644 Reading-Course for Farmers' Wives. 



degree they help to keep the body young — young in movement, in 

 elasticity, in looks and in feeling. No one who can work is too old 

 to gain favorable results from the practice of simple, rejuvenating, 

 restful exercises. The "aging" of the body is not a matter of years; 

 it is rather a matter of condition. And the way one habitually uses 

 the body largely determines what its ultimate condition shall be. Old- 

 ness of body means setness of muscles as differing from the freedom 

 of the child's muscles; it means stiffness of joints as differing from the 

 flexibility of the child's joints; it means a stooped attitude as differing 

 from the erect attitude of youth; it means heaviness of movement as 

 differing from the lightness and buoyancy of youth, Setness of muscles, 

 which is akin to the "muscle-bound" state sometimes found among 

 athletes, can best be overcome by stretching and relaxing exercises. 

 Stretch the muscles in ways different from their customary use, and 

 then completely relax them. Stretch and relax; stretch and relax, 

 three or four times in one or two minutes' practice. A noticeable gain 

 in freedom and "spring" in the movement of the muscles often results 

 from even a few consecutive days' practice. 



Mrs. Bishop in her book called "Seventy Years Young" makes a 

 distinction between organic old age and some of the prevalent old age 

 bugaboos. She makes years the worst hobgoblin of all and declares 

 that years are only the arbitrary measurement of time, that they have 

 terrorized victims into premature oldness of mind and body. Another 

 old age bugaboo is gray hair or lines on the face and pessimistic theories 

 concerning life. Robert Louis Stevenson gives good advice when he says, 

 "Cling to your youth; it is an artist's stock in trade; do not give up 

 that you are aging and you won't age.' Shakespeare says, "With 

 mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." The person who moves 

 about with difficulty and says that he is getting old is inviting old age 

 much faster than the one who plays with boys and girls, keeps in touch 

 with books and nature and has not courted worry and fear of old age. 



Gail Hamilton objected to the term "marry and settle down." It is 

 easy after a day of fatigue to find it difficult to harness the team and 

 drive out to social affairs, but just because this tendency is becoming 

 habitual they should pull themselves together and go anyway, whether 

 it is easy or not. 



Contact with other people, old and young, keeps the spirit young, 

 while the habit of growing into fixed ways of staying at home will invite 

 gray hair, wrinkles and other indications of years. Young looking men 

 and women whose sons and daughters have grown up, are very attractive 

 members of society and invariably people ask, "How did you manage 



