San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-10-25
WOMEN AS TURNER'S.
MOTION is STRENGTH AND
STRENGTH Is LIFE.
Comparisons of City and Country Women
Show Most Favorably for the Latter
Who Get Plenty of Fresh Air,

NCdIS IudI the great Heeu OF Dnyi
: zeal exercise for women has bee
: gradually forcing its way int
= public thought.
Before that, women who il
dulged in gymnastics, were look
ed at askance, as violating tn
laws of prOpriety and woman
hood.
Now gymnastics for wOmel
has become, as so many Othe
things do, a craze" but one tina
we hope will last as long as wO
man herself.
1t is only too plain how grear
Il benefit systematic exercise is t.
women of all classes and Occupa
tiOnS.
Think of the shop girls, some
bending all day over their ma
chimes. the chest cramped. head
lowered; others only exercising
one single set of muscles the
rest. dormant.
Then there are the SaEes- ladies
how mOnOtonOuS "a task theirs is,
The great fatigue that has hold
of them at the close of dav is due
mostly to muscular inactiveness.
They surely need brisk exercise
to tone up their system and
spirits.
Then the thousands of teachers
must be considered whether they
make it their habit TO sit or to
stand during their class hours, or
whether they keep moving a.
round; the mind work is so vast
ly in excess of that of the body
that reaction will certainly set in,
unless the forces are evened out
in some other way. The saying,
"A sound mind ia Il sound BODY"
is especially applicable to such
cases. For if all women, teach
ers are the most liable to- break
down, either mentally Of phys
ically Tor both, if the activity of
the body is not made to counter
act the evils of OverwOrk on the
mind. Here physical exercises
that will set all Iauscles of the
body in motion are Il wise, neces-
Sity.
The class of women that are
the first ones to say, eve do not
need gymnastics, we get enough
are the hOusekeepers.
Yet they need it as much as all
others.
The greatest part of their
work is or includes, such Is sew
ing, scrubbing, washing, ironing,
1t is clear that the
back and spine must suffer from
the continual strain imposed on
them, while the organs and parts
in the upper trunk are deprived
of the space that rs by right
theirs, and so are impaired in
their proper action
This is exercise, but there must
be something that will co0nteract
these evils-a Strengthening of
the body, expanding of the chest,
etc.
But this afOre mentioned Occu.
patiOns of women are not the on
ly factors that make physical eX-
ercise for women a necessity.
Her clothing, too, is bound to
impede the free and regular mo-
ton of the body and its organs.
When but a child, the action Of
the heart, lungs, liver and stOm-
ach is impaired by the wearing
of too tight bOdices, for the
"fOnd and foolish" mother is anx-
iOus for her daughter to have a
fine form or what she considers
as such.
And most of all for those wO-
men who become the mothers of
the future is physical exercise
indispensable. For in their case
the evil effects of neglect not on
ly fall on themselves, but react
with increased force on the limo
cent children to whom they give
life.
The effects of exercise are
plainly shown by the difference
in vitality between the city
child, the offspring of the woman
that shuns all activity not abso-
lutely unavoidable, and the coun-
try child, whose mother has at
least enough outdoor work to
give her blood a strong circula-
ton, and so to keep her body well
nourished and healthy.
In this "craze" to indulge in
all sorts of physical exercise, if
not carried to an extreme, is in
valuable to the women of the