American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-12-05

to me on dress reform is one from lady
in this county, who says;
cannot refrain from telling ron of the good
70 L e rren e When
eight or nine years old and was very much I'm
pressed with the chapter ghtlacing. have
never nom that time to this worn anything light
aroand my body OF course have always had "A
never saw such a figure In their lives etc, etc.
But have always had vigorous health and have
And here a little result: / am twentysiN,
married and have two children, and nave had
al the s.s sS Nv N e sd
like Dutch woman than an American. for which
have you to thsnk--at least for some OF it
What vulgar creaturel says Mrs.
Backache. as she Tolls amid her cushions,
wondering if the doctor never will give
her anything to cure these terrible at
tacks of headache. and dyspepsia, and
liver complaint, and neuralgia. asd nerv-
BUSINESS, and sleeplessness and general
debility. and all other ailments. while her
puny infant is In the arms of a nurse,
kept At a cost of half her husbands in
come, and draws its mesger "granum"
cruel through foul india-rubber tube!
1t is SO horrid, you know, to be healthy.
so vulgar for u woman to be able to
take care of her own child after the
manner of Coos lawl Ii is SO coarse
not to keep ones bed when one is not
scraping streets with india-rubber
scrapers and ones body for a handle.
Lear me! Why, it's Dutch, and = Dutch"
Is The cro~ping opprobrium simply be
cause il Is the synonym of health In
these latter days To be Dutch is to be
dreadful! g,ernan" is quite genteel
tor we have herman ladies vino are al
most, if Not quite, useless and eXpen
sive rs the American article Do we
with our hollow pretenses OF Protestant
civilization and CT Ill liberty, bought with
- 81, t.
Dutch held Holland through thirty years
of the fiercest war in history; that it was
the sturdy bu-ghers of that most hon
ored land who first taught the world that
the common people, united on point of
conscience, with God for King and Com
mAnder-in Chief, are more than a match
for the prpude,i sovereigns, backed by
the most an.Aent hereditary rig is and
the most unlimited command of treasure
Ii was the Dutch who first met Despot-
ism face to face, and made successful
stand
As descendant of the old Scotch Gov
enanters, the Dutch are the only eople
to whom can do mental obeisance, not
wirhstnnding it Is fashionable, since
Germany has given us SO large voting
population, and logged France, for
America to be polite TO the Germans.
They are q very good class of folks, and
have done the world some service,
Without the German brain there would
be . very large air-channel in the worlds
Uranium; and if German women only
had the back bone to retain in this coun-
try the beautiful and healthy costume of
their native land they would be to US
Godsend indeed; but they have generally
become about as much the bOnd-slaves
of Mrs Grundy, the supple tools of dress.
makers and nurses, as the daughters of
the once proud Pilgrim Fathers, who do
not hesitate to confess themselves SER
wants of servants. ruled out of their own
kitchens by Biddy, fed on whatever she
may please to give them, at cost of
whatever she may please to make it;
ruled out of their own wardrobes by
dressmakers, totally ignorant of the
natural outlines of the bodies they
dress, and whose principal qualification
for their business is impudence; ruled
out of their own nurseries by ignorant
nurses, who live by the helplessness and
disease they load with fulsome batteries,
Statesmen and statisticians tell us that
foreigners are to take this country, be-
cause of the physical degeneracy of
American women, and the small number
of children reared by them; but they
have not taken the dressmaker and nurse
into their calculations. SO long AS these
subjugate German and irish women at
the rate they are now doing, so long as
DO0G Out tuC DutCu O6Ic W OOcy tuc
most imperative laws of life, for fear the
dressmaker nurse and Mrs. Grundy will
curl their lips in scorn-so long there is
little danger that our Irish, German
French, Scandinavian and lillian emf
grants of to-day will long hold any
supremacy over the descendants of those
who came over two hundred years ago.
The American dressmaker and nurse
haze an iron bedstead. on which they
promptly regulate all differences of STAT
: ne among the various people that com
pose our nation; and, by its rule, the
maximum biIth-rate of the foreigner
soon reaches the minimum of the native
born.
The cook, the dressmaker and the
nurse are the trinity which rules the
census of this country; for our ladies
have generally been too lately lifted
from humble stations to have learned the
art of governing households. The habit
Of command only comes through genera
tions of culture; and our arisIocracy OF
wealth found yesterday live in q state OF
chronic war with the servants whc
hope to displace them tomorrow. Sc
your American lady, weighed to the
earth by tine silks, velve 8, laces and jew
els necessary to advertise her husbands
success in business, becomes the easy
prey of Idly, not yet broken on the
wheel of fine ladyhood, and mistakes
her dressmaker for the autocrat OF
destiny in dress and the nurse in general
department! As these arbiters of fate
are generally persons of narrow intel
lects and well-sharpened wits, and it is tC
their immediate interest to cultivate the
dependence on which they depend, oul
domestic history teens with repetition.
of the old story of Queen Ann and Lady
Churchill; of mattresses held in most de
grading bondage by their own servants
As in that case, 50 in these, physica
vig0r WAS the plus which overbalancet
legitimate authority, wealth and socia
position in the sum total of the problem
81 long as u wOman's servants can rul
her through her physical disability, AM
incr ease this ut will, SO long she is thei
tool, instead of mistress or employer.
The dressmaker who sneers at the fen
mime form rs God made it, and as tn
- greatest artists and poets the world ha
eAnSas, and In immortal song, is sin
-4yE an impairment ignoramus, AN
should be treated as such. The nurs
who seeks to cultivate helplessness b
making vigorous health a something q
which the possessor should be ashame
il akin to the witches who plotted tn
destruction Of Macbeth. They are delit
erate impoos6D or self-deceived de
ceivers, o. whom sensible women shout
beware.
There ID nothing in which women NOR
need the aid of man than in seekin
emancipation from the tyranny of dres
mAkera and nurseS-thOse suhiu ora toy