Tops Not for Girls.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue X, 7 September 1901, Page 479

Tops Not for Girls.

Did you ever see a girl spin a top? Did you ever see her carefully and closely wind a leather string around the cone. and then, with a quick throw and jerk, give it the necessary rotary motion to send it whirling right side up? You never did, and likely you never will, because the ready possibility of doing such a thing does not lie in a woman’s anatomy.

A girl can twirl a rope and jump one enough times to weary her watching brother, but a top in her hands Is a useless thing, and the brother only laughs at her efforts to spin it. if she makes them, as he laughs at all her efforts in the direction of throwing. Observe the playing children on the streets at this season, and you may watch all day and not see one girl with a top in her hand, while you will see hundreds with skipping ropes. If you see any playing with balls they will be simply bouncing them on the pavements, using a very short cramped motion of the arm in doing

The simple fact is that a girl cannot throw, in the true sense of the term, because of the peculiar construction of her shoulder. When a boy throws a ball he bends his elbow, reaches back with his forearm, and uses every joint from shoulder to wrist. His arm is relaxed. A girl throws with a rigid arm. because her collarbone is larger and sits lower than a boy's. This prevents the free motion of the arm required for strength and accuracy in throwing.