her unnecessary journey beats the poor infant for its clumsiness. By this practice the shoulder of the child may be dislocated, or the clavicle broken, while the spine becomes completely distorted. The same thing will sometimes occur with boys who, when very young, are taken out for a walk by their parents. The father walks on with long and rapid strides, holding the child by the hand, and as he does not consider that his step is much longer than that of his offspring, he tells the child to "step out like papa." The boy endeavours to obey, and the result is that the pelvis becomes ricketty and deformed. The late lamented Thomas Hood, whose sagacity nothing escaped, has in one of his Comic Annuals given a good illustration of this subject by a wood engraving entitled "A Step Father," in which he represents a poor child being dragged along in the manner I speak of.
Let us now suppose that the period has arrived for the education of the girl, who, in her infancy has been subjected to the injurious influences against which we have endeavoured to warn our readers; and let us consider whether the course of education ordinarily pursued is calculated to correct or to increase the evils already described. It unfortunately often happens that precocity of mind
