The morning call., 1894-03-12
FEMALE ATHLETICS.

The latest development OF the athletic
mania is the opening of a skating rink for
skating on real ice. A skating rink in a
city where the temperature rarely falls to
the freezing point is a novelty, but there
is no limit in these days TO the march of
science. The ice on the rink is not as
hard as the natural ice of the north, but
1T answers. Skating is healthy and a
delightful sport. How much the exercise
will do for the figure may be inferred from
the remark of the Suns correspondent at
the Quebec carnival that the girls of Can
ada were all muscle from the waist down,
and all grace from the waist up.
San Francisco girls have always been
riders. They generally ride well, sit their
horses squarely, and are not afraid of a
sharp gallop on the hard beach. But rid
ing-horses are expensive, male escorts are
scarce, and thus the pastime is confined to
a few. In the old Spanish days all girls
rode; some of them, like their fathers,
mounted their horses to ride quarter of a
mile. Walking was as unpopular with
them as it is now with their successors.
The California girl has never acquired a
love for the exercise TO which the English
girls owe their robust health and muscular
development. 1t is, perhaps. pity. Walk
ing is an exercise which requires n outfit,
and as two girls can walk anywhere with
out protection. ii involves no male escort.
1t does not employ all the muscles, but il
uses great many of them. and il gives
the lungs chance 10 utilize bracing air.
A girl who walks an hour and half day
will enjoy her dinner and will rarely be
troubled with indigestion or throat weak
ness. But the exercise should be taken
seriously and with purpose. Ladies who
walk downtown TO do shopping rarely
adopt pace faster than two miles an
hour. Walking for exercise should not be
slower than three miles an hour, and
strong young women should train them
selves to cover a mile in fifteen minutes.
With the help OF the city maps. which can
be seen any where. pedestrian can meas
ure her pace exactly.
1t is a mile from Van Ness avenue to
Devisadero street, and another mile to the
entrance Of the park. From the entrance
of the park to the ocean it is three and a
half miles as the crow flies. and something
more by the road. A good walk for a
couple of girls would be from Van Ness
avenue to the ocean, five aud half or per-
haps nearer six miles; this distance they
should cover in two hours, and after a few
weeks training in an hour and a half
They could return by the cars.
Our girls never took fancy to fencing,
which is quite a fad in Eastern society.
but since the Olympic baths have been
established swimming has become quite
popular among them. There is no better
exercise. 1t brings every muscle into play.
hardens the flesh and sets the blood
tingling. At Santa Cruz and other bath
ing places along the coast all the girls
swim, and some of them have become pro-
ficient. Ii has always been a wonder that
no one has had enterprise enough to estab-
fish swimming baths on the beach near
the end of the park. Much nonsense has
been talked about the undertow, as though
there was not an undertow on every beach,
and OF the GOODNESS of the water, as though
the water was warmer at the New England
bathing resorts. The truth is that first
class bathing resort might be established
within twenty minutes of the east end of
the park, and the chances are that it would
become popular and useful In case of
accident there is a life-saving station on
the spot.