The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-05
FENCING MAKES you
STRONG AND GRACEFUL

I'VE and strength, especially outdoor
ones. Not all foster graceful
ness, however. For the culture of grace
of body fencing is par excellence the
art to learn. If it can be practiced
outdoors so much the better 1t then
achieves nearly all the ends sought to
be gained by the various methods Of
physical culture.
Wake up, girls, and learn fencing.
Know that the most graceful women
living got their suppleness and har-
mony OF muscular motion from per-
sistent practice with the foils. Does a
social leader impress with her 1.-the.
beautiful movements? You may stake
almost anything that she got them by
practicing strenuously under a skilled
fencing master. Undoubtedly the most
graceful women are found among lead
ing actresses. Their profession de-
mands physical perfection. Sarah
Bernhard may perhaps be called the
most graceful woman in the public eye
today. She is one of the most accom-
plished of women fencers. 1t is like
watching a succession of classic Greek
poses to see the motions of her arms
and particularly the turn of her wrists
as she gesticulates in the passionate
episodes of her stage performance. If
Sarah had slumped down and given UP
her physical exercises when she reach
ed the age of fifty she would not now
be able to play to perfection the part Of
a SIXTEEN ear-old boy.
Undoubtedly steady practice with the
foils has kept her figure young, 1.-the
and graceful. and the same is true of
Mrs. Langtry. probably the most ex-
pert fencer known to British society
foz' Langtry is society woman as well
as an actress. Marie Tempest is an
other noted fencer among English ac-
tresses.
In American society we have no dis
tinguished women fencers at ALL
American women generally are not
graceful walkers. If they understood
and practiced the art of fencing the
defect in their gait and carriage would
be remedied. Women walk badly be-
cause the muscles of their lower limbs
are undeveloped- This is owing to long
heavy skirts, which prevent free mo-
ton. Besides this, the feminine body
between the waist and hips is too often
smothered in fat. This is a gross de-
formity. Active practice with the foils
in the woman's gymnasium costume
will remedy both defects-the lack of
leg development and the smothering
fat.
1t is unfortunate that so little atten-
ton is paid by our women to this art,
which has been called 1.-The sport of
kings" Such it was almost literally
two centuries ago. when none below the
rank of gentlemen of high degree ac-
quired it and when it was EMPLOYED
for purposes far more deadly than the
mere acquiring of physical strength
and grace. Gentlemen in those days
expected to practice not always with
buttons upon the points of their foils.
n e..
even more beneficial to the stout mid
die aged woman than to the slip of
girl, for it counteracts the tendency to
grow stiff and heavy with advancing
years.
New York is the headquarters for
women fencers in America, while Chi
cago, st. Louis and San Francisco la
dies to some extent appreciate its pow
er as an aid to beauty culture. In ev-
| cry town where there is a women's
! gymnasium there might and ought to
| be fencing class in connection with
| it. The most skilled teachers are usu-
ally Frenchmen. Many French women
| and some English ones are experts with
| the foils. French women wear in prac-
| tice loose, though not at all baggy,
lznickerbockers. The champion woman
fencer of the world is at present an
English girl, Miss Lowther. When
| shall we have an American woman
| champion?
The costume for fencing is not e1ab-
crate. A loose jersey extending down
over the hips is frequently worn over
the upper part of the body, while the
| gymnasium "knickers" clothe the lower
part A wire mask protects the face
and leather breastplate and collar
| the chest and neck. Soft, low shoes,
| rubber soled to prevent slipping, COM
| plete the costume. Clad thus, her sup
| pie lower limbs swaying backward, for
ward and sidewise in perfect grace OF
movement, her eye and mind alert to
follow every act of her antagonist her
| 1.-the. swiftly turning wrists and fingers
! flashing the elastic foil in the light,
the woman fencer is a fine sight and
one not to be forgotten.
MARY GOULD LYLE.