The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1896-06-05
c0RSETS BARRED



Novel Difficulty IN the Electrical De-
partmsnt 81 Girls school
a new reason why the new woman
must discard one oil the most charae.
tsristically feminine articles Of her
attire or fall short of filling her role
has turned up at the girls high
schcolEat Oakland, Cal She must
either abandon corsets or one Of the
most promising Of the professions,
that embracing electricity in all It's
branches, Five hundred Oakland
co-eds are seriously disturbed over
the situation, but the issuc.is severe.
" plain. One or the other must Be
abandoned, the governors Of the
school say.
An electrical department was.
added to the school some time aro.
and q course in electricity estab.
lished. The poor professor in charge
has Ind dreadful time. Durhgthe
lessons the delicate Instruments
have played him all sorts OF tricks,
and all his experiments have been OF
doubtful success, Every once in
awhile girl would step up to tell
what she had learned about volts,
ohms and amperes, aud Immediately
the galvanometcrs would gyrate
wildly and the needles on the various
dials would wabble, and all the laws
of Volta and Ohm and Faraday
would go to smash, aud the findings
OF Edison and Tesla would become
strangely lost. Then the professor
knew the student beside him had on
a high-grade corset with ribs Of
finest stcels The instruments were
not atfected'by the presence of some
students, because they wore health
waists of some sort and were braced
with whulebone or some substitute
forsteel.
The professor made poor progress
with his class. 1t was impossible to
make accurate experiments before
some girls, and among these we're
the most promising girls in the class.
Something had TO be done; but the
professor, being man, felt natur.
al delicacy about doing anything.
Two Of the women teachers tackled
the girls on hygiene and physical
development, and warned them Of
the evils OF corsets. But the real
motive Of the crusade leaked out.
and at present there is much per.
ttirbation among the ambitious Co
eds who are anxious for scientific
attachments, but yet have all the
hundred reasons a woman can ad.
vance for not discarding the corset,
This corset trouble is Of long
standing Prof. Mcads of the cleo
trical department told an Examiner
reporter. 1.-THE machines in the
electrical department are delicately
constructed, and they are so much
affected by the near presence ofsteel
or iron that it is utterly impossible
to secure accurate results in expert.
ments. ! have been compelled to
have the physical culture teacher ex.
plain 10 the girls that they must dis.
card their corsets before they take
their lessons in the electrical de.
parttnesit can tell at once BY the
jumping ot the needles that d hirl is
wearing eorsets. 1t is simply q
question of having the girls recite
their lessons properly, and they can
not do so wearing corsets."
Finally Prof. Meads was Obliged to
issue a rule barring corseted girls
from the electrical department, and
the governors Endorsed the rule. 1t
might seem TO be u rule difficult to
enforce and delicate to handle. But
Prof. Meads finds it easy. In enter
ing the electrical department the
girls have to pass one of the pro.
fessor's sensitive galvanometers.
The professor stands unobtrusively
beside it. The itnpcrtinent sjigger"
works like charm, and there is no
way in which the girls can beat the
game. On the near approach of
girl wearing stccl-ribbed corsets the
needle gyrates frantically, and the
girl is respectfully but firmly re-
minded Of the rule, and expostula.
tions are useless. Just how the 'in-
cident win end cannot yet be told,
but the faculty hope the girls will
take the advice Of DR.. Knox and DIR.
Shuey, both women professors, and
abandon corsets on general prin.
ciples.
In urging the reform DR.. Shuey
paid high compliment to eastern
young women in some remarks cal.
culated to put the Pacific coast girls
on their mettle. After an extensive
trip through the east, visiting many
prominent gymnasiums, she said,
she was impressed with the fine
beaftng Of the eastern girls as com.
pared with the California girls. She
comedies that California girls are just
as richly endowed by nature as the
eastern girls, but they have had but
little gymnastic training.
a Big Raft.
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made nm In fha Columbia Yivar m na