The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1877-08-23
For the CITIZEN
Will it Produce Lunacy?

DEAR LAPs:-There is a question
that is greatly agitating my mind,
and as you are the champion of wo-
man l will come to you with it, con-
WINGED from experiment that 1.-TWO
heads are better than one, even if
one is a sleeps head Scientists
have been discussing of late the
causes leading to insanity and sui
eide, attributing it to living in high
altidutes, the fourth and fifth sto
ries of business houses, and the
constant anxiety produced by it;
and never once mentioning the tied
back dessesi Now, there is more
anxiety produced by this fashion,
ethan is dreamt OF IN your philoso
ply" or any scientists are aware OF,
unless he wears a pin back. Don't
you think if you wore garment en-
casing you so tightly that every
time you moved you would hear
something tear, that it would startle
you out of your senses, not knowing
where the rent would appear! Well,
it is even so with us; and besides,
we never get q good square sit
down, and still the tyrannical band
age in strings and elastics goes on
tightening, and plaits and gathers
and rufiles arc settling down in the
rear, pulled out with crinoline until
the backbone cracks to carry 1t,
like the mast of a ship in storm
Dame Fashion says we must wear
them heightened out into the mire
and dust, as short dresses are mad
MISSILE upon the streets, and must
be worn without fold, crease, wrin
kle or seam, or you will be called an
old fogy-set back among the an
tiquities. and be ruthlessly snubbed
by the fashionable world. Sleeves
must be cut tight, tighter (ah, me
Where is Bergh?) and it is plain to
see what we are coming to-breath
ing statuary-and shall have to be
put on rollers like Madame Jarley's
wax works, and rolled round. We
can't climb a tree to get out of the
way of a mad dog; nor jump fence
to save ourselves from beng gored
by a mad bull, because we are al
ready gored too much. Helpless,
helpless! Now if Dame Fashion
will not relent and Congress will
not repeal the Resumption act,
won't we be in a fix? We can't car
ry our pocket books with enough
silver to buy a tooth-pick, in our
princess dresses, without the man
public going into head-splitting
speculations, that we've been Stung
by a hornet, or some other rantank
erous insect; and if we carry it in
one hand some thief will snatch it,
ten to one. Pay as you go, says the
law of compensation, that you may
not have to pay hereafter. "Scourge
me man, good MASTER" prayed Au
gustine, chat l may not be
scourged in the life to come" fl
could believe that, would submit
to be bandaged, tied-up, and
swathed, like a mummy, without
one rebel-word against fashionable
despotism.
But don't believe it. l do be-
heve that every life (woman life)
has its drawbacks, and its balances;
(most of them just now, at the
heels, producing anXieties that
man in his easy, devil may care
garments, cannot sympathize with.
Better the old roomy barrel hoops,
that covered a quarter of an acre
of ground, with plenty OF room
for the use of the limbs, than this
cramped, pent-up Utica. Wouldn't
it be well for the next Legislature to
take Dame Fashion by the throttle
and exact an imperative law to gull |
lotine any mantua- maker that Gre
ates fashion that will render the |
limbs of the women useless appen-
dages?
But they might sit seventy-fv
days spending the public money, |
and make farce for the world to |
laugh over, as they did with the
dog-law.
Reform should come, but we must |
look to other sources for it. IT'S a |
vital question and might be handled |
in a debating society, or the mock
Congress that holds its annual meet
ings in your town, with more de-
cided effect than in the hands of
our Legislature.
Relief, or more asylums, if ''anx-
iety" brings lunacy and suicide So
l commend the subject to you to
speak out upon; and if you have
any mercy strike like Bergh at the
anxiety and suffering of you moth
er's sex, while the yoke is on and
the burden heavy. Yours,
EsrET VrSuu