The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-19
THROUGH THE COUNTRY.

It fills the woman who must stay al
 home with envy to read of the three
 and four day walking picnics, ladies young and old are having here and
 there. A party of women friends star,
 out early some fine morning in this
 most delightful time Of the year. They are lightly clad, they wear strong broad soled. comfortable shoes built for I pedestrian use. They take with them a small bag containing. things needed for an overnight stay; they also take | materials for a lunch. They walk through sweet country roads till noon; then they stop in some patch of woods and have their luncheon. They even build campnres and cook eggs and make tea or coffee. What is lacking in their menu can always be supplied 1 from friendly farmhouses or village groceries.
 After a rest, on the merry walkers go. perhaps to some historic spot or studying botany or natural history or even geologizing along the way. At night there is always some village inn or farmhouse where they may be shell tered till morning Now and then some strong, ambitious women pedestrians carry blankets and sleep outdoors in the sweet. dark silence. wagon with all the fixtures for camping may ac- company the party. Then they can sleep, outdoors every night.
 It is the custom at a well known girls school to have walking tour every year in the late spring or early summer A number of the pupils, ac- companied by some of the women teachers. make the trip. To both girls and teachers the occasion furnishes health. fun and instruction enough to afford happy recollections the rest of the year. The school has many friends among residents on the routes usually chosen. and these hospitably entertain the young ladies. This year the girls went thirty-six miles altogether, no great walk in itself. but still considera- ble of stretch for women in this day Of physical laxiness among the sex.
 The schoolgirls took the journey in easy stages, walking eight to ten miles a day. A good walker even among women could accomplish that much in half day with the greatest ease. The girls, however. enjoyed themselves as they went along and that is the main thing when one starts out to pedes- trianize for pleasure. x
 Very different is the walking of the women in the new mining camps of Alaska and the Canadian northwest. Frequently women accompany their men relatives to the gold regions Some of the new camps are fifty miles away from a base of supplies and many a time brave woman makes the journey alone along, "a narrow. dangerous trail, fording creeks and wading through marshes. The fine lady pedestrian who thinks she has achieved something worth talking of when she goes afoot five miles over a smooth, beautiful dry road would gasp at the prospect of such a walk as the pioneer women in mining camps must always take in order to get anywhere.
 Cycling Is the best all round out door exercise. It develops the lungs and lower limbs immensely; 1t strengthens the hearts action and starts fine perspiration through the clogged up pores of the human body. But next to cycling comes walking, especially walking for the walks sake. body beautifully erect, chest up, chin in, the lNnss imbibing all the pure air they will hold. The deep. slow breath. the breather taking the same length of time to exhale and to inhale. will heal and purify the body and make joyful the soul. The easiest. most graceful gait is the long, swinging step which starts from the hips, the knees not wab- bly, but held firmly, the foot striking out merrily forward. Even a one days walking picinc in the green, early sum- mer will bring health and joy.
 Mary Gould I,VIle