River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-07-09
TIE FASHION OF HEALTH.
Rules TO BE Followed by Persons Desir-
ing to Grow Strong.

Rules TO BE Followed by Persons Desir-
ing to Grow Strong.
1t is continually said that women
would as soon be out of the world as
out of fashion; that they would fol-
low fashion If il should lead directly
to the grave. While this is an exagger-
a.ion, of course. it must be ADM ..ed
that they are greatly attached to fash
ion, and that 1t is fortunate for them
when il sets in wholesome directions,
as il does now. and has done for near
~ q generation. During all that time.
at least, il has been the fashion to
be healthy, and IL is such to-day more
than ever. We all like to see a woman
sound and vigorous in body, with
good appetite, who can walk. and is
fond of outdoor exercise.
A very young person might think
that il had ne yer been otherwise; that
nobody could. i'm recent times. have
been foolish enough to regard favora-
bly, physical delicacy or any tendency
to invalidism. But it is in the MEM
DRY Of people now living that pale COM
plexions, very slender figures and fire.
quent ailments were considered partic-
ularly interesting in young women.
These were said to eat chalk, slate PEN
ellis and paper, and such substances
as produce severe indigestion. accom-
panied by a coiorless complexion and
a languid manner suggestive of ro-
nance and extreme sensibility. This
morbid fancy and feeling must have
been the result of the Byron craze,
which began early in the century and
ragged for so years. How bravely we
have recovered from such maudlin SEN
timent, such siclSly fanaticalness, we
Of the present need not be told.
Women, young or not young. who
are generally ailing, who have feeble
constitutions and respondent moods,
may be pitied more than in the past,
but they have ceased to be attractive
on that account. Illness or bodily
weakness of any kind is no longer ideal
lied. But robust health, high vitality,
genuine endurance, are thoroughly APP
preciated. So are good looks; but
man would rather see healthful
bronzed complexion gained by wom-
ans exposure to sun ard wind than
a pallid face that had zen zealously
shielded from unplea mt weather.
He would rather see tanned hands
with a firm grasp than soft, slender
taper. nerveless fingers. caressing the
strings of harp or guitar. She Is
another creature than her grand
mother or her mother was. She is
clothed with new flesh. and she owns
an altogether different system. Her
nerves are far frmer. ard her muscles
have lost their faccidity. She believes
in sound health as the prime essential
of life. To have il and to keep it are
among the first duties she owes her
self She has grown to be a devoted
and enlightened disciple of Hygeia,
having disavowed various false divin.
tiles whom she once worshiped.
Drugs and physicians she does not
cleave to as of old. She considers ma
ture the great mediciuer, discarding
many artificialities, and trying, so far
as she has light, to obey natures laws.
Home is not her sole allurement and
her sole obligation. as il was in the
era of her grandmother She adds to
its brightness, to her own well-being
and comfort, as her men'a nj expansive
ness and her clearer Judgment, by
domestic contrasts and excursions
abroad. She has become acquainted
with the great world; she has stopped
taking all her views at second hand.
She is physically transformed; she
gets pleasure, recreation. inestimalle
benefit from outdoor sports. She
swims, she skates, she runs. she coasts
in winter, she rows, she rides wheel,
she goes fishing and hunting often,
she vies with her brothers In athletic
sports. She is what would have been
called 30 ears ago perfect Amazon;
and yet she has not relinquished a
particle of her womanhood. In truth,
she has rather broadened and deep
ened IL. She is gentle as ever. and much
stronger; she has not parted with any
of her tenderness; but she has ac-
quired fresh development in divers
directions. She has enlarged her ac-
tivities and usefulness; she has mount
ed to far loftier plane. She is, TO ex-
press il Mechanically, woman raised
to n higher power.
There are inevitably some ultrs-con-
servative people who. looking on any
change with adherence, think that
woman has deteriorated, not advanced,
by her bodily betterment, by the &C,
ceptsnce of new opportunities. But
they belong to the same class, though
much later in time, as they who be.
lieved that gross Ignorance in a woman
was an added charm. We all remem-
Der the French courtier who asked the
young lady of quality: "Are you not
ashamed to write so well, you, who
have so much grace and heauty?" Per-
haps there are human fossils to-day
shocked to see so many fine women
in uuquestionable and superabundant
health. But they can better afford to
be shocked than the women can to re-
turn to the virtual invalidism preva
lent throughout the republic only a
few decades ago-Harper's Bazaar.