The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-22
How TO Make
the Body 1.-the
and Graceful

a. infancy begins the training Of the

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IN infancy begins the training of the
Japanese acrobat or the oriental.
- dancing girl who comes among
western nations and astonishes them
with feats of physical agility and grace.
In early childhood should begin the
education of every little girls body It
is then that physical exercises Of all
kinds are a delight A girl from infen-
cy TO sixteen can perform with ease
gymnastics that viii be impossible
without some training even to a young
woman of twenty.
The really up to date mother dresses
her little daughters very simply and in
such a way as not to obstruct at all the
free motion of the frisky young mus
cleS- There are some plain and not
difficult exercises for securing a timber,
active body that suit equally any mem
Der of the feminine sex from ten to
eighty. If a certain former famous ex-
FOUNDER of SO called Delsartism had att
tended to these as persistently as she
sought to obtain pupils at high prices,
then at public entertainments she
would not have shown herself Off as an
awful example of all that a woman
should not be physically She had
classic poses enough in a way but she
showed to her audiences a keglilSe body.
draped in white. and it is doubtful il
she could have tied her own shoes or If
when in a standing posture she could
have seen her own toes.
Now. let us say a mother has a little
girl Of ten and that she wishes to keep
the daughters body 1.-THE and wilIowy
and to make her own SO. The two to-
gether can take the exercises here Civ
en- Let all obstructing clothing be re-
moved Then let the two lie fiat upon
their backs. full length. upon the floor.
arms crossed upon the breast. Next,
without moving the arms. let each try
to raise herself to a sitting posture.
The act must be accomplished with the
muscles of the back. body and lower
limbs without any assistance whatever
from the hands or arms. It is well for
/ this exercise, as in rising from or sit
ting down in a chair. to imagine for ths
time that one has no hands or arms.
Probably the little girl viii be abla
easily to rise from the fat of her back
to the sitting posture without releasing
her hands and arms from the crossed
position upon her breast. Probably her
mother will not be able to do it at all at
first. But let them keep it up. Let
mamma leave her daughters new frock
/ untucked and without catstitching-it
viii look quite as pretty and in fully as
good taste for a child's frock-and at
tend to this physical exercise at least
once day for say ten minutes It
will pay them both.
After the mother has made her body
and leg muscles timber enough to rise
from the fat of the back to a sitting
posture easily without the help of her
arms let the next step be taken. That
is to rise upon her feet, get straight up
/ from the floor and stand erect without
the help of hands or arms. Again the
mother will find difficulty: again the
daughter viii do it easily. It may be
mentioned that this rising from the fiat
of ones back straight up upon the feet
without using the arms is one of the
exercises policemen use in their gym
nastic training.
After this feat has been practiced till
it is easily accomplished take another.
That is to lie upon the back. as before.
and raise the legs and bend them over
forward till the toes touch the floor at
the top of the head as it lies upon the
floor Do this many times, the arms
folded across the breast, as before
The feat is really not so difficult as it
looks to be. Any woman can perform
it with practice and perseverance. Ly-
ing across chair, the head. if possible,
touching the floor on one side. the feet
on the other. and extending the arms
beyond the top of the head till the
hands touch the floor is strengthening
and Strengthening to the back. Glory
in a strong back
Let matron and maid remember this.
Fixing the mind calmly and firmly
upon the task during a gymnastic exer-
else, keeping always before you the per-
fected act as you wish to perform it,
goes far toward accomplishing athletic
culture as well as other things.
MARY GOULD LYLE.