The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-11
LIGHT GYMNASTICS,
How to ExercIse-..The Charms and
Graces OF Physical Culture.
FTotn uIs Chicago Republiean.

toward this art is not easily explained.
Tor scarcely any branch of modern Dur-
SUIT can be named which contains in
itself more lasting fascination, The
sImulus 1t gives to mind and body is
more potent than wine, This is no fip-
ure of fancy, but written with recoliae-
ton Of the yitalizing effect on brain and
muscle, of daily practice of Lewis GYM
nastics. One is twice the owner of him
SELF when every least muscle is trained
10 It's capacity, when the body learns to
spring, and wrists to bend; when large
muscles develop their full strength
ana inner ones deXterity; when fingers
curve like grasses, and close like steel:
when the rarest, reddest blood feeds the
heart; when in exercise you get the glee
OF the birds in flying, and nerves all
own soul for their master. ONLY those
VINO take the training know the exciting
delight of hour-long exercise, with fif3
teen pound dumb bells in each hand
aiternated with free sports in the open
air. Oh, the races over New England
helds, springing low ivy-garnfshed
walls anu many turning brooks in the
way that used to be had Just out of
sight of the city's blue vision in the dis
lance; lance; piercing swamps for the cardinal
uower, and clim bling cliffs for the rare
lace-like ferns in their clefts. We
should blush over the remembrance
were 1t not that II certain divinity stu
dent and seminary belle of those davs
would have to color guilty, too, But
the way we took to Bascom's Esthetics
and Moral Science after such perform
auces would have given the sternest
professors hopes of us, after all.
Somebody may have been shocked a
paragraph back at the mention of fif-
teen. pound dumb. bells. "Ah !" sighs
Bell AeroPhane, looking at her round
useless wrists, "how very much out of
~ Il
ty, too, If you begin with them. Their
use was the pleasure of arms trained
from childhood, when the light half
pound bells were assigned as the alter
nate of spelling lessons and the multi
Plicatiou table. AS to the character OF
the thing, one who takes pains to inves-
tIgate little will find that the students
of either sex who despise physical cuI-
ture seldom compare with athletes, as
regards success in study. The noblest
scholars Of the world excel in athletic
ieats. Witness our grand AgassiZ, with
the foot of Il deer for glacier climbing:
Byrant, the poet, hinging himself over
fences as he walks about Roslyn, his
country seat, and in very wRntonness
of strength, swinging by one hand from
the top of the doorway of his study:
DR.. Holmes, skimming Charles riverin
his wherry, like seagull. Nor are the
other sex without examples of love for
exercise. Among those women whose
names arrest attention, Harriet Hosmer
used to be the most daring tree-climber
and rider in dozen counties, and her
cousin John, in the country, used to
shake his head ruefully at her frequent
visits, prophesying she would be the
death of every horse on his place. Mrs,
Stowe, in her matrOnly elegance of po-
sltion and taste, writes of her young
days, Spentin roaming the hills round
Litchtield, climbing trees, hunting, and
fishing with her brothers, and nurturing
love of the free and beautiful, whose
touches so inspire her works.
julia Pardee, the English novelist,
was fond of exercise and adven-
ture, ransacking the labyrinths of
silver mine in ahe Pyrenees, and as
sisting the miners at blast which was
as successful as her writings have since
been. Gail Hamilton is none of your
stay-at-home students; n walk with
her through the Essex woods, hearing
her brilliant talk and laugh, startling
in its clearness and freedom, would
make one love all outdoor exercise for
ever. Charlotte Bronte, the most
worthy and vivid genius among wo-
men, shall Oe our last example; she
spent whole days out on her wild, glo-
rious mOorlandS. feeding with natures
forces a heart SO demanding, and such
fiery fancy that, shut from the gracious
matched genius must have perished
selt-consumed, 1t is not the forceless,
half-vitaliZed men and women who are
the worlds workers and its worship,
Strength of heart, of brain, and of body
are compliments of each other. the
trinity of perfect being. So, my doubt
ers, you may put away your dread of
losing delicncy when you gain in vigOr.
Its poor purity that only consOrts
with wasted muscle and feebleness of
nerve. Delicacy forsooth when, if one
might judge from the worlds taste in
other directions lately, the want of that
quality would be the very charge to
make an object popular. AS if strength
of lungs and springy nerves took away
ones power of affection, ones unset
tishness, modesty, or SensitiVenesS. |
Strength is. or should be, the
conserver, the veil for these quali-
ties. just try a springy walk down
Michigan avenue, at sunset, the
evening before Mr.. Balatka's next con-
cert; try game of battledorc, or n
dozen of DR.. Lewis free gymnastics, to |
set your blood astir, and see if you are |
any less sensitive or appreciative of
music in such condition. II any one |
will try the system of physical culture,
we will secure their belief in it.
Oh, gentle novice, have you provided |
the two dumb-bells ofa pound weight |
each, smoothly turned from maple; the |
hand-rings of cherry. the light wands |
of feXile strength? You are eager to |
feel the glow in your veins, the light in |
your brain, the rise of all sensations. |
The first pleasure of the gymnast is the |
donning of the appropriate dress-the |
flowing trOwsers, and the blouse of |
army blue, braided in scarlet, adopted |
by the men and boys at DIR. Lewis |
in Boston, the example of
the country in this art. Those who I
have seen Edwin Adams in his nauti- |
cal rig can guess how becoming the Co.'S |
tune may be on manly forms. The |
women (for wedo hate to use that noble |
word ''lady" on all occasions) wear the
most picturesque short dresses, one |
wear of which will make one reluctant
to discard them. Garibaldi waists, 1
plain on the shoulder, should be worn,
sewed to the skirt to avoid all tight |
betting to keep the latter in place. /
Trowsers of the same material as the !
dress, or of contrasting color, fastened |
in a band at the ankle, just displaying |
a few inches Of white stocking and the |
trimmest Of boots. The whole costume |
should be free, but avoid that slouchi- I
ness which can be tolerated only on the |
lithest figures. Don this dress at the |
door of the gymnasium, and fancy you |
tread etherl You want to spring to try
your own lightness, and three stairs at |
a time, or n low rail fence would be I
likely to tempt your ambition. Spring /
away. The gymuast's soul is full of /
spring, oflightneSs and daring. He is /
as sorry for man who can't jump as |
he is for one who can't read.
You take your place in the hall, which |
should be warm enough to allow the 1
windows open; stand far enough from /
your neighbors to avoid hitting them I
when both arms are stretched from the |