120 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



too soon how to play. The time is well spent Avhen we break the routine 

 of severe mental application by active, well chosen, joyful exercise. 

 Those exercises, as a rule, do the most good that give the most cheer. 

 Gymnastics taken even as an additional branch of work requiring time 

 and some thought are recreation and relief from the weariness and 

 languor following study. This condition being mostly a matter of the 

 nerves can be relieved by the change from brain work to muscular work, 

 carrying the blood from the congested nervous centers to the active 

 muscles. The plan of exercise as a whole should be such as to build 

 up the body evenly, to gain muscular flexibility, increase lung capacity, 

 improve digestion, reduce nervous strain and to secure restful sleep. 

 Exercises demanding excessive expenditure of muscular force for con- 

 tinued periods are always harmful as putting too great strain on the 

 heart and lung cells. ''Grace" — strength without grace but not the re- 

 verse. Good or bad condition of an individual depends upon the heart 

 and lungs, and the exercises are planned to benefit these organs. 



The importance of correct .breathing should not be overlooked. To 

 do this best, one must sit and stand and walk well, and poise and bal- 

 ance exercises are useful. Occasionally we find a girl who carries her- 

 self correctly without being taught. Exercise must have an object. To 

 look well is a good thing, to be well is better. 



There may be a question in your minds whether farmers' girls need 

 any special forms of exercise. At first thought, conditions of farm life 

 seem to meet the requirements for good health, plenty of food, oceans 

 of fresh air and an abundance of indoor and outdoor exercise, yet the 

 same diseases attack them. Exercise in the form of work does not afford 

 the same degree of benefit as systematic physical culture. Housework 

 and all manual labor tends to pull the shoulders forward and cramp 

 the chest. 



I have been speaking generally so far, but you are interested in Michi- 

 gan girls, and may like to hear what opportunities are offered here for 

 such training as we have been advocating. We have a well-equipped 

 gymnasium in the Women's Building and, on entering College in the 

 fall, each girl is given a physical examination, in which her personal 

 history (health), measurements, strength tests, lung capacity, etc., are 

 taken and recorded, and this examination is repeated the following 

 spring, comparisons with average measurements being made at both 

 times; suggestions for special examinations are based on this examina- 

 tion. Class work is obligatory three times a week, the aim of which 

 is to promote the general health of the individual, to correct physical 

 faults, improve the carriage and increase the lung capacity. March- 

 ing, simple and combined movements, free gymnastics, Swedish and 

 breathing exercises with musical accompaniment later, comprise the first 

 year's work. In the sophomore, junior and senior years, more advanced 

 work with light apparatus is given — basket ball, tennis, and walking are 

 encouraged. No one is excused from this work except for physical dis- 

 ability and then only on a physician's written recommendation. 



Although the "movement cure" and "medical gymnastics" are often 

 used with good results, gymnastics are not a "cure all" and, moreover, 

 we here have to do with the normally healthy. 



In acquainting you with the work done in the women's gymnasium, it 

 may be well to state briefly the typical defects as we find them in our 

 students, — their possible causes and the means taken to correct them. 



