sustain its equilibrium. It is generally believed that persons of
sedentary habits are more liable to become round-shouldered than any
other class of individuals. Observation shows, on the contrary, that the
manual laborer, or even the idler, often acquires this stooping posture.
It can be remedied, not by artificial braces, but by habitually throwing
the shoulders backwards. Deformed trunks and crooked spines, although
sometimes the effects of disease are more frequently the results of
carelessness. Jacques has remarked that "one's standing among his
fellow-men is quite as important a matter in a _physiological_, as in a
_social_ sense." _Walking_ is one of the most efficient means of
physical culture, as it calls all the muscles into action and produces
the amount of tension requisite for their tonicity. Long walks or
protracted physical exercise of any kind should never be undertaken
immediately after meals. The first essential to a healthful walk is a
pleasurable object. Beautiful scenery, rambles in meadows rich with
fragrant grasses, or along the flowery banks of water-courses, affords
an agreeable stimulus, which sends the blood through the vital channels
with unwonted force, and imparts to the cheeks the ruddy glow of health.
Our poets acknowledge the silent influence of nature. Wordsworth has
expressed this thought in his own sublime way:

"The floating clouds their state shall lend
To her: for her the willow bend;
Nor shall she fail to see,
E'en in the motions of the storm
Grace that shall mould the maiden's form
By silent sympathy.
The stars of midnight shall be dear
To her: and she shall lean her ear
In many a secret place,