Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-12-20
THE HERA Id.
COEDUCATlON. I
/ The Female Pupils In The
University.
Mrs Swisshelm's Explanation of The
Causes of Their Ill-Health. , I
They Should Leave off oorsets, Gafters,
And HighsHeeled Boots, And Dress
Like German Peasant Women.
10 the Editor Of the Tribu nc.

I do not remember ever hearing anything
special about the State University of Wiscen-
sin have never seen it or one of It's pupils
yet say without fear of successful contradc-
< VQt ton that every pupil @ho has awakened the
anxiety of the Board by an appearance of ilk
health is from one TO four inches smaller around
the body just below the ribs than at any other
1000 point. IL 111A0'-@ ~<t.&2 $50 - Is Ell
Now, let any woman look at a stat
1orgc ue OF Venus, the model of health and beauty,
and he or she will find that she smallest cIr+
conference is around the ribs Just below the
bosom and that this smallest point is double
81 the circumferenco of the neck Instead Of
receding below the ribs the walls of the chest
Organs, OF which they are the Workshop In
your Wisconsin University pupils, the work
shop is
.lgsSoisE on LESS coxrGAcrEb s9i1sBl
ia every case. The elastic walls are pressed
in against the MACHINERY, which is thus inn
g peded in its work and illness follows of course
They are thus compressed, it is thus hindered,
ne that the pupil may look like other girls whe
have little, If anything to do except bear the
burden of French corsets and flounced skirts.
No girl can do this with impunity, but if she
makes no draft on her vital powers through
the brain, she will not so soon succumb to the
sax. burden. .f9 4 Ak ~ .n{0a q
- 411 The educators Of Wisconsin show good,
fatherly spirit in their report, but what is
wanting is a mother insight, enlightened by
DrOaQ culture. w g must nave m0tnefS with
cultivated brains before we can have girls
who can study side by side with boys without
g. exhaustion Of the physical powers and it is
81 aquestion whether it Is not better to sacrifice
acouple Of generations to brain culture in the
assurance that finally brain win triumph, and
searnto take care of the body on which it de-
ponds for its best achievements.
As it is important that these good, earnest
men of Wisconsin, should hear all the evi-
dence in the case before them, desire to
give them the ~ nrTf3 #teai
S. - BESEFIr OF MY cLAIRvoYANcE;
and so proceed to inform them that the girls
in the University not only compress the soft
walls Of the chest below the ribs, and
thus Misplace the vital organs and impede the
circulation of the blood, but they also wear
ri garters, and tightly-buttoned boots with high
heels, which also retard circulation, produce
cold feet, head aches, hollow eyes, pallid cheeks
and etcetera.
VT sThensthey sit up nights, or otherwise. en-
croach on the hours OF rest and recreation, to
alter old dresses, repair injury to trains hem
rufes or trim hats Moreover they mend
gloves and hem handkerchiefs for the male
pupils who sit and rest while taoughtlessly
imposing this additional labor on the already
over taxed bodies of their classsrivals Swho
embroider slippers and make various fancy
articles not knowing that every stitch, or
every effort ofthe eye in directing the needle,
is drain OF their vitality. The great trouble
with women when brought into competition
with men is their inability to rest. They are
zsr.ss never content to do a mans work and STOP
but invariable SUPPLEMENT it by some femenine
Ia employment; and most of the female compe-
titors for the worlds work do that of both a
man aud women. This predispositon has
come down from mother to- daughter from
the earliestages through that general arrange
ment and division of labor by which a wom-
ans work is never done.
The mother generally works sixteen hours
out of twenty four and sleeps the other eight
with one eye open, that is if all is well but in
case of Illness she works and thinks from
dawn to dawn, with such cat-naps as she can
catch. Her daughter inherits from her the
.predisposition to eternal vigilance and never
eeasiag activity. So when you send her to
school with her brother she sits up and sews
on his buttons while he lies abed and snores.
Then next morning he pities and patronizes
her for being pale and nerveless, and weak,
and only girl. n-ET* q NF M
As for those periods in every womans life
which the board cite as the of the nab-
illty of girls to compete with boysin school,
THEIR CALCULATION IS ALL WRONG.
They are no more tax on the vital pow
ers than the period of discharge for any other
natural secretion. The pain and weakness
which often attend them simply the
notification which nature gives of the outrages
f@ 20 which fashion subjects her. They are her
cry for deiverance from the cruel bondage
in which she is held by whalebOnes, and cor
set laces auA skirt-bands, and pull-backs, and
BUSHES aud other denominations by which wom-
en- distort and dishgure the human form d,
vine. The Creator made ample arrangements
in the female organism for all the natural de-
mands made upon it, and when his laws are
observed, there is no period, but that of pars
turition, which seriously obstruets the orc in
airy business of life. As Western men are
leading the world to a higher place. it will be
much to be regretted if Wisconsin should
take great step backward instead of one
forward on this road.
The race must be developed through its
mothers; and the educated, enlarged brain is
the only sure development. 1t is the woman
of brains who makes the good wife, the good
MOTHER the attractive home and one who
has been taught to think logically, to reason
correctly, will learn more ofhousekeeping in a
week than a narrow minded, Illogical g.
norant woman do in years The trouble
with Bridget shows that it is not mere mus
Gle which makes housckeeper An ounce of
brains counts for more than twenty pounds of
bone and muscle in any department of houses
keeping. Men have been able to utilize Pad
dys muscle in digging canals and grading rail-
roads, and have thought strange that women
cannot put women to some equally good use
hut the reason they have not been able to do
the reason they never can do so-is, that
their department of labor embraces no field in
whic muscle is the chief requisite for success.
Every process in domestic labor -
toG88< g. REQUIREs BRAINS: u
and il is certain that no Board of Education
Can increase the efficiency of the women of a
State rs wives. mothers and houskeepers BY
81 decreasing their brain culture Teach the
women of State to think ard you have Civ
en- them the best genera. preparation for any
department of life work. Teach them to
think on broad basis, and they will think
themselves out Of the ruts which narrow smnd-
ed shallow, yar women have worn in the
roadway of socioh life, and into physical as
well as mental vigor. SO
The shortest way to this result would be for
every Institution oflea rning to adopts uni
form costume for all women connected with it
and to enforce its exclusive use just as they
.i dOany otherfFule If were to select that
costume | would name -
THAT OF THE GERMAN PEASANT
1t must be becoming and Womanly, for mill
S - lions ofsEOInen have lived and loved, have
been loved and honored while wearing it ; and
to-day in fancy dress party it is always
prominent. 1t must be healthtu, look at the
physical developments Of the wearers and their
sons; look at the labor they perform, and
their otal lack of complaint about periods
As Wisconsin is one of our German States
1t woald be becoming token of appreciation
of the Fatherland for her in her State UuiveF~
sity to test the wisdom of this suggestion. Let
her require every female pupil and employee
of that institution TO dress as do the great
mass ofG eFman. women and tie marked differ
encesofhealth Between male and female put
pills will certainly disappear. Let the Board
"a require every glrinEder itseare TO suspend all
her clothing from the shoulders, to have as
EFnuch CLASSROOM inside of il as a bow TO wear
no skirt longer than six inches from The
ground, TO abandon all founces and platings
and all extra cloth which adds weight to the
dress without prop0rIonaAy increasing its
warmth; and the girls can keep up with the
BOYS without loss OF health.
tits foGacsd skirts and Frenchcorsets that i'm
IL