Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-02-28

sAt eighteen said foreigner, "a
young American women is the pretti-
est in the world but at thirty, mon
Dieu, she is already old and ugly
Though there was some of French
mans exageration in the remark, there
was also substance of truth. Why is
it that the beauty of our females fades
so soon' Or, to goat once TO tie r al
issue, for beauty is only permanent
where there is health, why is it that
our women, as compared with the wo-
men of other temperate climates, are
so delicate and fragile ?
The answer may be made in a few
words,-it is because they neglect air
and exercise. Weakness, lassitude and
a fading complexion as inevitably fol-
low incidence and confinement as the
willing of plant results from its de-
privation of light. 1t is law of our
existence that we must take daily ex-
orcise if we would continue healthy
1t is fact in physiology that pure
atmosphere is indispensable to vigor-
Gus vitality. All the refnements of
civilization, all the resources of science
have failed to supply a substitute for
fresh air and exercise. The poor and
the rich stand on the same platform in
reference to this necessity of our ma
ture. The lady in silks and satins can
buy no cosmetic so etficacious as the
sunshide and the breeze which is pour
ed out at the very doorstep of her
humble sister.
On this point we could, if necessa-
ry, accumulate volumes of medical tes-
timony. The best physicians have long
been agreed that the principal causes
of CONSUMPTION among American wo-
men who are comparatively well of,
are their indolent habits and their dis
inclination to walking in the open air.
So long ago as the beginning of this
century, DR.. Rush called attention to
the fact that the Indians of Massachu-
sets had been exempt from diseases of
the lungs, though their Anglo-Saxon
successors died of consumption at the
rate of forty-seven to the hundred :;
and he attributed this exemption, on
the part of the aboriginos, from this
terrible disorder, to their living almost
entirely in the open air. The equally
celebrated DR.. Morton subsequently,
confirmed this opinion. DR.. Phvsick.
of Philadelphia, one of the most disiiu-
guished men this country has ever pro-
duced, actually cured himself Of an IN
cipient pulmonary complaint by activ>
ity and exposure in the open air. The
experience of the New Zealanders con-
firms that of our American Indian, for
since the Introduction of European
habits into New Zealand, the natives,
among whom consumption was former
ly unknown, have died of it by thous-
ans, What is true of consumption is
true of diseases in general. The best
preventive against disease--the medi-
cine which is worth a thousand pana-
ceas, is exercise and fresh air, or ra-
ther exercise in the fresh air.
With this fact, so incontestible, star
ing them in the face, one would think
that our American women would aban.
don their listless, sedentary life, which
fashion dictates to them, in order that
they may exchange sallow cheeks for
blooming ones, disease and nervous
ness for health and high spirits, pre-
mature decay fer protracted beauty,
short life for long one. 1t seems, at
first sight, an eni ma that they do not.
But we need not 90 far for solution.
That word FASHION tells the whole sto-
ry. 1t is fashionable to lie on the sofa
half the day reading insipid novels i,
is fashionable to do nothing but en-
broider crotchet; it is fashionable to
ride in luxurious carriage instead of
going out on foot it is fashionable to
sit in darkened rooms, breathing an i'll
ventilated atmosphere it is fashiona>
bic to be a-bed long after sunrise; it
is fashionable to do a score of other
things equally prejudicial to health,
beauty, aud even life. If it was not
for the fluctuations of fortune, which
are continually making the rich poor
and the poor rich, such a thing as
health in women of the Weather clas-
ses would be utterly unknown, at least
in cities for it is only by recruiting
frcm the ranks of women differently
bred, or who have been brought up ra-
tionally, or who have lived in the coun-
try, that the loveliness Of the sex, in
the e. eat towns, is kept up at all.