New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-02-12
THE LOST WOMAN.

THE LOST WOMAN.
We Americans are prominently n common
sensible people We are getting rid every day
of some venerable relic of sentiment or super
stition stripping the rags of romance of OF
every one of our old traditions or household
gods. Now it is the Father Of his Country
who is proved TO have been only an iDtOlerable
prig now it is benevolent Penn. the Philadel-
phia Dagon, who is cast down and trampled
under foot as a Pccksniflian old miser. Anon
William Tell and Robin Hood, those faithful com
patriots Of our boyhood, are summoned 20 judg-
ment and we are frenzied with delight at being
able to prove them to be nothing but myths.
There Is not. let US rejoice, an arrow
from their culver or fiutter OF
Maid Maran's gown left to hand down TO our
children We ourselves humbly claim to have
done our part in The good work. Finding
charming love story aud the graceful pathetic
figure of an Indian giIl away back among
those misty traditional days, with her arms
about the white captiyos neck and her own
body interposcd to receive the mortal blow wa
took it to pieces the other day, and proved II
indisputably to be instead the hideous figure Oh
"a copper cOl0red wantOn. turning summersaults
in the public square. For which we claim the
gratitude of all good little boys and girls yet
unborn.
II IS the intention of this age to hand down
to the next nothing but truth bald aud naked.
We have grappled one familiar popular creed
after another and torn them to pieces to get
nt the few bones of facts inside. Our children
shall not have a single Cinderella lett re-
,plcndent in her chariot of pearl. Twelve
o'clock has already sounded. The enchanted
garments are forever rags; the fairy chariot
but pumpkin.
Yet despite our prowess in the matter OF Po-
cahontas, we confess. after al. to being human
We have q single weakness remaining. Thegc
is one idol which we cannot let go without u
otralm. Yet, its doom is sealed
When the iCouoclastic hands of the rctOrmer
were first laid upon the Domestic Woman our
Judgment consented, but our heart ached fore
bodingly. We saw her dragged from tho fire.
side and placed upon the RESTRAIN without
word The necessities of the age required IT.
BuS we kept like all other men. hidden ont OF
sight, the old ideal, Lovely Woman" the
ministcring ANGEL The vision has 40 many
names, but we all know it az beautiful as 1T
ia pure as tender as strong ~ full oil. grace
in body as in soul. With this ideal we have
followed at high.pressurc rate the real woman.
tugging after her out of breath to the lecture
room, the convention, the clinic. desperately
trying to reconcile the two. They should be
one, we were resolved The New Woman
should be developed to the extreme limit OF
her wish, and yet We and the world would
not lose the sweet, gracious Presence OF home.
But the note OF our discontinue has been
sounded. 1t ia bat piping cry, but to our
prophetic souls it. signifies defeat. 1t comes
from PHILADELPHIA. The Female Medical Stu
dents of Florence, New Jersey, appeared IN
that city the other day simultaneously with tho
Prince. and utterly threw His Royal Highness
in the background by the first presentmcnt OF
their attire IL WAS IL something unknown be-
fore ID the heavens or III the earth, consisting
of a mans gray trOwsers and black kersey
sacdue, and a wOman's bonnet With the late
untimeIy fate of the mocking students of the
University still fresh in their minds, no Phla-
dclphan dared to smile at these members OF
the stronger sex; hat the journals entered u
mild protest III the name OF tast-departIng
beauty and grace. In reply to this we have
the prOnuncamiento of tho ladies. IL IS calm,
brief, dc!nitivc.
No woman who does DOs wear the Slofchce
costume can he healthy herself or give birth to
healthy child
The kuell has sounded. Tight gray trowsers
and kersey coats are to be the ultimatum of
female physicians with their patients. The
day of fluttering pumcs of laces, of imperial
velvets. dazzling silks, lovable morning mus
Inns, il over. We submit. If the health OF
future generations aud tight gray trousers and
kersey coats are put before us, Of necessity we
choose the former We are Christians and
philanthropists. But we do it with grpngs of
soul that cannot be uttered. We bid farewell
to our ideal. 1t, too, is myth; gone, with
Maid Marian and PocahOntas, TO the land OF
departed spirits We have held to it Loyalty.
SO great was our faith. that We could detect
the mnistcring angel behind any disguise; III
the most fantastic of paniers; in Miss An
thongs stern bluutness, or Phoebe Couzzcns
pretty eloquence; in the Dutch Fraus worsted
Jacket, or in Du Chaillu's negro hOstess'S oily
skin. But when 1t comes TO tight gray trow-
sers and kcrscy coats Welcome the Age OF
Reason. But Eheu Femin0
-~---~---------------
The World says: