The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1860-05-02
American Women.

Anerican Women.
The feeble health of the women Of Amer
ica is fast becoming, says writer in the
Waltham Mass Sentinel, or rather fear
has already become proverbial; and the
lately published Registration Report for
1855, presents some striking and alarming
facts. In examining the record of death
and the long list Of fatal maladies, we find
= very striking equality in the numbers OF
deaths Of males and females arising from
many diseases. For instance, the large
number of no persons died in this State
during the year Of typhus fever. It seems
marvellous that the deaths should have been
divided between males and females with
such an approach to exact equality, as the
following figures show, viz: 3ss males, and
3s2 females.
Again, under the head of convulsions,
We find total, (including two where the sex
was not recorded) 4O2; and of these, 2O2
were males, and 200 females. OF the BAT
deaths from scarlatina, 173 were of males
and ia of females The striking equality
proves that there was no special cause ex-
erting an injurious influence upon either
sex.
Referring now to consumption, We might
expect to find similar state of things; but
no, it is strangely and sadly different. Ex-
clud;ng the deaths below 10 and over GO, for
reasons suggested in the report, viz: That
wasting and decay, arising from old age or
constitutional weakness, were often Gro
neously returned under the head of con-
sumption and excluding also the deaths
between 40 and 60, when there is nearly an
equality, and when any special causes wo'd
probably produce their effects, we obtain
this remarkable result: Total deaths from
consumption between the ages of 10 and
40, $3.50; of these but 966, or 81 per cent.
are of men, while 1924, or nearly 63 per.
cent. are Of women. Between 10 and 80
the difference is still greater; during this
period the deaths of females are 1923 out
Of 1,735, j. e., nearly IS per cent. 10 to
So that we shall not be far from the truth
in saying, that Of the deaths from consump-
ton between the ages of 10 and 25, those
of females are to those of males as Q to l..
Here evidently is indicated, in language
too plain to be misunderstood, the existence
of some special cause producing consump-
ton among females out of all reasonable
proportion; and which does not act in the
case of fcvers and of many other diseases.
1t may be said that the woman's more deli
cate organization renders her more susccp-
tible to the attacks of disease; but if her
organization is sensitive and delicate, it is
also endowed with great powers of cndur-
ancc. Besides, the same thing might be
said in regar to typhus fever; but statistics
disprove the hypothesis; and moreover,
men from their occupations are much more
exposed to the danger of consumption than
women are, at least by any necessity But
it is illogical to seek in the dark distance
for causes, when all.sufficient ones lie open
before our eyes. Look ut the dress of the
women. .. -.t -... ....
Enslaved by tyrannlcal fashions imported
from the central city of immortality and des-
potism; with head dress that may do we'll
enough in . temperate climate for lady
who never goes out but in carriage, or the
nursery woman in shaded gardens, but
criminally absurd where the sun burns
with all but tropical power, and where the
intense cold pcnetrates the skull and stops
the action Of the brain; with their necks,
and, shame to their regard both for health
and modesty, more than what is entitled to
be so called, exposed one moment to the
heated air Of . ballroom, and another to
blasts like those which froze the blood of
the stern Pilgrim Fathers; with arms pin
ioned to their sides, with shoulder blades
displaced and back bones twisted by steel
bound corsets that compress the chest and
contract the waist till it is wasp-like, in de-
fiance alike of the laws of health and of
physical beauty, as glance at the classic
models of Greece or at the pictures of the
middle ages would show thcm-a beauty
which consists not in the artificial forms in
vented by men or women, but in the free
and full development of that glorious or
ganism which God has given as the temple
Of the soul with form contracted by fash.
ion imported from the gardens, not of Par
adise, but Of Paris loaded with skirts and
silks that trail through the varied filth of
the streets and sidewalk, that ruin their
husbands and decrease that ease in walking
for which American ladies are so renowned
with shoes so thin that stout man would
catch cold through them at once; with
general thinness of dress and recklessness
Of exposure which need say no more of,
for every man that cares for the modesty
and health and happiness Of his country
women, gazes at them with wonder and
sorrow.
Why need we seek further to learn how it
is that the American women, who are frc-
quently said to be the most beautiful in the
civilized world, are so frail and delicvte, and
die SO early: As the moral law can never
be violated without degradation to the soul,
and the absolute certainty Of retribution
here or hereafter, SO all violations Of the laws
of physical health cause injury to the body,
and bring with them the inevitable penal
ties of disease. And the American moth
crs are to some extent responsible for these
wasted lives, and for the heart-rending sor-
row that is brought to many bereaved
husband and orphaned child. But in this
free country they have not real independ-
encc enough to preserve their daughters
modesty and health, if some cast-off French
fashion lays upon them its irresistible laws,
and that ugly tight jacket, with half skirt,
any woman in the streets "oq fhu fflhPutsae uta
now be put upon the virtuous daughters Of
New England mothers.
The small waist is the beauty Of wasp,
and not off woman; and the trailing in the
mud Of costly silks is more suited for spend
thrifts than for the wives Of simple Ameri-
can citizens.
sleep.
The Sandusky Register has decided to
give the world the following most valuable
"Rules, for going to sleep:
RULES F0R GOING TO SLEEP.
| l. Fix the thoughts ON some one thing.
II you can't do that, fix them on two
things. FiS EN-! You can easily unfix
them after you once get to sleep.