Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1877-10-04
OUR GIRLS.
Chicago Tribune.

Compare the form and health ola bow at
sixteen with a girl at the same age. Whv
should the girl be so slender, 30 frail and 50
distressed? The answer is plain. She is
not allowed to use, and thus develope, her
muscles and bones. Food and exercise
are the necessary terms of playful growth.
She gets neither. Girls should use and de.
velop every muscle and every bone that will
favor the circulation of the blood, remove
old particles and deposit new in all their It's
sues and organs. They need not CRY, but
they may laugh heartily at any time or in
any place proper for such means of growth.
The delightful exercise has all the advantage
of crying in infancy. Mothers who are
blessed with daughters should begin early
in life, when the muscles and bones are
soft, to train them. AS soon as they begin
to creep teach them to creep ION all fours''
and thus expand their lungs and strengthen
their chests teach them, when their ribs
are soft and yielding, ito take a long
breath" many times a day, and then when
they enter school their teachers should con.
tinue the same exercises and others which
have a tendency to develop the chest, con.
tanning the essential organ of life that
creates vital blood and drives it through all
its rounds and gives form and beauty to
their persons. Callisthenics will do more
good toward enlarging and strengthening
their bones and muscles, and more towards
making them useful women, than all the
modern languages Of the world. Moderate
exercise Of the muscles, develops and
strengthens them, and moderate exercise of
the mental faculties enlarges and strength
ems them. Our girl, should not be confined
to their books more than six hours in the
tvuonfyy for,r Eyooo ,xJ-- ->.l.--
the mind and body. No people on the face
of the earth do so much toward enfeeblipe
girls as the Americans. We do not object
to proper female education. We advocate
it; but we do object to the very common
neglect of developing the body. Muscles
and bones never grow stronger by incidence
or disuse. How unwise to sacrifice the
health of the body to the examining of the
mind. Develop them both. Give girls a
sound body and a sound mind. What are
many Of our we'll educated girls good for?
Feeble, sickly bodies. with weaker brains!
Girls need nutritious food and constant ex-
ercise to change that food to vigor and
strength. To obtain the greatest amount of
good from food and exercise they must be-
gin early. 1t is rather late in the year to
improve a house when it has no firm foun.
dalton, when its brick and mortar are fall
ing into decay. A physician may do some
thing towards lessening the feebleness and
suffering Of those girls who are built Of
starch and butter. The Swiss rarely eat any
thing but bread, cheese and butter, and
drink milk. They gre strong, active and
vigorous people; so meat Is not absolutely
necessary. Still our daughters eat so little
cheese, 50 little nitrogen or flesh. making
food, they should eat meat. They almost
universally prefer starchy food. They con
sumo so little nutriment containing phos-
phorus that their vitality, their streEs.b,
their muscles and their activity is less than
that of any other people. They prefer pies
and sweetmeats to meat and potatoes and
fish, so that they are spare, feeble and nerv-
GUS. They consume starch and still need
stays. They should onsume more gluten,
and less sugar; have less mental and more
physical exercise. The latter will increase
the appetite and aid in digestion and CON
verting the food into blood. Improper food
and no exercise create disease. Good food
and sufficient exercise create health.