Morning journal and courier., 1881-08-01
An Offspring of the Utter.
The Latest Fashion in Gait for Girls, an
 What a Doctor Says oft

The Latest Fashion in Gait for Girls, and
 What a Doctor Says oft.
 The fashionable gait of the utter young girl at this season is an importation, like
 most of her articles of clothing. It is SUD- posed to be an offspring of the utterly utter
 manners of the London aesthetics, who have
 set the fashion for languid, willowy, weary
 wabbles now the rage at many fashionable
 gatherings among young women, who. in 8
 spirit of intense utterableness, gaze into the
 depths of new blown lily or rose or silent
 ly study the heart of field daisy. Upon
 the avenues, however, the great public sees
 the aesthetic walk undimmed by the mellow
 light of drawing room, and unameliorated
 by the right colors of Persian portiers and
 Daghestan rugs. When the aesthetic appears
 upon the front doorstep with her Langtry
 hat she shakes out the bangles on her brace
 lets, ,pushes into better position the Jacquemi-
 not roses at her belt or the field daisies in
 her fourth buttonhole, then shakes out the
 outings of her polonaise, raises balloon
 parasol with it's ivory handle carved like a
 calla lily, and prepares to get into shape for the fashionable gait. For the space of 8
 minute her body seems to work upon eccen- tries. Her insteps go in with jerk, her hips fly back, her spinal column shoots for ward atan angle of about forty eight degrees and remains rigid, her neck lifts, her chin goes about an inch and five eighths above it's normal line, her nose naturally follows and perhaps improves upon the incline, her arms to the elbow points hug her sides like the wings of deck, and the forearms hang like willow branches, while the hand that does not engage itself with the parasol hangs limp and languid. It requires two teeters to give the shape inertia, and off the aesthetic goes Her progress defies accurate descrip- tion. It has been compared to the amble of the kangaroo but the naturalists insist that the kangaroo's movements have some ele- f.oPr If i1 orxTl Ka a duck which flaps it's wings, but the duck does not have French heels. A man of science says that there is nothing like it in the animal kingdom, although the sea gulls on the Pacific islands have a similar motion | in their walk
 said physician. q look upon it as much more dangerous than tight lacing."
 'In what way does it injure ?"
 'In the first place it throws the diaphragm | upon the liver, and that tends through its pressure upon that organ to devitalize one of the most important parts of the human \ body. It produces atrophy, and in time the liver becomes indurated-as hard as a board \ and loses the spongy charactr which nat urally belongs to 1t. It ceasese to perform | it's functions. Then a miserable complexion | ensues. The eyes turn to dingy yellow, and the skin becomes the color of a lemon. The flesh wastes away and the hair begins to | fall out.''
 'Is there any danger to the spine ?'' stYes that terrible disease curvature of | the spine, may snsue. The curving of the spine causes pressure upon the veins, and that produces high state of congestion of \ the kidneys. Structural changes are apt to \ follow in these organs, and death may be the result. The attitude produced by bending \ forward not only does the injury have indi- cated, but it also enlarges the thoracic cavity, and so disarranges the lungs and heart as to \ retard the free exercise of their functions. \ This may lead to quick consumption or heart ' disease in it's worst form. An average con- \ stitution may be wrecked in from ten or \ twelve months, if it's owner diligently follows k this fashion. I have heard of one case out \ West that proved fatal and heard that in another city young girl is supposed to be dying from too much devotion to this new style of walk. The strong and robust will ! survive it, doubtless with but a moderate | impairment of health, but would advise all \ the girls to discard the ridiculous. gait at once, and strengthen up. Let them walk erect, throw their shoulders back, give their ' lungs chance to expand, and drink in the pure air of spring. and they will be happy
 and pretty. We are not trying to raise a race of kangaroos in this country. No man can walk Broadway and see the mass of weak \ and enfeebled young men without feeling anxious for the future of his country if these \ are the fathers of the next generation 'eHas this unnatural gait any tendency to \ impair the intellect ?''
 sEIt is a fair presumption" said the doc V tor, t'that the mind of the young woman \ who assumes the gait is in the first place \ somewhat impaired. When the important \ functions of body are so deranged as to affect Y the blood, the latter, which is the proper 4 nutriment of the brain, ceases also to do it's | share. and this in time brings about-'' sfWhat does it bring about ?"
 | ''Why imbecility, of course"