St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-02-09
WOMEN SHOULD TRAIN
Impossible to Attach Sutl-
Gent Importance to Phys
zeal Culture.
Mistaken Idea That Much
Strength Means Little
Grace.
Some Of the Social Events and
Personal D0ings OF Yes
terday.
A MeIange Of Matter Of Spe-
cial Interest to All
Women.

1t is not possible to have too much OF
such good thing as physical culture
IN all it's branches. 1t would seem that
Fannie Edger Thomas has said enough
I'm the following bright paper to con-
vince all reasonable people of the value
and Importance of giving the proper
care and training to this wonderful
piece of mechanism, the feminine
body:
Many women hesitate to adopt phySl-
cal culture through false lOea that
naturalness means grace. 1--WE do want
to be graceful, but we hate atfectation,'
they say. What is natural and easy
must be graceful. We become con-
scious, stiff and stilted once we NEEDLE
with nature and attempt to train our
selves into grace"
Never were hackneyed expressions
more utterly false than these. The
many unfortunate surprises from mir
ror ana photograph camera ought to
prove that to any intelligent person.
Thought may imagine position OF great
dignity and elegance. The reflection
discloses one of extreme aWkWardnesS
that is frequently ludicrous. While
thought must underlie all grace, it is
not able to speak through stiff, UNI
trained muscles.
Some people are born with Datural
grace and need little or no suggestion
in this regard. With some little
thought and effort works marked i'm
provement, while others, III order to at
tain any sort of satisfactory symmetry,
must 20 into regular course OF train
ing for development. Any one who
would develop all her latent charm must
pass through more or less of this.
Pleasing Expression of til Body
is similar 10 harmony on a carefully
tuned piano. When one portion OF the
body is keyed too high and another too
low the result must be dlScOrd to the
observer. This discord is awkward
ness. Proportional tension or laXity OF
the body produces its music, which Is
grace!
Among women there is the comfort
able clumSineSS of Ignorance. the liSSOm
indoIent grace of the skilled muscle and
the great crowded middle land of effort
without training, showing stiff, aWk-
ward anguIarity, self consciousness and
nervousness. as diSpleaSlng TO the eye
MS uncomfortable TO the owner.
Were thought upon the subject all
that were necessary, one lecture, with
Illustrations from everyday life, would
be sufficient to produce an audience of
absolutely graceful woman, but I'M
fortunately muscle must be made ODE
dent to brain before it can fifty repre-
sent it.
BY nature large-minded, independent.
enthusiastic honest, sensible and digni-
fed American women as class utterly
misrepresent themselves to foreigners
by unframed gaucherieS OF personal eX-
preston.
Observe in the next company of which
you are a member the launching Of
shoulders to ears, chests followed into
fuIroWS, contracted broWS, turned III
toes, spasmodic cOntortionS of the face,
supposed to be expressive; inceSSant
Jerking of hands, arms ard head; stitfen-
Ing of limb joints into supposed graceful
poSitiOnS-a outward incOngruitieS due
to neglect OF the laws of grace; bad
habits of sitting, riding, walking, which
dlStoft or leave unaccented the Shapely
line of corSage, sleeve or limb, and
which are chiefly the result of a nerv-
BUSINESS born of the desire to please.
Skilled Grace
is always easy and comfortable. 1t
makes Bernhardt, Salvini, a Lolita.
Looking upon it each one imagineS it
easily attainable-till one tries! I'm
skilled motion is painful awkWardnesS.
Half-trained skill is conscious affecta-
tion-the most displeasing of all.
The stumbling block in the way of
improvement to many Americans is
found IN their impetuous haste to show
off. to rush into observation with half
baked skill, as far from naturalness as
FROM grace. Observers, disgusted, have
been led to eXclaim: All this Delsar-
team work is atfectation. L will have
none of it.''
In her ideas of grace the English wo-
mems manner is marked by an eX-
aggerated repose; the FrenchWomans
by disqualification Of surprises; that of
the Italian and Spanish by an INDECENT
luxury of line and mOtlon-the music Of
feeling.
1t is not the simplicity of it, but the
trained completely of motion that makes
grace. In the bow OF Salvini there are
a score OF motions, yet TO look upon it
is the most simple and natural thing in
the world.
Few pretty women get half the value
of their figures on account of the stiff
ungracetulness of the muscles. I'm
trained muscles do not grow beautifully
wild, like children and flowers, but stiff
and ungainly, without adaptability or
expression.
The hand of a professional pianist,
trained to habits of obedience to the
brain. even in repose is speaking-full
of expression. Compare it with that of
the day laborer. Most of our bodies
compare with the latter.
The first thing to do with the body is
to climber up" to make the muscles
absolutely pIiable, but firm and strong,
to make the different portions Of the
body individual or distinct from each
other, to make all Subservient to the
dictates Of the brain, and to make this
obedience spontaneous and conscious
through habit.
Even busy woman" should devote
at least fifteen or twenty minutes twice
Il day to the training OF her form to
make it straight, round and flexible.