and an abundance of good nourishment, more especially fresh meat; if therefore you have determined on sending your girl to school, you must ascertain that the pupils have as much plain, wholesome, nourishing food as they can eat, that the school be situated in a healthy spot, that it be well drained, that there be a large play-ground attached to it, that the young people are allowed plenty of exercise in the open air—indeed, that at least one-third of the day is spent there in croquet, archery, skipping, battle-dore and shuttlecock, gardening, walking, running, etc.
If a girl has an abundance of good nourishment, the school-mistress must, of course, be remunerated for the necessary and costly expense; and how can this be done on the paltry sum charged at cheap boarding-schools? It is utterly impossible! The school-mistress will live, even if the girls be half starved. And what are we to expect from poor and insufficient nourishment to a fast-growing girl, and at the time of life, remember, when she requires an extra quantity of good sustaining, supporting food? A poor girl, from such treatment, becomes either consumptive or broken down in constitution, and from which she never recovers, but drags out a miserable existence. A cheap boarding-school is dear at any price.
Take care that the school-rooms are well ventilated, that they are not overcrowded, and that the pupils are allowed chairs to sit upon, and not those abominations—forms and stools. If you wish to try the effect of them upon yourself, sit for a couple of hours without stirring upon a form or upon a stool, and take my word for it you will insist that forms and stools be banished forever from the school-room.
Assure yourself that the pupils are compelled to rise early in the morning, and that they retire early to rest: that each young lady has a separate bed, and that many
