The opening and the closing word of this talk of mine is that the doors of sport stand wide open before the American woman, who adores it and knows perfectly well how to enjoy all of it, from the time she begins to crawl upon this earth until she is folded away within it. Neither tenderness of age nor the dignity of old years keeps her from the playing fields—no, nor the cruelty of the seasons that have taken their toll of the roundness of her muscles and left them slack.
What pleased me most in my observations was not the school sports, which have become worldwide despite the technical preparation and special systems peculiar to them in America, but rather this sport that continues as a faithful companion to the American woman's life, filling it with health, gladness, and contentment.
The American woman takes her exercise impelled by many factors, chief among them, naturally, her love of sport. It appeared to me that the bodily and moral fatigue and the muscular tension produced by working eight hours a day—the legal working hours—drive her forcefully to spend a few hours of the week in a sport that guarantees her complete relaxation. And I believe another factor of no less importance is the cramped housing, especially in the cities, where houses crowd together and press upon their inhabitants, so that the social circle inevitably narrows too; hence the athletic clubs have become one of the fitting places for meeting and making acquaintance. And just as the factors are many, so are the aims: amusement, or good company, or bodily suppleness and grace, or the athletic art itself.
But however varied the aims, the inner impulse and the demand for recreation and diversion drive her, willy-nilly, to the playing field.
The athletic clubs, whether open-air in their summer simplicity or indoor in winter, are all fitted out with expert thoroughness and equipped with all the modern athletic apparatus and every comfort, from easy chairs to shower baths under sanitary supervision; and the winter courts are distinguished by heating and air conditioning.
If winter has to itself the ball games—basketball, volleyball, bowling—and ice skating, summer has to itself the game of baseball, which, though it is peculiarly the game of males,
the women have softened in its sharpness and force and made their own. All the seasons share in delightful sports such as dancing, swimming, tennis, horseback riding, golf, shopping, housework, and the rest.
And since the American woman is exceedingly anxious to keep her slender grace, she has found in sport the best safeguard against stoutness; and if by rare exception she is afflicted with it, she treats it with athletic means, hot baths, and massage.
Worth mentioning is that most forms of social activity, and of athletic activity in particular, take place at night on the days of the
week and by day on Sundays and school holidays.
I went one night to watch a bowling game, and how astonished I was at the difference of ages among the players: young women and old women, without exception, filling the place with mirth and gladness.
In the famous Rockefeller Plaza, ringed round by the flags of the United Nations, the ground is frozen artificially in winter, giving skating enthusiasts a pleasant time. Here truly the ages differ astonishingly: from children not yet four years old, to young men and young women, to old men and old women, all skating with lightness and skill and gliding gracefully to the strains of the
