EXERCISE FOR WOMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 173, 22 July 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

EXERCISE FOR WOMEN.

To change weak girls into tall, graceful women, radiant in health and glorious in beauty, is work for the gods. But modern athletics seems to be doing it, and now after successive periods of bicycling, golf, tennis and cross country riding, America is blossoming with the handsomest women in the world. These games of the fields, these woodland sports—yachting voyages on sea, canoe trips on lakes and rivers of the north lands; these daring rides across country in sun and storm, are making a new race of women —glorious, all-con-quering women —whose sons will honour their name and flag. Experts and men of the world agree that modern, athletics are working miracles for American women. It is a subject always new and vital to the coun» try and the home. "Athletics and Outdoor Sports for Women" is an interesting and handsome volume of 850 pages, with more than two hundred illustrations, published by Macmillan and Co. Each subject is separately treated by an expert, and there is a comprehensive introduction by Miss Lucille Eaton Hill, director of physical training in Wellesley College. THE ART OF WALKING. "It is a lamentable and remarkable fact that walking has never become really popular in America," writes Dr. John Bapst Blake. "It should be otherwise, for Americans are strong and endowed with unusual nervous force. In England and on the Continent walking, particularly distance and cross country walking, is a common and very popular sport. But if the 'average American be invited to take a ten mile tramp the invitation is likely to be refused, and the same thing suggested in hot or snowy weather would be treated with ridicule. "On the Continent entire families are often met rambling through the country and over the hills, carrying lunches with them and spending the whole day in moderate physical exercise and enjoyment in the open air. Here the family is too often scattered and amusements too frequently within doors to permit this to be common; but it should not be, as it is, almost unknown." GOLF BEST OF ALL GAMES: Frances G. Griscom, junr., says of golf:—"The best game for women is golf. What other game can a woman play that keeps her in the open air for hours at a time without overtaxing her strength? None that I can think of. Tennis is a splendid game, but is too violent for many women; then it is limited to a few months of the year. The same is true with hockey, basketball, cricket and most other games which a woman undertakes. Golf is played in spring, summer, autumn and even during the winter, if one cares to defy the cold." ROWING FOR WOMEN. The author of the introduction to the book writes the article on "Rowing," and says:— "While canoeing has its peculiar fascination and distinctive physical benefits, rowing can be enjoyed by a larger number of pleasure and health seekers because of the superior steadiness of the skiff in the hands of a novice and the generous provision usually made at shore and other resorts for rowing in small boats.

"The general principles of good oarsmanship, excluding the fisherman's deep sea dory rowing, must everywhere be the same, I imagine, whether developed and applied after an exhaustive study of mechanics by a racing eight or modestly exploited by a seeker of pond lilies. Perhaps the choice between skiff and crew rowing must be decided by one's love of scenery, as the skiff oarswonmn can happily gaze on the face of nature, while the crew oarswoman fixes her eye on the neck of the girl in front. "Correct rowing induces an erect carriage and finely poised head, a full chest, and well placed shoulders. Incorrect rowing disturbs allharmonyof the figure. One can row one's self round shouldered as easily as erect! Indeed, many girls lose the beneficial results they fancy they are gaining by rowing through ignorance of a few simple fundamental principles of the exercise." JOY OF SWIMMING. What exercise is more delightful than swimming? It is the joy of every boy and the longing of many a girl to be a good swimmer. "The reason why the young pupil cannot walk into the water and at once swim," says Edwyn Sandys, "is simply that the natural excitement and the awkwardness of untried muscles prevent the exact following of the teacher's instructions. The instant the proper motions are performed the pupil is swimming. It cannot be otherwise. "The greatest difficulty the female pupil has to encounter is the costume which that all-powerful factor, 'Custom,' has declared she must wear. Judging from the practical and rational point of view, anything more absurd and useless than the skirt of a fashionable bathing suit would be difficult to find." GOOD OLD LAWN TENNIS. Of lawn tennis Mr J. Pannley Paret says: "The training of lawn tennis is all for the good of its players, morally, mentally and physically, and the only pitfall to be guarded against is that of overindulgence. The game is a severe one and calls for strenuous effort at all times. "And, best of all, the game has an atmosphere of good sportsmanship that gives its devotees the best ideas of honour, of respect for the opponent, of the kind, of honesty that comes from scoring fairly and deciding whether balls are in or out of court. Like golf tennis takes its players out into the open air, and keeps them active there, breathing fast and deep, and exercising in a way that brings the ruddy glow of health into the cheeks. The surroundings of the game are all of the best." All the world loves a horse, and the better half loves the accomplished rider. "If I should be allowed to enumerate all the ailments of both mind and body that riding is good for," says Belle Beach, "I fear my eulogy would exceed the most comprehensive of patent medicine advertisements. Riding tends to bring the body to a normal, healthy state; it is the secret of perpetual youth, for it keeps the body, the figure and the heart young. In addition it teaches self-control and decision, and develops the will power. In short, for a healthy life, strength and the pursuit—and with a good horse the capture—of happiness, take riding."— New York "Herald."