Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-03
Figure of the Venus de Milo.


Before the natural shape of woman has
been distorted, not to say deformed by tight
lacing and maternity, her abdomen. when
she stands straight, should protrude very
little if any, beyond the front line of her
thighs. The abdomen should never be
larger than the bust. which should measure
at least five inches more than than the abd0-
men. The hips should measure one-third
more than the shoulders. am aware that
woman is considered to possess very good
figure if, when dressed, a plummet line
dropping from the bust will form straight
line with the highest point of the abdomen,
but in reality the plummet should fall clear
of the abdomen by at least two inches. This
rule applies only to well-formed women
whose bodies have not been misshapen by
corsets.
There is far simpler way than bv meas
uring to ascertain when the point has been
reached when one shopld not allow oneself
to become stouter. 1t IS to observe II one
pants, puffs and, is obliged from shortness of
breath to take ones time going up stairs.
Going up stairs should not tax the breath
ing powers any more than rapid walking
upon level ground. and does not in the case
of slender persons. To have to stop to re-
cover ones wind" after climbing stairs is a
sure indication that person is "out OF CON-
friendly warning to train down.
The Proper Time to Diet.
Dieting should at once be begun, but
there are among women as among men many
who cannot resist the pleasures OF the table.
Others there are who really suffer when
dieting is imposed upon them, and, more
over, have not the strength to walk off their
unnecessary flesh. The majority of married
women are clrcumscribed in their outdoor
exercise owing to domestic duties, but If
such women are fortunate enough to be
Creeping house. they have an easy, sure
and inexpensive reduction" process right
in their own homes. 1t is to do their own
chamberwork, not irregularly and by fits
and starts, but persistenAy and continu-
ously.
The shaking Of mattresses, making beds,
sweeping and dhsting with the windows
open, the running up and down stairs while
setting things TO rights, is exercise consti-
tutiug the best of obesity cures. The doing
of chamber work steadily has been known
to reduce woman's weight at the rate OF
five pounds week. Cooking, on the other
hand, will add that much. Cooks are al
most always stout, owing to their lack OF
outdoor exercise. the heat to which they are
constantly subjected and their habit of tast-
ing the dishes they prepare. If girl is
eorpulent when she begins to do chamber
work she soon becomes slender.
How the Cord Figures in Flat Life.
The apartment house system has deprived
women of one method OF keeping obesity at
bay. The fats so much affected nowadays
are generally so small that even when a
woman does her own housework she has lit
tie opportunity OF obtaining the exercise
| made inevitable in house containing many
floors There is little room to move about
in fiat. Everything is upon the same
floor and there is no going up and down
stairs except in that private carriage of the
apartment house. i. e., the elevator. Every
thing is designed to prevent activity, except
upon the cord. A cord Is pulled to open
the street door, another to set the sliding
| closet in motion. In an elevator you are
pulled up and down stairs by cord You
hang your clothes out Of the window to dry
on a cord What would fiat life be without
the humble but inevitable cord?
When 1 first began to flesh up I lived in
| fiat. Like most women with family and
| a home to attend to, could only give a
limited amount of time to physical exercise
could not always be outpof doors, even
though the weather were fine; therefore 1
cudgeled my braius to evolve some sort OF
exercise in which could indulge at home
aud ut last thought I had happy
thought. The friend of my childhood, the
skipping rope! bought @one, thick and
| long, and shutting myself in small un-
carpeted room, L jumped for one hour daily,
aot consecutively, of course. but pausing
and panrins with my unwontsd sxestions.