Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1896-05-06
MApAME'S ROCkER.
10 IN One of the Things the New Move
ment Has Not Rauixhcd.

=" - o"e OF the Things the New Move
ment Has Not Bsuishcd.
AZ an important meeting of women
not long since, women who represented
everything that was radical and strong
and new" il was funay thing to see
the stage strewn with rocking chairs,
cf all things the insignia and symbol OF
fEaii femininity. What was more, the
new women, presiding officer and ALL
sat IN the chairs, and rocked placidly
away during the reading of reports and
minutes the passing of resolutions. the
seconding of motions and all the rest of
IL. just as though il were n matter OF
course. But IL was homogeneous. Those
swaying, lively chairs suggested the
nursery and sewing-room and kindred
domestic details that were somehow
strangely ut variance with the other.
wise business, practical aspect of
affairs. One fell ~ wondering whether
the presiding officer would not be adj.
dressed as Madam Rocking Chairman"
But one also wondered whether the
rocking chair was not an unacceptable
thing for wcman-the American
woman. that is tn say; whether She
could no more get away from or get rid
OF II than she cou'd her own identity
IL is true that good taste. coupled viii,
growing appreciation of foreign
standards. has han;shed the rocker from
the American drnwing-room. but il still
holds its own in boudoir. nursery and
other none the less important because
more intimate apartments. II is SAID
that the rocking chair is gradually max.
ing its way .nto other countries. The
English wtmcn and even those of the
more conservative continent are begin
ming To realize The boon and the blessin ,
that II is To- womankind. IL Is curious
fact that II is tc Wolnanl<ind alone tina (.
II appeniS. Men rarely sit in rocking
chair. and when they do il Is with al,
uneasy. non-accustoncd air that he
trays their misrepresentation nj once.
IL is the proud boast of Philadelphia.
says an exchange of that city, that ~,
drawing rooms contain more rocking
chairs than any other city in the world.
y physician once said: 1.-THE rocking
chair is nothing more nor less than an
expression Of the nervousness of the
American Woman. She must have soinc
vent for her surchargcd feelings, her
over-wrouTht. highiy-strung sensibil;-
ties. and she resorts to the rocker.
don't know that il is an objectionable
habit-rocking. IL is. in measure, an
outlet, an escape valve for much tina,
would otherwise be pent up and react
upon the woman herself. | do know
this, however; you can always tell n
nervous woman by the amount of rock
ing she does. Under pressure of any
worry, excitement or irritation. she
hies 10 her rocker as the drunkard to his
bottle or the opium fiend to his pipe.
And she rocks, rocks. rocks, first violent
~ and systematically: then. as her ex.
citement cools, more slowly and stcadi.
~, until the worry or irritation or what
ever else il may have been abatcs. Tn, n
the rocking ceases Altogether. and the
woman sits tranquil and quiet. No,
] should not call the rocking chair the
American woman's enemy; her best
friend, rather, for il acts like a kind of
lightning rod, carrying off force TINT
might otherwise wreck and ruin her.
Detroit Free Press.