The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-10
FIGHTING THE FLEsE.
Success as a Nation Making Amer
leans as individuals 100 Fat.


From the Nsto York Press
There is a certain widely known carica
! ture which for at least thirty years mas beer
| accepted as typical Of the proportions anC
personal appearances of John Bull are
Brother Jonathan respectively. The frs
figure is of a short. thickset little man witt
an enormous pauncn supported by his cor
pulent limbs-that is john Bull The Sc
cond figure, that Of a tall fellow, lean tC
emsciation. with Ratchet shaped faced anC
spare, pointed goatee, represents Brother
Jonathan as he Is no longer.
With the passing Of time John Bull has
not altered his characteristics shape, but
Jonathan has changed his until he reSem.
bles the beefy EnglIShman of the carica-
ture more than the yankee Of wore. and
Mrs. Jonathan has pumped up even more
than her mate, so that while specimens Of
the elongated, skeleton like Brother iona
than may still be found among US, the true
type of the END Of the century American
is more like the rotund and unwie!dv John
Bull than the original apothecary like
Jonathan Of the picture, which is as much
out OF date now as the stars and stripes OF
which his costume is composed.
Except the letter carrier, no class, no
calling is wholly exempt from this infection
of too much flesh. From the President
down to the ash man all are more or less
burdened with fat. President Arthur
suffered from it, SO does Mr. Cleveland. and
President Harrison keeps his corporosity
within reasonable bounds by walking three
or four miles daily. This exercise he never
neg lects, no matter what the state of the
weather may be or the condition of the
affairs OF the great republic. He says he
walks at three mile an hour pace This
pedestrianism only is supposed to counter
act the effects of the pie he is reported TO
eat at every meal
ALL MEN OF WEIGHT.
In the United States Senate the heavy
weights are largely IN the majority. Frank
G. Carpenter says that "Phiietus SAWYER
is as broad as he is long, and shakes like a
bowl of jelly whenever he laughs y
that Frank Hiscock weighs Dps pounds
and his checks fairly bulge out with good
living.
The easy life, the certainty of income.
absence of care and constant good living in
the capital are provocative of corpuleace,
hence the tendency of our representatives
to fatten up in Washington. There are Of
course some men among them who would
not fatten under any circumstances, but the
majority are scaling high. Senator Allison
weighs fifty pounds more than he did when
he was elected. Senators Henderson and
German are fast becoming very heavy
weights, and George Vest requires much
more vest than he did two years ago. Lee
land Stanford lately spent a summer az the
German springs in the hope Of reducing his
ponderosity.
Frank G. Carpenter adds: 81 might
give many more instances OF increase in the
senatorial body, but it sutfioes to say that
the average weight in the United States
Senate is at least l75 pounds, and is oven
more than that in the supreme court. There
is not a judge on the bench, with the excep-
ton OF Bradley, who is not heavy weight"
John NJ. Johnston's arm is as large as an
ordinary mau's thigh, and he weighs 25J
pounds.
So completely has thinness ceased to be
typical of the American that foreigners are
beginning TO wonder and comment upon
our national bulk. In no other country,
not even in adipose England. are there sold
80 many nostrums for the reduction of
corpulence as in the United States This dis
position TO take ON fat, more especially in
middle age, is attributable to many different
causes, the first of which is the drinking of
beer. Next consumption of rich, fat
forming foods complicated with the
Incidence induced by luxurious living. and
lastly, the lack Of exercise, all Of which are
the direct results of our having become a
rich nation. Those OF us who are Obliged to
work hard are not prone to become obese.
A NATION OF FAT WOMEN
Our girls, thank goodness! are still slen-
der and willowy, but that condition, as a
rule, does not outlast their first youth. Like
her English sister, the American woman, as
she approaches middle age, loses her deli
cacy of outline, and frequently even before
that dreaded time is reached becomes,
plump, and afteTward by easy stages she
grows a little too heShy, then decidedly
II.r&.
ton she finds herself fat, absolutely and
frequently abnormally fat! Then there is
rush for Obesity cures, 'anti-fat RENE
dies" and reduction movements but, alas
the mischief is an accomplished fact aud
she learns to Ter cost that getting fat is like
getting married; easier done than undone
To convince yourself that we are no
longer thin people, go into any Of our
great dry goods stores or ladies' restaurants
IN the large cities, or stand on the corner of
some fashionable street frequented by
ladies, and you will be obliged to admit
that the number Of obese women who pass
it is in excess Of the slim ones, and these
latter are almost always young. In stores
where scales are kept they are in such con-
slant use that the stout shoppers-slender
women seldom weigh themselves-stand
around in crowd waiting their
turn to use the apparatus, which
hab W 10 I6pdlTeu every lew HOnDUS,
in consequence of being continually
jumped upon by the fair and fat. But not
in the stores, restaurants nor upon the
streets can an accurate idea be formed Of
the ponderosity of the average American
woman, because when she takes her slo "
and heavy footed walks abroad the much
abused corset braces her up and hauls her
into the smallest endurabe points, and toe
kindly undivided skirt covers a buIkitude
Of skin unsupported by the locker on. Ia
the Turkish bath when she stands uncon-
cealed, save for a solitary sheet, she who
runs sheeted into the hot room may
read that as nation we are indeed on the
increase.
Ii addition to the ridicule to which cor
pulent persons are subjected. and there are
many minor discomforts to be borne, the
heavy load Of flesh to be carried is one of
these the snortness of breath and inability
to move quickly are others. Stout women
are very "hardn on all articles of clothing,
which they can seldom buy ready made
Women are more prone to fall into flesh
than men, especially after they reach their
fortieth year. No woman can be strictly
beautiful who answers Swlft's description
of thin woman, skinny bonia, snip and
lean;" certain roundness Of outline en-
hances the beauty Of the female form. The
difficulty is TO preserve the juste milieu.
FAT PEOPLE USED TO BE PUNISHED.
T., n