VALUE OF HOUSEWORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15002, 25 May 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

VALUE OF HOUSEWORK.

■ <*-— — ■ —. ,( i 5n AMERICAN DOCTORS' AD Vic* ' ''' Health and beauty are twin sisters, as* ' to attain both American -Women are i*. - commended to work hard. Dr. Docile* ! Sargent, physical director of Harvard TJai. ,' versity, and Dr. Charles Greene, his colla] borator, arc lecturing this topic to cul. ; i tured Boston audiences, and their conclu* '"'''' sions are practically unanimous. Accord. '' I ing to these specialists, there is no short cut to beautiful complexions, agile limbs I and Juno-like proportions unlaw women • work conscientiously and definitely towards ! the goal. The doctors' advico to women everywhere is : " Don't talk so much, and work \ hard." Housework, th>?v sa y, & not ;"' menial, but almost as beneficial as golf ■'■- riding, or walking for developing tfo . \ human form divine, provided • that the aspirants labour with intelligent intent • and contented minds. Professor Sargent J says :-— " When woman does her own housework, < with its manifold varieties of physical requirement, nearly every muscle of her body may be Brought into action daily ■'.■'.■ I Nothing is better for the development of 1 large muscles in the legs or for the reduc- '< tion of fat than running up and down I stairs. No better method has been de- I vised for strengthening the chest and 1 straightening the spine than sejubbinir' 1 floors on one's hands and knees, specially ' I if the left arm as well as the light be }■ used. Sweeping with a large-handled 1 broom, if the broom be used on bpth sides I so that both arms are used in the sams 1 way, furnishes an admirable means of as- '''■ veloping the chest and shoulders. If * li carpet-sweeper is used instead of a broom, } the abdominal muscles as well as the \ muscles of the back are brought into ■•' action, and the extensor and flexor muscle : of the arms are much used. Working a . lawn-mower brings the same group %{ muscles into still more powerful action, m is almost indispensable. Kneading brad ■ 1 is a specific for a nnely-shapad forearn), and an hour's work with the washboard's ( equal to similar efforts with chest weighs :.;'• as a developer of the upper arras, the back and the shoulders." ' . All this is very gratifying to Amelia* women yearning for beauty,"because tfatf more than anywhere else, domestic m&Ja vants are ruinously expensive. Above all, m ! women must not talk so much, and httt ' the advice applies equally to. men. Netvousness, amounting of ton to neurasfchttu:'' ' seems almost as common in AmeriaS 1 i dyspepsia in England, and may bo Ja>S|4.'- - avoided, it seems, if we all work stt^, - ' and talk less. The vast store of esets* - j often recklessly-wasted in mere talk mt}\ nob yet been realised by American or Euro. pean civilisations, but it daily becoma ; . more evident' to physiological oxptrk Women's, clubs, social tea» K and. : ;so«||iff functions are good enough in their way, but because of the irresistible danger w - I talk overmuch they have become a ftojiiiiin'i': •/'■'' danger. Asiatics, who devote^a regular period of every day to silence,.; fielf-cjam. '* , ination, and contemplation, according %■} Harvard, America's foremost university,""' : ' are on the right track, and we must ens'' I .''' late them. } America's leading newspapers reproduce! , the professors* advice, and print editorials based thereon, emphasising the value, and beauty of washing, sweepffiii>|l and scrubbing. "" ■*{$?$, m