The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-06-08

sity; in fact feminine beauty weighs by pounds among the Arabs and the moment a girl is round and podgy she is con6id- cred of marriageable age and her father arranges for her barter accordingly. Her only outing Is on Friday, the Mohamme- dan Sunday when the women of Moroc- co don white haik and hiding their faces in its folds wend their way with silent tread to the cemetery to enjoy the weekly excitement of wailing over the graves of their ancestors.
 So necessary is 1t for the Mohammedan girl to be made heavy that as soon as she reaches the age of 12 she is fed on fattening pllules and 1t is quite ridiculous to see these girls belonging to rich fam lilies reclining on their divans munching sweets or eating their little pills Be- yond singing a sad little song to a musi- cal instrument, sleeping, eating and rest ing, they appear to have no occupation in life; therefore 1t Is no wonder that by the time they are IS or 14 they are fat enough for the marriage market. This sounds to us perfectly appalling. and yet the under-exercised Mohammedan girl Is really no more to be pitied than the over exercised Britisher, and the Arab, at all events, has the excuse of knowing no better.
 Over-exercise results invariably in tall, lamp post, angular girls, with stopping shoulders and ugly gait, Tor if a girl out grows her strength she seldom acquires fine carriage, and, after all fine car riage Is far more than pretty face. Look at a ball room; the beautiful girl with rounded shoulders and poking chin is never noticed when standing beside one who Is really plain, but carries herself we'll holds her head high. and has a good figure and presence; she is eclpsed
 Exercise Is an excellent thing; 1t brings that fresh color to the cheeks for which English women are famous; 1t gives that look of buoyant health Of which our country is proud.
 But then, there is difference in doing the thing and overstepping the bounds and causing infinite harm; at the moment there seems a likelihood of this happen ing. There Is no reason why a woman should lose her femininity because she takes part in games or sport. But there again the gIfl-and especially the young girl who has not yet learned proper bal ance in all things-is inclined to become mannish and ape her Brothers. A mascu- line woman is as bad as a feminine man both are anomalies, both are objection able.
 American women do not take anything like the amount of exercise that our women do. In the first place, very few of them--a mere handful in fact, ride because there Is no hunting to speak of Even golf Is a comparatively new intro duction and one in which none of the hard-working folk of America have time to take part to any extent, although peo- pie are beginning to play around New York where clubs are therefore spring ing up with mushroom-like. rapidity. There Is no doubt about 1t, however, that, on the whole, Americans take much less exercise than Britishers Now the over grown girl Is not so often met with in the States as she is in England. Indeed, the American woman, however young, is usually we'll developed with an excellent carriage and presence; she has a good figure and great repose of movement.
 Some of the games that our girls have taken up lately are surely too rough for them. There is no doubt about it that hockey Is an excellent game played in one's own home circle, but mixed hockey hockey matches. such as may be seen to- day, are terribly rough and often really dangerous. They are not any more suit