DETERIORATING PHYSIQUE
Sandbw,. the strong man, says: —“Experience shows that within: recent years the physique of women has-been <bstihctly. on the down-grade. The health, the beauty which were fib familiar to ancient nations are with us unknown things. “The artificial conditions of . civilised life, the frivolities, the irrational hours, the thoughtless errors of diet, the. foolish modes of slothing to which women sacrifice their bodily health and beauty upon the altar of fashion, have all brought about at least a physical decline. _ , ‘‘There is, unhappily, (hut little doubt that Englishwomen are mo re or less in the footsteps of their Frencn sisters, the results of which will be the ultimate degradation and extinction, or the English race. • »
' “It is true that thie various sports of the country are more open to w omen than they were some years ago, but, after all, » how few women this affects, xhe. round of modern life is only top apt to leave out natural exercise. Where our ancestors walked, wd drive: where thev climbed stairs, wo use elevators. Itt every way we are tempted to neglect our hod* ies. Where our ancestors had their games and .contests the modern damp cultivates indoor amusements only. In-, deed, one has a vision of a future race of homuncles, all head and no body, kept alive from day to day during their passionless, mechanical little lives by some artificial means. “The changes which I should like , to see in the life of the modern woman are three:— fl) Loose, easy clothing; (A freedom to engage in outdoor sports in girlhood; (3) systematic exercise carried on throughout life. . , , . “Let modem women strive to get.bacK to the type of the Saturnian Venus, that ideal of fife, purity, and beauty. _Tho Venus de Milo is for us the absolute type of feminine beauty. If reduced to the height of 6ft. 4in. her waist would measure 24in. If any curious reader takes the trouble to sketch in a;rmrset-wais; over the figure she", find) how little it improves the statue.’: . . '
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19010309.2.58.28.6
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4301, 9 March 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)
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338DETERIORATING PHYSIQUE New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4301, 9 March 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)
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