Feliciana sentinel., 1892-10-22
PHYSICAL CULTURE
Extract from a Letter By j. II. heiio6o'
St. H.. Rattle Creek sanitsranHs.

r..rac. from a Letter by j. II. KellogG.
st. H.. BATH. Creek sanitsranns.
One reason women walk so little 10
because they do not know how to walk.
Some authority says that not one
woman in Il hundred knows bow to
walk gracefully. Ungracefulness Is
due to lack OF symmetrical develop
ment A savage is graceful and little
bows and girls are nearly always grace
f,f vr,ess their inheritance Is very bad
and the examples they see are worse
Nature is always graceful. The lines
and curves of flowers and trees are
those OF beauty, while the movements
of bees and birds and animated nature
generally are lines Of grace and SYM
metry. The laws which govern these
lines and curves apply to human pc
iups. Men and women. highest in the
scale of life, ought TO be the most
, graceful of all, but as matter OF iact
It is not SO. by the time they are
twenty-five or thirty years. old their
natural grace has fallen into decay,
from nerlect Of physical culture and
thev are awkward and ungainly.
we'll cared for and not over worked
horse is as graceful as q colt, but
human beings who are graceful at ma.
turity are very scarce. The most OF
them are more like old stage horses In
which some muscles are over developed
while others ore wasted away Their
voca tions lead them to strengthen some
muscles abnormally while others arc
almost entirely disused. This one-sided
| lcyelopment is often 40 marked that An
observant person can tell n mans busi.
ness by the way lie carries himself.
There are very few people who do not
!: have slightly curved spines from neg
tect of the exercise necessary TO keep
, the body evenly developed. 10 this un-
even development is chargeable Inc
\ want of grace SO much to be deplorcd.
r It is certainly canse OF much rclo'c-
n | ing that women are awakening to their
. needs of symmetrical development and
that out-of-door sports and exercises
o are Getting to be fashio oaa bic. England
. lis sweeping us still further into the
c BACKGROUND by an increase OF physical
S culture societies all over the country
o At one gymnasium I visited IN Birm
d ingham more than three thousand ch't
p iren are taken every week for exercise
s. The girls are put through the SAINT
n drill as the boys. The entire body i
IF developed and grace Of movement come
e as a natural consequence.
1t In this country the Dclsarte system
h Of aesthetic gymnastics is bccomtni
ID quite fashionable. BY persistent prat
tice on the part Of its students most q
as the effects of early neglect can be don
u awav with. The first thing it under
st takes to do is to break up the frigtdlt
ne and stiffness which is characteristic 6
he the average American woman. after I'll
IS age of youth is passed, II not befor'
OF She is muscle bound; some muscles al
he too long and some are too short, VIM
er others are small and relaxed or eli
es- over grown and stitfcncd. The 'se
.ly ting up drill" to which the young r
.ruit is subjected answers the san
as purpose as the Dclsartc system, only
as is not so graceful nor SO thorough
I'D That exercise may be beneficial an
,cr that graceful movements may be pc
,ld sihle, the dress must be light and zoos
lll. the shoes with broad so!cs and lc
OF heels. A. famous actress is reported
er. saving that she has not worn cors
OF for many years and that she fonnd
all soon as she took off the fetters she "
ely able to appear to better advanta
rd- every way Ladies are rightly int
os- estcd in being beautiful, but tn
uc- should know that grace, beauty =
run health always go together and that
old ture has thus allied them. They c;
:. not be beautiful without being healt
! and they cannot be graceful wlth'
physical development and freedom
motion and plenty of room to oreat
'"'k So then. to neglect physical culture
to neglect one of the most efficient a
ter, to beauty and gracc.-Reportcd
nat | Helen l.. Manning.