The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-28
Do NOT WEAR
TIGHT CLOTHES.
A Few Pointers of Value to The
Calls Fair Readers.
Advice to Girls Who Want to Become Strong
They Need Good Nerves, Sound Diges-
ton and General vigor.
yA;E1ITH room in their gowns for their
HENtEo bodies and in their shoes for their
9Al0EN feet are more often met with now,

JAE1ITH room in their gowns for their
HNf62 bodies and in their shoes for their
sANEN feet are more often met with now,
l believe, than when / was boy. Yet, even
as there were great men before Agamem-
non, SO it was my fortune in youth to know
girls. here and there. who could breathe,
eat, sleep and even walk and row.
Nay, / have seen upward of 200 young
women together, of all ages from IA to over
20, dressed in short skirts and knickerbock-
ers, and without corsets, taking daily and
thorough course of calisthenics, walking
from five to twenty miles day, and pre-
senting both to the bodily and to the men,
tai eye delectable appearance. They were
the girls who attended Dio Lewis famous
school at Lexington away back in the six
ties. Nothing quite parallel with that ex-
pertinent has been attempted since, and yet
it was a successful one from almost every
point of view. Dio Lewis may have had his
frailties, like other people, but he was an
enthusiast, and l never knew of his doing
any harm, while l am sure that he did a
great deal of good.
There has always been plenty of preach
ing against the way girls go on-the copven-
tional girls; that they dress wrong and do
everything wrong that has relation to their
bodily health and condition. BY this time
nearly all of them must be familiar with the
kind of fault that is found with them.
Physio logically, the conventional girl,
propped up by corsets and pinched by tight,
high-he eled shoes, has not leg to stand
upon. Counsel for the prosecution has habit
all his own way the accused has offered no
defence. Sentence has been pronounced
against her; but the shoes and corsets still
continue. Out of 10000 American women
only one is wise in her dress and physi0log-
lcal conduct; yet many if not most Of the
1893 know better. This seems queer. Why
is it?
For one thing, l suppose, many of them,
though they know their ndiscretions in the
sum that they have been told of them do
not take the information seriously. They
think there has been exaggeration. Have
not their mothers, grapdmothers and other
female forerunners lived and mad good
enough health, in spite of shoes, corsets,
late hours, tea, pi ckles and pastry. seden-
tary habits, bad air and all the rest OF it?
Certainiy they have.
Well, then, what is the fuss about? If
our ancestors have lived in comic in spite
of hygiene, why may not we? Are we not
pretty and fascinating and clever in our
tight stays and stilted shoes? A little head
ache, or Indigestion, or insomnia, or neu-
ralgla, or short windedness, or pain in the
udck, IS INEVITABLE 10 women, anu Is not IN
tolerable after all. We don't care to be
athletes or classic Venuses withbig waists
and feet. We want TO be
LIKE OTHER WOMEN
And to have good time. The danger has
been over estimated. If it were not we
should all have been dead long ago.
This is ole relolnder, and the other is a
cornllary to it. Women like to be in the
fashion-to be dress d and TO behave accord
ing to the prevailing mode; and though
fashion changes day by day, it has for many
centuries stuck to small waists and small
shoes, and has eschewed regular and
rational exercise. Countless women, it is
true, work hard all day long and bear many
burdens which men are never called upon
to sustain. They toll in the kitchen, make
beds and clothes, stand up behind counters
and bring up children. This does not seem
TO leave much time Tor regular and rational
exercise. III an extra hour presents itself
they feel more like fattening out on the
sofa. as for women who depend on house.
keepers and servants, they are forced to get
up late because it is late before they 90 to
bed. They have their calls 10 receive and to
make, their dinners and receptions to give
and to attend, their drives to take. They live
on cake, candy. tea, entrees, ice-cream and a
glass OF neutrality-suspicious. which do
not make good quality of muscular fiber.
Their ives are spent In the effort TO crafty
their desires and to fight off ennu and they
have no spirit left for the gymnasium.
Upon the whole, therefore, it would seem
that general physical regeneration is
hardly TO be expected in American women.
Nevertheless, there Is way where there is
will. and as matter Of fact great many
women do give attention to physical train
ing, and spend considerable time at it, too.
They ride. play tennis. fence. want" and
take Turkish baths and massage treatment.
Actresses, whose livelihood largely depends
upon their bodily omeliness and condition,
vera the first In tn xp these thinu.- nd
the circumstance that the stage has of late
been approaching nearer and nearer to
society and that certain women of society
have gone on the stage. has made such
training more or less fashionable.
But though actresses have the time for il.
because it is a part of their business, and
wealthy women in society, because it is as
good way of killing time as another most
women have neither the time nor the facili-
ties. They cannot ride because they have
no horses; nor fence, because they have 10
fenCing-masters; nor take Turkish baths,
because only large cities have them and are
expensive. They might play tennis, per-
haps, but to do so with any effect takes
nearly all the morning or an afternoon. For
You must wear tennis dress and go some
distance to the tennis grounds, and wait for
your turn at the courts, and play an hour
at least and then get home aud change your
clothes. Moreover, you can play tennis
only in summer, and by no means every day
easy enough theoretically are impracticabe
in practice, because our enyironments-the
daily habit and tenor OF our lives-are
against them.
THERE is A POINT TO BE NOTED HERE.
Nothing is so tickle as fashion, and it is
probable that the present athletic fad among
fashionable women will not last. Each one
of them follows it chiefly for the reason that
her friends do so, and not from any sense
of duty TO herself. There can be no secur-
ity OF permanence on that basis Unless
every girl and woman acts in this matter
of otherS-unless, that is, she
is prepared to keep up her exercise, even If
the others fall away-the whole thing may
die out at any moment. Therefore the first
thing to do in order to get healthy bodily
DEVELOPMENT is to cultivate your will and
your self-respect, and not to cease to DO
what you believe to be right because other
people are remiss. To be conscientious is
not easy. but it Is contagious, and if you
take stand for yourself you will have the
pleasure OF seeing that you have confirmed
and stimulated many wavering spirits,
who, but for you, would have lapsed into in
dolence.
Whatyour young ladies are after is not
brain and muscle to match your brothers at
school and college, but good nerves, sound
digestion, quiet sleep and general vigor
and freshness OF the bodily powers and
functions. reserve OF vital force is even
more essential to woman than to a man,
and your main attention should be devoted
to maintaining and increasing that. You
may do it very easily, for it involves abb
staining certain habits that you now indulge
in. rather than learning anything new. In
all you must keep up an enthusiasm for im-
provement-to become better to-day than
you were yesterday. That is the secret of !
success. There is little use In working
against the grain. But instead of stopping
work because 1t Is against the grain you
must compel the grain to go the way of
work. To overcome difficulties is stimu-
lus; it generates electricity. To let diff
cultes overcome you is to obliterate Your
self, and no woman wishes to do that
Once at least every day water should