It is a real walking-club of, on the whole, very sensible girls, whose experience follows here; and it may stand as that of many who have attempted the same thing, and failed.

There was once a party of girls who read a certain fascinating book about gymnastics and out-door exercise, known as Dr. Blaikie's"How to get Strong,"and who resolved to get up a walking-club. Eight members were allowed. They chose an even number as pleasanter, because pairing off exactly. Twice a week, at two in the afternoon, the eight met and sallied forth ; and for each excursion a leader was chosen, who had arranged the route beforehand.

The season was autumn, when everybody longs to be in the fields, or rustling through the dry woods ; and the eight discovered all the best views, and all the wood-nooks where ferns bleach in the green darkness, and all the hidden springs where the brooks begin ; and they came home laden with trophies.

Yet the club lived only a month or two, when it was interrupted by Christmas-gift work, and never resumed. Can you guess why ? Remember, these girls were not, as you might suppose, of the"fickle crewe,"who take up one pursuit after another, only to tire of each after a short trial, although a large and thriving family of such exist in the land. They were healthy-minded Massachusetts girls, honestly anxious to seek fresh life and knowledge from the great store that Nature has hidden away in the fields and woods and rocks. The result of their experiment discouraged them. Perhaps they were too easily discouraged.

In the first place, none of them were accustomed to long walks ; for, like most American girls, they had never cultivated the habit. The club began where it should have left off (provided it left off at all), - by taking long tramps of six or eight miles, from which it returned tired almost to death, although not one of them could have been brought to say so : it is so humiliating to admit that we have undertaken more than we can carry through.

Our poor little walking-club fixed the hour of starting too soon after the mid-day dinner, and some of the members felt pangs of indigestion which even the fresh air could not cure.

Their boots, which had seemed a perfect fit, shrunk unaccountably after an hour's walking, and pinched their feet; which was bad enough. But one girl, whose little French heels curled inward till they ended under her instep, fared worse; for, in jumping over a brook, she sprained her ankle, and suffered for weeks with the pain.

She never rejoined the club, for her mother objected to such violent exercise ; and I regret to say that she still wears French heels on her boots. As if the question of boots were never to be settled, the untidy girl next had an adventure, although it should be added that adventures were very common in her career. One layer of sole on the untidy girl's boot, after being wet in a swampy place, split off all along the toes, and flapped up and down as she walked. She stuck it together with a gumdrop; but, as you may imagine, the remedy was not complete, and the remainder of the walk was a failure. The untidy girl wore a flounced skirt, not very stout, nor securely sewed; and she seldom returned to town without some lamentable tatters.

But hers was an example without followers; for most of the club wore plain skirts, which did not easily tear nor soil, made sufficiently full to enable them to jump a ditch, or climb a fence, if the necessity arose.

Little by little the girls lost enthusiasm, and felt less in-clination for the inevitable effort required to take them through the long tramp marked out. The result of overexertion had been, as it always is, a loss of muscular strength rather than a gain; and the girls found themselves at the end no better walkers than they were when they started.

To make of your walking-club a lasting success, a few practical resolves are necessary : Wear broad-soled, low-heeled, stout boots, that fit easily, but not too loosely, and your feet will not swell, nor your back ache, after the exercise is over. Begin moderately, and increase your number of miles gradually; for muscles must be trained by slow degrees to unaccustomed work. English girls, as nearly every one knows, are good walkers, and think nothing of a ten-mile stretch in a morning before lunch; but of course they have been trained to it from childhood. The climate of England is more favorable to walking than ours, - more moist and equable. It is therefore necessary to warn those who mean to emulate their British cousins, that they must avoid overheating, the danger of sunstroke, and the chill that strikes into the very marrow sometimes, while resting, after exertion, on the summit of a hill where the keen breeze sweeps unchecked.

Unless girls are satisfied simply to be abroad in the fresh air, they will want some object or employment in these perpetual long walks ; and nothing will better keep their enjoyment fresh than botanizing, geologizing, or the study of entomology. The many treasures of the woodland-ferns, cones, lichens, bits of fungous growth - may all be used to beautify your homes; and the process by which it may be done is described in the following chapter.

Or if you have bottled up your animal spirits in a school-room all the morning, until uncorking has become a necessity, the lonely fields offer a clear space for a healthy romp.

A walking-club grows naturally, like any healthy organiza-tion, and, from short tramps about the neighborhood, expands into longer excursions, even into walking-tours covering a week's time, and more.

Where a prolonged trip is planned, each girl should put what she needs for the journey in a shoulder-bag, which means simply a small satchel hung by a long strap from the shoulder. Carry nothing that is not essential, for even a small weight borne constantly will grow irksome.

A tour of this kind is one of the pleasantest outings that can be devised by a party of lively girls. In its slow progress the members of the club learn the country thoroughly ; and, if they desire to make collections, there is plenty of time. Powers of observation develop, which lend an interest to the lowliest object, and will fill with events the least adventurous day. Passers-by along the road look kindly upon the little party; and at the farmhouses the women are glad to offer draughts of foamy milk, listening with wonder and amusement to the history of the walking-club, which will long be repeated by the firesides of the neighborhood.

The nights may be spent in different towns on the route, in which case a careful calculation is necessary, making sure that the distance allowed for each day is not too much, and leaves a margin for possible accidents.

More liberty is permitted where the party arranges to camp out, and starts supplied with food, blankets, and the other essentials for camping. In this case the club may call a halt when it pleases ; the only requisites for a camp being solitude, kindling-wood, and a neighboring spring.

It is best that in camping out the club should be provided with a parent or an older brother, both for the help of a strong arm in struggling with natural difficulties, and in order that anxious friends may be re-assured. But that it is possible for girls to go alone, without danger or annoyance, has been proved by more than one pioneering party, - notably that of the girls who"did"the North-Carolina moun-tains last summer (1882).