5. Spend at least one hour out-of-doors every day in some form of exercise, and two or three whenever possible.
6. Use your mind actively in study for a few hours daily, for an idle mind is not a healthy one, but finish your studies at a definite hour, and then rest—i.e., play or exercise your body.
GOLF.
Some of the girls who may read this doubtless have the good fortune to be absolutely healthy, and perhaps their circumstances offer them all the exercise they need, although in city life this is improbable, and the healthiest will be benefited, kept in trim, physically, by following the rule for daily morning exercises.
But the girl who wishes to be strong and symmetrical often finds that in one way or another she needs a little help to straighten her shoulders, or to bring out her chest, or to give her an erect carriage; yet it is difficult for her to train herself, as she cannot see her own defects.
One device to aid self-instruction is the following: Take any old long mirror, and mark it with horizontal lines, about ten inches apart, in white chalk. The lines should be exactly straight. Then stand in front of this in your natural position, and notice whether the line of your shoulders agrees with the straight line across the mirror at their level. Probably you will see the reflection of a girl with one shoulder a little higher than the other, or perhaps standing unevenly, so that one hip is higher than the other. More than likely you will see that her chest is not full enough to make a fine figure. Perhaps the shoulders stoop a little, or possibly, while none of these defects are noticeable, the mirror shows a figure that needs only a little setting up, a more erect carriage, and the expression of a little more muscular energy, to make it satisfactory. A few special exercises that we shall add here will be excellent for all of these slight deviations from the normal; but it will be well to begin exercising every morning with two or three simple movements that will warm and limber the muscles and joints.
Begin by rising slowly on the toes and sinking back to the heels ten times. Then increase the speed, rising and falling quite rapidly twenty times, or more, if not fatigued. Then give the arm and shoulder-joint a chance. Swing the right arm out from the shoulder in a circle, and repeat this ten times. Then the left arm. After a week's practice use both arms fifteen times. Next use the trunk a little. Bend the body forward at the waist slowly as far as possible without bending the knees, and repeat this ten times. Next bend slowly to the right side without raising the left foot, and then to the left, each ten times.
Repeat the foot-raising rapidly five times, the arm-swinging and the body-bending five times each, and you will feel fresher already.