River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-04-02

1t is during the age of adolescence
that girls are most responsive to phys
1cal exercise and when their physical
condition needs careful watching.
Generally speaking, the age from IA
| to Is is the corrective age. Faults
and defects which may develop into
unattractiveness and serious ailments
in Womanhood are comparatively easy
to overcome then by training. Beauty
or race girl may not possess, but If
she is eXquisitely nodded in form and
limb, is graceful in carriage and
walk and has the rich coloring, the
sparkling eyes and the cheerful,
wholesome air that bespeak good
health, her irregular features are for
gotten in the admiration of her other
attractive points.
There is a series of exercises recon-
mended by Mr. Cooper for girls They
are all simple to perform and are eff
fectiva He recommends taking them
in front Of an open window, standing
about fous feet away from it, facing
outward. No matter how cold the
weather may he the exerciser will not
catch cold, so he claims, if she wears
a light dressing gown over her night
gown and has her throat and chest
protected from the cold. In some of
the exercises a bell bar is used. This
is substantial wooden wand about
four feet long, tipped On the ends with
wooden balls. 1t is light and serves
only as an incidental feature of the
exercises. They can be performed
without any apparatus. The first ex-
ercise is one of the best for reducing
the waist line and aiding digestion.
Stand with the feet planted firmly on
the floor and a foot or more apart.
Grasp the wand or bell bar in the two
hands, fingers curved downward
over it, and the hands on a line with
the shoulders. Bend the body for
ward with the knees and arms
straight and the muscles of tho abdo-
men rigid. Inhale a long breath as
the head and trunk are raised and the
body swung around to the right eide,
with the arms, elbows still straight,
pointing backward. The head should
be erect, the feet in the original posi-
ton and the whole upper part of thu
body bent backward. This position
stretches the muscles of the sides
and abdomen From the backward
position the body should be turned
forward again and the head bent low,
as at first, and the breath eXhaled as
the return is made. Next the exercise
should be repeated, turning the body
to the left side and the motions con-
tinued, alternating right and left, for
II or Is times.
An exercise to strengthen the in
testinal organs, the liver and kidneys
is as follows: Stand with the bar
vertical in front of the body at arms
length, with one end touching the
floor and the other held in the right
hand. Without moving the bar bend
the head and shoulders forward and
raise the left knee up as high as pos
sible and inside the bar, keeping the
foot horizontal and the toes pointing
parallel with the right foot Straight
en- the body, drop the left foot to its
original position, then bend forward
again and this time raise the right
foot inside the bar in the same man.
ner. If this exercise is done regular
ly every morning the intestines will
be kept in perfect condition except in
some extraordinary cases, says Mr..
Cooper, who considers it one of the
most important for young girls to
take. The general state of health and
the clearness of the complexion de-
pend largely on the intestinal condi-
tor, and two or three minutes of this