Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1870-08-19
[Applause.
1 thank you, fellow citizens. again
forthis expression ofyour confidence
and regard. Applause.
A Little Sermon for Young Ladies'.

If there is anything in the way of
essay, sermon. satire or threat, that
can avail aught tn extirpate the fol-
lies of fashionable customs, to which
our young women are such slavish
subjects. at the expense Of health,
comfort, and true conct r.tion of
the beautiful, we say, let US hear
it. The eminently- sensible DR.. Dio
Lewis breaches the following ser
mon through the Boston Congrega-
tionalist His words are not whit
too strong. We wish parents,
brothers, and husbands, would
combine all the forces of persuasion,
influence, ridicule, and force, if re-
quired, to induce a change in the
dress and customs of young women
The abuse of themselves in these
things is shameful. Says DR.. Lew
is:
Now, ladies, will preach to you
just little sermon, about an inch
long. 1 don't often preach, but in
this case nothing but sermon will
do.
First, You are perfect idiots to
go on in this way. Your bodies
are the most beautiful of Gods Gre
ations. In the Continental galleries
l always saw groups of people gath
cred about the pictures of women
1t was not passion, the gazers were
iuot os lil<aIu fn ha monoap nc mar i.
it was because of the wondrous
beauty of a woman's body.
Now stand with me at my office
window, and see lady pass. There
goes one! now isn't that a pretty
looking object? A big hump, three
big Jumps, wilderness of crimps
and frills, a hauling up of the dress
here and there, an enormous, hide
Gus mass of false hair or bark piled
on top of her head, surmounted by
little fat, ornamented with bits of
lace, birds tails, etc. The shop
windows tell US all day long, of the
paddings, whalebones, and steel
springs, which occupy most of the
space within thai outside rig
In the name of all the simple,
sweet sentiments that cluster about
home, l would ask, how is a man
to fall in love with such a piece of
compound, doubled and twisted
touch-me-not artiticiality, as you
see in that wiggling curiosity?
Secondly, with that wasp waist,
squeezing your lungs, stomach,
liver, and other vital organs, into
one half their natural size, and with
that long trail dragging on the
ground, how can any man of sense
who knows that life is made up of
use, of service, of work, low can he
take such a partner2 He must be
desperate indeed to unite himself
for life with such a fettered, half
breathing ornament!
Thirdly, your bad dress and lack
of exercise LEAD to bad health, and
men wisely fear that Instead of a
helpmate they would get an invalid
to take care Of This bad health
in you, just as in men, makes the
mind as we'll as the body faddled
and effeminate. You have no pow
er, no magnetism! l know you
giggle freely and use big adjectives,
such as splendid" "awful," but,
then, this don't deceive us; we see
through it all. You are superficial,
affected, silly; you have none of
that womanly strength and warmth
which are so assuring and attractive
to man. Why, you have become
so childish and weak minded that
you refuse to wear decent names
even, and insist upon baby names.
Instead of Helen, Margaret, and
Elizabeth, you affect Nellie, Mag
gle, and Lizzie. When your broth
ers were babies you called them
Bobby, Dickey, and Johnny, but
when they grow up to manhood, no
more of that silly trash, if you
please. But l know a woman of 20
years, and she is as big as both of
my grandmothers put together, who
insists upon being called Kitty, and
her real name is Catharine, and al
though her brain is big enough to
conduct the affairs of State, she
does nothing but giggle, cover up
her face with her fan, and exclaim
once in four minutes, Don't, now,
you are real mean"
How can a man propose life
partnership to such ,. silly goose
My dear girls, you must, if you
would get husbands, and decent
ones, dress in plain, neat becoming
garments, and talk like sensible,
earnest sisters.
You say that the most sensible
men are crazy after these butterflies
of fashions. | beg your pardon, it
is not so. Occasionally a man of
brilliant success may marry silly,
weak woman, but to say, as 1 have
heard women say hundred times,
that the most sensible men choose
women without sense, is simply alb
surd. Nineteen times in 90, sensi-
BILE men choose sensible women. II
grant you that in company they are
very likely to chat and toy with
those overdrrssed and forward
creatures, but they don't ask them
to go to the altar with them.
Fourthly. Among the young men
in the matrimonial market, only a
very small number are indepen-
IDENTIFY rich, aud in America, such
very rarely make good husbands.
But the number of those who are
just beginning in life, who are
filled with noble ambition, who
have future, is very large. These
are worth having. But such will