The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-04-28
Feminine Foolishness.

HOW TWO WOMEN VOLUNTARILY
ENDED THEIR LIVES IN A FIT OF
PoUTs.
Within little more than week
says the Philadelphia Press, two wo-
men have voluntarily ended their
lives in fit of pouts. One of them,
Mrs. Mills OF New York, was un-
doubtedly insane and clearly not re-
sponsible i'm her persistent refusal
of food Miss DueIl of Iowa, who
died on Sunday was apparently not
insane but only sullen. Since No
vember, 1879, she has refused to speak
to any one, using slate and pencil
for all necessary communications with
her friends. On the 23rd of February
she refused her food and after con-
tinuous fast of forty-seventy days
yielded up the ghost.
Firmness is clearly not always q
commendable quality. When its OBJ
ject is ill chosen some corrective is
called for, as adhesion to bad pur-
pose can only be mischievious in its re-
suits. Men do not hesitate to thwart
the object of would-be suicide who
would summarily end his troubles by
violent methods. A child who in II
fit of sulleness holds its breath till he or
she is black in the face, is spanked
into normal state of breathing by
every sound minded parent. Tanner
in the cause of science has demon
strated that starvation in its latter
stages is not specially painful. AS far
as it appears neither of these women
when weak and faint from lack of
punishment suffered appreciably from
the pangs of hunger. Such being the
case, nature cannot be relied upon to
break their resolution 10y intensity of
suffering, and some effective method
of interference with this suicidal pur-
pore must be devised.
In the case of the two ladies under
consideration, food was placed tempt
ingly within their reach, but they
would not touch it, Insane patients
who refuse food are sometimes per-
suaded to abandon their purpose by
insinuating the idea that they cannot
have food if they believe this they inl-
mediately begin to cry for food. These
women, however, were not to be de-
ceived, nor could they be forced to eat.
There was II case, however, reported
few weeks ago from New York, where
woman had temporary paralysis of
the stomach and could take no food
ut all. Neither her friends nor her.
death, and she was bathed regularly
i'll milk and other liquid food until her
stomach recovered its tone. The skin
will absorb food very readily in this
way and in such quantities that these
baths never failed to allay previous
sensation of hunger.
This is II hint to those who have the
charge of obstinate woman who refuse
to eat. Battle them in milk, noicns
volens, and let them close theirmouths
as tight as they may, only soak them
long enough and they will get fat in
spite of themselves. Beef tea, clear
soups and probably thin gruels can be
administered by way of change of diet
in the same manner. AS the ordinary
bathing process would be wasteful
when liquid food is substituted for
water,t the patient might he loosely en-
cased in rubber suit, somewhat at-
ter the fashion of Captain Boynton's,
and fed literally at the neck, We re-
gret that it did not occur to us to sug-
gest this scheme sooner, so that it
might have been satisfactorily tested
in Miss Duells case. 1t will how
ever, hold good for the next woman
who gets ''otf her feedn and Obsti
natcly refuses to take her vituals in
the ordinary fashion.