The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-02-22
TOR WOMAN.S WELFARE.

When first / visited London it was in
the golden days of Huxley, Tyndall, Oar
win, and Spencer. As | sat spell-bound a
their lectures before the Royal institute
or the Association of the Advancement o.
Science / wondered if science ever coulc
take the hold upon the popular mind tina.
music, painting, and oratory have taken
At the lectures of the Royal institute grand
ladies came in full opera dress, and tt
obtain a ticket was to have favor witt
seemed to me, as | looked about upon the
brilliant scene, that science had come tc
stay-that facts were becoming a fine art.
Popularity, enthusiasm, and fashion were
harnessed to the chariots of chemistry,
anatomy, physiology. botany, and the rest.
This TO me seemed as it should be.
Why should an audience grow wild
with enthusiasm and cover with
flowers a woman who succeeds in making
a few perfect notes on her vocal cords,
while the woman who has found out for
herself the histology, anatomy, physiology,
and mathematics of that same music IN
strument gets never a flower? Why should
she be less an artist? Is It not the child
hood of the mind that sees and hears nc
beauty in facts? The time is not long since
when here in Chicago the less a physician
had to say about chemistry and physiology
the better for him. "a very good fellow,
a good student but impracticable,'' was
the Saint praise with which his confreres
damned" him. So that until quite recent
years the scientific spirit has been retarded.
Our civilization has been in comparative
childhood, and the average doctor is a fair
exponent of that which surrounds him,
But what interest has ali this to women.
The folly Of women, their friyolity, their
weaknesses Of all sorts, are the constant
themes of criticism by mankind in general.
Is she silly, and If SO is it worth while for
her to try to be sensible9 No matter
whether It is worth while or not, the fact
is that good sense and good health are be-
coming fashionable for woman. Chem
istry, anatomy, and physiology are the
very foundation studies for women as
mothe rs of the race.
The chemistry Of every kitchen in the
country needs reconstruction both for pur-
poses of health and economy. And one of
the significant signs of the time is the fact
that the girls who are about 10 graduate
from the Chicago high school know how
to cook a dinner scientifically. Let us
hope that they know as well about the
mechanical and chemical agencies that
change that dinner into their own flesh and
blood. Here must | pause to lament the
almost barbaric standards that keep girls
ignorant of anatomy and physiology. II
seems almost Incredible thai in this en-
lightened scientific age the human body
could be looked upon as q study to be
summed. And yet l know a wise, cultivated
teacher in this city to whom a mother sends
this message: 'sPiease excuse my daughter
from the study of physiology. do not
wish her to become familiar with sueh sub
j%eets." Another girl says that 'smy mann
ma says I can be excused from physiology
because it makes me sick to think about
my insides.n In the light of such dark
ness anatomy as a fine art seems a long
way off. But that class of girls in the high
school gives US hope; and then there is the
Society for Physical Culture aud Correct
Dress. 1t is doing its work quietly and
pardoettr l.- affaa+tvaiv aud *in D~oh
abilities are those deformities of deformi-
ties-the corset and tournure-must GO
This reminds me of a conversation ! heard
between two schoolgirls. One said:
"Why, what will you do for bones to bold
| you up if you take OF your eorsets?" The
| other said: 'I'lI use my own bones. I'm
not a whale, and l don't need his bones to
hold NE up. God gave me bones of my
| own, my backbone and my ibis, for exam
pie Excellent thought |. The back.
bone and ribs Of the majority of women
are used fer nothing but to hang clothes
on and to ache. Is it any wonder they
ache? Could the strongest man living bet
ter endure this elothes-horse service?
When women themselves get tired Of il
and think the fashion hideous then the
change viii come, and it is fast coming.
Increase woman's Intelligence, put her
brain at the head of her affairs, and you
cannot induce her to bore holes in her flesh,
daub her face with paint of any color, OF
carry an artificial hump on her back.
Among all the genuinely good true things
that Mrs. Cleveland has done as first lady
of the land, = not one pleased me more than
her Punishment of the hustle. Through
the kindness Of our friend in common
Katherine Willard, l CHANGED TO be at tbs
white house when this Punishment begar
and | never shall forget the picture o.
wholesome, unartifcial life presented by
those two-I was about TO say school girls
for such they both seemed to me. though
not in the least lacking in dignity. Their,
were at least two American women wht
did not need bones to hold them up humps
to improve their almost perfect forms, o.
paint for their rare complexions-thes
were content to be as God made them,
| genuine; and what it means to the world
| at large for women TO be genuine through
and through we can tell only when We
awe a greater number of specimens il
a.. ,v,5,otfnn "a Vphicl. Cbioara saanae r.