isely, to dress properly and to rest well. Every girl should learn to
regulate these things wisely for herself. Other people can only help to
make us healthy, but the real work of being healthy we must do for
ourselves, and this means daily attention and daily care. A famous doctor
said once that the average baby is meant to live; all the baby asks is to
be given a good chance. In the same way the average human being is meant
to be healthy. Health depends--the statement is so important that it will
bear repeating--on care in eating and resting and on proper clothing.
Health depends also on cleanliness, inside the body and out; this means
cleanliness in every respect. A daily bath and proper attention to one's
body are essential to health.
The girl should learn as soon as possible that her health as well as her
appearance will depend on her taking daily exercise. She may suppose that
exercise is a dull tiresome thing which she is told by other people to
take, but which in itself has no interest for her. Here, as in other
things, the girl must learn to be her own captain, her own commanding
officer. She should give herself orders to take daily exercise. If any of
us needs a lesson in keeping well and beautiful, we can get that lesson
from our little friends the birds. Every creature, wild and tame, winged
and four-footed, takes the most scrupulous care of its physical condition.
They clean, stretch, brush, polish, until every feather or hair, until
every muscle and sinew is in fit condition.
We should think of our bodies as fine instruments which are given into our
keeping. The human body is the finest and most wonderful instrument in
the world, and it is sad and amazing how often we fail to take the most
ordinary care of it. There are different systems of exercise, and the girl
should find one that will bring all her muscles properly into play.
Five or ten minutes' exercise a day is all that is required. There are
many muscles which are not used in walking or ordinary play, and if these
muscles are not exercised regularly then that fine instrument your body
will get out of good condition and will not show correct and beautiful
lines. A girl should train herself to stand properly. A simple test by
which she can tell if she is holding herself rightly is to walk a few
steps on tiptoe. In order to do this she must hold herself correctly.
To have a good body, well shaped and in right proportion, it is necessary
to hold one'
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