Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-26
THE QUEST OF BEAUTY
The American Woman's Bat
tie With Her Hips.
EXERCISES TO REDUCE
ALSO METHOD TO ENLARGE THE
SMALL ONES.
How to Achieve a Shapely Waist
Line and to Keep

Written for The Evening Star by Katherine Morton
| The battle with the hips has come to
be one of the American woman's trials. 1t
has been said that she is afflicted with
larger hips than any woman in the world
| Whoever il was made the statement has
| no statistics to prove his case. Figures on
| the subject have never been collated. My
| daily mail brings many letters Of this
kind Cant you tell me some way to
| reduce my hips?' Many others read:
| please, Miss Morton. teach me how to
build up my hips" 1 am driven to the
| conclusion that the American womans hips
would be quite perfect in size and form If
| an average of these afflicted ladies could
| be obtained
| In the first place let me impress 1t upon
| you all that exercise, yes, the same kind
of exercise. both builds up and reduces
flesh This may sound like nonsense. but
| it is so. Which it does depends upon how
rapidly and violently it is performed TAX
| en- slowly, it increases the building of It's
sues. Taken rapidly it burns up the car
| bonaceous food that is a part of your daily
| diet and so burns away excessive adipose.
| Ii you are thin and wish to increase your
| measures use the same motions given to
| the fleshy, but never tire yourself with
| them and never go through them quickly
| enough to produce a heavy perspiration.
If you are endeavoring to burn away
pounds. work until you are tired, otherwise
you will see no change in your weight.
| 1t is hard to separate exercises for hips,
| waist and abdomen. Their muscles lie
| close together and they must be treated
together.
wear loose clothing. There should never
| be the structure of corsets during any cal
| isthenics, and especially is this true when
1,a taa hNrf he
| lions.
| You understand then, don't you, that the
| exercises which follow are intended to per-
! feet the lines Of hips and waist whether
they incline to freshness or leanness? They
| tend to bring the lines to the beautiful
normal shown in the old statues. LOOK
at the familiar Venus of Milo If you want
| to see what those lines should be. The
| waist slopes in slightly, more than mans
| but far less than stays have made wo-
mans taper; the hips round beautifully:
| the abdomen does not protrude. The latter
defect is a common result of tight lacing
which forces the flesh to go somewhere,
pushing it away from the place where it
| should be-
| If you are too stout, work violently at
| these motions; If thin. take them lightly,
resting often. Otherwise, they are the
| same for all of you.
| Begin by bending. Stand in position,
|
| gether, the toes turned out at sixty de-
| gree angle, the hands resting easily in
| the hips, thumbs back. Stand erect.
Bend to the right four times as far as
you can possibly bend with the waist doing
| all the work Return to the perfect stand
| ing position after each bend.
| Bend to the left in the same way Then
alternate bending right and left, stopping
| at position each time.
| Now make the bend to right and left all
In one swing. without hating al the up
| right position
| Following the same method in bending
! to the front and back, always making the
| bend entirely at the waist line and keeping
| the knees stiff during the whole perform
| ance
Another Way.
Swinging the legs is an invaluable aid in
| the hip battle Stand in position, then be-
gin by swinging the right leg back and
forth, keeping the knee rigid all the time.
1t is by no means easy to preserve balance
at first, but that will come with practice.
| Change from right to left, giving each leg
an equal amount of work, except in cases
where one hip needs more development
than the other. In such a case, devote
your especial effort to that one.
Next. sit on the floor and rock. This is
done by clasping your hands around the
legs just below the knees thus drawing
the knees up toward you. Rock back and
forth. Done moderately, this will prove
enlarging to small hips, burt done violently
it Is one of the foremost exercises in re-
ducng large hips to the normal.
Position. Without separating the heels,
throw the right hip to the right, letting the
weight of the body come upon the right
foot. Then throw out the left hip in the
same way. This, to an onlooker, appears
very slight swaying of the body, but you
yourself will realize that it is very Wig
orous form of work.
Position. Throw the arms up over the
head vertical. palms full length and
against each other. Now. keeping the arms
in the same position, swing the body back
as far as it will go, at the same time ex-
tending the right leg straight out in front,
right knee unbent. Return to position and
repeat, swinging left leg. Continue to al
ternate. You will have to practice good
while before you can bend far back with
out tipping over. but persist, because until
you have full command of the exercise II
will not benefit you materially.
Arms Over Head.
Position. Throw the arms vertically over
the head, palms facing forward. Bend for
ward from the waist until the hands touch
the knees. Swing back. Bend again this
time making the hands reach as far down
as the angles. Swing back. Next time they
must touch the toes of your slippers. and
finally they must learn to reach the floor.
The knees must never bend during the
process
A Hard Floor.
If you have a floor that will not resent
it. nail two straps to ii, leather straps
through which you can slip your toes and
so hold them in position during the follow
ing movements:
Place stool, about as high as an ord-
nary chair, beside them. Seat yourself
and put your toes into the straps before
you. Now raise the arms vertically, palms
together. Bend backward until your body,
from tips of toes to tips of fingers. forms an
arch over the stool. 1t will not do this at
the first attempt, however.
Position. Inhale deeply, at the same time