Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-10-18
DELICATE LADIES.

JCnb al JlClC OpOh NNlAOotO 1oNiCoJ |
recommended that instead Of the |
refined medical treatment they re-
ceive in their luxuriant parlors they
should be banged about by Swedish
cures, and kneaded by
steam rollers. The Chicago AL
lance goes still further in this mat
ter, and asserts that a powerful
cause Of that fact called frail wo-
men is a want of intellectual force.
There are many men and women,
the Alliance, who are i'll
from want of brains. They suffer
a voluntary decline because they
do not possess the brain power that
offers the blood any inducement to
circulate. Following out this argu-
ment, the samewriter remarks that
pluck is a wonderful agent in
throwing off disease, and that will
power will surpass pill power in
nine cases out Of ten.
While we agree partially with
both of these writers, it seems to
us that they generalize in a wild
sort of way upon a subject which
unfortunately has become almost
too ripe for successful and remedial
treatment. Admitting, because it
cannot be denied, that fine ladyism,
partly in the physical sense and
general uselessness, is becoming too
common feature among the wo-
men of the United States, particu-
larly in cities, let us look a little
into the cause of this state of affairs.
The American city child, as a rule,
does not get fair chance to start
Its mothers leading desire is to
keep it pretty. She clothes it in
flimsy garb when it should be warm
ly clad, and keeps it shut up like a
hot-house plant when it should be
out Of doors. 1t is literally washed,
dressed and coddIed, if not to death,
at least to the certainty Of a delicate
and tender future. When the young
girl is fit for school, her intellect il
unnaturally stimulated through the
forcing and competitive system so
much abused in our public and
private schools. She lives
most probably, in house
where the simplest laws of ven,
tilation are set at defiance, anC
where the cooking would most likely
drive a French woman to lunatit
asylum. She becomes young lady
when her English sister has scarcely
emerged from pinafores; she get
her little head, fresh from a high
pressure, double-action crammins
establishment, filled with beaux
parties, firtations, marriage anC
trashy novels. Her intellectual fac
ulties are first strained to their ut
most tension, and then her emo
tional nature is abnormally devel
oped and exhausted. What wonder
when she comes to marry at from
eighteen to twenty-five, that thil
already exhausted frame shoulC
break down after the first or sec
ond of those pleasing punishment
which try so fearfully a woman'l
strength? What w0nder that hal
of our woman to-day are nervous
whining, dissatisfied invalids? vii
power, indeed! What becomes O
your will power when the nervous
system has been permanently shat
tered, and the system run to seeC
from overstrain of the mental fac
ulties? AS well ask'a crippled mar
to walk as to expect a worn-ou
brain to rouse itself and act. A
for the heroic treatment recon-
mended in nine cases out of ten i
would simply kill. Wedo not speal
Of that class of women who affec
fine ladyism, so-called, who are tn,
mainstay of the fashionable physi
clan whose divine mission it is Il
lol, to cultivate nerves and sensi
bility ~ banging and kneadinl
would do these people 2 vast amour
Of good-but Of the Thousands o
pale, worn out, small -boned, blood
less creatures, whose lives are on
prolonged suffering, either from
positively marked disease OF genera
! listlessness. Such cases need rest
The physician must begin with th,
mind, and then attend to the body
With repose of mind, and o feeling
of peace around the heart, woul,
come that strength of will which il
to make the body strong. Happi
: ness is woman's best tonic, worl
the offspring Of that happiness
Where the emotional nature is a
peace, the body, even when dis
cased, will make an effort Of itsel
to regain its natural yigor. 1t is.
unfortunately, the case that man,
women are unable, through power
ty, domestic inlelicity, and othe
causes, to court that sunshine o
the soul which is the truost physi
clan. The spirit once thoroughly
broken there is no hope for tn
body. Where such is the case
sense Of duty alone can sustain th,
frail casket in its round of dali,
cares. Those who write so authori
, tativelv upon n subject which IL /,