St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-19
Why the Neeks Of American
Girls are Not Always
Right.
"Salt Cellars" Where There
Should Only Be kissing
Dilples."
The Intimate Relation Of
Corsets to a Wholly Bad
Complexion.
Walking With Some Sort Of a
Burden on the Top Of
the Head.

know with well-poised head supported
by graceful neck rising from straight,
Well-Set shoulders? asks the New York
Sun. How many have arms of which it
can by any stretch of the Imagination be
said, as Heine wrote of the arms of
Grisi, They are those the Venus de
Milo has lost?" How many have not
those horrible hollows on either side the
throat, known for some mysterious rea-
son as "salt-cellars," Instead of kissing
dimples? What is the reason of it, and
what are we going to do about it?
One must be forgiven for repetition
of ancient history, but it cannot be de-
MED that the corset is responsible for
much that is disappointing in the
beauty OF the American throat and
shoulders. A Western physician who
has been devoting the last fifteen years
TO the study of the human figure AYERS
as the result of his investigations
among different nationalities that the
American girl is deformed and has
waist out of all proportion to her body.
The average waist measure is 80 per
cent of the height of the figure, while
the waist of the immortal Venus is AZ
per cent of her stature. But the fragile
American woman wears girdle that Is
only "A per cent of her height. 1t isn't
romantic, but it is true. to say that
WOmau's liver is larger than mans,
though her heart is smaller, and she is
more disastrOuSly affected by pressure
about the waist than man would be.
The compressed liver is the secret of
many bad complexion, but of course
has nothing to do with hollOWS in the
neck.
The cage with which provident ma
ure has inclOsed ones vital organs is
an obstinate and aggressive piece of
mechanism. You press it in about the
waist and it is bound to throw itself out
somewhere, and, just to be aggTavating.
chooses that somewhere in the most UNI
desirable place. But that isn't the worst
of it. Take young girl in the transit
ton period. when from rapid growth
all her organs are easily disturbed and
indOlently inclined, and do her up in a
corset. and the poise of the body, which
is as delicate as it is beautiful, is de-
strOyed about the waist. The body
doesn't hold itself up at all, but depends
entirely upon the steel support, and
leans this way or that, as the corset al
lows. That throws the head out of
pOiSe, too, and lets it fail too far
forward on the spine, because 1t
seems easier to support itself there,
and so the different processes crystalline
into WOmanhOod, all out of trim and
just 2s they happen to feel inclined.
And that is the chief reason that artists
complain that they find few women
with a good back and shoulders, or, if
they have those, they develop an awk-
ward angle at the neck by carrying the
head tOO for rI have nrOmjnaOt
shOulder-blades. or trick of carrying
one side of the figure in advance of the
other.
COrsets are not so detrimental to the
fully-developed woman as the ranters
try TO establish, and a woman dressed
III anything but a Mother Hubbard
wrapper is more comfortable with them
than without them. If mothers would
insist OH dressing their daughters in the
loose, comfortable frOcks worn by chill
dren, and never introduce them to cor
sets until they were eighteen years old,
there would be more threats that didn't
need covering like that of beautiful
Queen Louise, whose pictures are al
ways taken with a scarf across the neck.
Another thing that mothers could do
to insure the beauty of the coming
woman is to feed her well, for just at
4 time when a girl needs most nouriSh-
ing food she is apt to cultivate a morbid
taste for sWeetmeats and pickles, and
few mothers appreciate that the diet of
such girl needs quite as much super
vision as that of a teething baby.
And, finally, taking lesson from the
1.-the, straight peasant maiden, with the
beautifully poised, graceful neck, who
spends her life carrying burdens on her
head, let the slight, STOPPING girl walk
fWnnfU tbirftr mi
day with an ever-increasing weight
on her head until the lazy muscles of
the throat, through exercise, become
firm, and unconsciOusly hold the burden
of the head steadily and proudly in
place.
There is, of course, no necessity of
adding that light gymnastic exercises
of various kinds, and particularly out
doors, are more desirable than any of
the patent braces, which are as cruel to
wear as they are Intellectual in result.
But there are plenty of women who
were girls quite time ago that are still
obliged, through cOnventiOnality, 10 I'M
cover neck and shoulders of which
cold and cruel world makes unkind crit
icism.
Your efforts are not so certain of sue
cess as they would have been twenty
years ago. but it's worth trying now in
your summer vacation. for next years
gayetieS, to fill the hollow with firm
flesh.
In the first place, don't take off yonr
cOrSetS, but loosen them. OF course, we
understand that they are not tight now,
and you could turn around in them with
out looSening their clasps; but unite the
laces, and let your long, deep inhala-
tons fix their size for little while.
Every night and every morning throw
your hands back until they strike be-
hlnd you, at first ten, then twenty, fifty
and hundred times.
With your chest held high and your
eyes on the frieZe of the room, take
exhaled forcibly.
Turn your head slowly around on the
trunk one way until you can see a few
consultations, and then give it few
turns the other way, all very slowly and
| carefully and only a few times in the
beginning. You have heard all this be-
| fore, but have you tried it? And. if you
| did try it. how many night in the week
| did you forget it and how many morn
ings were you too late to spend time?
And how much over month did you
| persevere in your efforts?
And while you are working thus
| about your neck your arms will have
been growing plumper and fuller all
| the time above the elbows. and if you
| take a pair Of dumb bells and turn them
sharply and vigorously in your hands,
| the hands down at the sides, eight times,
| the hands stretched out at the side, the
same number of times straight in front
of you. over your head, each eight times
you will know by the aching muscles in
your forearm that you have exercised
| them most decidedly.
The main point is always sustained
rather than erratic effort Five min
utes' exercise every night is of more
value than ten minutes every other
night. or half an hour once a week.
Battle the skin of your neck, arms and
bust with very hot water, dash the cold
est water you can endure over all i'm
mediately after the bath, dry with a