Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-10-13
|, EW YORK CITY, Oct SEQ right
on being athletic, girls-it won't hurt

"A y EW YORK CITY, Oct. S-"Go right
N on being athletic, girls-it won't hurt
you'll" SO say American physical cul-
ture experts, who take issue with the recent
charges Of English educators that athletics
are uniting our modern women for moth
erhood. The Victorian girl, according to
these English authorities, was a much bet
ter mother than the modern feminine ath-
lete, because she wisely conserved her store
of vital and nervous energy for the crisis
of motherhood instead of wasting it daily
on the tennis court, golf course or hockey
field.
This surprising assertion seems to have
made serious impression upon England,
where there is now strong movement for
milder school athletics for girls, but so
far it has received little sympathy over
here. Absolute tommyrot!" is the way
most Of our directors of physical education
have dismissed the subject, while few Of
them have taken the trouble to explain
why.
"It is unfortunate" says DR.. Dudley Sar-
gent, Harvard physical director and head Of
the Sargent School of Gymnastics in Cam
bridge, "that such statements have just
enough truth in them SO that they cannot
be contradicted in their entirety. 1t Is
true, of course, that many women do have
trouble at childbirth, but it is unfair to
say that 1t is because of athletics. Athletic
training is ideal. for woman; it develops
just the muscles of the abdomen and the
lower part of the back that she is COM
PEELED to use in this crisis.
"Overindulgence, overtraining-that is
another thing altogether. do not believe
in that. have fought excesses> all my
life I do not believe in the entertaining,
for instance. that leaves a boat crew in
entire collapse once the race Is over.
81 believe that these girls who specialize
in tennis, who play all the time, all over
\the country. are the ones who would be
sure to have trouble in the crisis of mother
hood. Some women are tight, tense, keyed
up all the time, and muscle bound There
is vast difference, you know.
"Where is a girl going to get that vital
and nervous energy the Victorians claim to
have monopolized IL she does not develop
it? And if she develops it, she must keep
it up. man who is we'll developed and
then suddenly ceases physical exercise goes
stale and flabby. This is equally true Of
woman. Her muscles must be developed
and kept developed If she is to perform her
function of motherhood
Mothers Need Muscle
'You read more and more of the neces-
sity Of resorting to the Cassarian method.
It is because so many women have unde-
veloped muscles of the abdomen and lower
part Of the back. It is because these women
have never been called upon to do any hard
work. or make any effort Of their own"
DR.. N. H. MacCracken. president Of Vas
sar college. thinks that the objection Of the
English educators to athletics for girls Is
based upon an inferiority complex. In other
words. 1t Is merely one more attempt OF q
dying generation to assert Its superiority
over it's livelier successors. Victorian ladies
have lately had to endure much scornful
pity from their modern granddaughters.
Their waists were pinched, they have been
told their minds inactive. their clothes
were clumsy and they were physically weak
(witness the fainting habit) for lack of
fresh air and exercise. "Ah," they reply
at last "but we were better mothers" g.
THE argument advanced by the English
opponents of athletics for girls" says DR..
MacCracken. lis about as logical as urging
a young man not to deplete his mental
energies by studying during the year. but
to keep them intact for the great crisis Of
examinations.
There can be no doubt but that good
muscular development is an advantage in
child birth. A was recently brought to
my attention in which q woman was almost
unable to bear her child because her alb
dominal muscles were undeveloped Mother
hood was the first hard work she had ever