Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-24
THE QUEST OF BEAUTY
Bodily LONELINESS Cultivated
by Outdoor Sports.
STOUT WOMAN'S HOPE
rs TO FLING HOOPS AND TOSS THE
SHUTTLECoCK.
Certain Games Will Straighten Out
Round Shoulders and Crook
ed Backs.
STOUT WOMAN'S HOPE

"AittSh iot Inc DS
The lily maid and matron are out of fash
ion and beauty adorned with Drawn is the
thing.
To enter heart and soul into some active
game is one means-and most attractive
one--of developing muscle and acquiring
grace. The would-be ATLANTA of today must
ride Il horse or wheel. pull the oars, swim,
play tennis, golf, basket ball, archery and
II She also wishes to make a picture of
herself she must play graces, that charm
Ing game of our grandmothers, which So
ciety has revived. Grace hoops and sticks
and fetching gowns are the only requisites.
Indeed" one pretty maiden was over
heard to exclaim, II am playing graces not
to gain physical perfection and prowess,
| but for the sake of the picturesque cos
tune"
For riding, golf and tennis one must be
tailor made, draperies artistic dress be-
ing quite out of the question; this is where
sraces, as well ping-pong and archery
have the advantage; that these games may
be played without any mental effort, or
the thinking of great thoughts is another
point IN their favor. You just let your
self go; you are merry and happy and look
beautiful, and incidentally acquire that
grace and poise which characterized the
Grecfan maiden of classic times-a grace
and pose which were the results of daily
exercise in some form.
Graces is an outdoor game played in any
costume you choose; but it may be played
within doors in classic draperies, and is
often happy solution of how to spend a
rainy day. 1t is easy to learn, and makes
no great demands upon ones skill. An
other merit is that the outfit is most mex
penSlVe; two hoops and four sticks are the
only requirements.
The two players face each other, each
provided with a hoop and two sticks, which
are held crossed, with the hoop hung on the
points. and then tossed n
nent, who must try to catch the hoop on
the points of her sticks. having first tossed
her hoop over toward her adversary. The
hooks are thus alternately thrown back
and forth and received on the points of the
sticks. which are always held across each
other. Every time the hoop is caught with
out being allowed to fall to the ground
ADDS to ones Score two points; fall takes
on three points. The player who counts
the most when the game is over-so many
throws being decided upon before hand
or course, wins the game. To become so
dexterous as always to catch the hoop re-
quires much practice; the game is not al
together as simple as it first appears One
hcop IS all that novices at the game can
manage at first it is only after acquiring
some skill that players become alert enough
t.. Keep two hoops going at once To throw
the hoop over the head of ones opponent is
difficult feat which signals one the victor
or the game: no matter how many marks
one may nave Or fail to have.
Cures STOPPING Figure
1t is wonderful what q straightening-out
power this game has upon round shoulders
| and crooked backs. A stopping figure may
| be almost, If not entirely, Iured into SYM
netry by its means Another old-fashioned
game revived. is battledoor and shuttle
| cock; this too is a means to physical Gull
| ture Any exercise which helps to raise
| ttie shoulders and give erectness to the
! form is always worth considering.
| Muscles of arms throat, back and Shout
| ders become more pliable, firmer harder
| and stronger and better perform the ser
vice for which they intended, that is to
| say. they support the adipose tissue in
| stead OF letting 1t fall in soft and unattract-
i've folds or wrinkles. In place of the fabby
| throat and arm, one acquires solid firm
| looking flesh. properly upheld. 1t is the
throat and upper arm which are the first
parts of a woman's body to grow faccid. or
| as we brUtually put it, Ito show age ="
Games which exercise the upper part of the
body are therefore most important and
| women. women of any age
One famous doctor prescribes ball playing
Tor middle,aged women: No doubt many
| would be bewildered at having to begin
| Badminton might be substituted, as it is
rather easier to learn than ball games of
| any Observation-Disclosures catch ball or stool
| ball English women play soft ball Bad
minton. the use of a soft india rubber ball
rather larger than a lawn tennis ball, has
its advantages: with a room which can be
given UP to this purpose, net, a soft ball
and short wooden bats, any woman can
find all the exercise she needs to keep her
muscles in fine condition
| Moving the arms in circles from the
| shoulders and the circling of the entire arm
| from the shoulder inward and outward
| which ball tossing requires, develops many
unused muscles and is also good for the
| nerves
A Nerve Controller
One exercise for acquiring nerve con-
81,
ments which one makes in playing bali.
The arms are raised in front of the body,
directly in front of the chest, with elbows
slightly curved. Then the arms are moved
back until they are on a level with the
shoulders-ths is the prescription for gain
ing nerve control The head is moved
slightly forward as the hands come in front
E. Of the body and backward as the hand
reaches the side. This exercise if rightly
done will strengthen the nervous system
Take long breath before beginning and
loosen the joints of the arms and Shout
ders," is one point to heed.
A base ball enthusiast might laugh at the
notion of gaining nerve control by playing
balI-but it isn't anything rough and
rude as a base ball that We refer to, it is
a nice little refined soft ball.
| Embonpoint, too. yields to games. If the
! stout woman really wishes to lose flesh and
attain grace and symmetry in outlines, she
can accomplish this end, but not by proxy.
| She must work her own way TO slender pro-
portions.
Another point to consider-women more
than men, as they reach middle age, seem
to lose their height, not because of stoop-
ing shoulders, but just because of "dumpi-
ness" Here, again. exercise must be the
| medicine to prevent the weakening of the
MUSCLES. which is caused by neglect and i'll
treatment. There Is reason why, when
middle age is reached, one should not be as
graceful and willowy at eighteen or
twenty, and eighteen or twenty is not too
young to begin to1ithink of our figures
Don't wait until middle age has overtaken
you and it is too late to make up for neg
lect.
The woman who Is pretty IS Ear too liable
to think that IL enough and when the day
Of reckoning, tte'day the fading, comes, the
kingdom will pc already hers by right of
possession. Indeed she does not consider
the day of fading; It is far off, vague, all
but impossible. She is full of the present;
careless of the future, and makes no prep
aration for it. She thinks her fine form,
| Ter fair face, her bushes, her dimples her
radiance. her smiles, her glances, her
sweetness, will last indefinitely.