The Topeka state journal., 1905-08-23
ROUND SHoULDERED.
Careless Office Habits to Blame, Doctor
Says.

Were it not for the vacation habit
| am inclined to think that the average
New York man would be even more
round shouldered than he is said a
New York physician. For that reason
am more careful to emphasize the
Importance of taking a vacation to the
young men than to the young women;
for after middle age round shoulders
are nearly always there to stay If a
man reaches the age of forty-five or
nifty without acquiring a stoop the
chances are, provided his health is
good, that he will be perfectly erect
at sixty or seventy.
when 1 was travelling in Europe
last summer an Englishman who
seemed to be more observing than
most of his countrymen whom have
met put this question to me: Why is
IL that American women put up SO
much better an appearance than the
men in figure and carriage?'
This Englishman, 1 found, had
never crossed the Atlantic and was
basing his conclusion on the appear
ance of the Americans he met in
Europe.
After that I kept my eyes open and
took few notes on my own behalf. I
had to admit that compared with the
man appeared hollow chested and
steop shouldered, whereas the Amer.
ican woman held her own every time
with the English woman.
What said to the Englishman was
this:
Perhaps American men work
harder than you do over here. With us
even the well-to-do, the almost rich
SIT long hours every day at a desk.
evidently caring less about the shape of
their shoulders than about the size of
their bank account
He got back at me with: But
don't many women work long hours,
too?'
sHrbiS oa1~~1~-,4oa-os xL...,-s---- -
the thousand of typewriters, stenog-
raphers, telegrapners and bookkeepers
in the huge New York office buildings,
and | hastened to change the subject.
when I got back to New York I
began to study the matter, and now
were to meet that observing English
man l might satisfy his curiosity. For
instance, 1 have discovered that men
OF all classes, the educated as well as
the flliterate, are mighty careless
about the figure they cut when at
work. whereas women wage earners
care just as much about the set of their
shirt waists when at the Office as when
at home-more. in fact.
Dropping into a typewriter place
one day in search of a stenographer,
noticed that nearly every young wo-
man In the room sat erect, shoulders
back, chest out. and I have observed
changes, in telegraph offices, and even
in restaurants where young women
eat at the lunch hour
Now. most men who sit at desk
are quite different. Ny Office backs
up against a building in which several
architects have quarters. One of these
men I have observed particularly of
late because of the long hours he
keeps. Evidently he is on a rush job.
At any rate, from early morning un-
til past midnight, with only the brief
est stops, I have seen him lowering
over his table, and all that time bent
nearly double. his nose almost touch
ing the paper. It is possible a woman
architect might take the same pose,
but don't believe it.
''I have come to the conclusion that
it is almost impossible to run across a
man who does not sprawl over his
desk when he writes. If any one
wants to prove this let him go some