Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-04-24
Fashionable Suicide.
BY MAY WHITNEY.

rivers and fill our morgues, and make des'
olate our once happy homes, a proportion
of at least twO-thirds are women. rms
estimate does not include the unnumber-
| ed multitude of women who die yearly,
victims of long-continued attempts at
selfmurder, over whose bodies the rites
of Christian burial are performed at
whose graves sOrrowful friends beWall
the special dispensatiOns which removed
them from earth in the flower of youth
and womanhoOd, no one knowing that
their daisy decked mounds conceal the
awful secret of suicide.
We see them everywhere, those fading
blossoms which the frosts of death will
blast, ere their fair lives reach the
day of golden fruitage. Or if the frost
delay little, vauquished by the I'M
quenchable summer in the veins of youth,
and the fruit grows fair and shapely to-
ward maturity, the hidden worm which
gnaws ever at the life-center, triumDhs at
last, and it falls shriveled to the dust.
How numerous they are, those blasted
lives, whose insidious disease no skill can
discover, let the tear-swollen eyes, and
| quivering lips, and sOb-shaken breasts all
over the land reply.
81 cannot imagine what ails my daugh-
| ter" father once said to me; ''she was
as strong child as one could wish to see.
| She had no transmitted disease of any
| kind, and we gave her the the most care
full training, physically; yet, within few
years, she has lost all her bounding, beau
! tifying health, and lies on her bed most
| of the time, just wasting away"
"What does her physician say?'
"He seems unable to help her. At
first, he called it general debility then
it was spinal Affection then her heart
was the cause of the disease; then her
lungs seemed to be the offending mem
bers; now believe he calls it 'consump-
ton of the bowels Myopinion is, that
he does not know aohat ails her."
''Well, my dear sir" | said, firmly, 81
know what ais your daughter. She is
committing sulclde."
The afflicted father lifted both his
hands, and stared at me in open-mouthed
horror.
Il know what l say. She made the
first attempt at Madame Boullards Semi
nary ten years ago. l saw her do 1t my
| self. / have since seen it repeatedly, and
| am certain it is the cause of her present
| condition"
"Why, in heavens name, did you not
| tell her mother or MYSELF" he gasped.
you would not have believed it posi-
| bic. | used all my influence to dissuade
her from the deed, but to no avail. Come
to her room, and | will prove what |
say"
The pale sufferer still insisted upon
robing herself each day as usual. She
half reclined upon low couch, trying to
rise as we entered, but sinking back ex-
| hausted. She looked wOndrOusly beau
tiful at that moment Her golden hair
| t1oated about her like waves of sunshine;
| her luminous blue eyes were full of weird,
unearthly brilliance; a rich carnation
| bloOmed upon her cheeks and Hps-an
ominous flush like a gorgeous sunset
which precedes night. Her dainty, white
dress, with its lace-edged ruffles, was
"faultily faultless;" her feet were encased
in the tiniest of slippers. Altogether, she
| looked quite the reverse of self-mur-
| derer The father looked into her face
and disbelieved it instantly.
took from the table one of her school
books-a physiology to the dia-
gram showing the natural form of a
the organs it contains, with the opposite
plate, showing deformity caused by com,
preston. | read from it:
at is of the greatest importance that
the motions of the chest and abdomen
should not be interfered with. Freedom
of action is absolutely essential here,
where the lower portion of the lungs,
| liver, spleen, stomach, etc, are located.
The important organs of respiration, the
diaphragm, is also here. Compress these
parts, and the diaphragm is hampered in
its action, respiration is partially stopped,
| the lungs and heart compressed, the stOm
ach and liver either forced out of place,
or what is worse, squeezed into half the
space they would naturally occupy. The
portal circulation is INSTRUCTED, and the
viscera become the seat of venous en-
gorgement."
"That is precisely the condition of your
daughter, my dear friend" said "Looh
at her even to-day, weak as she is, diff
cult as her lungs would ind this labor o.
publication at any time or her heart it,
enormous work of forcing out through
it's ventricles three ounces Of blood at each
stroke, doing daily work equal to lifting
one hundred and t1centy-three tens one foot
from its Level, she has compressed the
room in which they labor to almost hall
its natural size, crushing the heart against
its walls, entirely closing at least one-hal1
of the lung cells, and deluging her bowels
| Will impure DlOOu, WHICH DIouuCtS con
gestion and inflammation. A natural
waist for woman Of her size would
measure from twenty eight to thirty -four
inches, if never artificially compressed
Cora, what is the size Of your corsets?"
eighteen inches" she answered Ian
guidly, signing.
''From ten to fourteen inches less room
in chest not grain too large for the all
important organs contained in it! Nc
wonder she is dying, sir. This I cal
suicide I"
The poor father was shocked indeed
He had Never invaded the sacred pre-
cincts of feminine mysteries )" he "Sup
posed her mother ought to know" And
so ought all mothers to know that with the
first half-inch of compression about the
waist-none too large when natural fol
either beauty or life-their daughters be
gan the crime of telo de Sc. How many OF
them do know the fact? How many OF
them realize that disease of liver, dys
pepsia and consumption are legitimate
results of such compression? That de-
formities of the worst character are pro
duced in that manner-deformities OF
shoulder, Of spine, of hip; deformities OF
temper and mind-for impure blood flow.
ing to the brain will cause all varieties OF
derangements-all physicians know, at
last. Why acW not mothers and daughters
be convinced?
We are told on every side that slen
der waist is beautiful. Who has made it
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