Sunday work on the part of porters, etc. To this argument it is sufficient to reply, in the first place, that, if desirable, voluntary labor of so light a kind would be forthcoming; and, next, in the words of the Earl of Derby, who "did not deny the extreme importance of maintaining the day of national rest; but they must recollect that, wherever recreation was allowed, some labor must be thrown on those who provided it. They permitted excursion-trains, etc., . . . and on the whole there was a great preponderance of advantage over disadvantage." As in most museums and galleries the porters and other servants employed on Sundays would probably not amount to one half per cent, of the visitors who would profit by their labor, I think that the argument may in this, more than in any other case of Sunday work, be set aside as absurd.
I have been tempted to dwell thus at considerable length on the question of Sunday recreation, because it is one that is now prominently before the public, and therefore I hope that a few words in season may help to hasten a reform which sooner or later is inevitable. As regards the recreation of workingmen, I have only further to say that institutions on the model of workingmen's clubs deserve to be encouraged in every possible way. Wealthy and benevolent persons could not do better with their means than to found such clubs where most required, and to endow them with a small annuity which would serve as a nucleus to club subscriptions, a greater number of subscribers being insured by the smaller amount of the fees. The Volunteer movement also deserves every encouragement, as supplying exercise and recreation to all classes at a very moderate cost.
Turning next to the recreation of women, I shall begin, as in the case of men, with the upper classes. And here, for the sake of emphasis, I shall confine my remarks to the one topic of muscular exercise. For ladies, more than any other section of the community, have fallen into the habit of neglecting exercise, and I am sure that I can not draw too dreadful a picture of the consequences which here arise from the too general custom. These consequences are all the more to be feared because many of them are of so insidious a kind that the root of the evil may never be suspected. It is not my intention to frighten any of the fair sex by unfolding a tale of horrors; so I will only say, in general terms, that I am quite sure among ladies there is no one source of disease and early death more prevalent than is this habitual violation of the best known among the laws of health. Consider for a moment what the life of a lady in town usually is. She rises probably at nine or ten o'clock, without much appetite for breakfast. Till luncheon she remains indoors, reading a novel or magazine, writing letters, or attending to her household duties. After luncheon she takes a little "carriage-exercise"—observe the unconscious irony of the term—pays a few afternoon calls, and returns home to afternoon tea. Until it is time to be dressed for dinner, there is another period
