The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-21
MEN AND THEIR SHAPES.
From the New York Press.

Man is getting out Of shape. Gar
gantua used to be so fond of his paunch
that he would sit down and pat it by
the hour. Nowadays a man of con-
spicuous embon point will hear from a
chance acquaintance, THE X-ray
would never reach through you. Where
did you get it?" The fat man will re-
ply, That's all right. 1t took me thir-
ty years to build it, and it cost me a
million dollars" He is actually proud
of 1t. The emaciated man, on the 9TH
err hand, will hear this, Hello, my
friend; how do you tell whether you
have the back-ache or belly-ache 2"
His answer usually is, "Oh, well, 1
don't carry my brains in my stomach,
as you do" Now, brethren, the fat
man is no less fond of his shape than
the thin one, and both are monstrosi-
ties. And another thing, the thin man
probably eats more and oftener than
the fat one. Like Cassius-he is al
ways hungry.
A lot of men in a Turkish bath re-
semble so many brownies. 1t is a fact.
1 believe, that Palmer Cox got his mod
els of brownies in bath house in West
Twenty-eighth street. The original
brownie was a Scotch spirit, meager
shaggy and wild, that did chores for
sleeping servants. The Cox brownie
is all belly and spider legs, the mascu-
line creature of the public bath. Good
tailors manage to conceal much mis-
shapen humanity. In woman the
straight front is a device of the gods:
but woman in the bath, after 25. is not
much more lovely than her lord and
master. No woman has the right ia
battle in the ocean, or to stroll along
the beaches, with her corset off. Venus
was only is when her statue was made
by Praxiteles. At 40 she would have
been a fine looking thing without cor
sets.
More men wear corsets than the
world wots Of Thirty years ago we
laughed and sneered at the French
dandy who affected stays. We re-
garded him as effeminate. Yet he
would go on the field of honor for a
political insult and defend himself with
sword or pistol with as much enthusi-
asm as his uncorseted grandfather
manifested in following Napoleon. OF
course, you have heard the story that
Bourke Cochran and Adrian 5selin
wear corsets. Good! They are as far
from etfeminacy as any two men we
know. Twelve members of the Stock
Exchange are known to wear corsets
While 37S are belted up in abdominal
supporters.
The female form divine is a myth
after marriage and motherhood. That
of the male form divine? The perfect
man should have his chin, chest, ON
phalos, thighs, knees and ankles in
line, each touching a straight rod set
up in front of him. The vast ma
jority of us are potty before and GIN
lefty behind, to use a frank phrase
Bestiality and obesity are almost syn
onymous. Excessive fat is the price
of over-indulgence. Too much food
too much tobacco, too much rum and
too much ease. Worry alone makes
leanness. No man worries when his
belly is full of a good dinner, or wher
his senses are deadened by liquor The
abstemious man is usually lean. Alex
ander Southern Thweatt is an excep-
ton. Temperate in all things, he is a
fine Palmer Cox brownie. Another alb
stemious man is the able president OF
the New York and Jersey Railroad
Company known among his intimates
as "Macilent Mac" His waist meas
ures 10 inches and his head 22A. He