Saving Strexgth. 



639 



high and active instead of being narrow and depressed. (6) The shoul- 

 ders are flattened instead of being "round." (7) Each part of the body- 

 is in balanced relation to all other parts, so that all of the muscles are 

 free from strain or tension. 



These are the conditions for health, lightness of movement, physical 

 endurance, work with the least fatigue, and for uplift and joyousness 

 of spirits. 



Bend from the hips, not from the back. — The right poise of the body 

 is the first great essential in physical economy. After that, nothing 

 is more important to housekeepers than to know how to bend and 

 stoop, with the least strain, the least expenditure of nervous energy 

 and the least interference with the vital functions. Every woman will 

 recognize the too familiar 

 bend and stoop from the 

 shoulders and back — with an 

 accompanying "break" at the 

 waist-line in front — seen in the 

 woman washing dishes (Fig. 

 13), in the woman sweeping 

 (Fig. 15), in the woman wash- 

 ing clothes (Fig. 17), and in 

 the woman picking up some- 

 thing from the floor (Fig. 2). 



Nature's bending places are 

 the hip-joints and the knees. 

 When we ignore these and 

 put their legitimate work 

 upon the back, nature resents 

 our failure to cooperate with 

 her plan. She "gets even" 

 with us by enfeebling the 

 digestion, by making the 



back bowed, old and weak, the body heavy and set, ana by otherwise 

 "stealing away our youth and health unawares." The office of these 

 muscles is primarily to keep the trunk of the body normally erect. In 

 leaning somewhat forward, as in sweeping (Fig. 16), in washing (Fig. 

 18), in all kitchen-table work, as kneading bread, rolling pie-crusts, pre- 

 paring vegetables, and in washing dishes (Fig. 14), let the movement 

 be from the hips — keeping the back in nearly the same position as when 

 standing easily erect (Fig. 9 and Fig. 11). 



In order not to have some undue strain, even when one bends forward, 



Fig. 10. 



Fig. II. 



