Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-30

monopoly on all the corsets in the world
would never let a woman have one until
she ceased to want it. I would hold Ii
dangling above her as a reward and say,
when your spine holds itself I'D inde-
pendently, when you learn to be strong
and erect and elastic without its aid
when you are no more dropping and weary
without it than with it-then you may have
the daintiest little affair, all adorned with
ribbons and lace and roSebuds. from my
Santa Claus pack
She Felt Prisoner.
The japanese girl educates her spine with
never a reward except virtues own. Prob
ably she would see no charm in even the
prettiest of French corsets. L knew a lit
tie japanese woman who came to this coun-
try and adopted our style of dress She
owned that for weeks she shed tears into
one OF our strange cloth handkerchiefs
every morning when the problem of dress
ing confronted her. The red tape of it all
was maddening and the corset made her
feel like prisoner.
For the woman who finds herself depend
ent upon the support of stays there is no
better training than fifteen minutes of Jap
anese sitting every day. Divide the fifteen
minutes into many parts as necessary If
the whole dose proves too hard a one.
Later on you may try it for ten minutes
three times day.
Lay a cushion on the floor. There is no
need of callousing the knees. Now stand
erect, facing the cushion. Raise the skirt
slightly in front, to avoid straining it. Next
kneel. bringing the knees well forward on
the cushion and keeping the body perfectly
erect from the knees up. Next, lower the
body to a sitting posture, still keeping the
body erect from the hips up. You will find
that you are sitting upon your heels. so to
speak. Not only does the spine learn erect
ness from this position, but there is a
splendid Juggling upon the leg muscles
Bows to the Ground.
While very young the little girl is taught
to bow. The bow IN Japan means no slight
fitting of the head such as we meet nova
days, nor even demure courtesy such as
our Observation-Disclosures dropped: 1t is
bow so deep that it brings the little lady's
very forehead to the floor. She practices 1t
daily, before the shrine where she wor-
ships, before guests and elders and in her
pretty dance. The grace of 1t bears wit
ness to the suppleness OF all her muscles
To perform the bow, bring yourself to the
sitting posture described above Now ex-
tend the arms and hands in front, palms
down. Bend forward until the palms lie
fiat upon the floor, arms still extended
straight. Bring the forehead to the floor.
Hold this position for several seconds, but
not long enough to feel any discomfort in
the head. Rise to the erect standing posi-
ton, and repeat the movement You may
give yourself the commands in this wise:
Stand, knees, hips palms, forehead" Prac-
bringing yourself to the point of doing
without it. Repeat until every joint in the
body feels "oiled." 1t is an excellent exer-
else to timber the body when stiffness is
setting in from a cold, a cramped position,
or slight attack of rheumatism.
Calls It '.Flying"
With arms outspread to represent wings,
the little japanese girl plays game which
she calls flying" Extending the arms at
the side as far as they will reach, she
brings her body to squatttng position,
then hobs vigorously up and down with
Tapping motion of the arms. The object of
the game is to find who can bob the great
est number of times. before the umpire
cries ''The nest is reached"
This means that the leg muscles must
work fast and hard The little players are
tiHgIing from head to foot with the exer-
else when the game is over.
The girls, while frolicking by themselves,
often indulge In the boys sports. favor
lite form of racing among the Japanese Zone
that is always in evidence at such contests
as constitute a field day with US, is run
mig while holding egg balanced upon
Spoon 1t Is great fun to watch a crowd of
tho little girls out in some secluded field.