Chapter IV
Is it Too Late for Women to Begin?
But if the school-days are past, and the girl has become a woman; what then? If the girl, trammelled by few duties outside of school-hours, has found amusement for herself, yet still needs daily and regular exercise to make and keep her fresh and hearty; much more does the woman, especially in a country like our own, where physical exercise for her sex is almost unknown, require such exercise. Our women are born of parents who pride themselves on their mental qualifications, on a good degree of intelligence. Our educational system is one which offers an endless and ever-increasing variety of spurs to continued mental effort.
Are not the majority of our women to-day, especially in town and city, physically weak? The writers on nervous disorders speak of the astounding increase of such diseases among us, of late years, in both sexes; but especially among the women. General debility is heard of everywhere. Most of our women think two miles, or even less, a long distance to walk, even at a dawdling pace; while few of them have really strong chests, backs, or arms. (If they wish to test their arms, for instance, let them grasp a bar or the rung of a ladder, and try to pull themselves up once till the chin touches their fists. Not two in fifty will do it; but almost any boy can.) But whoever cannot do that has weak flexor
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