The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-09-05
a Blighted Race Of Women.

81 there was eyer q blighted race of
women, z said a gentleman of this city,
recently returned from a visit to Cape
God, 1T exists in the peninsular villages
Of Massachusetts,, villages which de-
pend on the fisheries, for the support of
their inhabitants. Nowhere else in all
New England will one see so high an
average of female beauty, especially in
symmetry of form and freshness Of com
plexion, as is noticeable among the
young girls of these Cape Cod fisher
men'stowns, girls ranging from Is to 20
years of age. But it will not take one
long to discover the startling and mel
ancholy fact that if this girlish beauty
and freshness is unusual aud unexpect-
ed, it is also only too apparent that its
duration is brief. The change produc-
ed in these girls by the lapse of a few
years is painful in the extreme. No
matronly graees are to be seen among
them after their girlhood days are past.
The charming middle stage of matur-
ing womanhood, between the freshness
and buoyancy Of the girl Of 20 and the
woman of 35 or 40, is entirely absent.
The heightened color of the cheeks is
gone The eyes are sunken and wear q
look ofsasness and anxiety. Gray hair
in heads over which a score and a half
OF years have scarcely passed, and deep
are lines in faces which should show no
trace of age for % years to come, rather
the rule than the exception. These
women besides suffering from all the
inevitable sorrows which fall to woman's
lot, no matter in what station she may
be placed, have an added intense and
perpetual sorrow all their own. Theirs
is a life Of continual suspense and anxi-
ETY., which is almost certain to be in.
time embittered by an overwhelming
grief.
"The most obtuse observer needs not
to ask the cause of this lack of complete
matronly beauty among these women
whose budding days open with the
greatest promise of asuperb physical
~womanhood, and for the utter extinc-
ton Of that light-heartedness and
brightness which marked their girlish
lie. Ihe cause suggests itself at once
to Il who sees the congregations of
women on the beaches and in the quiet
streets Of the sleepy villages. He will
notice occasionally a feeble old man
among them, generally supported on
the arm OF some female companion,
who, most likely, carries on her other
arm q chubby faced child of lusty lungs.
But in these groups, or anywhere about
the village, the observer will look in
vain for the presence of males between
%tottering years OF these relics of the
past and the prattling days of baby
hood. 1t is the fishing season, and
there are no men or boys on shore.
Their smacks are tossing on the treach-
erous waters of the fishing banks, and
their return, if they return at all, is
as uncertain as the weather, which
forms the one grert subject of
conjecture and apprehension among the
villagers. Husbands, sons, fathers,
brothers and sweethearts are some
where on the bosom Of the sea, proba-
bly, homeward bound. perhaps steering
for still more distant waters, perhaps
struggling for life among the waves.
Fair weather keeps hope warm in many
IA anxious woman's heart; the bowling
northeaster chills it with doubt and
despair. Constantly watching by day,
waking in the night to listen to sounds
from the sea, whether they may be the
roaring Of the dreaded tempest O
merely the moan of the surf on the
beach, is it any wonder that the torture
OF mind and heart, and strain Of nerve
and vital force thrt must follow this
perpetual suspense and longing should
destroy the fountains Of youth and I
baauty in these na<ionk ~, fFar;n~
en- and place upon them the marks Of
age while they are yet young?
Yet the girls grow up with but one
thought Of what their future lot will
be, with but one object in view upon
which their visions Of happiness are
based. Go among any gronp. Of these
bright, buoyant girls in any Of the Vii.
lagos Of the class 1 am speaking Of, and
you willfand that 8 out Of 10 Of them
look forward to a union with some one
who will spend his life fishing in the
summer and coastiDg in the winter.
7.hksS4lITLAastH $1,000