St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-02-02
Fair Play for the Girls.

If 1T were not for the more sensible
methods of dress and diet adopted for
girls while they are growing, within
late years, they would be much farther
behind their brothers than many now
are, in point of health and strength. But
many fond mothers, who give their girls
fair play when young, begin to sacrifice
them to their clothes as soon as they
are big enough to call "romps," if they
are at all natural in their behavior. The
Philadelphia Ledger hits their folly a
deserved blow, in plea for more free
dom for girls. 1t protests against the
system of training "that makes the
young girl of sixteen as anxious to avoid
all causes of injury to her apparel as
her mother was for her when she was
six. The impulse to run, and jump and
bound has been so carefully kept in
check that it is no longer felt, and while
her brothers still enjoy the merry cricket
ground and ball match, she is content
with Il leisurely stroll that will not dis
arrange the folds of her graceful dra-
peries. The consequence is so plain
that we can but wonder how any one
fails to trace it, The boy grows up
strong, rosy and capable, with an en-
ergy of muscle and elasticity of frame
of which he is justly proud. The girl
is pale, delicate and comparatively
feeble, needing constant care to protect
her, and often tOnics to stimulate.
While he is struggling manfully with
toll or hardship, she is often at home,
the object of tender solicitude. If they
are both students, the course marked
out for him would be thought far too
hard to exact of her.
This difference of power is generally
attributed to the natural disparity of
sex, when in fact it much more truly
belongs to the vast inequality of privi-
lege they have enjoyed. We are not
among those who claim the exact sim
ilitude of the sexes but let us beware
how we palm off upon nature inequali-
ties that only result from our unequal
and artificial training. IL there is any
impulse shared in common, it is that of
activity. The love of motion in the in
fant, and of free, buoyant exercise in
the child, is alike natural to both sexes.
If, during the impressible years ofyouth,
it is freely encouraged in the boy. and
vigorously controlled in the girl, surely
we have sufficient cause to account for
the difference of physical strength and
capacity without seeking further. Could
it be proved, however, that the girls
bodily vigor could never, under any
regime, equal that of her brother, nay
that his would always be tenfold greater,
should that debar her from the full de-
velOpment of all she has Would it
not rather be an additional reason for
giving her every opportunity to make
the most of such powers as she does
possess
There is among some Il lurking fear
lest girls may sacrifice part of their gen
tleness and delicacy by free sports and
mOnished not to become romps and
hOydens by participating in their broth
ers' games, and the older ones somehow
imbibe the idea that rosy, healthy,
strong and active maiden cannot be
quite so ladylike as her timid, nervous,
or languid sister. Truly such a notion
sets at naught all natural and wOmanly
instincts. If boys can enjoy the full
freedom of buOyant exercise and open
air sports, without its preventing them
from becoming gentlemen, surely we
may trust girls to do the same, without
fOrfeiting any element of true lady hood.
Women have certainly as strong a re-
gard for propriety as men, and their
native mOdesty will as quickly check
whatever is unseemly or rude. Health
lies at the very root of all excellence,
and whatever tends to perfect it, also
indirectly cultures the best of every
thing that is in u.s."