This etext was produced by David Widger  

Novel and The Common School 

By Charles Dudley Warner 

There has been a great improvement in the physical condition of the
people of the United States within two generations.  This is more
noticeable in the West than in the East, but it is marked everywhere;
and the foreign traveler who once detected a race deterioration, which he
attributed to a dry and stimulating atmosphere and to a feverish anxiety,
which was evident in all classes, for a rapid change of condition, finds
very little now to sustain his theory.  Although the restless energy
continues, the mixed race in America has certainly changed physically for
the better.  Speaking generally, the contours of face and form are more
rounded.  The change is most marked in regions once noted for leanness,
angularity, and sallowness of complexion, but throughout the country the
types of physical manhood are more numerous; and if women of rare and