Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1871-09-22
Men and Muscle.
by ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS.

From the Independent -a WADE f#
Tn the Introduction of women to
the competitions OF selfsuppport.
Ing life we are met by am immediate
and powerful difficulty. rg
The physical strength Of men gives
them, at the start, a serious advant-
age. Their capital OF muscle and
sinew Is ut once the gift of heaven
and the care of earth. By the sim,
plest principles of political economy
a man has as much right to reap the
profits of 1t as any capital reap
them he has and does If this great
stock in trade mrst, in the nature OF
things, remain forever In its present
proportions I'm his hands, reap them
he always will. eu# IN 5af'a J}gt
s"The ill~health OF women,n said
an able and experienced physician,
"is, after all, a puzzle to me. | cans
not satisfy myself with any su6i.
cient and Philosophical explanation OF
it.n W -#..rs = ..E. dina, - -s..st t..,.
Probably the sufficiency and philo
sophy of any such explanation are
beyond the limits of anything but
medical treatise to discuss; proba-
bly, no medical treatise has as yet
compassed them. .a......-.... .
Undoubtedly, however. there are
four causes for the feeble health 0i
women. any one OF which is enough,
to account for an immense amount ol
Ii. ..........a .-....-..... q.
The first In consideration is their
dress. First, perhaps, in point oi
Importance their occupations. Add
to this their unhappiness and the
character of their education. We
should have in the sum total the suf-
ficient reason for the crippling of u
world of Hugger- Muggers. III men
were put under only one of the four
conditions which limit women, they
would find the proportions Of their
superior vigor reduced to AN
extent the effect Of which upon their
character, is no flight of the in,agi.
nation to say, would be very revolu.
tionary. #4'H aat uaviH i .zags
When we consider what an intri-
cate system of defiance to all known
physiological laws, n woman's dress
has become; the tender age at which
this defiance begins, and the relent-
less pressure of IL upon the formative
and recuperative energies of the con-
stitution; the murderous thinuess
and scantiness of her underdress
the effect of the absence of fiannels
and the custom of barring the neck
and arms, upon the sensitive tissues
of the lungs and heart the check Ia
all even circulation Of the skin In.
fiicted by the imperfect aud com,
pressed covering of her feet and
hands, the unhealthy heat OF the
head, consequent on the manner In
which custom requires her to collect
her hair ints wad of padding at the
base of the brain; the clasp OF a rack
of steel and wbalebone about all the
vital organs of the body; the straight
snap with which the seams of her
dress meet about her shoulder, arms,
and chest; the results inevitably up
on making the hips the pivot upon
which all the motion Of her bod Y
must swing In walking--if, indeed,
we apply that term to the infantine
toddle with which women are driven
to get about the world above all, the
unreasonable and cruel custom which
cnmpels her TO drop heavy skirts
about her lower limbs and
feet. thus endangering her life on all
occasions, her health on any but a
dry summer day. and her sell. .reli
ance forever. 1--WE may quote I'm
this connection the opinion OF well
known New York physician
IA short succession OF sudden
trips, mis.steps, or blunders will
speedily exhaust even the strongest
man. And there is no doubt but that
the present style of long skirts for
ladies' dresses-requiring, as it does,
constant. uncertain, often unsuccess-
ful efforts to snatch the skirt away
from the advancing feet, to keel
them from tripping the getting into
stages and ascending stairs In crouch.
ing, unsteady attitudes, holding NJ
the dress mean time; and all similar
spasmodic efforts, require such fear.
ful expenditure OF nervous euergy Y
that 10 Is Of itself sufficient I'm many
cases TO bring on train of the most
distressing symptoms ~ H#. Cd 8.
When we consider the extent to
which the common occupations or a
woman deprive her Of the open air of
exercise, OF change of scene, of nc.
quaintance with the world; OF the
extent TO which they are adapted to
produce all the varieties of sedentary
disease when we consider the un-
limited influence of the mind upon
the body, of happiness upon health,
and the brooding morbidness and
acute suffering which the lives of
women 80 largely induce i'm them
shall We find Ii matter of surprise
that women as race are diseased
and feeble, and are bestOwing upon
the world future legacy of diseased
and feeble children Shall we wrap
this creature away In q shawl TO die,
and say with sorrowful assurance -
Behold woman 'as God made her Pr
Woman as God made I? As man
and the Devil and her own cowardice
have made her God never made
such women as are cradling the next
generation In this land to-day. Side
by side with "female illiteracy,u -
female feebleness IL running q race
among US. Neglected brains and
tortured bodies are working their
own sure way upon our actual and
possible mothers. Thoughtful ply
sicians are perplexed and alarmed -
Huxley and Dar vim cannot save us.
We are beautiful, useful aud eleva-
ted order of animals the world has
done the right thing by us; IL has
stalled and fed us it has petted and
praised US who can complain 2 IL
may be inconvenient to find the an
inaps resentment of some mistake Q
In the treatment resulting In the de-
terioration Of the stock, and the loss
OF Its valuable traits; but it is very
logical, it 10 severely natural, it all
came about somehow from dprotO-
plasnl," and beyond "protopiasmp
who shall dare to speculate /? M I.rr.
But perhaps the most Significant OF
the patent causes Of woman's physi-
cal inferiority is the education to
which she is subjected. A man IL
trained to be strong. A woman 10
trained not to be. Good health Is er.
pected OF = man. Ill.health is en-.
Pectsd OF q woman. In this simple
difference lies coiled complex in-
huence. The expectations Of society
are TO an all but mathematical extent
the limits OF the individual. What
others look for In us, that we are.-
The worlds theory Of us In our fact.
We know ourselves generally only
as our neighbors guess at us.
II remains for us to learn how far
the physical disabilities Of woman
are necessary or contingent to her.
Savage people, and ruder ages are
and were ignorant Of the accident ol
much physicAl inferiority which civ.
ilized women Of to-day consider the
substance Of existence,
Yet have neither Bushmen nor
Pilgrim mothers ever been the index
OF their own physical powers for
women have never yet been mis-
tresses Of their own physical train.
Ing. Man's muscular Christi nifty IL
an impulse, woman'sa q rssponse bis
. asystem, hers an appendage; his
empirical; hers experimental.
Will . woman 20 TO the ONCE In 3
ele0t.9tOrm 0r run knr tha dr.Cfnv mr..