Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1914-08-27
Copyright. 1914. by A. S. Gray)
WALKING.

waking Is the least artificial and
therefore the most democratic and
heaithful of all sports. Nature has
provided each of US with all the tools
required, and all that we need do is to
make the personal effort necessary to
acquire sufficient skill to use them
wisely to secure the great and lasting
benefits to be derived therefrom.
Man has been walking after
fashion for about five hundred thou.
sand years, but strange to say few
ever acquire the art of walking intelli-
gently, therefore easily and with pleas
ure and benefit. To be advised to
walk is to the great majority of man
kind equivalent to being condemned
to an unpleasant and most disagree
able task We much prefer to roll
along on rubber tires and dream about
what we are going to do some day.
But walking takes front rank as an
exercise at all times available to the
tagged man of business who can easily
find in it the best possible corrective
to the drawbacks of a sedentary occu-
patton, and a sport from which he
may gain new and keener powers of
mind and body His lungs draw in an
abundance of fresh air and his mus
cles, stretching and expanding under
active and normal use, burn out and
eliminate the stale accumulation of
torpid period interspersed with too
many heavy dinners and things to
drink.
Walking is fatal to headaches and is
a sovereign cure for the nerves" of
faded womankind; no exercise SO i'm.
proves the appearance of woman as
normal walking, because it gives a
graceful carriage, teaches her to hold
herself in balance and helps build up
strong constitution which, after all
10 said and done, is the sole founda-
ton of all beauty and charm. All that
is necessary to become a fairly expert
walker is to have moderately sound
constitution and to know how.
Walking rests and stimulates the
mind and develops ones power of OBJ
servation. analysis and reflection
provided it is gone at in the right
spirit. The habit of walking cannot
be acquired by one impressed solely
with the idea that it is beneficial; to
such 1t will not be, for the reason that
perfunctory exercise of any descrip-
ton is certain to be disappointing as
soon as the novelty wears off, and
ultimately 1t is sure to become deadly
tiresome and a bore. In such a men
tai state the muscles lose their elias
ITCHY because the inhibitory centers
are at work, and under these condi-
tons the average individual shuffies
along raising each foot as II shod with
lead; there is lack Of proper poise
and balance, the center of gravity is
disturbed and the muscles become
sore and painful; each step jars both
spine and brain and headache is final
ly induced. Very naturally the con-
clusion is quickly reached that it is
not worth the bother and-it is easier
to ride, anyway. Such individuals
never get anywhere with anything;
they always have been more or less
i'll and they will remain so until they
wake up and will to be well.
Those who walk only from sense
of duty do not know how to walk be-
cause they do not catch the rhythm
faA hon
into a unit with swing that pushes
the body tirelessly and buoyantly over
the earth for long stretches of time at
from four to six or more miles per
hour.
Paradoxical as 1t may sound 1t Is
really necessary to walk with ones
mind as we'll as with ones legs In
order to catch the spirit and the
rhythm of the movements, and to do
this one must first of all be in fairly
good health, and then more than all
else one must be comfortably clothed;
for If one Is not comfortable 1t Is Inn
possible to be in harmony with ones
self, and if there is discord inside 1t is
impossible to extract either pleasure
or profit from the outside. In this re-
spect walking is like reading book:
you cannot get anything out of book
unless you put some of your own
thought into it; you have got to be
in accord to get results.
It is in overlooking these supposedly
insignificant points that some physi'
clans make grave mistakes. In the
most perfunctory manner they Will
unfortunately advise walking as a
means of developing strength in inva
lids without examination to determine
whether there is sufficient power be
ing developed to warrant the expendf
ture of the energy necessary to propel
the body, and without giving sufficient
thought to the subject or adequate ad
vice concerning the kind OF clothing
the patient shall wear In order to In
sure the greatest benefit with the
least effort and to make certain OF
net gain rather than loss OF energy
from the exertion. Walking is not tc
be engaged in as sport by invalidf
or nv semi-invalids; neither is it ad
visable for the well to enter into it toe
strenuously without proper thought
and preparation. There is a mechani
cal side to the subject we'll worth the