Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-06-26
COrset5 In the south.

Occasionally there strays into our hands
a periodical called The American Freed
man, published in New York and Philadel-
phia, under the auspices of The Ameri-
can Freedman's Union Commission" The
June number is now before us, and con-
tains some startling revelations. Let us,
before referring specifically to thesef pre-
mise that this is emphatically, feminine
publication. tits the organ OF the ''school
marms." TIE association which issues it
Is under female control. It has eighty
male officers in Philadelphia, and sixty
eight women "Chairnaen and Secretaries.
All the communications are from adventu-
rous females, and, mutually enough the sub
jects about which they write have a femi-
nine tinge. But this June number, we re-
greet to say, reveals signs Of decided re-
action in favor of slavery, and that, too, on
q subject of intensely feminine Interest,"
These ladies who have gone South are emf
nently the friends of development, mental
and physical. They think, and rightly
too, that neither the human mind, black
or white, nor the human body, should be
subject to artificial restraints. Physically,
they glory in the Venus of Milo or Medici
unhampered by dress, or Hottentot beau
ties developed in other directions. Judge,
therefore, their surprise, when they dis
CONoIcu, III OOutu SaEOllud, ludI Tie ATSl
tendency Of the freedwoman-the emanci-
pated negress-was to check the exuberant
development natural to the race, and to
put on corsets and lace tightly. The fol
lowing are literal quotations. the italics not
being ours:
Miss Laura NJ. Towne depicting the ignorance
and superstition in ST. Helen Island, 8. Co. writes:
" The need Of mental culture is so great that all
other needs seem OF less Importance" The vices
Of domestic tyranny, unceanliness, playing,
smoking, drinking, and tight tdc9lg against
which slavery guarded from the self interest OF
the owner, can now only be overcome by educa-
ton.
In letter of a late date Miss Laura
writes : "The women and girls are just ia
king the idea of tight lacing," and then
she adds
In short, are to keep constantly on the alert
by some aspect of the old enemy, generally in such
uatters were before regulated by the Old slave
'wners, the people having intelligent lea son
given them for the necessity OF the order they had
20 obey. Instruction must now remedy this.
Now, such a report must present start
ling and perplexing problem to the Phila-
delphia ladies to whom it is made, every
me of whom is ct this moment encased in
that feminine garment composed of mus
lin and whalebone, known as Il corset, and
laced up to the full extent of the elasticity
of the female form. Are not the freed wo-
men entitled to the same privilege ? If
white Mrs. A. or Mrs. B. or Miss P. can
lace tightly, why shall not Topsy do the
same thing ? They, we mean the white
women, have all been to school-learned
their catechism and their commandments,
which Miss Gould (another marm) says the
negroes learn with difficulty, especially the
eighth, and yet they all wear corsets. How,
hen, is it that education" and ''instruc-
5ion,'' according to Miss Laura, can pre-
vent the negroes from lacing themselves
1p? But how is it, we venture to ask,
hat the women of South Carolina are able
20 get corsets A pair of corsets, we are
redibly informed, costs at least three or
four dollars. This is large outlay for
poor negro woman. Is it possible they are
furnished gratis by the Freedmens Bureau
We should not be at all surprised.
Philadelphia Age.