The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-10-11
WILMINGTON N. C.
Friday. OCTOBER II, 1901.
RAD RESULTS FOLLOWING WOMEN
ATHLETICS.

an III III III NSS
sion of the great redundancy of un-
married women in England. 1t copied
from many authorities and authors all
establishing the fact of as
well as suggesting causes n possible
remedy. There is a vast d~isproportlon
between married and single women.
This condition has existed for a quar-
ter of a century, but has grown worse
!. 18th the passing years. But in 1881 a
! liter shows. that for every 100 males
IL England and Wales there were los
males, and in London 112 females. In
england and Wales between the ages
- twenty and twenty-five the per cent
age of females vas 1876 to 100 of males.
From twenty-five to thirty years OF
age, the ratio was 1S7, and between
thirty and thirty-fve it was 172 women
to 100 men. Coming now to the rela-
tive members OF married and unmar-
ried women, we find that while over all
England Wales the spinsters en-
masse stood as ITS to 100 women mar
ried, in Kens1ngton the ~disproportion
rose to 256 per cent.
We cannot follow the statistics far
Their. The causes as given are many
fo- less marrying than formerly. The
stvIe of living, competition in all
branches of work., the invasion of places
by females once held by men only, the
elaboration of the modern club life,
the athletic craze among the women
the increased liberty of women, The
higher education of girls and so on.
These and other causes operating are
urged and discussed through many
pages. Lady Jeune in the book "The
Modern Marriage Market" notes this:
'That women are much more mannish
than formerly; and that has grown out
of the greater freedom and indepen-
dence they now enjoy. 1t nay have
taken away some of the dependence
zaLd softness of women, but it has Civ
en- them a strong individuality, strong
opinion. : 3 ; Girls think and act
for themselves"
They put off marrying as a result.
Miss Hepworth Dixon says: A pres
ent we are in a transition stage, and
there is nowadays a certain amount
of misunderstanding between sexes
which makes marrying and giving in
marriage a. somewhat hazardous enter
prise"
The entire paper is educating and
very full of matter n facts. There
seems to be no doubt that the rush OF
the women into athletics has been IN
favorable n detrimental. The author
of the paper gives this:
And so, all unconsciously perhaps
u Muller Musculosa is placing anoth
er barrier between herself and he
chances of matrimony. The outburs
of athletics mons the middle n gen
tie folk circles, is scarcely over a doZel
years old. But meantime it has so bit
ten these classes that a part from tt
present war troubles little is talked, lit
tie is done. little has a chance of bein!
cared for, among them, a V muScula
sports of one kind or another. Bots
ferrous bodily exertion is enshrined L
he modern young lady's creed and am
and the chief thing in life worth livin
for. OF this insane muScle-worship W
see not yet the ultimate consequences.
Much is said by women writer's IS I
the bad effects upon marriage, charaC
ter. form and refinement of the wome
who try athletics. a distinguishe
English woman who is Miss Keneal.
but is also an NJ. D., writes of her sex
or that part represented by the Mulie
Musculosa-that they are restless an
clamorous, and some how is no warnin
to the others. OF this Representative
woman h writes. IS the reviewt
quotes:
she never can get enough, for til
reason that the thing she asks is not tb
thing to satisfy her nature" The VI
to-date female is losing her power {
sympathy, a quality which is in the il
verse ratio of the habit of assertivs
ness. And assertiveness, says Mis-
Kenealy. is the blemish of the moder
woman. The haze and color of t.
higher womanly emotionS-sympath
to understand, affection to be foun,
imagination TO idealiZe-"are being al
sorbed into mere violence of movemer
physical and mental"
OF the injury done to the womanl
PHYSIQUE DR.. Kenealy is equally en-
phatic. This in fact is very urgen
very emphatic. The contrasts whio
the girl was in her original charm au
what she. became. She writes exec
lently. Read this:
Where before her beauty was SUE
gestive and elusive, now it is defi1
ed. - The haze the elusive
ness, the subtle suggestion of the fac
are gone; it is the landscape withou
atmosphere. She inclines [
be. and in another year will be, dis
t1nctly spare. the mechanism of move
ment is no longer yelled by a certai
mystery of motion which gave her for
merly an air of gliding rather than @
striding from one place to another
In her evening gown she shows evidenc
OF joints which had been adroitly hid
den beneath tissues Of soft flesh, an,
already her modiste has been put to tn
necessity Of putting and pleating, wher
nature had planned the tenderest an,
most dainty Of devices. Her move
ments are muscular and less womanly
Where they had been quiet and grace
ful. now they are abrupt and direcs
Her voice is louder, her tones are as
sertive. b says everything-leave
nothing to the Imagination