The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-29
FOR FEMININE RENDERS
WOMEN TELL EACH OTHER THEIR
FAV0RITE WAYS OF RESTING.
Place in Life where the style of
Dress Means Most to the Women
Expensive China--Odds and Ends.

The discussion started at the close of a
woman's club meeting. says writer in the
New York Sun. Why the woman who
stopped to talk with one another in the
anteroom should have plunged, unanimous
ly, into conversation about fatigue and
methods of resting only one who had heard
the papers of the afternoon would thorough
ly understand. The first proposition was
that the women of to-day get more tired
than their grandmothers did. One old lady
filed demurrer in favor Of the pioneer
women, but a young woman with a French
gown and a lorgnon smiled in a superior
way.
''Ah, they did manual labor, cooked and
scrubbed and served, and all that; but that
isn't what tires a woman most. 1t is the
nervous strain that is killing us There was
no such drain upon the domestic woman of
pioneer days"
well, midnight raids and scalping bees
run by the Indians, and wildcats in the
woodsheds, and rattlesnakes on the door
steps must have been a trifie trying to the
nerves." suggested the old lady satirlcally'
The owner of the lorgnon waved it airily.
'Oh, physical danger isn't hard to face"
she said with an air of being quite ready
to deal with savages and wildcats, "but the
unending demands upon our time and
strength, the ceaseless struggle to rise to
intellectual and spiritual heights, and, at
the same time, solve the problems of daily
life
They didn't have to stand club papers, #
that's what you mean," said the old lady
recklessly and every one looked cautiously
around the room in shocked silence. Then
they hastily dropped the pioneer mothers
who had called forth such heresy and COM
pared notes as to ways of resting. One
tranScendental soul declared that she had
mastered the problems of the philosophy of
rest. and that no matter how tired she
might be she could be completely refreshed
by half an hour of quiet solitude.
''You must relax Body, mind and soul
must be relieved of tension. Lie down, re-
lax every muscle, put every thought out Of
your mind. You can learn to do it by
practice, and five minutes of such rest is
worth two hours of the usual unscientific
thing"
The women had all heard the recipe be-
fore. Most had tried it with Indifferent
I've worked harder trying to relax than
ever did at anything else" said the aggres-
siIye old LADY MY mind wont be made
way or another is all matter of tempera-
ment. Philosophy and science are all very
well, but [ must say as I've always said,
that nothing rests me so much to put
my feet on The table or window sill. 1t isn't
elegant but it suits my case. believe
women is that they sit with their heels
higher than their heads so much
This open confession set the ball rolling,
and all the women talked at once, telling
what she liked to do when she was dead
tired. The woman who relaxed had awed
them, but they felt that they could live up
to the sturdy old lady who put her feet
on the table. One woman always lay, fiat
on her back on the floor, with her arms out
& fnhn vlaero CHI rln(3r oil
other lay on her back on the bed, with her
knees drawn up almost to her chin, and
pillows under them to hold them in that
position A third took this same position,
only reversed, with the face downward. One
always went to the bathroom and turned a
stream of cold water on the back of her
neck for five minutes, then swallowed
tablespoonful of brandy and lay down for
ten minutes. The woman with the lorgnon
commended that there was nothing so re-
freshing as q hot bath, with aromatic eX-
tract of pine needles 10 the water, and the
old lady who believed in the pioneer women,
and rested by putting her feet on the table,
shifted scornfully and audibly at this Sybar-
lite prescription.
A little woman who had spent six months
in Tyrolean sanatorium said that she
learned while there to rest by rubbing the
whole length of her spinal column with a
sponge dipped IN ice water, and then taking
a small dose of whisky or other stimulant
to avoid chill. She and the woman who put
ice water>Qn the back of her neck imTne-
diately held hands and compared results.
Several of the witnesses testified that moth
ing would rest them so thoroughly as to
have their wrists stroked down toward the
inside of the palm, and the number Of
women who confessed that having their hair
brushed was their idea of bliss was legion.
Then a glass of hot milk was said to have
wonderful restorative power, and a raw
egg beaten up with sherry was warranted to
brace any one.
Just as the nesting was about to adjourn
a practical and successful woman physician
Joined the group, and some one asked her
how she rested:
well, 1 don't usually rest, except on Sun
day. I'm like the man who said he could
rest best in church, because there all he had
to do was to cross his knees and put his
head back and think about nothing"
But, seriously, DOCTOR what do you do
when you are tired and can take the time
to rest?"
'"That depends" said the physician. eff
I'm tired because I've had a severe nervous
strain. watching a bad case, performing an
operation or something like that, / go out
and take a. brisk walk in the open air. If [
am physically 1ired, because I've been walk
ing or using my muscles in some way, I
take a cold bath. and then I sit down and
read a novel and eat apples If I'm tired
because I've lost sleep. l lock myself in my
room and sleep. I don't believe in bracers.
Fresh air and cold water and sleep are ma
lures prescription for that tired feeling:
and they're the only effectual cures 1
know"
"All the same" said the old lady, cts
very comforting to put ones feet on the
table"