The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-12-27
Putting the Muscles. to Sleep.
(From Chicago Trdbune.)

fFrom Chicago Tribune.)
The girl v no understands repose is
the girl Aho wins out. 1t is called put
ting the muscles to sleep.
Lady Henry Somerset once said that
the most attractive thing about Miss
Frances Willard was her poise.
''Poise,' said Lacy Henry, lis quail
ity by which one preserves ones equi-
librium even under the most trying cir
cumstances.
She meant that poise is a quality
which keeps a woman from getting
upset or ratified" If you have per-
feet self-poise you can never get flus-
tered. You do not get out of breath or
nervous. nor do you lose that precious
possession known as your temper.
Repose is supposed to be a sign of
good breeding. The southern women
have a wonderful amount of it. They
are thoroughbreds. and they are taught
from the cradle a certain manner
which makes them always appear rest
ed. The southern woman can sit with
her hands in her lap, with her eyes
looking straight at you, and with her
body at ease. She does not pull her
handkerchief with her fingers, she does
not tap with her foot nor does she
make motions with her mouth. She
understands the art of bodily repose.
But repose embraces great deal
more than this. and in the case of the
southern woman it takes in a perfect
etiquette of manner. The southern Wo-
man never gets out of patience; or if
she does, she does not show it. She
never raises her voice above a CONVEX
Bational tone. She never pulls at arti-
rles in her impotence; she never laughs
above polite note.
If you know southern women you will
have observed that when out of temper
they merely give up the field. They do
not argue and get red in the face. If
standing, they walk away; and If seat
ed they lapse into difinified and lady
like silence.
1t is said that the southern woman
is taught this and that it comes to her
from her grandmother and her mother,
and perhaps from more generations
back than this
Repose of manner is something which
should be learned by a girl not from a
society standpoint alone but because of
its beneficial effects upon the health.
The girl who has learned repose of
countenance is one who does not twitch
her face; when she speaks she does not
scowl or make grimaces; her hands
have the art of lying in her lap idly;
and there is no nerve leakage, as the
physiculturists say.
which should not escape a woman's at
tention. If you viii try to keep your
hands still for a day you will under
stand what is meant by resting the
nerves. Your hands if you only knew
it. contain thousands of nerves, small
and delicate.
If you are in the habit of picking at
your gown or playing with your jew
elry. or toying with your handkerchief,
laa hn in
countless little ways. so that you play
with your clothing all of the time, you
are ali the while, unconsciously but
fearfully, using up your nerve power.
If you will keep your hands STILL ly-
ing III your lap without motions Of any
kind, you will escape this fearful raw
age upon the nerves and viii let your
nerves rest. 1t is hard thing to learn,
if YOU have the habit of twitching
your fingers, but begin now, this day,
and cultivate the art of doing nothing.
Let your hands lay idly in your lap,
and though you may be talking or
thinking, do not toy with articles.
in the art Of repose there lies a
knowledge of correct posture. Do you
know how to hold your head so that it
IS really resting upon your shoulders?
DO not let il hang forward, for this
gives you a headache. Do not toss it |
at either side, for this may contract
for you a stiff neck. Do not throw your
head back, for you viii get in the habit |
Of keeping your mouth open, which is
never pretty.
Instead of this you must learn |
how - poise your head, mold |
it upright. and study what is |
called opposition Of motion. Let /
your head be balanced. slightly turn
ing it this way or that, according as /
your shoulders are poised
If you will learn how to hold your
head you will find that you win be /
much less fatigued at night than if |
you held it incorrectly all day.
The nerve bath is something you
should also take every day; this is
called by various names, but it is aft
CT all only a nerve bath. 1t consists
in thoroughly resting every nerve in
the body In a sanitarium they often
characterize a nerve bath as a "sun
bath" and the patient is sent into
a sun paTlor while the rays of Old Sol
play upon her. She must. while in
this position, be perfectly motionless,
and she must sit so half an hour.
If the patient who desires to take
nerve bath will loosen her clothing and
viii seat herself in an easy chair, with
her head thrown back, she will find
that she can enjoy the utmost repose.
Let her extend one arm upon the arm
of the chair so that it is rested. and
let her lay the other arm across her
chest. If she is seated correctly there II
viii not be the slightest tension; she
Will be absolutely at ease in every way.
Let her sit this way for fifteen min
utes and at the end of that time she i