Shoulder, torso, and limbs are developed in mattress-lifting, but it requires a strong woman to do this easily; any hint of spinal affection is an embargo on the exercise.
Sweeping gives much the same motion as is used in handling golf-clubs. For perfection of arms and shoulders there is nothing better.
Scrubbing, like lawn tennis, is rather violent and not to be attempted unless one is sure of the heart. In the beginning it will be as severe on the knees as is paddling a canoe, but so soon as one becomes familiar with the work it affords a subtle satisfaction all its own.
Running up and down stairs when mother needs anything is a first-class exercise; and an interesting diversion, as well as an upper-arm developer, may be found in egg-beating.
Dusting should have a chapter by itself. First you are down on all fours, then on tiptoe to see how far the cloth will reach. The tiptoeing for calf-development is superb.
You twist yourself into all sorts of positions to get at the corners of the carved furniture. You are on one knee, then on the other. Every muscle, every tendon is brought into service before you have finished.
KEEP YOUNG
A beautiful woman, who combines in her person a greater number of charms than do most fascinating women, gives her formula for keeping young and handsome in spite of a life of constant study, hard work, and comparatively no play: “Vigilance and determination and perhaps a little self-sacrifice are the price I pay for being considered a good-looking woman,” she says.
Remember, this beauty can act and is entitled to be called a star of the first magnitude. “I am ever on the alert and when I discover traces of fatigue or any destroying symptoms, I set about at once to eradicate them. During the theatrical season I don’t attempt to be anything but a professional woman. I don’t receive, nor do I go to other people’s houses. I simply haven’t the time and I don’t make it.
“My mode of life is very simple. As a rule I sleep nine or ten hours out of the twenty-four, never less than eight. I eat regularly and avoid everything that will give me indigestion. You know that indigestion is one of beauty’s most powerful foes, a greater enemy than age, as great even as worry.