The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1894-07-18
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1894.
PHYSICAL CULTURE
A Talk on the Subject by Mrs. Allen
Watson.


recently had the opportunity, l will
not say pleasure, of visiting several fe-
male colleges or fashionable %seminaries,
and to note the appearance of the girls,
who are being educated at great expense
by fond and loving parents, as they filed
by me into those temples of learning.
l observed with sorrow the narrow
chests, dropping and huddled shoulders,
STOPPING forms, chins thrust forward;
nearly all having compilations showing
a lack OF proper physical vigor and
health. As I saw them in unvarying
procession, l thought, where are the
mothers of these girls and what will be
the effect upon q future generation when
these same girls are the mothers OF the
landf l thought that il some of their
girlhood days we're set apart for the de-
velopment and culture Of the physical,
it would bless more than a sex.
A harder race OF mothers would arise
to direct the education of succeeding
generations. Mothers who, having stu
died the physical, in its relation TO the
mental and moral conditions, as well as
to bodily health, would insist upon q
wider culture in the future educational
systems Of the home, the school and the
nation.
This advanced race of mothers, edu-
Gated physically as well as mentally,
would comprehend that it is ignorance
or Indifference regarding the laws OF
physical being which causes most of the
suffering experienced by humanity.
AS l looked upon these young ladies,
just budding into womanhood, handicap
ped in the start OF life by weak and sick
ly bodies, l thought the field | have
chosen in life, that of physical culture,
was one of the most important in our
generation, and In u civilization.
Teachers of physical culture were not,
perhaps, as necessary in the days of our
grandmothers, for then exercise was
compulsory. Easy fitting and comfort
able clothing was then the fashion more
than now.
Possibly, even in our day, the girl for
tunate enough to be born and reared in
the country, where she can romp
through the fields with her brothers,
needs not a teacher of physical culture
to tell her how to have rosy cheeks, a
1.-the form and a robust constitution.
But the city bred girl, the unfortunate
child who is forbidden to soil her clothes
to color her cheeks with the sun, to
wear garments to permit that ease Of
motion all children possess who are not
cramped in their growth by fashion or
prevailing custom, certainly does need
some one to intercede in her behalf.
No marked changes in the health of
our girls will be seen until a recognition
OF their physical needs is shown by their
parents and educators.
They should be taught that there
should be no useless expenditure of
nerve force.
Teach her to make the body the ex-
preston Of the soul. Let her study the
arts and sciences concerning which
young womanhood has been heretofore
ignorant, the art Of graceful motion, of
musical tones, OF conversational grace
and f1uency, the science of health, of
physical beauty, in short, the necessity
of possessing q sound body and a pure
soul in a sound and pure body.
1t is to aid in this noble work that l
am laboring. To combat some Of the
vicious customs practiced in the homes
and schools, to point to q better way,
and to encourage to the best OF my fee
BILE ability, mothers to take up the sub
ject of physical culture, and thus assist
in bringing about a reform, is my ambi-
ton in life.
| would like to see the old time rever-