Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-10-13

been called upon to do, and naturally she
was unequal to it.
proper athletic training improves a
girls general health and physical condi-
ton. Far from injuring the next genera
ton, I believe that it gives her children
superior inheritance of health and strength
III anything our women have been cod
died too much. Athletics are nothing but
strong muscular exercise. Hockey is not
as hard physical work as doing a family
wash" y
College Girls Good Mothers
DR.. MacCracken is supported in his opin-
ions by DR.. Elizabeth B. Thelberg, resident
physician at Vassar for thirty-four years,
and Miss Frances Ballentine head of the
department of physical education, who has
directed the athletics of the college for
twenty-seven years. Nothing in their ex-
perience has ever led them to believe that
athletics are injurious to women, but then
the system at Vassar takes into account the
fact that some girls are weaker and should
therefore be less strenuous than others
This fact, however, is borne in mind in
most institutions providing physical train
ing.
"Vassar presents living proof of our sys-
tenn, in the daughters and granddaughters
Of physically-trained women continues DR..
MacCracken. eff acquired traits were
hereditary, we might suppose that some of
the girls playing on our present teams in
",
along with their splendid physique, from
their athletic mothers, while the sturdy ba-
bies Of recent graduates argue irrefutably
that the increased range Of athletics in the
last twenty years or so continues beneficial.
"It has been stated that many Of the
young women who are trained to become
instructors in physical education suffer at
childbirth. The type attracted to this work,
because they excel in it, have the narrow
hips anG pelvls that naturally make moth
erhood difficult. This build is not the re-
suit Of athletics, but the girls who have this
inherent characteristic can jump and run
better than girls with wider hips
'The objections of the English school
people may be based on the mistakes of
their own system. In England rough games
and roughness in games have been carried
further than in America. Hockey, associa9
ton football and cricket, as played by Eng
lish girls, are much more strenuous than
our versions Of hockey and basketball.
"It Is true, too, that the English system
Is more apt to put each girl through the
same training, regardless of individual diff
serences Here at Vassar every girl is ex-
Amined by the doctor and the physical di-
I rector when she enters college, and her
physical work Is prescribed according to her
individual needs. A normal girl, physically
sound, can take part with profit in all the
sports and gymnasium work, but the girl
who Is abnormal or weak is given special
exercises and corrective work Sometimes
a girl will be required 70 come into the
gym every day for an hour to lie on mat
tress and take deep breathing exercises.
This Is physical training in her particular
case.
1.-THE English girl is physically harder
type to deal with than the American. The
popular idea of the English feminine type
is based on the drawings Of Du Maurier;
tall, slight and fair In fact, the willowy
Maudes of England are far outnumbered
by short, heavy girls, who look almost
squat to American eyes. They are especial
ly numerous in the manufacturing towns.
This type Is apt to develop large, bunchy
muscles, which become flabby and degen-
crate unless they are constantly exer-
cised. This is bad thing, just as over
development Of any part of the body is
bad
In conclusion, DR.. MacCracken would
have us consider the heavy work performed
by the peasant women in European coun-
tries-work entailing much more strenuous
effort than feminine athetics-and yet
women Of this type seldom have any trou-
BILE in bearing children. In the face of such
evidence the argument of the Victorians
obviously fails; nevertheless. It should be
remembered that only a small percentage of
our young women today have the sturdy
build Of peasants and that athletics like
coiffures, should be arranged always to
swift the individual