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Show HOW TO BEST. By Marian. Martineau. (Chicago Tribune.) Whenever you see a so-called "willowy" "wil-lowy" girl you see one who knows how to rest properly. . .You' see a girl who not only walks as she should walk, but one who rests as she should rest. One of the most important of all things is the resting properly. No one but yourself knows how many hours a day you devote to resting, and no one knows as well as yourself whether you do this in the right way or not. A statistician, tireless In his efforts to investigate the - habits of women, computes that the average woman can remain on her feet at most only three hours a day, and that all the rest of the time she either sits' or sleeps. ; He includes in the resting business all the time when a woman is seated; all the hours in which she reclines In a rocking chair; all the time during which she lounges upon the couch; and the patient hours during which she sits and sews, seated comfortably or uncomfortably. un-comfortably. It is likely that the statistician is. nearly correct in his estimate, and that the average woman can walk or stand not more than three whole hours a day. Certainly few women ever walk more than an hour at a time, and even during the long, tiresome shopping hours she sits whenever she can. The woman who "does her own work" may be on her feet more than the average, but for some reason it is not thought hygienic or healthful to stand; and so every contrivance is invented in-vented by which a woman can work seated. Really, aside from the strain upon the feet, there is no reason why a healthy woman is not just as well off standing as seated. And, if comfortable, comforta-ble, shoes be worn, a woman will tell you that she is more at ease upon her feet part of the time than Beated in the cramped position necessitated by modern mod-ern chairs. Many of the troubles which harass the body are caused, not by walking or by standing, but by sitting in cramped positions, doubled up for hours at a time, and getting twisted and tired, when a standing up and straightening out would have made one quite comfortable com-fortable again. Shop girls who happen to have well-aired well-aired quarters, and women who stand in the open air, or in well-ventilated apartments, are usually vigorous and healthy, while those who sit eternally are the ones who are uncomfortable most of the time. The average woman who has been seated all her life, and whose shoes are a size too small and whose waist is an inch too tight, cannot begin by standing, stand-ing, half of the day. She will drop in an hour and will be put to bed in raving delirium If compelled to stand half a day. It is her feet that give out first, then her knees, and so the fatigue travels trav-els on upward until even the brain succumbs. suc-cumbs. Now, actually, there Is no reason why one should drop if compelled to be on one's feet for a short time, and no sense in the fact that she cannot walk. True, she will have a million reasons, but all begin and end with the fact that it lays her up and makes her sick in bed if on her feet a few hours. The reason for it lies in its unaccus-tomedness unaccus-tomedness and in nothing else. It Is because women get out of the habit of using their feet, and the legs become so weak that it is difficult for them to support the body. In going upstairs a woman's weight comes in a bad place, upon the calves of her legs, so that she is compelled to throw herself forward. Thus, throwing throw-ing her body up the stairs after her feet, she manages laboriously to reach the top step, there to stand puffing, and gasping until the agony is subsided. The cure for this, or for a great part of this, lies in resting as one should rest. One is compelled to be seated a great part of the day, because of habit or because of necessity. There is the sewing position and the position for reading. So, too, there is the lounging position, "and "the position which one takes for Testing. A woman should know half a dozen ways to rest herself, and she should practice them, one after one, when compelled com-pelled to sit along time. The girl who sits lopsided, who compels com-pels one shoulder to do the work of supporting the neck and head, and who gets in the habit of throwing her head to one side, in her effort to keep it from drooping upon her shoulders or backward, back-ward, is the girl who is, slowly but surely, steadily but truly, destroying her lines. There are women who succeed in holding time at bay admirably well. They keep young in figure. And it is the figure, after all, which counts. The woman who is erect and almost lithe, the one who does not show a hump in her back, is not lopsided, nor thin chested, is the one who will look young, no matter what her features may be. It is not the homely woman who ages early, but the woman who sits badly, who carries a loose, uncertain poise of shoulder, whose back is round, and unmistakably un-mistakably middle-aged she is the one whose face admits every year of her age. It is said that a contented spirit keeps its possessor young. Certainly no contented con-tented spirit could dwell in a body which is not shaped as well as nature designed' it. A woman who cannot sit properly without getting tired should take measures meas-ures to correct her pose. She should invigorate her body with a bath in aromatic vinegar. She should use scented toilet water and should keep sharply sweet scents about her, working work-ing upon the same principle with which physicians revive their patients with the fumes of ammonia. A horse that has fallen unconscious will revive if aromatic spirits be held to his nostrils. And the woman who feels sick and faint, weak .and all of a heap will "come to" if she will sniff sweet odors, or sharp ones, and if she will bathe in water made refreshing with the proper vinegars. Then, after this course of treatment, she will find that she can sit up and keep her position nicely, and when tired that she will be well enough to stand erect upon her feet. i |