The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-03-31
Feeble Girls and Women.


glish, etc, we may see a wonderful dif-
terence in their form and aspect. And
then the early departure of youthful
ness and beauty of our own women is
much less enduring, and strength and
elasticity of muscles have so much di-
minished in these later years, that some
medical men and others, interested in
the subject. fear that the puritan blood
will soon die out. In former days, ten
TO fifteen children graced the table, but
now one is enough and two is great
abundance.
The causes of this sad deterioration
in human beings are numerous; our
daughters in too many instances have
been kept so long and constantly in
courses of mental training and have
done so little 10 promote proper growth
of body, that they contract some serious
maladies, that unfit them for nearly all
the necessary duties of active life. 1t
is said that very many have a greater
or less curvature of the spine-a fright
ful source of inability and disease.
We saw, the other day, an English
lady of forty who looked as fresh and
beautiful as her daughters. Indeed she
vas taken by all who were present at
party to be their sister and not their
mother.
The idea that decay of female
health and beauty was plainly seen in
al sections of our land, has alarmed
many thoughtful men. because it was
bringing with 1t the fact that it was
introducing with it much domestic and
social suffering. Those, who have in
Iuired for the per cent. of healthy
women, have found it very small. This
state of things, we should expect to
ind and have found in our large towns
and cities. but it is nearly equally as
.erious in our sparse rural districts.
investigation shows clearly, that even
n our rural towns, women are feeble
and unable to discharge their domestic
luties with any kind OF ease and COM
tort, that they are not as strong and
healthy as are the men in the same
iections of the country. We may eX-
| cept the women who were born and
| educated in other lands; usually they
are as stout and elastic as their hus-
bands, and are well able to contend
| with them in the laborS of the field.
| What causes this difference of health
and strength 1t cannot be climate,
for both sexes are equally exposed to
the good or bad influences of heat and
cold; to rapid changes of temperature.
| rhe early mental and physical training
of our girls must have influence in in
ducing it: whatever this training be, it
is something that does not affect the
| boys, for the women are deteriorating
much more rapidly than the men.
Indeed we think the men keep their
| own.
The Swedish women have coarse
clothing, but it is healthy and substan-
tial. Their feet and necks are well pro-
tected from the deteriOrating influences
of damp ana cold. They have less love
of ornament than of comfort. They
| prefer the nutritious part of food to the
| agreeable, coarse wheat flour, to fine;
oatmeal mush, to delicate cakes; oat-
meal porridge to tea or coffee. We wish
we had the ability to point out all the
causes of the present weakness. suffer-
ings and diseases that now atfiict the
native women of our land. Some evil
habits or customs must exist among
them of strength sufficient to seriously
impair their own constitutions, and the
integrity and vigor of their families.
Can anyone tell us. why so many native
women are so sickly and so unable to
L
ties. Our women, especially in our ru-
raj districts, are not guilty of inaction,
or Incidence. They are usually COM
PEELED to lead a life of great activity and
hard work. They do not spurn light and
air. They are exposed to both nearly
all the time. They do not expose their
feet and neck to excessive colds and
damps, for they are usually well and
warmly clad. One thing they may moi
do, they may not dress as loosely as the
men. They may not have had the same
amount and kind of exercise, in then
growing years, as did their brothers.
/ We are more and more inclined tC
think that the great cause of the degen
eracy of our women is innutritious food
on which they lived in the growing
period of their lives, and the small
amount of exercise they took. Body
growth in strength and bulk need:
something more than food. 1t need.
exercise of the bones, muscles anC
other tissues, that the food may bt
converted into blood, flesh and bones
No doubt many girls are injured in the
course of their training by over-exciteC
brains, by want of proper food and al
amount OF physical exercise sufficient tt
create health and strength.
We hardly dare to introduce anothe
cause of feebleness and disease. For i
is subject of discussion and is not
by the women of our land, practically
understood. We mean tight dress
, ing - COMPRISING the chest anC
waist. IL may be said that thi
cruel and destructive habit ha
been expelled. or is out of fash
ion; but it still exists. Why SHOULD
= women more tightly dress thai
/ men? Fashion still demands {" a good
snug fit;" so we see at the present da,
, growing girls walking our streets witt
: dresses that fit as snugly as they can b,
made. A constant pressure is extended
r upon the capillary blood tubes of tn
skin, great enough to stop the free cir
q culation of the blood. These capilla
ries conduct blood from the arteries t,
the veins, so that any pressure on tn
veins that fill the skin must stop tn
g full current of the vital fluid in it
wonted rounds. And if the blood
/ checked in its wonted course the vari
Gus tissues do not receive nourishmen
: that they need TO promote their growt
and strength. Give our growing girl
a proper kind and amount of physics
r exercise, and nutritious food and drin
: constantly during all the time fror
e their early to their mature years an
: they will have a goodly form and health
! unknown to most ,oung women of tn
present day.-tratrte F'drnleT.