FARMERS'' INSTITUTES. ■ 821 



tireu. Aveai\ overworked woman sighs: "Don't talk to me of more exer- 

 cise. What I want is a chance to rest." Such reasoning is reasonable, 

 but I do not mean an increase of the same kind of exercise necessary to 

 perform the daily work. The farmer and wife often need some kind of 

 physical exercise to correct the physical faults of the daily work. The 

 prevalence -of worn, crooked and prematurely old men and women on 

 the farms is proof enough that physical betterment is needed. Is the 

 country producing as good physical men and women as the towns and 

 cities are? 



Doubtless some overworked woman thinks it no use to talk to her of 

 this even if it is a good thing, because she has so much to do she has 

 no time to learn anything. 



If an old, worn-out stove burns twice as much wood and gives out 

 two-thirds as much heat as a new stove Avould, it is a saving of money 

 to spend it for a new stove. Likewise if in using the body in an incor- 

 rect way more nervous energy is consumed and less work accomplished 

 than by using it correctly, surely it is a saving of time to take time to 

 learn how to use the body more economically. The actual amount of 

 work can not be lessened, but it is true that pi*actical physical culture 

 will enable women to lessen the fatigue attendant on their work. 



How many of us realize how much our health, strength and endur- 

 ance, how much ease in work and youthfulness of figure depend upon the 

 backbone? 



When in its natural position, this wonderful twenty-four jointed bone 

 forms a double curve. Upon the maintenance of this double curve de- 

 pends the attitude of the body as a whole and the correct position of all 

 the vital organs. It is the right line for the backbone always to keep 

 when the body is simply erect, either when standing or sitting, but it is 

 also true that deviations from this true line are continually occurring 

 during the numerous movements of the body. The adjustability of the 

 spine to the movement desired is of great service to us in the use of our 

 bodies, but we must be sure to bring the spine back to its natural position 

 after every act that causes it to bend or twist. The failure to do this is 

 one of the chief causes of the aging of the body, of undue fatigue from 

 work and of the "ills that flesh is not heir to." 



It is a very bad position when persons stand or sit with the back 

 bowed out in a single curve and the muscles of the chest collapsed. Such 

 positions as collapse the chest disastrously interfere with the three vital 

 functions of life — respiration, circulation and digestion. A full, deep 

 breath is impossible. Pressure on the veins and arteries caused by the 

 sagging of the heavy upper trunk impedes the circulation, while the 

 stomach is literally crowded out of house and home. Another bad posi- 

 tion, also common, is where the upper part of the trunk is thrust too far 

 back and the lower part too far forward. 



