not realise till their consequences rise up to confront us. This is the chief reason that moves us to go once more over beaten ground, and to expose once more the inaccuracy and untruthfulness of old-time affronts to our intelligence and our loyalty. "" It is not necessary to quarrel with Sir George Trevelyan about the literary form of his work. To make the History of the American Revolution part of the Life of Fox is indeed preposterous. The history of Europe might indeed be made part of the Life of Pitt, for Pitt impended over Europe during the most momentous period of its modern history. But the career of Fox was only an episode of Whig politics in England. No American historian has ever given to Fox special prominence in the history of his country's struggle for independence. The name of Chatham, the name of Burke, the name of Barré fill some space and share some reverence and regard; but the name of Fox has to be dragged in and magnified outrageously in order to occupy any place of pride in American history. Even Sir George Trevelyan, as far as he has gone, finds little to say of him. Fox enters late into the story, and does not linger long. The very opening sentence of the volume challenges our instant contradiction. "When Charles Fox," we are told, "left office in the February of 1774, the first marked period of his political life came to an end. From that time forward he moved across the stage a far wiser man, pursuing higher ends by worthier methods." We have to put in at once a peremptory protest. Fox did not "leave office in 1774. He was dismissed. "His Majesty has issued a new Commission of the Treasury in which I do not see your name,” wrote Lord North. That was not exactly "leaving office." And as to the higher ends and worthier methods, we are unable to find them in the career of a man who made personal animosity to Shelburne the principle of his political life, |