Editor's note: Take a look back into the archives of The Dallas Morning News.

In the early half of the 20th century, young women in Dallas had more than just reading, writing and arithmetic to worry about. Posture lessons were seen as a crucial part of the curriculum, with girls learning to sit, stand, walk, and even climb stairs "like queens." This feature, which ran on Feb. 5, 1939, features the advice of "Grandmother Dallas," who "makes certain (though the school system) that the girls who are growing up will carry on her earned reputation for beauty." News photographers visited Forest Avenue High to take the following photos of posture do's and don'ts. Those photos are presented below with their original captions.

1 / 7"THE TRADITION IS SAFE — With healthy, attractive girls like these in every Dallas school — trained to carry themselves like queens — the future of Dallas' fame as the home of the most beautiful women per 1,000 population in the United States is in no Danger."(The Dallas Morning News) 2 / 7"WHO GETS THE JOB? — Out of the line applying for a position, would you pick Miss Slouch, as posed by Norma Gene Parker, 716 Second, or Miss Efficiency, posed by Leta Rae Canada, 3404 Myrtle?(The Dallas Morning News) 3 / 7"WITHOUT FUDGING by bending the knees, can you touch the floor? Never mind if you can't: It's a big help to be that limber, but it isn't absolutely necessary." Right photo: "WALL TEST: Head, shoulders, waist, hips, calves, heels — all should line up straight in perfect standing posture."(The Dallas Morning News) 4 / 7"GRANDMOTHER'S WAY STILL FOLLOWED- Balancing the time-honored book as she glides gracefully is Adelaide Cohn, 2905 Forest. It isn't the book that Instructor Mable Shaw concentrates on- its the line those feet follow: straight, toes NOT turned out."(The Dallas Morning News) 5 / 7"I'M SO TIRED vs. WHAT ARE WE WAITING ON?- Posed by Mary Helen Briggs, left, 3827 Myrtle, and Mary Ann Rips, 2801 Jeffries. Proper stairway technique demands training of the feet to be picked up and laid down as surely without looking at them as are fingers in correct typing and piano playing."(The Dallas Morning News) 6 / 7ALSO GOOD FOR THE WAISTLINE- Although it's a prescription for round shoulders and swayback. Do this twenty times a day and you'll not likely be fat. The trick is in doing it at all, if the years have been easygoing."(The Dallas Morning News) 7 / 7"NEVER, NEVER- AND RIGHT- They call the pose of Adelaide Nathanson, left 2834 South Boulevard (who was selected for these pictures, like the others, because of excellent posture) the "book-lugger's slouch." Louise Hemphill, right, 2912 South Boulevard, would never get as tired carrying her books that way- and what a difference in the looks!"(The Dallas Morning News)

In addition to posture, Dallas-area high schools often taught young women the art of applying cosmetics — something that was forbidden in many schools before the 1930s. At schools like Sunset, teachers taught both posture and make-up tips to their female students. Principals even "helpfully" suggested to their female students that "their appearance would be approved with the use of lipstick and rouge properly applied."

There are plenty of students today who would love to attend a make-up class during the school day. But with high schools increasingly (and appropriately) focused on college and career readiness, they may have to stick to watching YouTube Beauty Tutorials. After school, of course.