Evening star., 1899-07-15
VALUE OF ATHLETICS.
Girl Who Was a Physical Wreck Re.
stored to Health.
From fba Ksu~~s (yfy


As strong woman Miss Charlotte
Dunphy, the seventeen-year-old daughter
of West End avenue millionaire, is the
latest marvel. 1t was last June that Miss
Dunphy was graduated from the Institute
of Holy Angels, at Fort Lee, a physical
wreck. IT was thought that she was going
into decline. and many specialists were
consulted but there seemed no organic dis
ease, simply a strong tendency toward nerv-
Gus prostration. Drugs were ineffective,
walking was exhausting. Ordinary GYM
nastics, such as are usually practiced in
schools for girls, did not seem to do any
good.
More In joke than anything else Miss
Dunphy called at the studio of a profess
sional athlete just three months ago and
Informed him that she wanted to be a
strong woman" 1t did not look very prom
fsing. as she was slight, weighing less than
ninety pounds, and was weak and ILL., But
there is nothing this athlete will not try,
and so he put her through his twenty-five
different sets of dumb bell exercises with
the ightest bells, adding to- their weight as
her strength increased. until she could
swing five-pound bells with perfect ease
Taking a set of bells home, Miss Dunphy
began exercising before breakfast, and soon
found the work delightful and easy; her
appetite increased and she began to long to
do greater feats. For variety's sake her in
Structor allowed her to learn several weight
lifting exercises and found to his astonish-
ment that she could actually do them, and
do them gracefully and firmly. From one
feat to another she went, until now she has
mastered every sort of a strong woman
feat, and her teacher himself gaZes on her
with astonishment. Miss Dunphy has a
most wonderful back, and the muscular de-
veiopment of the entire body comes to its
support so that she does Max Unger's tricks.
One of these is the lifting of a big bar bell
from the floor with one hand, turning 1t and
holding it high above the head without a
tremor. This same bar bell she then places
upon the floor and lies down fiat on her
back, with the bell at her head, and raises
it with both hands until it is straight above
her head, then holding it with one hand
only, rises to a sitting and then a standing
still. This has always been one of Ungers
chief fancy tricks. This bar bell weighs 100
pounds.
Another feat Miss Dunphy does with the
same bell in connection with the Roman
chair" This chair has a strap across the
seat, into which she slips her feet. then she
leans over the back until her head rests on
the floor, reaches over her head for the bar,
and rises with it to a standing position on
the seat of the chair, with the bell high
over her head, then descends in the same
manner and lays it on the floor above her
head again. These feats require enormous
strength, as any one can easily ascertain
by trying them. Some of her friends be-
longing to yacht club have been inveigled
by her brother to come home with him and
visit the gymnasium on the top floor and
try some of these feats. But with all of
their boaSted athletic achievements Miss
Dunphy easily outdstances them all. In
fact, these college-bred young men are just
as jealous of this little slip of girl as they
can be- and the little private gymnasium
has become the center of attraction on the
upper West Side.