Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-02-28
WHY OUR WOVEN GROW PLUMP.
tCincinnati Gazette. ]

tOincinnati Gszette.l
The development of the American society
female from the national lean type to embon-
point Is apparent to all mature observers Of
this interesting species. The cause of this
change, and its effect on woman morally and
intellectually, are worthy of philosophical in.
thinktng"-as the good DR.. Rush described
the newspaPers-hghtly ascribe the cause to
growth OF wealth and luxury; but this,
eating, and suggests by association Of ideas the
fattentng course Of stall feeding and correlatve
mental suggshneSs. This would divest plump
ness OF poetry. And there is seeming contra
diction to this inference OF mental inertness In
the incident that our women have entered new
pursuits OF culture, particularly In hlgn art,
such as carving wood, decorating pottery DEC
Ing on dress. fabrics, and so on.
This explanation is superficial; yet this super
fcial development OF the American iea,e Ia,s
any part OF the planet on when we so!ourA
would vary the balance OF the spheres, this In
crease OF substance In our women m NJ u, anect
cesses OF nature would lead investigation along
the theory that this development Is the working
of a variety OF concurrent clements rather than
variation by some exceptional cause. Female
fashion has changed. Even during the present
generation the fashion was to be delicate. Girls
ate strange substances to make them pale and
slender A cOnSumptfve form was thought in
teresting in giflS as 1t was in young preachers.
Restraining apparatus was used to prevent
grown VI tne waist. Inc 1nOQel was as
u the waist were screwed into the lower body.
The fashion Is now changed. Ministers bear
the signs OF good living, and their wives are they
that grow consumpttve. This makes them still
more interesting TO the unmarried females OF the
flock. Woman's readiness in rushing into this
fatal breach shames the notion that hers is not
the courageous sex. We suppose that Bluebeard
was popular man in small tea parties. BY a
similar paradox the suffice is liked by Hlndoo
single women. Our girls now wish to be plump,
and they eat nourishing things instead of slate
pencils. The fashion OF dress has conformed to
this growth OF taste, and the waist instead Of
seeming to be screwed into the hips, curves
gracefully out TO them, and is allowed to grow
to its due proportion; Fashion is strong men.
tai power and SubordinateS the senses. It's in
fiuence on the female mind is paramount. Mr..
Joseph Cook announces the existence OF psychic
force or VII power over r, extraneous physical
With psychic 20 ce why may net woman swell
herself to suit Ii Orm as she desires, II she Shall
put her whole mind to ii, and not rest on foreign
appliances? This theory OF psychic developing
power Is further supported by the opinion OF
scientific men, that the force of pure will, I'M
compromised by reason, is stronger In woman
There are other great causes To suppose
that the tremendous progress in woman's con-
dition which has lifted her from slave, chat
tel, one OF herd of wives OF a bovine lord, all
OF whom were slaves, to the place of head of
the household and the sole possession OF man,
has taken place without any correlative change
in her physical and moral being, would be un-
scientific. Let us, like Joseph Cook be always
scientific. Woman is better loved and cher
1shed by man-would she not be unnatural If
breeding, those that do not respond to better
keeping by improved condition are set down as
OF a bad breed. With the growth of luxurious
civilization the labors of the household are
transferred to helpers Of haydler class.
While the battle of life has grown fiercer to
the man, her part has grown easier. Good
feeding, and the change OF fashion, which
allows society women to eat their I'LL, instead
of disclaiming appetite before company, have
borne part In this development The fashion
able woman is now good feeder, and makes
eating the great feature OF society parties. Also
with higher civilization child-bearing is re-
strtcted. To increase and multiply and replen-
fsh the earth is not now the chief end OF the
wife; she thinks NOSE of replenishing herself.
Her substance, instead of being divided, goes all
TO her own nourishment. The cares Of training
children are also less, and so In many ways the
change in womanS state Is to that which pro-
notes rotundity. But of all the fattening
causes which have come in with her elevation,
perhaps the greatest is the high consequence to
which she has risen in society, in the cOnjugal
state and In the household.
The lifting or the wife from the condition of
drudge and slave, in which She is held in all the
lower civilizations, to place of reverence, wor-
ship and command, could not be without cor
responding change in her habit. The inferior
stature OF the women of barDarOuS tribes Is
marked The American Indian is Of a lordly
size and form; the Sauaw is small. With the
development of civilization, woman develops.
In our high civilization, she is queen OF the fam
lily circle and queen in society. Man submits
to her sway. inexperienced men have fancy
OF what they call beginning right with a wife;
but in the first stage OF welded life man is in
the soft state while womans presence OF mind
never deserts her, and thus is her authority
eStab iShed.
The habit of rule is the full habit Authority
gives swelling port. Power has In all ages
Ieeh associated In idea with size. A Unknown
little Congressman is credited with saying that
II he were SIX inches taller he would be PreSi-
dent In all countries the lords are the larger
when giving orders. High rank has a high
strut. The sense Of governing great nations
and commanding great armies swells the man.
Who thinks OF Empress Queen or Duchess, as
lean person? When Israel, like Henry Ward
Reecher, wanted King, and had no royal
family, Sauls fitness was recognized because he
7 was head and shoulders taller than the multi
tude. To suppose that woman has been lifted
from the slave drudge to a place OF such intiu-
ence and sway as she exercises in our c1yiliza-
ton, without responding to it by a higher
bodily development, is to set her down as an ex-
ception to all nature, and as absolutely unim-
provable.
Thus has this elevation of woman's state
raised her i'll bodily condition. Thus has her
increasing consequence expanded her in size.
Thus is this embOnpOint the natural working OF
Ter assumption OF that rule which comes so
naturally that we have to conclude. in the words
OF JefferSonS prize composition, that for this
she was formed by nature and natures God.
Nor are the fashionable female fine arts SO great
an intellectual strain as to resist this pumping
tendency; on the contrary, they are rather
substitution for Intellectual labor. There seems
to be little on wOmanS side to set off against
the increasing strain OF mental activity on the
professional man, the man OF trade, and the
man vino has to keep his head above water In
political pursuits. Even the writer on that
organ OF dislOinted thinking, the daily paper,
may have more mental wear
While woman mas expanded In form by this
rise in station, has 1t made her more moral,
contented, and amiable? Were this not the
case still her increase in flesh would be no fail
ure. Aspiration to higher state is not con-
tentmenI. Desire fer authority grows with eX-
erciSe. The appetite for homage is never sa-
tiated. We cease not to pursue knowledge be-
cause the higher we go the more we ind life
not worth living. Ease is associated with a
lower scale OF being activity with the higher.
Discomfort is the engine OF progress. II any
stage OF elevation brought satisfaction, that
would be the turning point to degeneracy. Our
first mother acquired large stock OF knowl-
edge-not by the hard way of the boarding
school, but by the short method Of eating an
apple; yet it brought not contentment. This
world is q probation, and therefore world of
trouble. Far better than things comfortable
and amiable here, is IL that man shall be con-
tinually prodded TO long for another and a
better world.
Tosuppose that expansion in flesh makes wo-
men more aIniable is TO suppose that il dullS in
tellect and sensibiltty. A treatise upon women
hath always the limitation that it must receive
no theory that does not compliment her; there
fore, we must eject this suppoSition. Scientific
persons are OF the opinion that although this m