those days was much more the rule than at present.
Growing interest and enthusiasm for the work of the gymnasium necessitated a change at the end of the second year to more com- modious quarters in Amory Hall, on the corner of Washington and West Streets. The prospective need of teachers in this field led to the intioduction of a normal course for their education, which has remained a permanent department of the gymnasium. Constantly increasing numbers, and an interest that continued to grow, finally culminated in a demand for a larger hall and better eriuipment. A stock company was formed, which within two months raised the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and during the summer of 1SS6 a build- ing was constructed on St. Botolph and Garrison Streets, known thereafter as the Allen Gymnasium. This contained one of the larg- est and best equipped gymnasiums in the country, with a large nuMiber of private dressing-rooms, lavatories, and lockers, and in the basement six fine bowling alleys.
During the next few years the numbers greatly increased, and hundreds of pupils attended yearly, so that in 1891 still larger accommodations seemed necessary, especially a properly constructed room for the deep-breathing exercises, which have always formed an essential part of the plan of work. An annex was accordingly built, with a room arranged for respiratory M'ork, with special mechanical means for insuring pure air, over another gymnasium hall, while below were exquisitely finished Turkish and Russian baths, and a beautiful swimming-pool. The two buildings occupied a lot one hundred and fifty feet by ninety feet, and the city of Boston may well have been proud of possessing an institution which, devoted as it was to the interests of women and children exclusively, was unique in the annals of the country.
As the years went by, other schools of physical training were^ established, bicycle-riding and athletics became the fashion for women as well as men, and many other causes conspired to render the classes somewhat smaller than heretofore, although the enthusiasm of those who came was undiminished. Accordingly it was finally decided to transfer the gymnasium to the beautifully equipped smaller hall over the Turkish baths, where the work has been successfully carried on for the past four years, and still continues with unabated interest.
It is not simply as an admirable teacher of gymnastics that Miss Allen is entitled to the gratitude of the community. In her carefully worked- out system of physical training, where brain and nuiscles play an equal part, she has made a lasting contribution to educational science. A pioneer, and for a time almost the ordy woman engaged in this line of work, she entered the field just at the time when it was beginning to be felt that order might be brought out of the chaos which had hitherto prevailed in the gymnasium. Prior to this period the comparatively few gymnasiums that existed had been largely used by professionals and those who devoted themselves to the exaggerated development of certain sets of muscles, in order to accomplish feats of strength, agility, or endurance. No all-around develop- ment had yet been attempted. She now threw herself with ardor into the task of organizing some scheme of symmetrical training, and later, as the way opened before her, she ear- nestly strove to lift gymnastics into the domain of education.
At that time the only plea for gymnastics was in the interest of health. While fully con- vinced of the importance of this aim. Miss Allen felt that there was another side of the subject to be brought out, in which the field of investigation was as yet untrotlden. She developed a scheme of progressive gymnastics which would gradvially bring every part of the body under the control of the will. The discovery made a few years later, in the realm of physiological research, of the "motor tracts" in the brain — i.e., definite nerve centres initi- ating and controlling motion in every part of the body — gave the physical trainer a place in the educational field. This cleared the way not only for her, but for others whowere work- ing along similar lines of thought.
The educational value of her work lies in the progressive nature of her scheme of training, in which she has sought to develop the
