St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-20
OUR GIRLS.

| Lately it has become quite the fashion
! to be cultured physically as well as
mentally. So much training makes one
feel Ikea garden flower growing against
a trellis, or to be more poetical, bean
stalk tied to stick No more growing
up as we please now; we must be de-
veloped BEAUTIFULLY and gracefully.
This city has numerous physical calf
ure classes; some are for only one sex,
and others are mixed classes. There
must be much healthful enjoyment in
these exercises to entlce so many pretty
girls to spend two evenings a week
with what might be called IA hen party;
minus the caclling. of course. Where
is that cynical old bachelor who insn-
yates that women adorn themselves for
the eyes of men only? He had better
| scale q lamp post and gain Surrepti-
! tious glance at a ladies' class; after
| that perhaps he will not be so bold
| about expressing his opinion. Not a
man is admitted. yet every girl wears
her best necktie, and dresses her hair III
the most fascinating manner. very
much variety cannot be introduced into
their costumes, for blouse and pair
OF Turkish trousers do not lend them
selves kindly to decorations. l nave
yet to learn of the girl who is brave
enough to add an overskirt or drapery
to this already unique outfit. The de-
sire for small waists must have died a
natural death; one girl Informed me,
with sparkle of pride in one eye and
grain Of vanity shining in the other,
that she had been compelled to enlarge
her waist band three inches. Such an
expansion would have been a death
blow to our grandmothers. The fat
girls go through the drills to decrease
their weight, and the thin ones to in
crease theirs. and it seems to work
satisfactorily in both cases. l have
never been quite sure whether the ma
jority of the girls aspire to be graceful
or muscular. They all insist that muscle
Is what they want, but il, their hearts
l fear il is grace for which they long;
after a few weeks at it some develop
the grace of a lamp post. and go through
the exercises with the willowy move
VI q otCuul pllC ullVCl.
*w
Be careful how you speak slightingly
of those massive Indian clubs which they
swing. One unsuspecting. empty
headed youth drew everlasting wrath
down upon lis vacuum by insinuating
that the clubs were hollow: aud another
called them nine pins. Then those pom
derous dumb bells! Some of them
weigh at least pound. After proper
exercise with pound dumb bell our
girls will be able to bowl over a festive
burglar by mere touch of the finger
If any one thinks that is sarcasm, be-
ware how they come within reach of a
physical culture student.
-
| The feminine instinct seems bound to
crop out, for nearly every Indian club
can boast of a bow of ribbon tied CO.
quettishly around it. 1t comes hard to
some OF the girls 10 give up heels on
their shoes and show their feet as flat as
nature made them, but they can crnseie
themselves with the fact that they are
not alone, for the whole room has the
appearance of Swarming with ferry
boats. When these meetings break up
our streets assume very pugilistic APP
pearance; you meet couples and trios
loaded down with those nurderous-
looking clubs and bells, not to mention
broom stick wands. Some of their
drills and exercises are wonderful .to
behold, and would scare an uiltItored
Bostonan into such fit of absent
mindedness as would cause him ID Use
words as small as one syllable. An
tSuninitiated, bold, Dad man peeking
Through the window blind might
think it was band of quite dangerous
! lunaricS being exercised or grOWn-up
| Kindergarten. No one would ever sus.
| pect it was a row of sedate and harm
less typewritists going through these
contortions and actually enjoying them,
they look more like flock of frisky
sunbeains. Keep up the exercise, girls.
then. when your salary is raised and
you can afford to take unto yourself
nice little husband, you will be able to
keep him in his proper place with the
greatest ease.
We are long-sutfering race, aud as
long as we allow inventors to give full
swing to their imagination we will con-
tinue TO suffer- Where is the unfeeIinp