system 117

CONCLUSION

Dear Reader,

Whether you are weak or strong, young or old, I advlsc you to begin these exercises at once, and rather to-day than to-morrow. But do not altach thew too vigorously at first, unless you are accustomed to physicaI Work. Do not exercise for morę than about ten minutes, follow-ing the progranimo giyen on page 52. Do not deluy because you do not liappen to have a bath ; you can buy one when convenient. and in the meantime be content to rub yourself all over with a wet towel. Later on. during your dav’s work, you will be surprised and delightcd to feel the refresh-ittg sensation peryading your body all the time. Here indeed we have an application of the proeerb about smali causes and great effects ! tf you had spent a whole hour in Swedish clrill, you would very likely have treen morę tired and disinclined for work than you used to be without any exercise whatever.

It is pure superstition to suppose that icy cold water is the only saeing thing. The essential condition is that you should directly apply water. air, and rnhbing to the entire surface of your skin, and that you should find it so pleasant that you feel a need and a desire to perseeere. 1'here will thcn come a time when you will usc the water cold simply because it is morę convenient, and no longer makes you shudder. And then it will make your nerees steadier stili. although it might have had just the opposite effect, to begin with, on people with highly strung nervous Systems.

Yes. it gives you a delightful feeling of satisfaction. haeing taken this early morning exerci.se and bath ! You get such a good cottscience that even if later on in the day you have no time for any exercise or recrearion whatevor. it will not signify ; you maj’ rest content. for voti liave indeed for this day done your duty to your bodily self.

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Finally. liave no fear that I propose to make a parody of a " strong man ” out of you. I can well understand that you have a terror of getting to re'emble those respectable gentlcmen whose powerful physi-cal deyelopmeni bas proceeded in deliance of all laws of harmony and beauty, They feei , dhd upon to round their elbows and to spread om and stick up their toes, to show how they can hardly walk for strength. and the greater the “dcad weight" they can attain the better they are pleased. When they get photographed they lay themselyes out to impress the beholder by forcing their unnaturally distended arm muscles into prominence, tiil they seem to be even morę exaggeratedly developed and knotted than they are in reality ; or they lean forward with sontbre rnien and convulsively contract all the muscles m the front of their body. Every “ strong man " magazine teems with repulsive pictures of the sort.

How supremely caltn, how dignified and superior, and how delight-fully harmonious, in companson, the antique classical figures are ! In them you never see a muscle on the strain, unless this be called for in the