The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1902-01-09

THE LUNGE, THE MOST POWERFUL FENC-
ING THRUST.
fencer Grace, agility and skill come
together. There is nothing impromptu
or unstudied about the parties and
thrusts and multifarious maneuvers
that delight the eye of the Onlooker
when a maitre d'armes and one Of his
pretty pupils give an exhibition with
the foils. Every movement is necessa-
ry or important, and every seconds
work counts for or against the fencer.
The best fencers are Frenchmen, and
whatever faults, physical, mental or
moral, the French men and women
may have been accused of the world
has yet to call them awkward. Nerve,
agility, animation, all harmOnfzed and
controlled by the watchful eye and the
cool brain that takes in at a glance the
present and anticipates the future atti-
tude Of ones adversary-these are the
qualities of mind and body that make
fencing a tonic to the nerves Of the
participant as we'll as a picturesque
play to the Onlooker.
The American woman has many
qualities that go to make good swords
women. SO say the experts with the
foils that teach this graceful and an
cient sport. She is keenly alive; she is
sensitive, WideaWake, energetic and
fearless; she has a receptive mind, and
she hates fat This last qualification
for a good fencer may seem irrelevant,
but it isn't. To become skilled in any
art or sport an incentive is necessary.
No incentive is more inspiring to the
average woman than the desire to be
beautiful, and American notions of
beauty demand ''grace before meat"
as a brutal but witty man once put it.
1t is no longer the thing outside Of a
poster artists studio to be fragile and
delicate to look upon, but ones health
must show in glowing lips, in bright
eyes and in perfect proportions rather
than in dimples, curves and pillOwy
softness.
Fencing makes it's disciples beautiful
first by improving their circulation and
digestion, and there is probably no such
thing as an ugly woman with perfect
digestion and circulation. Then the fig
ure has it's innings. Superfiuous flesh
disappears. HolIows fill up. Muscles
become hard, not knotty and ugly as
they do in a man, and fill out the skin
where it ought to be filed out.
1t is a curious fact, and one that has
caused more gray hairs and sleepless
nights than most women would care
to own up to, that embOnpOint or ema-
citation always comes where it is not
wanted. The big woman abhOrs hips
and chins, but if she gains an extra
pound it invariably means an extra
chin or an increased skirt measure.
The thin woman hates lantern jaws"
and collar bones, but when she does,
by dint of much drinking of cream,
gain a pound or two it all goes to fill
out her arms or make her waist big,
as if she cared a jot about arms or
waists.
When the muscles are developed
symmetrically, all this impartial dis
tributiOn of fesh is corrected. Waists
become small compared to shoulders,
as they should, the Venus de Milo not
withstanding; the upper arm becomes
fuller than the lower arm, the throat
firm and round, but slender-a head set
upon a short, thick neck could never
be compared to "a flower poised upon
stem,' you know-tle shoulders
droop or square themselves according
tC the anatomy of their owner, but in
any case they are neither fat nor
scrawny. The bones do not show, but
there are no creases and ridges like
those in the neck of croupily plump
baby. The limbs show the same mod
GRAFTON in their proportions. The feet
and ankles should be slim, and the
quickness and suppleness necessary
for good fencing give the feet light,
sure poise which is at once suggestive
of strength and grace and is a very
striking feature of the skilled swords
woman's physical good points.