The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-23
CARRIE CARELESS
Discusses the Exercises Most "Con.
duclve to Beauty"

| en-. This is a question which found last
week contained in letter bearing the post
mark Philadelphia. After considerable
thought and discussion with several emf.
nent New York physicians with whom l
am acquainted l have come TO the
very decided conclusion that walking is IN
doubtedly the form of exercise most oon-
ducive to feminine health aud beauty. Ten
mis-, although very exciting. is too violent.
and tends to lenghten the arms, enlarge the
hands and TO make the shoulders uneven.
| Moreover. it is q form of sport of which one
Is apt to become very fond, and in con-
sequence to indulge therein TO excess.
| Croquet does not really give any exercise
| worth speaking Of and may therefore be
left out of the question altogether. The
side saddle, to which we are restricted when
riding on horseback, Injuries in the long
run both the hip aud sometimes, too, the
spine. Women who have habitually ridden
for years, usually have one hip higher than
the other. The doctors whom l have
! consulted are unanimous In condemn
ing cycling for women, as produc-
ing a weakness in the back, and my
own experience convinces me that 1t
seriously lmpairs any grace and elegance
which they may possess. Cycling seems to
render them awkward in their walk, and
they gradually come to move with plung
ing kind or motion, which is the reverse OF
beautiful. Fencing, besides being danger
GUS for women. has the disad vantage of de-
! veloping the right arm and shoulder to
such an extent as to give one the appearance
of being lopsided. Nor can golf, which has
| recently become a favorite pastime of wom-
en- III Great Britain, lie regarded as destined
to augment feminine grace. For, In order
to drive a ball long way, the club
must be raised above the head and brought
| dopu IN ha hall NTH aidawaVa m
ton, twisting the body from the waist.
| Gymnastics while healthy, tend to impair
beauty of our hands. and a woman with
large and ugly hands is to be pitied. OF
base ball and cricket it is needless TO speak.
For, although we have feminine cricket
elevens and base ball mines. yet it is useless
to advocate them as a popular form OF OK
eroise. None of us like to appear rtdicu-
lous or to render ourselves ludlcrous in the
eyes Of those whom we are accustomed to
tyrannize-namely, the men. Now, no
woman can play cricket or base
laughter, either OF an indulgent or Of
q knocking character, for the very
simple reason that try as we may we can
never throw the ball properly. Nature
never intended that we should. That IL
self-evident. For the very build Of our
figure prevents US from doing so, and the
smallest and most weakly Of boys will in
more surely than tho most athletic Of
| women.
Walking, however, has everything to
recommend it as form OF exercise for
women. aud 1t is an established fact that
the women wi no do the most walking pre-
serve their health and, above all, their
beauty and elegance the longest 1t does
not present the dangers that do some of the
forms OF exercise above mentioned; nor
does it unduly develop one portion OF the
body at the expense OF the others; more
over, it has the additional advantage of
being cheap and within the means Of every
one, either rich or poor. 1t serves to main
tain the internal organism Of our anatomy
in order, and in natural consequence thereof
preserves our COMPLEXION when it is worth
preserving and improves it when it is not.
For some reason or other walking has
never become popular among the women In
this country. Indeed, no form OF exercise
ever really has, and we seem to be imbued
with a certain species of Creole tendency
toward physical lndoleuce-an Incidence all
the more striking and strange when con-
trasted with the brightness, the sparkle and
the activity OF the mind Of the average
American woman. This disinclination on
the part OF the latter to adopt walking as
form of exercise, is the more regretable as
the daughters of Uncle Sam are
distinguished among all other
women of the world for the beauty
and elegance of their walk. A graceful
walk is very rare in Europe, and there are
but few women who know how TO cross
from one side of a ballroom TO the other
without impairing by their carriage the
effect of any beauty which they may pos
$685. English women. although passion
ately fond of walking-an English girl
thinks nothing Of tramping twelve or
twenty miles day on foot-very rarely
walk with elegance. Their movement
is too harshly accumulated, their step 500
vigorous and their action deficient in femi-
nine grace The German woman walks
too heavily, and as a general RUE SUD
stitutes slow clumsiness for the somewhat
masculine yigor and energy OF the Engllsh
woman's step The French women, the
Hungarian women and the beautiful Poles
can none of them be considered good or
graceful walkers Graceful they are and
supremely elegant In all their movements.
But they don't walk They trip aud fut-
ter and prance and stamp their dainty feet
like the ''piafment" or "dishing"
of some high-mettled horse but
they can't walk. Spaniards and Italians.
especially those belonging TO the lower
classes, do walk very gracefully, and seem
to glide-one might almost say hover
over the ground, without offending
the eye by any angularity or ac-
centuation in the movement OF the limbs.
Much OF this elegance OF carriage is attrlbu-
table to the habit of these women, when
young Of carrying jars of water balanced
on their heads There is nothing that con-
tributes 80 effectively TO give a woman a
perfect walk as to accustom her to balance
a pitcher, or even a glass of water. upon her
head. 1t forces her to hold her head erect :,
her back straight, with her bust fully de-
veloped, and to move without any jerkness
or angularity. Other wise the water would
be spilled over her.
American women, who seem to have COM
bined in their persons all the various graoes,
charms and attractions OF the different races
OF Europe, are not in the habit OF carrying
water pitchers on their heads, but, never
theless, walk as IL they we're accustomed 10
do so and one of the first things that strikes
the returning tourist from Paris, London
and Berlin is the grace and elegance Of our
women's walk.
This being the case, would recommend
my fair correspondent at Philadelphia TO
adopt walking as the form Of exercise most
conducive to her health and beauty. I'm
like most OF their foreign sisters, the daugh-
ters Of Uncle Sam always appear TO their
advantage when walking, and were they to
realize this and TO take more Of this species
of exercise we should see fewer women in
clined to embonpoint. For, alas, thore al
ways comes a time OF lifo for us women
when we either become too voluminous or
| boo I fha uDap