The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1862-04-25

This Is the most momentOus health prob.
lem with which we have a. deal, ~ secure
the proper physical advantages Of civilizatiJ "a
| for American women Without this there
can be no lasting progress, The Sandwich
Island proycrh says
elf strong be tho frame Of the mother
Her sons shall make laws for the people,
But ~ this country il j. scarcely o. oXns.
gcratl1n 10 LAY that every man grows to ma
turity surrounded by circle Of invalid le.
male relatives, lac, later, finds himself the
husband of an invalid wife, aud the parent
Of invalid daughters. and that he comes at
last 10 regard inyalilism, rs Michclct coolly
observes, the normal condition Of that sex.
Us II the Almighty did not know how to ere
ate woman. This, Of course spread, "A
gloom over life. When look at the morning
throng Of school girl in summer. hurryins
through every street, with fresh, young E,cc-,
and vesture Of lilies, duly curled, straw ha,.
ted and and booted, and turned olT a. par.
tiers Oi perfection by proud mamas-is il not
sad 10 think that all this young beauty must
one day fade and diey for there are sphere.
Of life beyond hi. carthI know, aud the soul
j. good 10 endure through more than one tho
sadness j. in the unnatural ncarnc-s Of the
decay, 10 iorcscr the living death Of disease
that Is waiting ~ close NJ hnhd for - man..
to know how terrible proportion Of these
fair children are walking unconsciou.ly into
u weary, wrctchci, ppwrrlc.s, ioylcss. use.
less maturity. Among the myriad trumphs
Of advancing civilization, there seems but one
formidable danger, and that is here
IL cannot be- doubted however. TINT the
peril will pass by,with advancing knowledge.
la the meantime, we must look Tor the proofs
Of the physical resources Of the women into
foreign, aud even into savage hands. When
an American mother tells me with pride. rs
occasionally happens, that her daughter can
walk two miles and back without great IA
tguc, the very boast seems tragedy; but
when one read. that Obcrca, queen of the
Sandwich Islands, lifted Capt; Wallis over a
marsh n easily n ii he had been n little
child, there il a slight sense of consolation 49,
BnrnhIde in the "Nibclungen," binds her
offending lover with her girdlc and sings
him up TO the wall. Cymburga, wife Of the
Duke Ernest OF Llthuania, could crack nuts
between her fingers. and drive nails into a
wall with her thumb; whether she got her
husband under i is not recorded, Let me
preserve from Oblivion the rcnowu Of my La.
dy But'criicli, who about the year 100, ut
Wan,tcad, in Essex, England thus adyer.
tlscd This is 10 give notice to my honored
masters and ladies and loving friends, that
my Lady Bu'rerhcld gives challenge to ride
a horse, or leap horse, or run afoot, or hOl.
10, with any woman in England, seven years
younger, because won't underyauc myself.
being Il years # age" Nor should she be
lett unrccordcd, the high born Scottish dam.
sell whose tradition still remains at the castle
Of lluntingtowcr, in Scotland, where two ad
iaccnt rinnacl"s still mark the Maidcn's
Leap. She sprang from hattlemcnt to battle
mcnt, a distance Of nine feet four inches and
/ elopcd with her lover. Were lady to 90
| through one Of our villages in a series Of leaps
ike that aud were she to require her lovers
t. follow in her footsteps, it is to be feared that
she would die single INtntic.