Don't say I never post anything educational

I was looking around the house for something to read and came across a small volume dating back all the way to 1916. The title seemed to promise a certain kind of entertainment, and I was not disappointed.

Apparently written by a Broadway actress, the advice offered is in a general sense not unlike any modern take on the subject. Achieving your goals is matter of the right motivation, diet, exercise, and corset(yes that counts for men, too.)

Motivation

Ms. Summerville has an assertive, old-fashioned can-do attitude which does inspire a certain respect.

“Every being owes it to himself and to the world to be as perfect as possible. It is what we are placed here for--to develop the good, the God, within us.

However, she can be a little...err..blunt.

Usually a fat man is gluttonous and a sluggard.
Why be either?
Following the instructions in this book for the reduction of weight will make him an object of admiration, instead of a joke, which he usually is.
NO MAN SHOULD BE FAT.
It is hard to tolerate an overfat woman; it is absolutely impossible to look at an obese man without a feeling of disgust, because if he were living the life of a normal, healthy man, he would not be fat. Hence the lack of love and, I may add, respect, for the fat man.

I think I'm gong to go for a jog now. And there are pages and pages of this sort of helpful wisdom. Actually, there's more of this badgering than concrete advice.

Exercise

Of course, it is still a myth today that a typical person needs to avoid certain activities to keep from morphing into a musclebound freak against her will.

Walking is much better than gymnasium exercises: no woman wants simulated croquet-balls on her arms, when appearing in an evening gown.

Now I have no idea what "“rolling exercises"” entailed at that time so I would not be surprised if this implausible, unreferenced anecdote was actually true:

“Rolling exercises break down the tissues and cause much illness, oftimes death. A woman died suddenly recently. When the autopsy was made, it was discovered that her death had been caused by rolling to reduce her weight.
One can tell by the symptoms it causes(dreadful nausea and dizziness)that it is not healthful.

Diet

When I am asked by those anxious to lose weight what they must do, I say, "Diet!"

Wow, that'’s some helpful advice. Truthfully, the advice offered here isn'’t much sillier than any contemporary fad diet. A plate of lettuce with salt for breakfast, yum!

Corset

Now I will grant her, as she writes later, that walking up and down stairs a lot wearing a corset is probably fairly strenuous.

I heard a woman remark recently: "‘I would do anything to reduce my hips!"’ Looking at the woman, I did not blame her...[some brutal analysis of the hapless woman's figure removed here]...In the first place, that woman was not wearing the right corset. She may have paid a big price for it; but it was not the corset she would wear. The proper corset is absolutely necessary for the woman who wants to reduce her hips; there are exercises which are helpful, but first and foremost, it is the corset.”