Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-05
OUR YOUNG GIRLS.
Sensible Views of a WOman's Rights
Woman.

ana the equality or the sexes, delivered
lecture in st. Louis few nights ago, from
which the following extracts are taken:
A HEALTHY YOUNG GIRL
Mrs. Stanton took up the most impor.
tant branch of her subject first-the health
of our young girls, and handled it in an
able and sensible manner. She explained
the causes of so much sickness and feeble.
ness in young women, attributing theil
physical maladies chiefly to their mode OF
dressing. In the coming years we will
have no more sickness. When about tC
write her lecture, she asked herOw daugh-
tiers how she should treat the subject, and
they told her TO write just in the way that
she was in the habit of talking to them.
All our customs, she said, are based on the
idea that women are intended to please
men, not by the attractions of the mind,
but by the mere physical power of their
beauty and the decorations of dress.
Women seek to make themselves attrac.
tive TO men by making themselves help
less. Some men fOolishly say that a
woman Unsexes herself when she acts
naturally.
WHERE We GET OUR FASHIONS.
Our fashions, said Mrs. Stanton, are
sent to us by the French courtezans. She
had often been panied on seeing at fash
iOnable balls the women half naked, while
their brothers were dressed TO the chin.
The true attraction which woman should
have is the attraction by which she can
| lift man up to the realm of purity of
| thought Everything that drags her down
is degrading to herself and him. Dante
drew true picture of the natural posi-
tons of the sexes when he painted
Beatrice on the same plane with himself
''By the law of moral attraction she
attracts man from the hell to the heaven.
She would place women on a level plat
form by the side of men.
THE TRUE CHARMS OF WOMEN.
She said it was no part of the duty of
young girls to attract men by their physi-
cal charms, but it was their duty TO mould
themselves into moral beings The
| charms of the mind are the true charms
that young women should possess, and
these can only be acquired by attending
to the laws of our moral being and aban-
dOning the frivolities of fashion.
sUPERFLUeUs wOMES.
An English author has written an essay
that proves that there are superluOus wO-
men. This is accounted for by the fact
that the large mujority of men are doing
wOmen's work. In this country every
man can find manly occupation, and they
should leave the women a broader field
for labor She was pleased to see the
enterprise of the city of St. Louis that a
bridge is being built, and the Mississippi
is to be damned at KeOkuk. This was
the kind of work for men TO engage in.
Let women be taught to make themselves
useful-tO earn their own bread, so that
they viii not be entirely dependent upon
men. Goethe says: "She is a true We
man who, when her husband dies, can be
the father Of his children
AIR AND EXERCISE.
The lecturer again reverted to the i'm
portance of training young girls to acquire
healthy bodies She advised the girls in
all their gettings to get health. Sick men
and women have sickly views of every
thing. Ordinarily a girl of fourteen is
healthy and happy but when she gets
older and the dressmalker gets hold of her,
a change takes place. She is laced and
pinChed, her toes are squeezed with tight
shoes, her head weighed down with wad
of false hair, and the circulation of her
blood is checked, and she becomes a mop
ing invalid, without energy and without
animation. The long dress prevents free
dom of motion. Air and exercise are
essential to the development of the forms
of girls as well as boys. Daily additions,
full respiration and plenty of sleep should
be INDUCED in. Outdoor exercise is of
great importance.
When on a visit to the University of
Ann ArbOT, Mrs. Stanton had q discus
sion with one of the professors on the
difference between the mode of training
boys and girls. He said girls could not
endure as much as boys, and she thought
they could endure more, and suggested
that if the boys of the University were
laced and pinched and cramped by dress
as the girls are, they would soon languish
and die. Exercises should be regular.
When girl she used to walk five miles
before breakfast, and wore a pair of
boots Just like her fathers, and she was
always healthy and happy. Napoleon
once said, you cannot make a good soldier
out of a sick man.
AMERICAN WOMEN SUPERIOR To ALL OTHERS.
Mrs. Stanton pronounced a glowing
! culogy upon the women of America.
She had often been surprised at their self
possession when mingling with the aristO-
| crazy of EuTOpe-tTeating all classes as
equals, and addressing an emperor with
as little embarrassment as a peasant.
This superiority is, in measure, attribu-
table to the free institutions of this coun-
| try.
''HAGAN's MAGNOLIA BALM.
The lecture was not devoid of touches
| of genteel humOr When speaking of
the prevailing desire of women to appear
! beautiful, Mrs Stanton referred to an adj
vertisement setting forth the gloTies of
"Hagan's Magnolia Balm" which re-
moved freCkles, pimples and blotChes, and
made woman of thirty appear as young
as a girl of eighteen. She advised the
! girls not to use it. What lady of thirty,
She asked, would desire to look like a
foolish girl Of eighteen? Cosmetics and
hair dyes are injurious to health they
contain white lead and other poisOns that
| impair the health and produce weakness
and paralysis. A woman has as good q
right to grow old as a man. She would
| give the girls a recipe better than Hagan' s
| Magnolia Balm. 1t was fresh air and
| exercise, which would beaUtify the COM
| plexion, and did not cost seyenty-tive
| cents q bottle.
TEACH THE GIRLS TO WORK.
Every girl should be taught some useful
| employment, so that she can support her
| self. The helplessness of many of our
| girls, left without the means of taking
care of themselves, leads to their degrade
ton and ruin. Life is hard struggle for
| men who are trained to some useful Occu-
| patton, but how much more so to women
| who arc reared in idleness and luxury,
with every door closed against theml To
morrow misfortune may come to those
who are in affluence to-day, and what will
| become of their daughters unless they are
trained to make living for themselves
| II will be your fault if they fall into the
whirlpool of destruction, because You
have taught them nothing useful
WHAT CAN A GIRL DO2
What can these young girls do for an
honorable support? If you could see half
the letters, said Mrs. s., that come TO me
from girls who have been reared in
afiuence, and are now Outcasts from So
ciety, begging to know how they can re-
trieve themselves, you would see the ne
cessity of bringing your girls up to earn
an honorable support. Women are capa-
bic of learning many things; they can
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