The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-06-22
EXERCISES FOR WOMEN.
HOW TO BE HEALTHFUL THOUGH
DELICATE.

DELICATE.
The Most HurtfuI Element in House.
hold Work-How Weakly Women
Can be Made Strong-Ideas and
Dyspepsia Minus Energy.
Housekeepers are wont to listen
with ironically elevated eyebrow to
the arguments of those who urge
them to take regular exercise, says
Eithelwood Weitherell in an exchange
what class of people takes more ex
ercise or takes it with more cease
less regularity? Where hides the
muscles that escapes exercise in a
house where cobwebs are swept down
and crumbs swept up, where bread is
kneaded, butter worked, stoves pol.
ished, windows cleaned, floors scrub.
bed, clothes washed and ironed. stairs
traversed a dozen times a day and
very often all by a single willing
worker? Admitting that exercise is
a good thing and that regularity is
an essential feature of it, why is it
that our active women are feminine
Shadows?
There are several reasons. Exer-
else taken with dumbbells or Indian
clubs, under the supervision of a
skilled teacher, would be detrimental
and not beneficial if it involved the
breathing of dust-laden air or the
odors of boiling vegetables, or the
soapy steam from a wash tub 1t
would be hurtful and not helpful if it
were performed in listless, apathetic
manner, or with feverish haste or ner-
vous Impotence. Even a walk in the
fresh air, which is the oldest and most
delightful form Of exercise, will be
of no more benefit than an equal
amount of sleep walking, unless the
mind is Interested, alert and free
from irritation. Even a cycle ride or
row on the river, if you force your
self to it, if you take it from sense
of duty and not because you are pin
Ing for it, will leave you weaker.
Your muscles will get no benefit from
exercise until your mind gets pleasure
from it.
This is why in estimating the value
of any given exercise, one must per-
petually refer to the state of mind of
the person who performs it. To weed
the flowers in state of suppressed
annoyance will turn a healthy exer-
else in to an unhealthy one. To eat
dinner with clouded brow is to make
one of the most important exercises
of the day minister to disease.
The most hurtful element in house
hold work is monotony. Nature shows
her adherence Of sameness by Civ
ing individuality to every leaf and
blade of grass. The law of life is
change, and the irksomeness of many
household tasks is due to their ma
chine-like habit of requiring to be
done at the same hour and in the
same place every day in the year.
DISTINGUISHING is not an exhilarating
process, and yet in what light spirits
a party of women will wash and wipe
great stacks of dishes at a picnic
party or church social, their gayety
arising from working in a social at
mosphere and in unaccustomed sur.
roundings. What a pleasure there is
in moving the sideboard over to where
the lounge used to be and making the
bed and bureau change places.
The weakly women who would OBJ.
tain strength from the performance
of necessary household tasks should
make them as attractive as possible.
If she is obliged to wash her own
dishes she can afford to have them
pretty enough to make them a pleas
ure to handle. If she is irritated by
having to dust SO many ornaments
every morning, let her give half of
them away to people who enjoy dust
ing things If it takes all her strength
to sweep the best carpet, let her ex.
change it for a few easily shaken
mats on painted floor. If she dis
likes to peel potatoes, why not bake
them? If canning fruit uses up her
nerves and her temper, why not dry
1t instead? There are delicate stom.
achs that prefer dried cherries and
berries, peaches and pears to the can
ned article. If her family prefer pie
crust rolled out with the assistance
of backache to no pie crust at all,
is it not time that she educated them
up to clearer perception of moral
values? If visitors come to her ex-
pecting waffles and croquettes, plum
jam and platitudes, and receive in
stead liberal allowance of plain liv-
ing and high thinking, do they not
go away minus dyspepsia and plus
some sensible ideas?
That exercise is best for a woman
which gives most strength and free
dom to her body, most ease and cheer
fulness to her mind. The sooner the
other sorts are abolished the better
for US all.