Evening star., 1923-12-16

sixty girl members. They are of all
ages from six to thirty-six or more
| and they are divided into classes,
| those under fourteen working from 6
TO o'clock In the evening, those from
/ fourteen to eighteen from to 8, and
the older ones from s until ..
! u y II
THE building is large and is de-
voted entirely to gymnasiums Of
one kind or another. There is a Ice
ture hall where the seats can be re-
moved so that 1t can be used for ath-
| letic drills. and there is great room
after room fitted up with horizontal
and parallel bars. flying rings. leather
horses over which the girls jump
from a springing board, dumbbe1ls
and Indian clubs. and every gymnas-
tic apparatus for running. jumping,
hrrdling and playing games that will
develop the body.
The hour we choose is from until
= o'clock and we go to the hall with
out notice. Entering the lobby we are
introduced to Il leader Of one OF the
sections. girl of eighteen, who has
been a member of the Sokol since she
was six. She is beauty, trife
short, but as straight as one of the
poles used for vaulting the cross bar
in the gymnasium. She is as plump
as a partridge. and as graceful as
Atalanta in her race for the apple of
gold Her face Is fair, her hair
blond. and her eyes a.s blue as the
Bohemian sky Her bare arms and
- fu@ -
TO walk on her toes and to be made
OF steel springs from the head to the
heel. She wears black boomers and
stockings with a short sleeved waist
Of white embroidered in red at the
throat. the shoulders and down the
front. She once spent three months
in London and speaks English with
a lisp fairly we'll.
Our guide takes us through the
building. and we sit down with her
in the gallery. below which more
than one hundred young girls are go
ing through all sorts OF exercises. 1t
Is an interesting sight. Most OF the
girls are dressed as our guide whom
have described, but not a few are
without stockings. They are working
in classes or sections and the drills
are so ordered that each class goes
through the same fixed number Of
gymnastics during the evening. They
work in drills with Indian clubs and
setting-up exercises; they fly from
the floor to the ceiling. grasping the
two rings in their hands, while their
hard -muscled bare arms glisten under
the electric light and they run up the
springing board and vault over tables
four feet in width and do a dosen
other things. every girl taking her
share OF each kind OF exercise during
the evening.
The exercises change every ten
minutes. and they have a half dozen
or so different ones during the hour.
which bring into play every muscle.
1t is no dillettante exercise either. It
Is hard work from start to finish. and
fat girls and lean girls. tall girls and
short girls, must all do the same.
During the evening kept watch to
find out the shirlss ana the weddings.
but II seemed to me that every one
was enthusiastic, and the muscles OF
all were such that I am sure they
could we'll defend themselves In case
of attack.
After the close of this session, before
the women Of twenty-five and thirty
came on, i saw 100 OF these same girls
practice a drill in the hall with Indian
clubs tipped with incandeseent electric
lights. The room was In darkness with
this exception, and the motions were
to music, especially composed for this
drill and played by the composer on