Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-02
THE QUEST OF BEAUTY
There is e q Complete eymna-
SUM in Every House.
USE HoMELY ARTICLES
GRACE AND MUSCLE CAN BE Ac-
aUIRED WITH THEM.
Possibilities Of the Rolling Pin, Potato
Washers and Other Handy
Fxings.
USE HOMELY ARTICLES

|
Everybody who keeps house harbors
| well-equipped gymnasium There may be
| advantages in the fashionable ones where
| q single lesson costs dollars and dollars,
but 1t is reason for woman to give
up physical culture because she can't at
ford those dollars and dollars. When
rolling pin will give her grace. a step lad
der develop biceps, and a window shade
| causes her chest to expand, she can stay
| at home and pursue the beauty quest with
the rest of her sex.
Your kitchen alone will almost furnish
your little turn hall" You have already
heard of fiat irons used as dumbbells; that
was only the beginning of the system.
Take another look along your pantry
wall where the cooks weapons hang and
see what YOU can find. There Is the roll
ing pin to begin with.
No doubt you can derive large amount
| of benefit from welding it In the way Its
| inventor whoever he may have BEEN in
tended I have no idea that he thought
of rounding out forearms at the time. out
he threw roundness in their way. HOW
ever If you choose to hand over this OPP
portunitY for beauty to Bridget. you can
still get help from the homely old pin.
1t can be used in many Of the exercises
that are taught for the wand. A wand
used in a real gymnasium is much longer
than the pin. but it is frequently clasped
| well toward the middle, and in these cases
the pin will serve excellently. II Is hghe
and convenient to hold.
Clasp 1t easily and let the arms fal In
front. Perhaps we are going too raSt-
are you in correct standing position to be-
| gin with? Heels together, toes turned out
| ward, knees back, shoulder back. chest
forward. head up? You are never READY
for any standing exercise without looking
well to all these points
| Make Wide Curves.
Raise the pin in large curve to the chest
making the curve as extensive as your arms
will permit. Raise it for twenty or more
counts This exercise is varied by holding
the handles sometimes with the palms OF
your hands outward sometimes inward. If
you go through 1t vigorously, you should
feel your chest rising and expanding.
For the next exercise, begin with the same
position and do not stop at the chest. Raise
the pin high above the head. arms perpen-
dicular. The tendency VIII be for them 10
bend backward. Do not allow this. Stop
| them when they are exactly above the head
| 1t is a good plan to take all these exercises
before the biggest mirror you possess. SO
| that you can be your own critic You will
| find many an error that you had not detect
ed before7in the poise of the head, perhaps,
or the position of the chest.
Bring the pin over as far as the back of
the neck next time, and after this let it
reach as far down against the shoulders as
possible. e.
| Now take an erect position with the pin
| held against the back of the neck. You are
| to bring IT up over the head and down until
1t strikes your toes. Your knees must not
bend during this process. From the time
that you raise the arms from their first po-
sition. they must be kept extended.
If YOU are familiar with wand work you
will find much of it that can be adapted to
suit the rolling pin Hold 1t lightly In the
| hands palms up. Raise 1t high the
| chest Swing the arms with a rocking mo-
ton from side to side, as far as you can
reach For another exercise, hold the pin
with your palms in, bring 1t TO a level with
| the hips, swing the arms from side to side,
the pin always horizontal At the first count
the right hand is brought to rest on the left
hip at the second, the left hand is brought
to the right hip.
With a Potato Washer.
It would take several lessons to show the
Indian club exercises that two 9-cent po-
tato Washers can be put through; but If
you know anything about clubs you can
work these out for yourself. You will find.
when shopping at the bargain counter. that
there are Washers and Washers, and that
one with knob at the end of its handle
will do. This knob is what makes the
wrist twisting possible This twisting is
knack that is as hard to acquire as 1t Is to
forget. Hold the club upright. clasping 1t
lightly near the end; then make 1t describe
circles while the upper arm Is still. The
club must do the swinging. The arm does
not swing at the shoulder as 1t is tempted
to do.
After the twist has once been learned
there is an infinite number of variations in
the position and manner of crossing the
arms while the swinging is going on. The
clubs are swung down at the sides. high
above the head out at the sides. The arms
are crossed in front of the chest and the
clubs swung while held upright. People
who give exhibitions of Indian club work
| invent their own variations You might
practice and do the same-give a potato
masher exhibition, or In which the
kitchen implements take the place Of pro-
| way to entertain friends.
Other Cheap Apparatus.
Many articles besides fiatirons can be
used for dumb bells. Two rolling pins are
lighter than the fiatirons, and so better for
you who are not very strong. So wand
work may be done with the gas lighter, the
yard stick or a beheaded broomstick. If
you use the gas lighter be sure to change
ends occasionally, as 1t is not evenly
weighted.
Vaulting may be accomplished with all
kinds of familiar household friends instead
of the leather upholstered horses used in
gymnasiums. The nearest approach to
these is short wooden bench without a
back-the kind that has been popular since
the old oak in stern ancestral designs came
into favor But it takes good vaulter to
make the length of even the shortest of
these. Begin by using a low chair. even
a child's chair, or the piano stool screwed
to its lowest stop. Make run toward the
back of the chair, place the hands on it and
vault with all the elasticity you can muster.
pile of hassocks will answer the same
purpose. The greatest difficulty is lack of
room in many house But you will gain
enough from this vaulting to pay for the
trouble of pushing back the furniture.
Pulley weights are pulley weights and
there is nothing that replaces them. But
II you cannot afford to have them In your
house you may get some benefit from
window shade+whether the shade will feel
a similar benefit is an open question 1t
certainly must be lightly handled If it is to
survive. OF course 1t has no weight, SO
this Is to some extent case of Hamlet
with Hamlet left OUT but you can 20
through many of the same motions, and
the muscles win grow.
Another Easy Trick.
Roll the shade up to the top of the win
dow. then take position with your right
hand on the cord, left on the hip, thumb
back and stand with your right side toward
the window. Begin training by lowering
1 t-sx, tha ch,I1