Part 5 (1/2)

The testiers of athletic ”tea effects of alcohol; and the reat assistance in i

We should all like to have our country called the healthiest in the world To that end we drain our marshes, protect our water-supply, , pure food and so on But all theseas we cram our systems with cheirl; and that, as the famous story has it, as every deed was done by the early fathers, ”In the naht seeer in the name of America

We all knoell the absolute slavery of e man would rather be racked on the wheel of the Inquisition than to ”appear out” in a coat or a hat different froe and sriest protests and even floods of tears if they strive to i sons any detail of costume different fro borne the iard, but they are not Their brothers are even htly bound in the meshes of the merciless despot, Fashi+on

This fact must be taken into consideration in all efforts at social refor men, as a class The independence which can defy a hurtful social custoo over the top” without quailing, lacks the courage to oppose a popular social h he may know that it is of dubious benefit to the race

But true patriotis of other motives, bids us discard every habit and stamp out every malady which lowers the _morale_ or impairs the efficiency of the people

One of the ed out of its secret lair for the open contuood men and women, is the htfully prevalent

Mr Cleveland Moffett, in _McClure's Magazine_, pleads for specific sex-instruction in our educational institutions He says: ”The youth of A, with the exception of the reat secret of life One result of this inexcusable neglect is seen in alarh school conditions reported in various cities”

He advises home instruction in these important and delicate matters, but adive it

Those few should do so; but if the most terrible disease known to civilization, and probably, in a more or less virulent form, the most common, is to be successfully combated, such instruction should be imparted Under the circuular teachers, who should be high-hly trained

This instruction should be given to each pupil separately and when alone with his teacher Two or three interviews, of perhaps twenty ht to be sufficient each year It should be possible to arrange that nureat curse which operates especially against the health of our girls

A well-knoo, ”I have scarcely a woman-friend who either has not just had an operation, or is not having one now, or is not going to have one soon”

This stateh, but is no joke; it is a solemn, awful fact

Nohy are so ely in the open air, busy, educated, passionately devoted to the study of hygiene and sanitation, inevitably destined to be cut up on the operating-tables of our hospitals?

Why,--it is so commonly expected, that we hear of these operations noithout a quiver, even though we know they are likely to be fatal We accept theh they were decreed by an inescapable Fate, and there was no remedy

Is it reasonable that the Creator should have made woman to be a natural invalid,--to have powers and faculties which she could never fully employ and enjoy? Of what use are our hard-won educational advantages, if they are going siirls and woht that our Maker designed women for such a destiny

Huxley says that nine-tenths of the impediments to women's health are not inherent, but are due to herand helpful Her body is wonderfully wrought and fashi+oned for h spiritual mission to which the woman-soul aspires One is driven to the conclusion that at the root of her physical enfeeblement is the costume which has been imposed upon her by the false ideals and hyper-refined standards of past centuries, and of nations which have admired most the class of women who do not prepare themselves for motherhood

The costuive an impression of slenderness It is not suited to the hard work of the busy housewife, nor to that of the cramped and confined office- or shop-worker, nor to the life of the schoolgirl A hard-working man, dressed in the modern corset and in the usually closely-belted blouse of the girl and woman of to-day, would fail physically and resort to the operating-table as universally as do his wife and sisters That so many of them survive the ordeal and are able to perform some useful work in the world is, says one prominent physician, ”one of the wonders of our ti,” in a recent issue of a widely circulated journal, begs that the corset and the closely fitting costuht, loose and hung entirely from the shoulders

The recent remarks of Mr Edison upon this subject are sound He says, ”There should be no pressure upon any part of the body, if the organs within, which require perfect freedom in order to do their work efficiently, are to perfor and healthy nation, though we may e in the dress of woe when she is likely to ans of ely deprived of activity, so that the delicate milk-ducts are often atrophied, and the muscles most needed to support the child are weakened; while the chief organ of all is frequently displaced, leading to painful and sometimes fatal coence of our people, that future ages will doubtless look back upon our period as one of densest ignorance regarding eugenics

You may ask, ”What do you advise to take the place of the present mode of dress?”

Only the experts in such matters can answer this question It seems likely that some combination of the best points of the oriental costumes offers the best solution The new dress should be perfectly loose; light in weight; should depend entirely fro no pressure to bear upon the is should be allowed the ut depended upon a corset for support will doubtless find it uncoerous, to lay upon their enfeebledtheir bodies Girls who do not wear corsets will not ”look well” (according to ourcostuienic mode of dress is introduced, the modern dance will have to be reformed,--which may not be the least of the benefits of such a mode!

These are soes in woirls, and especially of our mothers, is a vital matter, and h for illness; but itand healthy nation, in which but a se, instead of the enormous one of the present draft, is rejected for physical defects, until the motherhood of the nation is properly equipped for irls be ready to fulfill nobly their new political duties