The Arizona sentinel., 1888-02-25
THE BELLIES OF I94O.
A St. Louis Gentleman Compares Them
 with Girls Ot the Present Day.


 and sweeter thaa they could possibly
 have been at any other period in the
 worlds history. but the question prop
 erly has reference to avoirlupois and
 to nothing else. The girl of the period
 ranges in weight from one hundred and
 forty pounds down, in some cases to
 eighty pounds or less. Between these
 two limits may be found almost all
 the healthy loveliness of the fair sex
 in America In England and Ger
 many the figures are higher; in
 France and Southern Europe they
 are the same aS in this coun-
 try, or smaller. Eighty pounds of
 femininity is, of course, not much,
 viewed from material standpoint,
 although it was probably about the
 weight of Cleopatra, if archaeological
 research may be depended upon, and
 she was rather more than too much
 f1r any of the champions of her day.
 Cleopatra is the exception which
 proves the rule as to progressive thin
 ness. All the other bellies of antiquity
 were large, ample ladies of generous
 proportions and great health. Semi
 ramis was taller than most of her
 guardsmen. The mind fails to con-
 sent to a petite Boadicea- Charle-
 magne's mother as nearly six feet tall
 Margaret of Anjou was large. Eliza
 beth could not be describeI as small, and. in fact, most of the historic danes, of whose size we have any vague idea, were big beyond all modern ideas of what a woman should permit herself to be, begin ming with our great Mother Eve, who was a giantcss according to the Arab tradition, which still points out her tremendous tomb. The facts are meager. but even within the experi- ence of men now living the move ment towards osseousness has been apparent. All of these reflections were caused by statement made 10 a reporter by the oldest inhabitant, who was at his usual task of de- picting the glories of the Con- sulshIp of Plancus. '1 just came across in the garret the other day" he said, ga corset that has a history. It is souvenir of the girls of half a century ago. It belonged to one of the prettiest young ladies who lived in S.. Louis in 1886. She was an acknowledged belle, and by commo consent her form was model of beauty. l can tell you, sir, she was none of your ethereal creatures. but a magnificent woman that weighed 150 pounds easily, and yet in those days she was considered small. She was certainly below the average size of the girls knew"
 How did you get the corset?'
 That would be a long story. It was sold to me by the lady's darky maid. Oh, we had some notions of gallantry in S. Louis in the old times. That. however. is neither here nor there. What want you to do is to compare the solid and severe simplici- ty of the garment of 1886 with the meretricious ornamentation and mod cling of the one worn by the ladies nowadays. Not alone is the older one modest and pretty, and plain. but it means health and vigor. You natur- ally associate it with rosy cheeks, and black eyes, and slightly -tumbled hair, and a general atmosphere of gaYety and good-heartedness. The modern | sophistication looks 10 me almost im- moral. It implies all the demands of | society. late hours. idleness and fash ionable dissipation. IL tells of heal aches, and backaches, and all manner of physical and moral shams"
 But you were speaking of the com. rzraiive sizc?'
 Well. don't these corsets show it? Say that they are both averages of their tune, and one is only six inches greater in circumference than the ether. Bit that isn't all of ii. The mothers of the past generation were built. as rule, more nearly to the old Roman model They were and strong. with a healthy chest capacity and a conso- quent ability to draw long breath
 When was ayoung man the ladies used to eat something. A common lunch in 1S40 was piece of cold beef of the round, lot of bread and but, ter, and couple of glasses of porter CT wine. The girls were not ashamed ofit. They would very honestly get away with a substantial snack. and do t as though they liked it. Col bless hem. But nowadays a lunch is 7cry different thing indeed. The common menu is little sour lemon- ade, a small piece of cake, and some chocolate candy, or some other 'ort of indigestible monstrosity that ,eople ought to be put into the peni- en5iary for feeding to their girls. You can't expect to build up muscle md health on lemon juice or pie, and he result of it all will be that our women will go on getting thinner and hinner until they disappear. It has iappcned in Boston already. The American stock, born of such mothers IS we are cultivating, can't hold it's 'wn against the big-boned, strong quilt foreigner The Irish have crowd d the Yankee cut of New England. Id the German and the Yankee will rowd us cut of the valley if we don't hange our ways. l tell you sir when look round at the way this present eneration is managing things some- ines actually feel glad that can't