The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-09-09

cided handicap as compared to boys, by
reason of their greatly Inferior physical
equipment. Professor Pierce, OF Philadcl-
phla, once said, In my hearing that the
| strain of the high-sciool examinations In
his town ordinarily showed itself In the
resulting injury to tho teeth OF the school
Eirls;whcrcas the boys, Interested In base
ball and Dut-of.door sports, showed no
dental decay at examination time. This
to my mind IL a striking proof OF the
fact that the girls are working more be-
| yond Acir strength than the boys, be-
cause ~ this regard tho two sexes can
be fairly compared, whcrcns the saying
| that i5 per cent. OF school girls suffer from
| menstrual Irregularities, while sufIicient-
ly disheartenng, does not allow OF COM
parison with boys. Scoliosis and chloro-
sis are much more frequent In girls than
| In boys, and m many Instances. no doubt,
are the evil results OF over work ana bad
hygiene during school life, An old sur
geon of wide experience once told mo
that he had found that fractures did not
unite as favorable In girls as In boys. A
| recent writer has said that OF the chill
| dren who enter the hospitals for physi-
cal defects In. I believe, Boston. hardly
6 per cent. are boys. All these statements
tend to show that girls are much weaker
physically than boys. and that their more
frequent break-dowp In school Is to be
expected: provided the same amount OF
work is required of both.
Is this physical inferiorlty inevitable?
Or can we 80 prepare and train our fe-
male children that they shall be as hardy
as their brothers?
This question opens a wide field for dis
cusson into which we cannot enter now,
except to point out the obvious fact that
If girls are TO go through the same
courses of study as boys, 1t Is only fair
and right that they should have as good
a. preparation. Instead of being turned
out to play In the sun bare-footed and
bare-legged until they are eight or ten
years old, women begin their earthly pill
grlmages with the same handicap that
they bear to the end, viz. never-ceaslng
unremitting. all pervading care for their
clothes. AS soon as they can understand
the meaning of language, they are
warned not to soil their clothes. They
are made to look pretty, and are set up
to be looked at from infancy upward.
Their natural physical Incidence and
timidity are augmented in every way by
precedent and training. Fortunately. many
Of the older girls play golf and do things
to develop their bodies but the physical
well-being of little girls is criminally
neglected. II Is In these early years that
they must acquire that muscular and
nervous tone which should carry them.
safely through the storms of puberty
and the fierce grind of the public school,
Can they acquire it at all? The question
Is an exceedingly interesting one. Until
littlo girls, as a class, get the same out
of-door life that little boys do, we cannot
say whether they will develop the same
nervous resilency or not and without
such experimental knowledge, generaliza-
tions on this head must be more or less
cOnjectural
From observation on the lower animals
there seems to be little difference In en-
durance between the sexes. The squaws
amongst our native Indians have nearly
as much endurance as the braves, and
in many cases, apparently more physical
strength; so far as known. these women
escape neurasthenia and the other
troubles peculiar to their sex. 1t Is only
so-called civilized women. amongst which
the Chinese should be included, whose
dress. habits and training so markedly
hamper them in doing their part In the
world, whether as students, workers. or
mothers. We must begin the physical
education of our women earlier and make
it more thorough. and we must dress
them differently all their lives If they are
to have anything like an equal chance
with men as workers, or If they are to
come anywhere near fulfilling their pos
sible destinies.
1t is just as true now as when Lysan-
der said it "that the fate of a nations
prosperity depends upon the bodies of
its women" and it Is just as true that
perfect bodies can only be produced out
of good material by the utmost care; and
lastly, let it never be lost sight Of that,
with a few exceptions. which are more
apparent than real, sound mind cannot
exist outside Of sound body.