Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-05-10
|0UTslDE POINT OF VIEW.


!OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW. 81
Written for tho Times Republican.
Mrs. Birdseye," said the writer to
his partner of fifty years, you are not
only a mother, but a grandmother.
Your daughter Angelina is the mother
of a youngster who will hand down to
posterity the traits, characteristics,
good and bad qualities Of the tribe and
generation Of the Birdseyes. So that
Won are. or should be. interested in
matters referring to physical culture.
The other day DIR. G. w. Winterburn,
in the course of a short talk on Fhysi-
cal Culture for Mothers contrived to
give the New York Mothers Club a
series Of shocks at the Berkeley Lyceum.
He denied the existence of any physi-
cal culture for mothers that is not
Usually suited to spinsters. brothers
and husbands. He pooh-pOohed Calls
thentics and gymnastics as work, not
culture. He insisted that this was
merely energy expended, not stored up.
and suggested sweeping, making q
bed and rowing a boat as equally bene-
fetal and infinitely more useful. Boiled
water he condemned and Landed the
lettuce leaf as food above beefsteak.
Breathe correctly, stand correctly,
make a natural use of your muscles in
daily life and eat uncooked animal
food is his recipe for longevity
sH5E
"If yoE can drop the Ladies' Home
Journal for moment continued the
speaker. and Angelina can quit for a
few moments the baby talk that is dis
few remarks. Here we have. madam,
a sensible doctor. He will agree With
me that a woman of your age works
when she rides a bicycle full as much
as when she runs a sewing machine.
Angelina and Seraphina can swing a
broom with much more practical re-
suits than wands. a the lakes last
year both of your girls were crazy to
learn to row boat. Next season. Mrs.
Birdseye. propose to have Fitz de
Noodles teach them the benefits OF ex-
ercise on a washboard. He was their
teacher on rowing-Ill make some use
of the young man this year can not
agree with the doctor on drinking Iowa
river water raw, but he is all right on
uncooked animal food If beef is re-
ferred to. I must draw the line on un-
cooked pork in all forms. But those cs
us who investigate such scientific mat
tiers necessarily must disagree on minor
details. To return to this question Of.
physical culture. TT
II am surprised" interrupted the
travelling mans wife, ito hear such an
argument from you. Mr.. Birdseye. IT
seems to me i have sat in this room
and heard you say our insane asylumss
We're filling upswith overWorked farm-
ers wives. These women certainly work
in the way you and the doctor SO much
favor. Iksupposs you would advocate
woman chopping and saving wood? In
your new philosophy Serapfina and
Angelina, instead OF gymnasium work
they will attend the furnace, carry and
shovel coal, develop their muscles do
ing the family washing ? Now you know
ialtho theoretically you agree with the
doctor, you never have practiced such
lisms and would not il you had another
family to raise
49, q 5 ! E + K
I'll tell you, Mary" said her hus-
band, .Birdseye is right theoretically.
There's no use talking, It's the Indian
squaw whose whole life from birth to
death Is one of physical culture that
produces and raises the bragg OF Fem
nimore Cooper. It's the physical cult
ured Boer woman who produced an
army of $4,000 to hold 100000 English
y rr.
Very farmers wives you have sent to
the insane asylum may have been used
up mentally, but their offspring in our
army at Manila show their breeding. a
breeding that did not come from the
gymnasium or The modern physical
culture. Birdseye has some outrageous
fads, but this is not one of them. The
future of this country all lies with the
mothers, and the present method of
raising young women, whose muscles
are developed in the gymnasium. on a
bicycle or in the dancing hall. makes
even your husband. who is no philo-
sopher or pesshnist, wonder what kind
of men will represent the United States
lin the big battles of the year 2000.''
Mrs. Birdseye claimed the floor. She
had to agree with these arguments.
And what filled her with forcbodings
/ was the lack also of work, hard, bodily
labor of so many thousands Of men.
For instance, she knew of q man who
\ for fifty years had not lifted to exceed
4 fifty pounds a month; a man who wrote
1 stuff for the papers. and therefore
needed physical culture Ito say nothing
sof mental; who had to hire man to
weed out the radish bed because it
save him a rush of blood to the head:
who would ride bicycle for physical
culture. and yet never in his life was
strong enough to rock a cradle or Sit up
nights to take care Of sick baby.
Why. she had heard of an able-bodied
old gentleman who could play billiards
six hours at a stretch, and yet IL he
fused the lawn mower sit played him
out for the whole day" 1t was true
the country's future looked dark.
When the male deteriorated physically
who would defend our fresides?
The silent partner suggested that
however much the nation needed phys
ical culture. it also needed needle work
and when an evening could be spent
with the noble game OF whist it GER
II Il