Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1893 — LATEST THING IN DELSARTE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LATEST THING IN DELSARTE.

A Practical System of Physical Training for American Women. As physical training is engaging the attention and consuming the time of young women everywhere Mrs. Bridget Maguire, Fraulein Gretchen Schmidt, Frue Johanna Bjornson, Mra Dinah Johnseng and others who stand high in the profession which these ladies adorn have organized a school and prepared a course of lectures for the purpose of introducing their system of physical culture. They are also about to publish a book, “The International System of Physical Culture Explained,” the advance sheets of which, according to the New York Sun, are already out. Below we give the principal exercises peculiar <*> this system; 1. Take a scop® (the high Latin name for broom) in the hands, which should be held at half reach reversed

grasp, allowing the bushy portion of the scop® to rest upon the floor and holding firmly to the upper end of the handle. Bend the body slightly forward, give the arms a horizontal movement, lift the

scop® slightly and move one foot before the other. Repeat these movements until the scopae has been brought in contact with every portion of the floor. 2. Holding vertically in the hands a long pole to wjjich a bundlo of feathers has been attached, bend the

body backward from the waist, throw the head well back and elevate the arms until the feathers rest lightly against the ceilingorwalls. Move the arms back and forth, carefully holding the pole in position. In a similar' exercise, more frequently practiced,

a shorter pole is used and the feathers are allowed to pass over the different objects in the room. But this, while excellent for the arms and shoulders, does not call into play the muscles of the spine, neck and chest.

,2. Kneeling upon the floor and grasping a wet cloth in the hands, bend the back till the cloth touches the floor. Press the hands

down firmly, throw the weight upon the arms, bending them at the elbows as the motion of the hands requires, and pass the cloth briskly over the surface of the floor. 4. Fill a large basin with water and

place obliquely ip it, so that the lower edge shall rest in the bottom of the basin and the upper one lean against the opposite side, a corrugatedpiece of wood

covered with zinc. Then take some sort of cloth, souse in the water and rub briskly on the board. A little soap will lessen the friction and render the exercise somewhat more gentle. Take a cloth, treated as above,

dip into a paste, composed of amylon and aqua pura, that is to say, pure water, and allow it to become almost dry. Spread on a smooth surface and pass quickly over it a well-heated ferrum

planum, or smoothing-iron, bending the back and swaying the body lightly to and fro, in unison with the motion of the implement in the hand. As the majority of young women are probably unacquainted with the implements used in these exercises any of the ladies whose names are mentioned above will cheerfully supply all necessary information.